canadian organic grower magazine sample fall 2012

Fall 2012

Our Nature is Organic

Canadian Organic GrowersCOGCultivons Biologique Canada

TM

Winter is on its way... Dealing with FrostYear Round Cold FramesGrowing Garlic in the North

Herd & Flock Health–Preventing Problems!

magazine.cog.ca

The Canadian Organic Growerwww.cog.ca

2 – Fall 2012

Our Nature is Organicwww.cog.caFall 2012 – 3

Canadian Organic Grower

FEATURESDEPARTMENTS

Editor’s Corner ..................... 4

A fond farewell

Letter to the Editor ............... 5

In memory of ... ...................12

COG Publications ................22

Classifieds ........................... 29

Worm’s Eye View .................30

Garlic growing in the Yukon .......................................6

Yes, it can be done, according to Ruth Lera who has developed

a system through trial and error at her home in Whitehorse.

A year in the life of my cold frames ..........................10

Niki Jabbour describes when and how her cold frames are

put to best use throughout the year.

The snake eats its tail .................................................13

By Jordan Marr: Six alumni of Canadian farm internships

reflect on hosting interns themselves.

Herd and flock health ................................................18

Dr. Ryan Ridgway shows how working with your veterinarian

can help maximize profits.

Dealing with frost .......................................................24

Dr. Ed Brotak explains the impact frost and freezing can have on

your crops and what you can do to minimize the damage.

The

New & Exciting News!

After many months of hard work, we’re pleased

to announce that The Canadian Organic

Grower (TCOG) is now online!

You will now be able to search for your favour-

ite articles and authors easily, comment, and share

them with others. Please take a look, bookmark,

and help us get the word out: magazine.cog.ca

now receive the full TCOG as an e-magazine!

We appreciate every supporter—no matter

what the amount donated—and our e-magazine

is a perfect way to give back.

For those donors who would like receive the

hard editions, COG is charging $18/yr (+HST)

for three issues to cover printing and postage.

It is important to note that we will be eliminat-

ing the summer issue for 2013, which we realize

is a busy time for most of you and that you aren’t

getting a lot of free time to read! It’s also a way for

COG to cut some costs and put more resources

into our meaningful charitable work.

New COG logo

Finally, we are thrilled to announce our new COG

logo. This simplified look is meant to reflect the

diversity of our supporters and champions, those

who are growers, as well as eaters, parents, gar-

deners and more.

If you have any questions about these changes,

or matters relating to COG and the magazine,

contact us at [email protected] or 613-216-0741.

This project was funded with help from the

Organic Sector Development Program (Agricul-

ture and Agri-Food Canada through the Cana-

dian Agriculture Adaption Program).

E-magazine update

Starting with this issue, all donors to COG will


10 – Fall 2012

Late Winter

The first seeding of the year begins in mid- to late

February when the harshest part of winter has passed

and the amount of daylight is steadily increasing. At

this time, I scratch some compost or worm manure

into the top few inches of soil and seed any empty

areas of the frames with bunching onions, spinach,

arugula, tatsoi, endive, mâche and other cold toler-

ant salad greens. At this point, we’re still harvesting

from the clumps of thyme and parsley that I planted

in the cold frames back in September. With a bit of

shredded leaves or straw tucked around the crowns

for insulation, these hardy herbs winter over quite

well.

Spring

As the weeks progress into March and spring beck-

ons, we sow seed of more cold-tolerant vegetables into

the shelter of the frames—hardy lettuces, pak choi

and mizuna, for example. All of these plantings will

provide salads just in time for Easter. Even a few po-

tatoes can be tucked into the frames for a late May

harvest of tender tubers.

Many gardeners use their cold frames as early

spring seeding beds to start vegetables that will even-

tually be moved into the garden. I prefer to start my

seedlings indoors under my grow lights and use the

frames for late-winter / early-spring vegetable pro-

duction. A lovely variety of hardy and semi-hardy

crops thrive within the simple shelter of the wooden

frames and caring for the young plants requires mini-

mal work.

A YEAR IN THE LIFE

Summer

We continue to harvest through April and May, and

once the baby potatoes are dug in late May, the cold

frames are taken out of production for two months.

June and July are allocated for soil building; this is

when we incorporate generous amounts of chopped

leaves and 3 to 4 inches of our homemade compost.

