June 2025 FRIEND OR FOE, MORE SOIL, DEFENDING BEEF, BERRIES PROVINCIAL PROFILE: POIGNANT PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND MARSHALL SPREADING WOOD ASH AT FILL YER BOOTS FARM, HANTS COUNTY, NS
JUNE 12 - 14, 2025 Join us at the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede cypressfarmandranchshow.ca | info@cypressfarmandranchshow.ca @CypressFRShow FROM CROPS TO CATTLE Join us for the first Cypress Farm & Ranch Show. It’s the ultimate destination for farmers, ranchers and ag business leaders in Western Canada. Visit exhibits, learn during our speaker series, network, and experience the thrill of the World Professional Chuckwagon Races all in one place! Tickets will be available at the door. Admission is $10 for ages 16+. Youth get in free. Ticket holders for the WPCA Chuckwagon Races get in FREE!
FRIEND OR FOE? I am weighing in on the elephant in the room. News from down south seems so needless and sad, they are living in negativity and meanness, that can’t be healthy. When it gets down to it, there is so much good in our relations and relationships with the U.S. Like many Canadians and particularly those residing close to the Canadian/U.S. border, like my Mom born and bred in Woodstock, N.B., I have many loved-ones in the U.S. Cousins on the east coast and a sister in Salt Lake – the division cuts deep. But when we meet, we are all the same people (even with different politics.) These are people I love and admire for the love and care they give to their families and friends as well as their contributions to their communities. We form a community that defies borders. Johnny’s Selected Seeds have been a long-time supporter of Small Farm Canada. They are located in the State of Maine, very close to the Canadian border. I have met them at shows, been informed by their newsletters and wowed by their seed selection and information packed seed catalogue. They too have been building a community that defies borders. It may be a kindness to others to focus on our communities rather than the powers that be, but most of all it’s a kindness to ourselves to languish in the good. 250 & UNDER Cover photo Fill Yer Boots Farm, Hants County, NS IN THIS ISSUE June 2025 | Vol. 1 Issue 3 8 NOT THE COW BUT THE HOW REVIEW 13 UPCYCLED SEASON- EXTENDING DIY EDITOR Julie Harlow | 1-866-260-7985 ext 272 Julie.Harlow@SmallFarmCanada.ca ADVERTISING SALES 1-866-260-7985 Sales@SmallFarmCanada.ca DESIGN | Andrea Williams CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS Ashleigh Benedict | 1-866-260-7985 x252 Subscriptions@SmallFarmCanada.ca MARKETING & OPERATIONS Denise Faguy | Denise.Faguy@Farms.com PUBLISHER | Farms.com Canada Inc. PRINT: The print magazine for Small Farm Canada is published six times each year by Farms.com Canada Inc. Subscription rate for one year: $24.95 (+tax). Single copy price is $5.95. SUBSCRIBE NOW! DIGITAL: Small Farm Canada Lite is published 6 times each year, tandeming the Small Farm Canada magazine print issues. Contact Info@ SmallFarmCanada.ca for your free subscription. Your privacy is important to us. Occasionally we may send you information from reputable companies whose products or services we believe may be of interest to you. If you would prefer to have your name removed from the list, contact us at Info@SmallFarmCanada.ca. Contents copyrighted by Farms.com Canada Inc. and may be reprinted only with permission. Copyright © 2025 Farms.com Canada Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1710 4955 Acceptance of advertising does not constitute endorsement of the advertiser, its products or services, nor do Small Farm Canada, or Farms.com Canada Inc. endorse any advertiser claims. The publisher shall have no liability for the omission of any scheduled advertising. 90 Woodlawn Road West, Guelph, ON N1H 1B2 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca PROUD TO BE CANADIAN OWNED! We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. Get social with Small Farm Canada IN THE NEXT PRINT ISSUE: JULY/AUGUST 2025 - EDUCATION ISSUE Booking deadline: Friday, June 13, 2025 Ad material due: Friday, June 20, 2025 Our readers think education is important and the opportunities are building. In 2025 we continue building a directory of learning opportunities that are sure to fit the needs of farmers working to scale. We talk about traditional education as well as short courses and on-line apps. Lifelong learning is good for the brain as laughing is for the soul. Here is a link to a story from Johnny’s about terminating cover crops for organic growers. - Julie 5 NEWS & NOTES Saving farmland, good-gut sauerkraut, apple tariffs, Fit to Eat, trial, error and adaptation, through the grapevine. 11 RAINFALL SAVING ESSENTIAL ARTICLE BY DAN KERR Dan provides a “how to” on saving rainfall for garden, pets and more. 16 BERRY DELICIOUS & NUTRITIOUS ARTICLE BY HELEN LAMMERS-HELPS Advice on strawberry nutrition, preservation techniques & recipes. 17 WONDERFUL LARD ARTICLE BY KAREN PLUNKETT, EDITED BY REBECCA LANGE Lard is making a healthy comeback. TOP RIGHT CLOCKWISE: FILL YER BOOTS FARM | WILLIAM - ADOBE STOCK | KRISTINA BLOKHIN - ADOBE STOCK | ALESSANDRO BIASCIOLI Want the print issue? Subscribe here!
