Sept 2023. A very wet summer, but most of the garden has done remarkably well, and the apple orchare is producing great apples from the disease resistant trees. Last year we lost all our pear trees and some non resistant apples and cherries due to fireblight infection.
August 12, 2022. The garden is now producing several goodies, but not quite sweet corn yet. I am surprised that some of the apple trees have fruit ready now. Come check.
Jan 10,2022 It’s 20 below zero Fahrenheit and our Beefalo cows are happily eating their hay. In winter we put round bales of hay harvested last summer in the garden. Our Beefalo cows eat any left ver garden plants and hay and drop their “fertility” (recycled hay) to help grow next year’s crops.
I’m glad we have a well insulated 1850’s, totally rebuilt inside ourselves, warm very large historic house. We heat mainly with a large Amish Pioneer Maid wood fired cook stove. (See George’s Inventions under SITE CONTENTS for new window technology).
End of season 2021. We now have just a few things left in the garden growing: celeriac, kale, turnips, and some broccoli. It’s about time to let the cows in and finish eating the garden and fertilizing it for next season.
It has been a very dry (drought ) summer, but just enough rain and underground water due to our many self made ponds to make a very bountiful harvest this year. And the apples in the orchard are very plentiful and large. Thanks to info from a couple of different WWOOFers, one from Mexico and one from Montreal who told us more about sticky traps, we used no sprays of any kind. We also used beneficial nematodes last fall to munch up grubs in the soil.
Boy time goes fast. Now it’s Aug20, 2021
We have started our U-PIC Anytime garden/orchard operation going. Ready are:
Yellow Tranparent and Norland apples, blueberries
broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, string beans
In a week or so there will be tomatillos, mellons, sweet corn and more.
Not a garden /orchard product, but we should have Golden Retirever puppys again this Fall.
Feb 2021 It’s been a while since adding to this page, so here is an update. Our Beefalo cows have finished eating up anything left in the garden. John brought round hay bales into the garden to feed the cows during the winter.
We were unlucky enough to get Fireblight in our orchard. It will kill apple and pear trees if the infected wood is not removed . Luckily a WWOOFer, Marco from Mexico is visiting and has trimmed our trees, some very drastically, and we are burning the branches. He has a 4 year degree in Ag. He also has helped us build an ice house to store ice like they did 100 years ago.
Another tragic bit for 2020, our potatoes which we have raised and planted for over 25 years were devastated by potato bugs, and a replanting in July in another valley on our farm that were growing bug free were eaten by deer. So we have just very small potatoes from this yellow potato that we loved, which we have to save for seeding future potato crops.
However, the rest of the garden did great, and we put lots of produce away for the winter.
Dec 5, 2019
Now our Beefalo cows are finishing eating up anything left in the garden. John is also bringing round hay bales into the garden to feed them as they wish during the winter.
Mixed up manure, bits of hay and dirt next spring makes nutrients for our wonderful nutritious organically grown vegetables next summer.
Come be a drivein/flyin “U PICKer” in a beautiful private surrounding, some have called it “the GARDEN OF EDEN”. It’s easy: pick, check item price on chart, weigh, and put money in box.
Sept 27, 2019
There is still lots to pick from the garden. It is a good year this year. One new drive-in U-PIC customer said they have now found “THE GARDEN OF EDEN”.
While the pears are mostly gone, we are into apple picking and cider making. There are several varieties for you to choose from. One of my favorites ripe now is Richileau. Golden Spice is a crisp apple that has a unique taste and a thin skin. Liberty is ready too, and some of the numbered varieties that are Cornell University disease resistant research apples.
We are into picking our third planting of sweet corn now. We have had several corn boils doing about 4 dozen at a time in our wood fired barrel stove with its big stainless steel pot. We then eat a bunch of yummy corn off of the ears. When cool we and remove the rest of the corn kernels from their cobs, bag it and freeze it. It makes great corn fritters, great corn as a side dish, etc. during the winter.
We have dug most of our potatoes and put them in bags and then into our underground food storage where ground heat keeps them from freezing no matter how cold it is outside.
Aug 26, 2019
The first sweet corn is now ready as are pears, some melons, and most everything else.
