Happy February!  This is Year 2 here at Swallowtail Farmstead and we have some exciting plans ahead. 

For small-scale market gardeners like us, this month of February is all about seeds. Seed orders that we placed in Dec & Jan are arriving in the mail, old seeds from previous years are being organized and tested for germination rates, field charts are being made as we do our crop planning, two new seedling racks built, our seed starting room (currently our sunroom) is prepared, and seeds are being planted. 

In February, we start our first seeds – the earliest slow-growing flowers, perennials, and slow germinating herbs (e.g. oregano, lavender, thyme), as well onions and leeks.  We also start ginger root and turmeric root, propagated by fresh cuttings, at this early time of year.  Our fridge and freezer have held seed packages for the past few months, as certain seeds (e.g. native grasses and prairie flowers, berry seeds like sea buckthorn and elderberry) need to be“cold stratified” before they can be germinated. 

Seeds are also about community connections.  We joined the Canada Seed Swap, which connected us in a “pod” with 10 other growers across Canada to share our favourite flower & veg seeds through the mail.  We are participating in the Community Grow-Out program, to again grow rare varieties of beans, tomatoes and ground cherries for the Seeds of Diversity seed bank.  Seedy Saturdays are coming up, another way to meet local seed savers, find unique seeds and support Canadian seed companies.  Seedy Saturday in Winnipeg is March (check the Seedy Saturday list here for seedy events across Canada).

February is also a time for finalizing the plans for new infrastructure projects.  Still being fairly new to our farmstead, there seem to be no end of infrastructure needs!  We are designing a simple affordable drip tape irrigation system.  Last year we mainly watered our gardens by hand, hoses, and lucky rainfall, but this is definitely not reliable enough in the long run for vegetable gardens of this scale (especially if we have a dry year!).

We are building a small walk-in cooler / wash & pack station beside our garage, to keep our veggies, flowers and herbs fresh and beautiful for you.  This will hopefully also streamline our vegetable preparation and storage.  In our hoop house we have made counters and shelving to organize our potting supplies, and built a series of racks to hold more 100+ seedling trays that we will have this spring.  Soon the hoop house will be filled with hundreds and hundreds of our seedling babies, which we will diligently care for, and worry about on hot days and cold nights!

We are looking forward to a few more quiet weeks of planning, before the daily seedling tending begins, along with spring!

This morning the sunrise was beautiful, sending long shadows across the sparkling snow covered fields.  On these mid-December days, as we near the very shortest day, our family takes time to reflect on the year.  What has been positive?  What can we let go of?  We dream of new opportunities and make plans for the coming year.  We slowly begin to set things in motion. 

When the situations in the world seem despairing, planting seeds is a good place to find some hope.  In this newsletter we share a few previews of new projects we are planning for 2024.  We are planting more flowers.  And lots of greens.  And more veggies too!  We hope to have seedlings ready for your gardens this spring, so you can plant more too. 

We believe that growing food is important work.  The seeds we choose, the soil we are building, the way the plants are cared for, the larger ecosystems we are tending, the community that comes together over shared food.  What our family eats is important.  What you eat is important.  And this work of growing food feeds our minds and spirits too, that is important as well.

We hope our small farmstead can nourish you in both body and soul.  We plan to offer some new opportunities for you to come out to the farm in 2024.  Not everyone has a garden, or time to grow food, but we hope we can share what we are growing with you. If you are able, we invite you to come experience our small farmstead as a place to slow down, breathe deeply, and be nourished by the land.

Joining our CSA guarantees you will eat delicious and ultra-fresh vegetables every week, and reduces your ecological footprint.  Come tour our cut flower and culinary herb gardens and take home a bouquet.  Drop by our weekend farm stand to load up on veggies and other locally made goods.  Participate in a workshop, and meet other people in the community while learning new skills together.  Maybe help us build a cob oven and learn about using natural materials to create structures that are functional and beautiful.   Take part in a fall farm dinner to celebrate the bounty.

Thank you for your support during our first farm season, and we look forward to feeding you in a myriad of ways in the coming year.

- Karin, Greg, Maya & Finley at Swallowtail Farmstead