4 June 2025 Gateway Sales & Service 52056 Glencolin Line Aylmer ON N5H 2R3 (800) 705-4221 gateway3941@gmail.com High Quality Aluminum Coops Your source for pastures poultry solutions! FREE Catalog Item Description Retail AC5610 5 x 6 Alumi Coop Option 1 Loaded Package 2,295.00 $ AC5620 5 x 6 Alumi Coop Option 2 Coop w/ Layer Package w/o Feeders and Waterers 2,065.50 $ AC5630 5 x 6 Alumi Coop Option 3 Coop and Feeders/Waterers Package 1,910.25 $ AC5640 5 x 6 Alumi Coop Option 4 Coop Only Package 1,687.50 $ AC6101 6 x 10 Alumi Coop Option 1 Loaded Package 4,117.50 $ AC6102 6 x 10 Alumi Coop Option 2 Coop w/ Layer Package w/o Feeders and Waterers 3,901.50 $ AC6103 6 x 10 Alumi Coop Option 3 Coop and Feeders/Waterers Package 3,618.00 $ AC6104 6 x 10 Alumi Coop Option 4 Coop Only Package 3,395.25 $ AC10121 10 x 12 Alumi Coop Option 1 Loaded Package 5,062.50 $ AC10122 10 x 12 Alumi Coop Option 2 Coop w/ Layer Package w/o Feeders and Waterers 4,826.25 $ AC10123 10 x 12 Alumi Coop Option 3 Coop and Feeders/Waterers Package 4,367.25 $ AC10124 10 x 12 Alumi Coop Option 4 Coop Only Package 4,151.25 $ AC1012G 10 x 12 Alumi Coop Green House Option (Alum. Frame and Tarp) 4,806.00 $ AC1212 12 x 12 Alumi Coop Broiler Package w/ Feeders and Waterers 4,488.75 $ AC1224 12 x 24 Alumi Coop Broiler Package w/ Feeders and Waterers 7,053.75 $ Option 1 Alumi Coop Roost Superior New Style Feeder Bell-Matic Waterer System Yuneek Nestbox Option 2 Alumi Coop Roost Yuneek Nestbox Option 3 Alumi Coop Superior New Style Feeder Bell-Matic Waterer System Option 4 Alumi Coop gateway3941@gmail.com Des����d ��om � ���c�e�’s �e�s���t��e �� c���le���y ��i��n��e �t���s. Effective Jan. 1 2024 Your Canadian distributor: Chesley ON | 519-363-0681 Hamilton ON | 519-740-2094 Kincardine ON | 519-395-4211 South Woodslee ON | 519-816-1285 Bashaw AB | 780-781-5929 Mallorytown ON | 613-923-2247 Thamesford ON | 519-993-6606 Burgessville ON | 519-424-2540 Millbank ON | 519-595-7255 Elora ON | 519-998-8605 Cameron ON | 705-887-1750 Maple Ridge BC | 604-512-5131 St. Mary’s ON | 519-615-4629 Wilmot NS | 902-840-3330 AQUACULTURE SUPPLIES LAKE & POND SUPPLIES Est. 1989 Your Pond & Lake Professionals Since 1989 For a complete line of solutions anytime Visit our Updated Website: FishFarmSupply.ca
5 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BUYING CANADIAN! Good morning fellow Canadians! I am a small apple farmer in a region of Ontario known as the Blue Mountains near Collingwood. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of my fellow apple growing friends and colleagues I would like to thank all Canadians that are choosing Canadian apples first...it is and will make a positive impact in what is an extremely difficult industry for all Canadian apple growers. For the past four or five years many farms including mine has been struggling with sustainability as our industry was seriously threatened by imported apples and apple products from other countries including the USA and countries such as China, Turkey, etc... In my situation due to the huge increase in the cost of production coupled with greedy corporate procurement structures I have had to quickly shrink my operation from a high of 140 acres to my now 96 acres of apple production and every year including the one before me, the 2025 apple crop, makes me wonder if I will be able to cover my cost of production and above that make a living wage...the apple farmer is always the one that absorbs the highest risk/liabilities, works the hardest and gets paid last with whatever dollars are leftover, if much at all! PLEASE, PLEASE continue to support Canadian Farmers your choices more than anything else means our survival and OUR food supply sustainability! I would also like to share a video that happened to pop up on my YouTube homepage this morning...This video describes the history behind the Ambrosia apple which is 100% Canadian...and note a Canadian born and bred apple variety is not a very common occurrence...the only other varieties I know that are truly Canadian are the McIntosh and Spartan apples. This said most popular varieties of apples can and are grown in Canada too so just watch that the sticker on the apple indicates that it in fact is from Canada! - Tim Robertson, ON Hi Julie, As it’s National Soil Conservation Week, I wanted to let you know about a land management issue by the Region of Waterloo that has significant implications for water quality. It’s another chapter in the Wilmot land assembly. Last year, the Region acquired 151 acres for the Wilmot land assembly. During the summer of 2024, healthy corn crops were destroyed. In November, the Region ignored a letter Anne Loeffler, an agrologist, sent to warn them of the negative effects. Yet the land was bare through the winter without any erosion control measures. This has led to multiple runoff events, raising concerns about soil erosion and its impact on water quality. Loeffler, a retired conservation specialist, worked with the Region and farmers in the past to keep sediment from runoffs out of our local water. Now the Region isn’t stopping it. “Q and A: The Region’s land management erodes confidence,” delves into the details of this issue. It discusses the potential threats to water quality and downstream ecosystems, which could ultimately affect the Grand River—a vital source of drinking water for Brantford and Six Nations of the Grand River. Thank you for considering this story. I have also included a photo of the effects from a drone fyi. Regards, Jodi S., Wilmot Civic Action Network TOP: GSDESIGN - ADOBE STOCK | WILMOT CIVIC ACTION NETWORK
