Latest News

Available late April 2013
Apple, Pear, Sour Cherry, and Plum trees

APPLE Varieties : Grafted on semi dwarf rootstock, Zone 4, needs a pollinator
CORTLAND: mid season red apple, good for eating, cooking, salad and juice. Good keeper.
EMPIRE: Productive, late season red apple, sweet, excellent eating apple, stores well.
GOLDEN RUSSET: Smaller, late season, brown russetted apple. Disease and insect resistant. Good for eating, cooking and cider.
LIBERTY: Modern, disease resistant, late season red apple. Good for eating and keeps well.
NOVA SPY : Modern, disease resistant Canadian apple, late season. For eating, cooking, keeping.
MUTSU: Late, Yellow-green fruit is crunchy and tart with a hint of spiciness. good for eating, desserts, applesauce.

Asian Pear: Zone 4-5, $30.00 each, may need pollinator, height 15-20ft
NIITAKA: Late season, orange brown russetted skin with juicy, sweet, mild flesh., keeps up to 6 months. Medium sized tree, Requires Pollinator.
SHINSEIKI: Early, pale green skin and white firm flesh. Sweet with some tartness, stores up to 8 months. Productive, larger tree than most. Self Fertile.
SHINKO: Late season, with golden brown russetted skin. Yellow, sweet apple-like flesh, stores up to 4 months. Productive, medium sized tree, partially self fertile, most disease resistant.

Pear: Zone 4-5, $25.00 each, needs pollinator, height 25 feet.
HARROW CRISP: Yellow tinged with blush fruit, firm sweet flesh, in the early part of the season. Good for eating, cooking and canning. Disease resistant.
HARROW GOLD: Early, large yellow fruit with fine juicy flavour, good for eating, processing. Excellent resistance to Fire Blight.

Sour Cherry: Zone 3, $25.00 each, self fertile
METEOR: Semi dwarf (8-12’ tall), used for desserts, jams, jellies, pies. Red fruit is harvested in July.
NORTH STAR: Similar to Meteor but with darker fruit and harvest 1 week earlier.

Plum: Zone 3-5, $25.00 each
DAMSON: Self fertile, Purple blue skin with yellow flesh, tart flavour used for jams and preserving.
TOKA: Hardy from Minnesota, red skin with yellow flesh, spicy flavour, Good for eating, preserving, Needs pollinator.

What's Happening on the farm

winter sheep fun

What goes on at a farm in the winter? Do farmers just have 6 months off a year in Canada because the ground is frozen and there is nothing to do? I think most have a secondary occupation that takes up much of their time, either an off farm job and they are simply less busy in the winter, or cutting firewood, and plowing is an obvious one because of the seasonality. In our case we do have a "quiet" time of the year which is generally December and January. Winter is well and truly upon us and so there is no clean up or outdoor garden work that can be done, snow in most years covers the bare earth. But we do have sheep and so eventually they need us to supply them with their daily needs. Once that snow cover is there then they are fed hay every day and fresh water which is heated to remain drinkable, but otherwise their demands are low, they are simply eating and gestating, waiting like all of us for spring to come. Are they bored with the monotony of eating the same meal twice a day? My kids complain if I serve leftovers for lunch, but these guys are anxiously waiting every day saying to themselves "What will it be? Oh goody, hay again!" They run back and forth from one feeder to another just to make sure the other guys didn't get a better batch until they are reassured that they all have the same good stuff and settle in to eat and then chew their cud.

Things start to gear up in February when their udders begin to swell, and their sides visibly plump up and we begin the daily feeding of grain which enables them to produce large lambs that are strong, while not losing body condition themselves while pregnant. This daily feeding of grain is like opening the door to a kindergarten classroom and yelling "Who wants ice cream!" and so they get quite excited. This means that feeding equipment needs to be repaired every year to ensure that it will stand up to the abuse it is about to take. This year we had some help while the older boys were in school, and we brought the youngest out with us and on a couple of warm days in the greenhouse we were able to accomplish alot. In March, a couple of weeks before lambing starts we have to give the sheep their annual booster shot of vaccine. This is not a painful thing, but it is a live vaccine and so has to be kept cold until it is injected which is uncomfortable for the sheep. This is important because lambs are born without any immunity, and only gain protection from diseases by the milk they drink from their mothers in the first few days of life. We enlisted the "help" of the children, fed the sheep their grain to get them in a good mood, and then pressed them to the back of the greenhouse which helps keep them under control and easier to catch. Being a beautiful almost spring day, we quickly stripped down to our shirts, Eric caught each ewe,

Toby checked the numbers off for the ewes as I gave them their injection, and Finn and Sam marked their foreheads with Crayon. Final count: 45 ewes vaccinated, Finn trampled 3 times, Toby twice, Same once. And since Sam and Finn kept changing their markers we ended with a collection of animals with a rainbow of markings on their foreheads and other parts of their bodies. And after an afternoon of hard work, then everyone deserves a nap!