Milling away at Castor River Farm

We were lucky with the weather on November 6, 2013 when a group of 25 grade three students from Devonshire Public School came for a Growing Up Organic Farmgate Café field trip to Castor River Farm. The students got off the bus and were ready to pepper farmer George Wright with questions. 

Castor River Farm is primarily a grain farm, organically raising a diversity of seeds and grains. Most grain farmers (whether organic or conventional) produce on a much larger scale, selling through brokers to a grain elevator to join in a complex supply chain which reduces the return for the farmer. What is unique is that George mills the grains himself and sells directly to the consumer at Farmers Markets!

Just a few steps away from the bus we were introduced to an antique fanner mill. Oats out of the combine are not clean enough to sell. The fanner mill uses agitation, wind and gravity to separate out chaff and weed seeds, small or broken grains, etc. from the nice large oat seeds. 

Next we checked out a stationary tandem bicycle which powers a stone mill for grinding flour. In the spring a group of students from Fisher Park enjoyed milling flour. However, Devonshire's grade's were a wee bit too small to reach the pedals, so their teachers and parent volunteers had to get to work instead!

The adults pedalled while the students cheered for enough flour to make brownies: “Gingerbread! Gingerbread!” This is surprisingly hard work, and it takes a long time to get any amount of flour!

Then we got to meet some of the non-human characters on the farm, namely a workhorse, a pony and a pretty Brown Swiss Cow. We got up close and personal with the hens too, going into the henhouse to nab an egg or two! Students were very creative in naming their eggs: Sunny, Eggdar (instead of Edgar), etc. During this time, the students became aware that there was poop everywhere. So they were let loose on a field of fall planted spelt to see what poop they could find. What a perfect entry point for discussing crop diversity, crop rotations, keeping soil covered over winter and mixing livestock with crops!

The field had been planted in September, and the horses, cows and chickens were allowed to graze on the new growth, giving them a little extra pasture in the late fall. In turn, the animals help fertilize the field with their poop. George showed us how wherever there were horse apples and cow pies, the spelt was long and green, compared to everywhere else. This is not from fertilizing....George was showing how the animals are intelligent enough to know not too eat near where they have defecated. 

Finally, we visited the pigs and threw them some wild apples – to the pigs’ and the students’ delight. George explained how he carefully chose his breed of pigs, English Large Black pigs, because they are hardy, docile and good rooters. The pigs (about 15 sows and their litters) had been on about 10 acres of pasture all year. Amazingly, there was hardly a single blade of grass left! The pigs had completely cleaned the field, while dropping their manure, and even rooting up a ton of stones for George to pick out. The field is virtually ready for next year’s crop and George has hardly had to touch it! The teachers and parents collected about 30 pounds of rolled oats and freshly milled Red Fife wheat flour. The students will use this to make bread to accompany the soup made from carrots and potatoes the rest of Devonshire’s grade threes were buying during their visit to Roots and Shoots farm at the same time. 

Thanks again, George, for being such a good host for these students. I can tell, you’re a child at heart too!

Black Raspberry Vinaigrette

Increased awareness of how organic fruits are produced wasn't the only thing students took away from Hildebrand Farms last month. They purchased some organic black raspberries and as part of Growing Up Organic's Farm-Gate Café program, participated in a follow-up cooking workshop this week.

With the help of Jessica McLeod, a Registered Dietitian who works at the Seaway Valley Community Health Centre, students crafted their own healthy black raspberry vinaigrette.

Un nouveau potager pédagogique à Crysler!

L'école élémentaire catholique Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire est la première école à construire un potager pédagogique en partenariat avec Grandir BIO en Stormont, Dundas et Glengarry!

Au printemps, ce potager sera utilisé comme outil d'apprentissage, principalement en cours de sciences. L'équipe de jardin à Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire (ce qui inclut des parents, une enseignante, le directeur et un membre du Centre de santé communautaire de l'Estrie) ont décidé de construire le potager cet automne afin d'être prêt à semer au début du printemps.

En utilisant des matériaux de construction offerts à l'école gratuitement ou avec une réduction par les entreprises locales, tous les élèves de l'école ont participé au projet de construction le 8 novembre 2013. Avec l'aide des parents bénévoles, les élèves du 4e, 5e, et 6e année ont construit les bacs de jardin. Comme il faisait froid dehors, cela était accompli au gymnase. Les adultes ont sorti les bacs à la cour d'école et les élèves de la maternelle au 3e sont venus aider les adultes à remplir les bacs avec le sol. En environ deux heures, un coin du cour était transformé. Merci à tous ceux qui ont aidé à construire cette formidable outil pour l'apprentissage et la sensibilisation à l'alimentation saine!