It’s crawling with worms, which will happily break

down the shredded leaves. If the soil pH has dropped,

I add powdered lime. We also seed a quick growing

green manure crop, which we’ll dig under after about

6 weeks, to boost soil health.

In early August, it’s time to start thinking about

fall and winter crops. I begin the process by trans-

OF MY COLD FRAMES

Excerpt from The Year Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour. Published by

Storey Publishing.

A few potatoes can be tucked

into the frames for a late May

harvest of tender tubers.


planting several dozen leek seed-

lings at the back of one of the

frames. This slow-growing mem-

ber of the onion family is an es-

sential ingredient in autumn and

winter soups, and is so cold toler-

ant that it can be harvested from

the cold frames all winter long.

We also sow seed for the winter

carrots in the ‘carrot cold frame’

during the first and second week

of August. We eat so many carrots

that we dedicate an entire cold

frame to carrot production, and

it’s still hard to grow enough of

them. As the temperatures drop in

late autumn, the long roots get

sweeter and sweeter; everyone in

our family loves them. In late De-

cember, I add a 6-inch layer of

straw or shredded leaves to the

carrot frame to further insulate

the crop.

August is also a good time to

make sure that I have enough seed

for all of the hardy salad crops that

we like to grow. If not, a last-

minute order goes out to our fa-

vourite seed companies. Once the

summer heat has ended and the

nights are cooler, I also move sev-

eral mature parsley and thyme

plants from the garden into the

inside corners of the frames. Pars-

ley isn’t so fond of being moved

and it starts to wilt within minutes.

After about a week, though, new

sprouts emerge from the centers

of the plants.

Fall

In late August and early Septem-

ber, winter lettuces, mâche,

claytonia, endive, tatsoi, pak choi,

spinach, Swiss chard and bunch-

ing onions are direct seeded or

transplanted into the frames. If

the summer is hot and dry, I of-

ten start many of these indoors

under my grow lights to boost ger-

mination rates and decrease the

amount of watering that direct-

seeding in the frames requires.

The August and early-Septem-

ber plantings will need to be wa-

tered every few days if there has

been no rain. At this point, the lids

of the frames are left open to the

elements and won’t have to be

closed until the hard fall frosts

threaten, around mid-October.

Because deer and rabbits can be a

problem, I keep some sheets of

chicken wire or concrete reinforc-

ing mesh handy to cover the tops

of the frames. The mesh will dis-

courage the deer from munching

on the maturing carrots and salad

greens.

At the end of September, all the

crops for fall and winter have been

seeded or transplanted into

the cold frames. I continue to

water if the soil is dry, and once

the night temperatures begin

dropping to 4O

C, I start clos-

ing the sashes in the early

evening. I still open the frames

in the morning—all the way if

the temperatures are mild

(8O

C), or only partially if they

are cooler.

Winter

Once the cold weather of late

October arrives, the frames are

closed every night and vented

during the day. We surround

the north side of each frame

with bags of shredded leaves or

bales of straw—we typically

rake about 40 to 50 bags of

shredded leaves each autumn,

eventually composting or dig-

ging them into the garden

beds.

Come December, it’s time

to think about snow removal.

After a storm, we lightly brush

or shovel the snow from the

tops of the frames with a broom

or push shovel. On extremely cold

nights we toss an old carpet over

the sashes, but remove it by mid-

morning the next day to allow the

solar energy to warm the frames.

If a deep freeze is forecast to last

for a few days, the extra insulation

(even a layer of snow) is left in

place until it passes.

At this point, all is tucked in for

the winter, and whenever we want

a fresh salad, some aromatic herbs

or snips of fresh green onions for

omelets, we put on our winter

boots and trudge up to the frozen

garden, knowing that when we lift

the sashes of the cold frames, we’ll

be greeted by the scents and sights

of spring.

TCOG


12 – Fall 2012

John Wilcox of Duck Creek Farm,

Salt Spring Island, B.C.

In the month of June 2012, we lost two pas-

sionate organic farmers—one on the West

Coast and the other on the East Coast. Each man

provided tremendous inspiration to aspiring

growers, fellow farmers, community members,

policy makers, and all who had the privilege to

exchange words and ideas with them.

