The Acadia Community Farm

Well we certainly can’t complain about drought now can we.  The thing about  our clay soil is that if it is dry, it is as hard as bricks however if  it is wet it is a a mucky mess.   I had  a few photos of some of the plots in the garden this year but sadly my camera has finally ‘shuttered and died’ . It is lovely to see the flowers that some have added and some of the interesting designs and structures that some are using so come down to the garden and see them for yourself!

We have two more workshops coming up! Alex Redfield who co-founded the garden with his partner Hillary is doing a tool workshop at the farm on Sunday Aug. 21th at 4pm. Alex will be bringing some examples of tools as we await our tool order. Fingers crossed that our order will be here but either way we will have an fun and interesting session with them!

Because of this we will not have our regular work session and instead we will follow the workshop with a potluck dinner! So dig out your favourite picnic recipe, blanket or chairs and join us at 4pm down at the garden!

This evening we are harvesting for Food Bank. This is our second harvest as Food Bank is bi-weekly. This  season hasn’t been stellar weather-wise for crops but we are picking kale, beets and greens, some peas and sugar snap and we will see what else might have come along in the past few days. Tonight we will also be harvesting our first crop of garlic!! This is exciting and we are looking forward to seeing just what has been happening down there underground.

We have also had our first harvest and delivery to Chartwells on campus. This will certainly pick up once students return next month.

Also we have the upcoming Seed Saving and Sustainabilty workshop with Owen Bridge on Wednesday September 28th at 6pm. We will meet at the farm weather permitting where Owen will conduct his seed saving workshop. From there we will be going indoors  to view the film ” The Seed Hunter”  a documentary about Dr. Ken Street and his team of ‘gene detectives ‘ on a global search for ancient seeds.

Stay tuned for more details to follow!

The Acadia Community Farm working committee: (left to right) Kira McLean, Mike Belyea, Jake Munroe, Emily Walker, Libby Vervaeke, Dewey Dunnington, Liesel Carlsson. Missing: Jodie Noiles

Well maybe not down on the farm but things are certainly growing! After a delayed start and some unusual pest problems the plants are really taking off. We had are first ‘harvest’ last night…7 big radishes! It is terrific  to see how the individual plots are thriving and you feel the excitement of the gardeners as they come down and discover something else coming up or blossoming in their plot.

We want to extend our sincerest appreciation to Linda Best of Friends of N.S. Agriculture and all her efforts in the April Flavours food and fundraising event. Linda has been a great supporter of the ACF and this year we received a very generous donation of $1000.00 from April Flavours! Again our thanks to Linda and all of those who made this such a successful event.

We are also excited to welcome our two Katimivik volunteers ! We will have further introductions in the days ahead. The volunteers will be working at both the Irving Centre and the ACF for the next six months so we are very grateful for this much needed assistance.

We are continuing our work sessions on the farm portion of the garden every Wednesday evenings from 6 – 8 and Sunday mornings from 10 – 12. Of course if you are down at the garden we encourage weeding and watering at anytime!

Once again another beautiful evening in the garden! Our regular weekly work session on the farm portion of  the garden  ‘produced’ four new beds, mounds of squash and zucchini , weeding, watering and lots of seeding!

As well it was a delightful surprise to open up the shed and see the garden gnomes had tidied and organized. Who knew we had that much space. We can now enter and exit without having to back out! Thank you very much folks. We are most grateful to have these tasks that   “need-to-be-taken-care of “- but never make it to the priority list. It makes such a difference.

We also have a few new plot holders come out last night.  A very hearty welcome to all of you!

Our next work session is Sunday and we can really use as many hands as possible to  get these transplants in their beds. They are getting very ‘weary’ in the greenhouse and need to settle into to bed now. If knees and backs are challenged there is always watering  and straw spreading too. We are also planning a potluck picnic prior to our Wednesday night work session next week.  It is a great time to get to know each other and not have to try to make a meal when you return home in the evening.  Arrive at 5:30 and then we can start to work at 6:00. Simply bring a simple dish to share along with your plate and utensils. All are invited

Here are a few photos from the evening to enjoy