Pour en savoir plus au sujet de l'approche intégrée offerte par un potager pédagogique pour l'enseignement de l’éducation environnementale, veuillez nous contacter.

Devonshire visits Roots and Shoots

Early last Wednesday morning, Devonshire Grade 3 students braved the grey November skies and headed South of Ottawa to visit Roots and Shoots Organic vegetable farm. Once on the we met Robin Turner, the organic farmer himself, and Danny, one of his employees. Robin wanted the uniqueness of Roots and Shoots to sink in, so we started by playing a game, learning about the "Global Industrial" food system versus the "Local Sustainable" food system.

Danny then took us on a small tour, showing us one of Roots and Shoots' large greenhouses. Swiss chard, spinach and dinosaur kale were all happily growing away and to our surprise, Danny and Robin can harvest these greens well into December, all thanks to the heat of the sun captured by the greenhouse!

We then headed to the fields where the last potatoes of the season were waiting for us to be harvested. 

In no time at all we had buckets and buckets!

Before leaving the farm, we loaded up a 50 lb bag of carrots to bring back to school. We thought about the average carrot and it's journey from farm to plate and how different it was from the organic carrots from Roots and Shoots. The carrots we were bringing back to Devonshire were grown without pesticides or other dangerous chemicals and were grown with care not a twenty minute drive from where they would be eaten. Roots and Shoots also sells directly to its customers - this means Robin gets a fair return for wares and speaks to his customers face-to-face  ...Now we were hungry for carrot soup!

St. Matthew's Visits Hildebrand Farms

On a chilly Friday October 23rd, students from St. Matthew's Catholic Secondary School headed north from Cornwall to visit Hildebrand Farms, a farm with a young orchard and berry farm. Bryan Hildebrand, the farmer, guided students on a tour of the farm, highlighting the business planning that goes into such a project.

In the two and a half acre (roughly one hectare) orchard, Bryan explained that it takes about five years for the trees to begin producing fruit, so it's important to use research and math to estimate the expected yields so that you can plan your business and cash flow. Bryan plans for an estimated five to ten percent of the trees dying off in the first few years of planting. While disease and insect pests pose a threat to trees, Hildebrand Farms also has to protect trees from hungry mice and deer. Plastic covers on each of the tree trunks are put in place each fall to prevent mice from destroying trees over the winter, and a solar powered electric fence protects the 600 trees from deer.

Students were surprised to learn that the plastic around the trunk of the tree prevents mice from damaging the orchard in the winter. "I feel sorry for the mice!" remarked some students – Bryan assured them that there are plenty of other things for the mice to eat on the farm, such as seeds and grasses!

Bryan talked about the need to prune the trees in the orchard, explaining that the trees often look like they have had a haircut. Keeping the tree pruned lets sunlight reach the fruit, and also makes it much easier to pick. Bryan also talked about the need to monitor tree health to address any issues early. For example, black knot requires removing the affected branch (or tree) and burning it.

Hildebrand Farms plans to have a pick-your-own option for raspberries and blueberries, providing a local organic option for families from Cornwall. Bryan explained they are also considering a pick-your-own option for the fruit trees, but that pick-your-own operations in orchards require a bit more supervision by the farmer in order to insure customers know how to pick the fruit without damaging the trees.

Students learned about black raspberries, and were intrigued by the fact that when the raspberry canes grow tall enough, they flop over and root in the soil. 

One of the aspects Bryan highlighted was the degree to which he uses experimentation to expand the business. For example, the blueberries have done well, so they are now expanding that aspect of the farm. On the other hand, in a planting of 36 heartnut trees (students were intrigued to learn that this walnut relative is actually heart shaped!) only three have survived. Bryan explained that he will likely wait until the surviving trees are bigger, and propagate them, in the hopes that the surviving trees are better adapted to local conditions.

In the blueberry field, students took cuttings from the existing plants and helped prepare them for rooting in containers of sand. The completed containers will spend the winter in a cold storage facility (at about refrigerator temperature) and be planted in the spring to increase the size of the blueberry patch.

Students helped select cuttings from the blueberry patch and prepared them to root over the winter. With a little luck, in the spring the cuttings will have developed roots and be planted out in the blueberry field. 

Students left with some black raspberries, which they will transform into a healthy recipe with the help of a local dietician in a follow-up cooking workshop. This innovative part of Growing Up Organic's Farm-Gate Café helps students see the entire farm to plate cycle. For more information about Farm-Gate Cafés or to inquire about organizing one for your class in the spring, please contact the project coordinator or manager for your region.