COG recognizes the tremendous contributions

of John Wilcox and Clark Phillips within our or-

ganic community and we extend our condolences

to their family and friends—they are deeply

missed.

A commemoration to each of these men is at

http://magazine.cog.ca/remembering-johnwilcox/

and http://magazine.cog.ca/clark-phillips/

IN MEMORY OF ...

Clark Phillips of Whaelghinbran Farm, N.B.

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30 – Fall 2012

One step forward and

two back

In my early career I was fortunate

to spend some time in Egypt. This

extraordinary country is, as every-

one knows, the Child of the Nile.

The longest river in the world

flows through the biggest hot

desert in the world, and for thou-

sands of years it has carried silt

from the heart of Africa. Every

year the river flooded, spreading

fertile silt into the surrounding

desert, and creating at its mouth

a gigantic delta. Very early in his-

tory, farmers learned how to han-

dle the floods, creating irrigation

channels and dams. Egypt became

a great empire because of the im-

mense amount of food that could

be grown due to this natural irri-

gation and fertilization. Every

farmer could grow three times as

much food as he needed for his

own family, so it was easy to feed

the thousands of workers needed

to build the pyramids and other

great monuments. In the course

of history, the Roman Empire

arose and Egypt became a Roman

province (the last pharaoh was

Cleopatra). Egypt became the

“breadbasket of Rome,” sending

great quantities of wheat and many

other foodstuffs to the new em-

pire.

Now let’s move to the modern

era, with all the wonderful im-

provements that science has

brought. The first major change

to the shape of Egypt came in the

1960s, when the crazy Cold War

was raging between the USA and

the Soviet Union, and Egypt’s

canny president Nasser was play-

ing the two sides off against each

other, asking them to help build a

WORM’S EYE VIEW

TCOG

by Robin Guard

great dam across the Nile. The

Russians were the successful bid-

der and constructed the great As-

wan Dam.

To this day controversy rages

about this dam, as it does about

many others throughout the

world. Is it a good thing or not? It

produces electricity, and certainly

electric light is a genuine modern

blessing. But the main object, in

man’s tireless efforts to control

nature, was to regulate the flow of

the Nile, which previously often

flooded too much or too little. The

dam has created a gigantic lake

behind it (Lake Nasser), and the

silt that used to fertilize Egypt is

now being deposited uselessly in

the bottom of the lake.

So, is Egypt the great exporter

of food that it once was? Well,

hardly. In the 1960s, when the

dam was being built, Egypt was

self-sufficient for food. But by

2008, the people were starving;

serious food riots were convulsing

the country, which is now the

world’s largest importer of wheat. The

reason for this is not primarily the

change brought about by the dam,

but much more by a new policy

introduced by the IMF in the

1990s, which transformed Egypt’s

farming sector from domestic sup-

plier to competitive exporter.

Farmers had no say in the decision,

because their unions were banned

under the dictatorship, whose

policy was steered by the US

Agency for International Develop-

ment. Travel through the great

delta today and you will see mega-

farms producing exotic fruit for

export to Europe, irrigated by wa-

ter diverted from the original

fields and consuming vast quan-

tities of artificial fertilizer. You can

be sure that the people who actu-

ally work on the land do not see

much of the money that these

farms earn.

Egypt today is still under a mili-

tary dictatorship, which has ar-

rested the Minister for Agriculture

for corruption, and which claims

to be preparing the country for a

move to a democracy, like many

other Arab countries. Unfortu-

nately, a move to democracy does

not necessarily mean a move to a

sane way of living. Egypt’s recent

history is just one of many horror

stories from the developing world.

Forests in Africa and South

America are still being cleared to

make room for crops like soya and

palm oil, destined to satisfy the

West’s demand for cheap beef. A

handful of giant agri-businesses is

behind most of these projects, and

national governments everywhere

see no reason to control them. Gov-

ernments do not want to rock the

boat, because the system works; it

enables hamburgers to be sold at

a ridiculously cheap price. And,

what can be better than to settle

down in front of the TV with a

double burger?

The Roman emperors found

that the best way to control the

masses was to give them “bread

and circuses” – in other words,

cheap food and mindless enter-

tainment – and it doesn’t seem as

if things have changed all that

much.

It was easy to feed the

thousands of workers

needed to build the

pyramids.


32 – Fall 2012

The Canadian Organic Grower

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