Berries and Garlic

We've begun the garlic harvest and the gooseberries are ready, too.  No, we're not going to mix the two, but we will have them both at the Saturday Market July 28th.

Although our garlic is somewhat smaller than usual this year, it is strong and flavourful.  We have an abundance, too; hence, we are selling it fresh and clean, as well as cured.  I like my garlic fresh, for it's a bit sweeter.

The gooseberries, on the other hand, are huge!  The gooseberry lovers will be pleased on Saturday and there are lots of you out there; I know from previous years.

The wood chips the local tree pruners dropped off a few weeks ago are almost used up in the pathways, and they are fragrant and inviting.  In later years, they will break down and feed the soil and I can move the pathways if I wish or dig them out and lay the soil on top of the beds.  Permaculture on the way...

There's still time to plant onions and leeks for the winter, so I'm off to do that now.  Happy gardening.

Growing Galore

Lots growing on South Ridge Farm right now!  Last week was our main harvest of black currants - some went into nice, tart jam, others to the Saturday Market, and the rest in the  freezer for further creations, possibly in the Berry Blast Bars which sell out quickly each Saturday morning.

The gooseberries are prolific this year and soon will be ready.  The zucchinis are tender and sweet, even the larger ones which I tend to use as veggie dippers.  The oats are up and the kamut is tall and strong.  We've been using the rhubarb in our baked goods and it is still growing well in it's somewhat shaded spot.

Winter crops like carrots, beets and broccoli stand 3 to 4 inches and the fall chard is doing well.  The fall favas are standing up well, too.

I'm off to harvest more mint for the Nettle Mint tea and to pick pie cherries after lunch.  I'll pick wild trailing blackberry, too, for the Berry Blast Bars, which due to lack of heat until recently aren't as sweet as usual.  The Wild Raspberries and Thimble berries are very sweet, though, so it all balances.   Eat well!

Stinging Nettles Galore

We harvested many kilograms of stinging nettles for tea yesterday.  The wet, coldish spring and early summer has the nettles flourishing.  The wild rose and honeysuckle petals near their end and that harvest is air drying safely inside - too wet, cloudy and cold for solar drying outside.

Last week we finished packaging big batches of nettle mint tea from the farm's various mints: peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, pineapple mint, chocolate mint - yum!  The boxes of teabags are selling speedily and mail orders abound.  Our customers at the Salt Spring Saturday Market have difficulty choosing between the herbal teas, so some buy all three, the Nettle Chai, Nettle Mint and Happy Heart tea.  All of South Ridge Farm's teas are herbal and of course the star ingredient is stinging nettle, except for the Happy Heart tea.

The wild berries are strong this year: wild strawberries are still producing and the wild raspberry (blackcaps) and wild trailing blackberries have just begun.  Our tame raspberries are the late variety and they won't be ready until September or so - the timing is perfect.  Those blackcaps are sweet and seemingly seedless.  I've made space for them to expand into a hedgerow wall near my King apple and hazelnut/heartnut grove.  This is their third year and they are prolific!

Back to the fall leek, carrot, pea, and broad bean (fava) planting...

New Kamut Crop

Spring planting! I’m excited about the four 25 foot rows of kamut my neighbour Paul (Small Earth organic Farm) helped me plant last week.

Although a little bit compacted under its mulch of maple leaves, the black soil was crumbly and moist - a legacy of chicken pasturing rotation and layering compost beginning six years ago and ending last year. We planted on contoured rows between soaker hoses that irrigate clean water from our black and grey sewage system skillfully engineered through a series of holding tanks and massive sand filter and emitters.

It’s my first grain crop - I want to peek under the floating row cover to see the sprouts but its a few days too soon yet. Back to the stinging nettle and the nootka rose petals harvesting for the Nettle Chai, Nettle Mint and Happy Heart herbal teas.  

On the Farm

Welcome to the farm

South Ridge Farm is a permaculture farm on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada. We craft herbal teas, cookies, cakes, and crackers made with farm produce.  Wild salad mix and assorted vegetables also grace our stand at the Salt Spring Island Saturday Market and the Tuesday Market in the Park.  

We practice organic and permaculture growing methods, such as layering cardboard, vegetable compost, prunings, spoiled hay and shredded paper from our office.  We rake our broad-leaf maple leaves for mulches in the autumn.  During the summer, we use our stored rainwater and our custom engineered septic system water for irrigation. 

Less than seven years ago, our gardens were unnavigable thickets of blackberry sprinkled with poplars and comprised fir trees.  Now nut, plum, apple and pear trees take their places amongst the gooseberries, raspberries, currants, strawberries, blueberries, wild salal, thimbleberries, salmon berries, wild raspberries, wild currants, saskatoon berries, and native trailing blackberries.

To produce our baked goods such as cookies, cakes and crackers, we grind local spelt, wheat and barley grain by bicycle as we need it which allows us to bake with fresh flour and get a great work out at the same time!

Come visit South Ridge Farm in the Saturday and Tuesday Markets on Salt Spring Island!