Ever wondered where your vegetables come from, or what it’s like working on a local farm? At this very moment La Maison Verte worker-member Jessica Vihvelin is learning the hard way by doing it herself. This spring she and three friends started up an organic farm that will deliver Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) baskets to 30 members and two markets in the Ottawa valley. Check Eco Logic often to read her stories and find out how things are cultivating!

End of April

After many months of planning and anticipation and one hectic whirlwind rush out of the city—with papers and exams passed in, boxes packed, goodbyes kissed and hugs given—I've made here. "Here" is a farm, near Cobden, a small and sleepy town tucked away in the beautiful Ottawa River Valley, just an hour northwest of Ottawa. I'm with three great friends and co-farmers, and we've been hard at work getting the season going after a slightly late, post end-of-school start.

Most of the members of the Co-op La Maison Verte should be familiar with the Community Supported Agriculture model, which connects small, organic producers with urban folks who want to know the faces behind their food, and the hands that grow it. By paying in advance for a season’s-worth of vegetables, the consumer gives the producer the capital necessary to run a farm, and the autonomy to do it their own way.

The four of us are working together to bring organically grown produce to two farmers’ markets and 30 CSA members. We are also committed to running the farm co-operatively, through consensus-based decision-making. The procedures and decisions that prelude the final product, we've agreed, are as important as our success in growing organic produce.

Since arriving, attacking the work ahead as a team (and having countless meetings), we've managed to accomplish a fair amount. One afternoon we powered through planting almost 5,000 onion transplants, and have since direct-seeded many rows of beets, carrots, potatoes, and greens. We have also prepared a number of beds for future seeding, using our new rototiller and lots of sweat-power.

This being the first year of this co-operative venture, we have much work to do in order to be ready for our first harvest in mid June. So far we've got the “work room,” located in the newly cleaned out barn basement/ancient pig trough room, in basic working order (though shelves and tables have yet to be constructed and put up). There is a cold-frame (like a greenhouse, but unheated) in a similar, basic working order out next to the garden. There, flats of lettuce and flowers, just seeded, lie underneath oversized glass-paned window frames (recuperated ages ago from an old army base not too far from here). There the seeds will be hotter during the day and cool off less at night, to create an environment promoting germination and seedling growth.

There is lots of excitement about what we are growing, what we are creating together, but also many stresses and frustrations. This being our first year working together, we've yet to have our long working days (of which there are many) unfold as smoothly as possible. We're all a little bit frustrated at times with how much of the day seems to be dominated by talking about what we are doing, and how to best go about executing it. The advantages and disadvantages of how exactly to lay down and secure row cover (like a cloth blanket which runs down the row, keeping the little plants from freezing when frost hits) can be debated for an hour, but when the sun is setting and the black flies are descending, does it really matter so long as it just gets done, and efficiently?

With green shoots pushing out of the heavy clay soil and the first harvest rolling around later this month, I'll be keeping La Maison Verte readers posted about how it’s all going at the farm.

Until next time,
—Jessi