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Turning L’s into W’s
When the weather went from below-normal-cold strait to 30C we encountered a big row cover problem. We needed to switch out our frost-protecting row covers for breatheable nets. The problem? We used all of them! And bad planning on my part…I had half-rows of brassicas that need to be covered for flea beetles that I… Continue reading
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Spring Weather Delays
Ah, the one force governing agriculture to rule them all: the weather. Last spring was warm and dry, so I was able to get carrots in the ground by April 15th. This year, tonight on April 18th we’ll be going beyond -10C at night. The beds are frozen and with some snow and freezing rain,… Continue reading
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Starting the Greenhouse and The Tomato Gap
Yes, its a bit early this year, and that’s because of our hoop house. With only 6 weeks to go until the target transplant date of April 15th, we’ve got to get our Tomatoes and Peppers going earlier this year. It’s always a nice day when finally, after months of winter, you can walk to… Continue reading
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Dispatch From the National Library of Finland
At no other time in the history of humanity have we had easier access to information than we do today. From the greatest thinkers of antiquity, to the diaries of Roman emperors, to the dizzying collections of letters and papers strewn about, to the vast numbers of scientific leaps that have changed the game so… Continue reading
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Drafting the Season Schedule
I’ve finished my first draft seeding schedule for 2026, which is way ahead of my usual timeline for doing so. We’re aiming to go hard for early spring production, and I didn’t want the distraction of needing to complete this in March. While this process has been streamlining itself and every year gets faster to… Continue reading
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Looking For Your Suggestions and Comments!
I published the first complimentary blueberry juice on January 15 2023, so in a short while I’ll be starting the 4th year of this writing experiment. I do enjoy doing this, just having a space to engage in the process of writing and offload whichever problems I’m working through, or compiling some photos. I don’t… Continue reading
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State of the Garden, September 4th, 2025
The “apex” of the season is always a tough one I find, psychologically. It’s a point in the season when there’s nothing you can do, no action you can take, to get things to turn around or do a little better. It’s all baked into the cake. On top of that is the accrued mess… Continue reading
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Learn By Doing III
I’ve got a triple-whammy Learn By Doing post to make up for the slacking of regular Wednesday updates lately. The summer groove is settling in and pulling long hours in the field isn’t necessary anymore. Plus there’s a good three weeks of solid post ideas coming up and I promise I won’t miss on the… Continue reading
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Hot, Dry: Decision Making On The Fly
Well that was quite the couple weeks there, hitting 35C and 30C+ on multiple occasions. We’ve had, in total, approximately 25mm rain since the beginning of May, which isn’t much. And for us, 90% of what we grow is not under irrigation (or what is known as “dry farming”). So here’s an update on all… Continue reading
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Let’s Talk Weeds in No-Till Gardening
I’ll be giving a little talk tomorrow, Thursday March 20th, at Little Brown Jug in Winnipeg starting at 7pm. The topic is managing weeds in a no-till permanent bed system. Hoping that after this talk I will follow my own advice and finally get better at managing them weeds! Graham thanks for reading complimentary blueberry… Continue reading
About Graham
Graham is an ecologist-farmer from Canada working on educating about the wonders and beauty of the natural world, and how we can design biodiverse food production systems.