U-Pick’ers are coming regularly, both drive-in and one fly- in so far, and are very happy. It seems out combination of organic growing methods and our combination of rock/soil types lead to exceptionally good tasting veggies and fruits.
Aug 8, 2019
Broccoli, tomatoes and many other veggies are becoming deliciously ripe. Several varieties of pears wioll ripen soon as will summer apples like YELLOW TRANSPARENT.
Good news for US U-PIC cuustomers, as long as we label your stuff as grown in Canada, it is legal to enter the US.
“Most vegetables grown in Canada or the United States are allowed if origin is clearly LABELED.
Tomatoes and peppers are allowed only if LABELED as USA grown. All other tomatoes and peppers are prohibited. Garlic, chives, green onions, scallions, shallots and leeks are prohibited from Canada. Potatoes are allowed only if commercially packaged and LABELED origin USA or Canada. Corn on the cob is allowed only if it is inspected by a Customs Agriculture Specialist.
Please remember that LABELING is required to determine ANY vegetable admissibility.
Fruits grown in Canada or the United States are allowed if origin is clearly LABELED.
! IMPORTANT! When entering the United States, ALL TRAVELERS must inform U.S. Officers of ALL fruits, vegetables, plants, plant products, meats, animal products, and live animals, regardless of whether they are allowed. Failure to declare may result in penalties (fines) of $300 or more.”
July 27, 2019
Raspberries and blueberries are beginning to be ripe.
August 20, 2018
Wow what a few days makes! The first of our sweet corn is now ready-super yummy and delicious and if the raccoons don’t get in, we will have it for at least a month according to our planting spacing of 2 weeks between 3 successive plantings. We even had a call from a neighbour who lost all their corn to raccoons and wants to buy ours wholesale so they have some to sell. So far our triple electric fence wire seems to be holding those critters at bay.
August 15, 2018
We are winding up our raspberry season but there are still blueberries. Broccoli and cauliflowers are abundant. Red cabbages are heading up and corn will be ready in a week. Tomatoes are starting with the Sun Golds, Juilets will follow shortly then the paste tomatoes and the beefsteaks. New potatoes are starting, beets are looking great. We have some herbs cilantro, dill and fennel this year. Melons are sizing up now about 8″ in diameter, but not ready yet, onions have a ways to go also. Peppers are slow to start this year.
We have a new garden shed.
Basic shed:
Finished garden shed with entrance gate to orchard/garden. The garden shed has a scale and price list on the counter. Availability is updated regularly. The shed is located right before the garden gate as seen below.:
Two weeks ago the wood for this garden shed building were trees still growing in our woods. The trees were cut, logs hauled out to our saw mill, Tamarack logs cut into 6×6 posts and spruce and fir logs cut into planks and boards, and this building built with used roofing metal for siding, and a saved outside door unit someone previously discarded, used for an entrance.
On the left of this next picture, Bodacious sweet corn is about a week away from picking and our own variety of yellow potato plants are beginning to grow potatoes underground. Two years ago we hosted a fun potato peeling party. I got up early, cooked on our wood stove and our other stoves, mashed, and supplied 350 pounds of mashed potatoes for the free US Thanksgiving dinner in Derby, VT.
Last night our WWOOFer from Taiwan mentioned how sweet and fluffy our mashed potatoes were. Our potatoes are truly great any way you fix them. I guess it is just luck that we developed this variety.
Broccoli in foreground, red cabbage, fennel, tomatoes and corn in background.
Time goes by fast. Its now July 19, 2018.
We have now gone through planting seeds in the greenhouse, transplanting them in the U-PIC any time garden, along with our special yellow potatoes saved each year for the last 25 years that are good for all processes, and three plantings of sweet corn- all hand weeded, and many other annual crops. This year we hope three rows of electric fence wire spaced about 5 inches apart will keep the raccoons out.
We now have red raspberries. Come pick. Tonie already picked seven gallons, about 1/4 of what’s there.
Blueberries are nearly ready too.
FYI we do regenerative agriculture where we mix manure with chipped wood and brush, and feed our Beefalo cows in the finished garden each year and mix it all in with the dirt in the spring. The woody material sticks to the manure particles and deposits long lasting nourishment into the soil. That’s why our garden grows so well and with our various soil types, our produce tastes better than most.
