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Ignatius Farm News
February 2021
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February is THE month to register for CSA
Last year our CSA shares sold out early and long-standing members missed out.
Your solidarity today means the farm will confidently plan and grow for YOU!
Sign up for your CSA share online.
Your paper registrations are welcome! Submit cheque payment with your registration during office hours only at the Farm.
Community Garden Registration
Our Garden plots purchasing are already sold out at our traditional full capacity! Pre-COVID that happened around the first of May…
We are currently waiting on grant details so that we know how much we can increase the number of annual plots we will have available, so online inventory is limited.
If you are counting on gardening this summer at Ignatius, now is the time to register.
If you can’t register online, the inventory is used up, email farmregistration@ignatiusguelph.ca and ask to be put on a waiting list. Let us know the size of plot your are interested in, your name, and phone number.
Have questions? Just email farmregistration@igntatiusguelph.ca
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Farm Funding Appreciation
"We want to express our sincere appreciation to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for supporting the programs at Ignatius Farm. Helping to train the next generation of farmers is a very worthwhile objective, and we all benefit over the long term." -- Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott.
Ignatius Farm is grateful for the Ontario Trillium Foundation Seed grant received in 2020 to roll out our New Farmer Training program in collaboration with Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and Everdale. 251 distinct participants enrolled in 49 Ignatius Farm NFT events, with 1,357 total registrations. More options for new farmers are becoming possible through funding and donations.
The Echo Foundation provided $50,000 for 2020-2021 to ‘Expand Community Outreach for Regenerative Agriculture’, which allowed us to hire Outreach Administrator, Pamela Costanzo, who has been invaluable to all of the farm programs. This fund will support the continuation of the New Farmer Training program in 2021. We have applied for additional funding to continue the program through the rest of the year.
The Farm Credit Canada AgriSpirit Fund has provided $25,000 to dig a dedicated irrigation well that will better serve current irrigable cropping areas and enable new irrigable cropland to become available for small plot agriculture farm enterprises.
“The FCC AgriSpirit Fund supports rural communities at the heart of Canadian agriculture. We are honoured to support the projects that help keep these communities as vibrant hubs for rural Canadians.”- Sophie Perreault, FCC Exec VP & COO
While this funding gets the well dug, it does not cover water distribution from the well, electrical to the pump, and other costs associated with establishing the new irrigable plots.
We are growing the community gardens into a Small Plot Agriculture Program that provides more space for small businesses and community gardeners. We have the land, but we need the water infrastructure.
We secured grant funding to initiate new water capacity for Small Plot Agriculture and CSA fields, but it does not cover all the costs. We need you to get the water flowing and the infrastructure completed for this much needed initiative!
Help raise $20,000 in the next 4 weeks.
We thank all of our donors – we couldn’t do this without you!
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Planning for Plant Sale
By Christine Clarke
I was talking to some farmer friends the other day, and we were all expressing excitement over the coming farm season. We were like little green sprouts in the snow: dormant over the winter, and now we’re ready to pop! I think February 1st is the true New Years for farmers. Planting those first seeds feels like it’s just around the corner come February -- and in many ways it is. Some farms will head to their indoor growing spaces at the end of the month, to start long germinating crops, like celery and parsley. At Ignatius, we’ll start our seedlings indoors during the first week of March. Some of the earliest vegetables and herbs we’ll start seeding are the ones for our Spring Plant Sale.
How early do you start thinking about your garden? Is it April? For some of you late bloomers, is it in June? I start thinking about your gardens right about now. (Truth be told, I’ve been thinking about your gardens all winter). I wonder what you like to grow? How do you use what you grow in your recipes? What new herbs and vegetable varieties might you like to try in your gardens? All of these ponderings and imaginative wanderings lead me and Farmer Don to choosing the plant types and varieties to offer you during our sale.
I imagine that gardeners, like us farmers, will be thinking a lot about sustainability this season, not just environmental but also our manner of living: can we sustain parts of our diet with the food we grow? I see gardens abundant with the veggies you may use most in your cooking: tomatoes, onions, potatoes, eggplant and a variety of greens. I also see gardeners who’ll want to give a little space to those crops that, in turn, literally give us the spice of life: basil, cilantro and hot peppers.
And so I sit down with snow still blanketing the fields, making a plant list and checking it twice like a green Santa, wondering what everyone’s little patch of land will look like come spring. Tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, hot peppers, onions, potato, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, leeks, parsley, fennel, cabbage, basil, cilantro, flowers and more. I’ll soon be looking after all these little seedlings, keeping them warm against the deep cold outside the greenhouse, tending to them until they become hardy and vigorous plants, ready to find their home in your gardens.
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Stay tuned to upcoming newsletters for Plant Sale dates and details. |
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New Farmer Training Program |
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For those interested in the full 2021 program stay tuned for more information to come in March.
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Ignatius Farm Internships
Are you keen to learn about regenerative agriculture?
The Ignatius Farm Internship training combines weekly education curriculum with hands-on field work to develop your skills and knowledge as a farm worker, and the basis of your work in ecological agriculture or food system advocacy.
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Apply to work with US!
There is snow on the ground but the Farm is starting the hiring process for our seasonal positions. Are you interested in working here over the summer? Do you know someone who would be great in one of our roles?
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Farmer Christine working on a dibbler that pokes holes in the seedling trays. |
Farmer Dons WFH look. He's deep into planning! |
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Carrot cleaning on a frosty morning. |
Farmer Christine saw her shadow on Groundhog day! |
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Ode to Kale
Greg Kennedy, SJ
wigged with snow
the frozen life of kale
holds on to its September
youth and forest complexion
even as cold brittles
its bones that fracture
in arms they once wrestled;
still its senior days
are sweeter more than bitter
diet fads and rehearsal
apocalypses grab
the junk food news feeds
that stuff arteries
but leave stomachs empty
while quiet kale
in the dead white of winter
shares its frozen life
and late summer childhood stories
to every tongue that cares to listen
between the rocks
the frost heaves up
and the hard places
of current affairs
lives kale, loyal philanthropist,
where all other plants have long stopped giving.
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PICKLED BEETS
Recipe: Emily Huck, Ignatius Kitchen Manager
Picture: www.epicurious.com
- 4-5 lbs small beets, washed
Remove most of the tops, leaving about ½ inch of beet top remaining.
In a large boiling pot of water, cook the beets until barely tender (20 minutes) then shock in cold water to stop cooking. Drain. Cut off the tops and the roots completely, then remove the skin. Cut beets into preferred size and shape.
In a nonreactive pot, bring to a boil then simmer 10 minutes…
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2 T pickling salt
- 1½ c sugar
- 3 c vinegar
- 1 c apple cider
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2 T mixed pickling spice, tied in cheesecloth bag (OR spice as desired with 1 T whole cloves, 1 T peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, mustard seeds etc. tied in a cheesecloth bag)
Add the beets to the pickling liquid and return to a boil. Remove from heat. Carefully ladle the beets and pickling liquid into hot sterilized pint jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles with a non-metal utensil. Add additional pickling liquid, if needed, to keep the proper headspace. Wipe the jar rims thoroughly with a clean damp cloth, failure to do this can result in the jars not sealing properly! Seal the jars and process for 35 minutes in a boiling water bath.
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Ignatius Farm | 519-824-1250 | www.ignatiusguelph.ca |
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