Strawberries and peas are fantastic

Our strawberry and pea crop is now abundant, picking is easy and the flavour is great.  We will be open daily with fresh picked and pick your own strawberries and peas.  We will have berries for the Tuesday, July 1st Canada Day holiday and will be open 9 - 5

Our activities are expanding, the tricycle track will be up and running this weekend.  Come on out for a nice relaxing time in the country.  

We've started to bake our pies and cookies.  This year we are making a cookie ice cream sandwich, mmmm...

Raspberries have arrived

Heat and humidity - the weather related to raspberries.  The sultry days of summer are progressing and June bearing strawberries are done making way for raspberries to take center stage.  Time to make jam so that you can preserve the great taste of summer for winter.  We also have a limited supply of our own black currents.  Cherries, plums, blueberries are here as well.

Each week there is a greater selection of Ontario grown fruits and vegetables.
We began picking our green and yellow beans today in Markham and they are available for pick your own as well.

Our zucchini (they grow fast so we'll have some big ones in the market soon) is fresh picked and waiting to be taken home to the BBQ.  Get some peas, sweet and sugar snap, before they are done - they don't like this heat.

SWEET CORN BEGINS MONDAY JULY 15th.  Mmmmm... keenly anticipated - peaches and cream sweet corn is begining, fresh picked.

Summer and the Farm changes with the seasons

The seasonal changes can be seen in our market with the variety of fruits and vegetables available.  Variety is the spice of life.

Strawberries are in their last week but raspberries, cherries and blueberries are coming in. Peas are at their peak - sweet and sugar snap are bountiful right now.  Beans are just beginning as is sweet corn.

Soon the market will be jammed with an amazing selection of Ontario grown produce.  Foodland Ontario has a good chart to help guide you through the seasons of availability and we have it in our market.  Ask for one, they are a handy resource.

New in our market is SHELDON CREEK DAIRY milk and yogurt. Check out their website at www.sheldoncreekdairy.ca  We have two new dairy calves for you to visit, they arrived last week. Gingersnap is a red Holstein and Biscotti is a black and white holstein.  Seems we have a cookie theme going with our calves as they join Oreo as part of our farm family.

We're busy at Greenbank with the summer crops.  Tomatoes have been staked and tied (backbreaking but it got done) and we're trying to keep up with the weeds.  This weather is phenomenal.

Had enough rain yet?

Strawberries- The sweet taste of summer

Long anticipated, a little late to arrive - strawberries are here!!!

We have fresh picked Ontario strawberries available in our Markham Farm Market now.  They took their time - the cooler, wetter weather causing the delay.  The berries are looking good and are consistently more plentiful although I would  recommend jam makers waiting a week till we have enough to sell by flats at a decent price.
New this year is vanilla pound cake - just what you need to enjoy a light berry dessert.

Our pick your own at our Greenbank Farm will be sometime next week.  We will keep you posted.  Our pea crop looks fantastic and we should have a good supply in a few days.  We will have pick your own peas in Greenbank along with the strawberries.

Strawberries are not the only Ontario grown produce to begin - the new crop of potatoes is now in our market along with lettuce, spinach, and garlic mmm.....

Eating from Ontario grown just keeps getting better.  Keep watch for more fruits and vegetables to come.

SWEET CORN IS HERE!!!!!!!!

It is Awesome in name and flavour. Awesome is a gourmet sweet, peaches and cream corn that is a nice combination of sweetness and corn flavour. With proper refridgeration it should stay sweet for a few days. For optimal flavour it is still best to only get what you can eat that day. Currently the corn is from Tillsonburg (southwest Ontario) and as the season progresses in a couple of weeks it will be from our area. PEACHES should also be headlined. With the hot weather I am finding they are sweeeeeeter than usual. This is turning out to be a very sweet posting. I love this time of year for eating as there is a nice selection of berries (yes we still have a few raspberries, don't delay) and tree fruits such as peaches and plums, nectarines and apricots should be in soon. The potatoes are sweet, the carrots, FIELD TOMATOES HAVE STARTED,and they're sweet. The list goes on. Pick your own beans from the field here in Markham, looks like some peas may be ready in the field soon. OUR SPRING BLOSSOM HONEY IS ARRIVING TODAY. Eagerly anticipated and not to be missed the first harvest of the season from our bee hives is coming into the market today. Relish the season - There is an abundance of cucumbers and zucchinis from our fields right now and NOW is the time to make your relish. Don't wait till you feel like it because these crops are fickle and may not be available when you want them. ACT NOW and you'll be glad this winter as you enjoy the taste of the summer harvest in a jar. With the cooler weather here for a few days come on out to the farm. ENJOY THE SWEETNESS OF SUMMER AND THE FUN. Who knows how long before the next heat alert.

Strawberries are here and Sweet Peas too

Well, we actually started picking a week ago and opened our pick your own here in Greenbank on the 21st. Getting the berries into the market and getting set up for pick your own wiped away any thought of blogging about them.
My apologies.

We have an amazing crop of strawberries this year. There was no late frost so we were able to harvest our Wendy variety. Today we started picking Jewels, a nice sweet berry with a bit lighter red colouring than the Cavendish.

The rainy weather has put a damper on the pick your own but we've been slogging through and remained open here in Greenbank in spite of the weather. Sunday looks like a good weather forecast so we expect to be busy. Our season will extend another week at least and possibly two more. These cool nights slow down the ripening so they're not all ready at once. That's a good thing.

We've got lot's of fresh picked berries in Markham.

The sweet peas are available for pick your own in Greenbank now and our patch in Markham will be starting by the long weekend. They're sweet, sweet, sweet ....

Let's hope that next week's weather will be kinder to the pickers. Hope to see you soon.