It is now December, 2017 and the garden is finished for this year, and the cows are eating the plants that were left and fertilizing it for next year.
Well it’s the end of November and the garden is finished except for some hardy broccoli still producing. We went from late summer weather to winter weather over one stormy night with thunder and lightening and strong wind. This is a full month later than last year.
As of Oct 1, 2017 we still have lots of produce available for picking from the garden like broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and more. We thought we would have extensive sweet corn after planting four 150′ rows every two weeks for three plantings, but in spite of a wire fence with small holes at the bottom and the fence bottom buried in the ground, the raccoons have opened up the holes and their army have eaten most of the corn. And the worst of it was all the hundreds of hours of hand weeding wasted. Nature always wins. It is another example of the “99% rule”(check GLEANINGS) in action . Next year it will be electric!!
As of Oct 28. 2016 picking is finished. We have now allowed our cows into the garden to eat what is left and to fertilize the soil for next year.
Our garden and orchard are in a very scenic and spacious part of our property. You will enjoy the natural ambiance. You can ask to see the view from the top of our tower. It’s above the hanger and dance floor.
For some reason the taste of our produce is especially pleasing. Perhaps it is the variety of soils we have here.
Hints for canning and freezing:
When canning, make sure jar, lid and contents are up to boiling temperature and fill jars to about 1/4 inch from rim or closer, but make sure rim is clean when lid is tightened. When cool there will be 1/2 to 3/4 inch space at top and a vacuum sealing the lid so you can remove the screw ring. They will last years since most of the air has been eliminated that was at the top of your product and the air was the only source of bad microbes.
When freezing fill plastic bags with water around contents. Squeeze out extra water from around contents, tie and freeze. Food frozen in a block of ice lasts for years with no freezer burn.
What’s ready for you to pick from our garden and orchard right now:
It is now September. Everything in the garden is now ready to pick. We still have delicious pears. Richelieu and Centennial apples are ready too.
Things have changed a lot in a month. we now have blueberries, raspberries, beans, broccoli, cauliflower (white and purple), some tomatoes, some potatoes, sugar snap peas, garlic, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes and sweet cider from the freezer.
Pears will be ready to pick in a week or two. Our Norland apples should be ready mid August. Centennial and Richileau apples will be ready late August or early Sept. Other disease resistant apples varieties will ripen in following weeks until there is a hard freeze.
Plenty of Bodatious sweet corn will be ready in a week or so, and our own variety of creamy yellow potatoes good for boiling, baking and french fries should be plentiful this year. Cylindra beets, melons, dry beans, broccoli, red onions, and many other veggies will be later.
Baby trout have hatched and are about 1 inch long as of May 6, 2016, and about 2″ long July 9, and about 2 1/2′ as of July 16. The trout have found themselves a nursery off one of our ponds and annually produce about 100 babies.
We still have, sweet delicious cylindra beets from storage last year and frozen sweet apple cyder.
In our greenhouse we started plants from seed for this years garden-red onions, leeks, tomatoes of many sorts, several pepper types, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts. etc. and have transplanted them in the gardens.
As of September 1, 2015 we had:
-pears are ripe and will last only a few days. Come pick now.
-more varieties of apples are ready, among them Richelieu
-red onions, carrots, potatoes, more kinds of squashes plus things mentioned before.
As of August 11, 2015
-from the garden we have string beans, broccoli, brocaflour, sugar snap peas, spaghetti squash, tomatillos, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, and more.
-from the orchard we have YELLOW TRANSPARENT and NORLAND apples.
-Our pears will be ready in the near future and have very little grit. Be sure to check here for the first opportunity to get yours as the season is short and they are the best pears ever. We freeze ours for future “pearcicles” and “smoothys”.
As of Sept 11 most apples are ready too except Wellers StJohn.
Also you can fish for trout in our stocked ponds.
We still have a choice of Golden Retriever pups.
Plane rides possible.
PLEASE CALL 819-876-2528 TO LET US KNOW WHEN YOU WANT TO COME.
Our address is 4945 Stage Road Stanstead East. Stay on the paved road. Button on gate post to open gate. Gate is to keep puppies from running onto road.