6 June 2025 NEWS & NOTES APPLE TARIFF PAIN This statement was released by Jim Bair, President and CEO of the U.S. Apple Association BB #:145473. “With the President’s tariffs announcement, all of the top 5 export markets for U.S. apples have been targeted. Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, Vietnam, and India in 2024 combined to purchase $756 million worth of U.S. apples. “We support holding trading partners accountable. Countries that would be ideal markets for U.S. apples shut us out due to nontariff trade barriers. That’s why USApple strongly supported the United States-MexicoCanada Agreement which is working well, and those countries remain our largest export destinations. “As we painfully experienced with India in the past, U.S. tariffs can trigger retaliatory measures that restrict access to key export markets and harm apple growers across the country. It’s critical for the health of the entire U.S. apple industry to maintain strong, stable trade relationships with all of our current and potential export partners. Source: Bluebookservices.com Thanks to a newfound partnership with the Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT), blueberry farm Wilmot Orchards will be preserved for agricultural use for the next 999 years. The Stevens family has operated the farm since 1976 and opted to place a land easement agreement on their 164 acres of land with OFT to protect their Class A farmland. “We’re growing some of the best food right here in Ontario, but if you’re local, you know what’s happening to our small towns. There are houses going up everywhere and, unfortunately, a lot of that is on Class A farmland, which is the best quality farmland we can have. Once you put houses on farmland, you can’t get it back,” says Courtney Stevens. The Ontario Farmland Trust is Canada’s first province-wide agricultural land trust. OFT is an organization supported by the collaborative efforts of farmers, researchers, planners and conservationists to protect the farmland of Ontario. Source: Fruit & Vegetable Magazine A new study published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology found that sauerkraut, which is fermented cabbage, may provide substantial benefits to gut health, supporting digestion and helping protect against illness. “Some of the metabolites we find in the sauerkraut are the same kind of metabolites we’re finding to be made by the gut microbiome, so that gives us a little more confidence that this connection we found between the metabolites in sauerkraut and good gut health makes sense,” said Maria Marco, professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis, who co-authored the study. Source: California Farm Bureau WILMOT ORCHARDS MOVES TO PRESERVE FARMLAND IN LAND EASEMENT AGREEMENT NEW STUDY FINDS SAUERKRAUT BENEFITS GUT HEALTH TOP LEFT: WILMOT ORCHARDS | TOP RIGHT: HEART BEET ORGANICS
7 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca FIT TO EAT Newfoundland and Labrador should be at the forefront of food production integrated into municipalities. What, with the stories of the past and all. But that isn’t quite the case. At the same time as some of our small hamlets are denying simple self-provisioning actions, large cities like Paris and New York and Beijing and Reykjavik have extensive food production areas – not necessarily commercial – but which provide local food security. How did this happen? ‘ Today we have the second of two episodes with Nicholas Fairbridge, a researcher who works out of the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University in St. John’s. He is also very interested in the relationships among community health, local food production and municipal policy. In his spare time, he has actually read all of the related development regulations of all the municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador. We start out with the seeming conflict between urban areas and food production...’ Source: Ivan Emke, Kitchen Table Communications IGNATIUS NEW FARMER TRAINING – PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN! Due to tight funding timelines, Term 1 of the Ignatius Farm New Farmer Training Program will not be held live in 2025. However, the webinar recordings and course resources from last year are available on a pay-what-you-can basis! Access all sessions from Term 1 of the 2024 program and learn at your own pace. The Term 1 recording bundle includes access to the following webinar recordings: • Introduction to Organic Growing • The Language of Ecological Agriculture • Botany for Farmers & Gardeners • Identifying & Controlling Insect Pests • Introduction to Seedling Production & Greenhouse Management • Farm Workers’ Rights & Responsibilities • Introduction to Soil Health Source: Ignatius Farm TAKEAWAY: TRIAL, ERROR & ADAPTATION The Living Lab Central Prairies is part of the Agricultural Climate Solution Program and integrates on-farm practices with research knowledge focusing on preventing land conversion, managing grazing, promoting perennials and polycrops. The practice of using polycrops, AKA cover crops/forage mixtures/forage cocktails, is to increase the diversity of plant species in a pasture. Increased plant diversity can enhance soil health, increase water infiltration, reduce fertilizer needs and provide higher quality forages for cattle. One objective of the Living Lab Central Prairies has been growing polycrops on farm to evaluate both the long- and short-term impacts. Saskatchewan beef producer John Griffin’s experience echoes the broader sentiment among producers: polycrops can be an excellent tool, but their success is highly dependent on weather, species selection and management practices. Source: www.beefresearch.ca THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE Canada regulates the importation and domestic movement of grapevines for propagation or decorative use as fresh cut vines from all origins to mitigate the risk of entry and establishment of plant pests. Importation of propagative grapevine material is permitted only from sources with CFIA-accepted virus certification programs in place to ensure that grapevine propagative material imported into Canada is free of pests regulated by the CFIA. Domestic movement into British Columbia of grapevine materials must also be certified prior to shipping. The list of CFIA-accepted virus certification for Vitis spp., can be found in Appendix 1 (United States) and Appendix 2 (Europe). All countries or U.S. states wishing to export certified Vitis spp., material to Canada must provide CFIA with detailed information for review, as outlined in Section 6.0. Source: Canadian Food Inspection Agency WANT MORE SMALL FARM CANADA NEWS? VISIT WWW.SMALLFARMCANADA.CA! TOP RIGHT: NUTT - ADOBE STOCK
8 June 2025 Judging by their hipster looks and ironic patter, the couple in the coffee shop were from out of town. She was dark-haired and petite, telling the cashier she was “inordinately fond” of the shop’s local crafts. Meanwhile her friend—bearded, wearing black Converse sneakers and torn jeans—ordered lattes. “Cool,” I thought, as shop staff bustled around the espresso machine (another recent arrival in our small town.) Here we are, farm and city types together, in one big happy coffee shop family. Kumbaya. But then they amended their order. “Do you have an alternative milk?” she asked. Her friend agreed. Oat milk “would be preferred.” I felt my shoulders slump. These folks weren’t just from the city, they’re from a rising culture that views animal products – meat and milk – with suspicion. They’d rather drink fluid assembled on an industrial scale by a Swedish corporation than milk from cows grazing the green fields just outside of town. That’s their right, of course, but as a farmer who’s inordinately fond of seeing livestock on pasture, I worry about being on the wrong side of history. What if the city couple, with their confident preference for factory- made alternatives over the real thing, represent the future? It’s a prospect Nicolette Hahn Niman tackles with gusto in a new expanded and revised edition of her 2014 book, Defending Beef; The ecological and nutritional case for meat. Best known as a high-powered environmental lawyer, Hahn Niman’s personal story covers a wide swath of today’s messy debate about meat and animal products. A self-proclaimed “tree-hugging college student” and vegetarian, Hahn Niman switched from studying biology to law and eventually became a Manhattan-based lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy’s Waterkeeper Alliance. In court she battled large, confined hog and poultry farms in disputes over water quality. When she fell in love and married a California rancher, she shifted from high-heeled attorney to booted ranchhand. Still, she was a little iffy on the meat thing: “Would I Build a foundation to start a successful farm enterprise Term 1 is now available Learn at your own pace! AVAILABLE AT INDIGO/CHAPTERS DEFENDING BEEF THE ECOLOGICAL AND NUTRITIONAL CASE FOR MEAT, 2ND EDITION BY NICOLETTE HAHN NIMAN REVIEWED BY RAY FORD PUBLISHER: CHELSEA GREEN SFC SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 BOOK REVIEW CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING
9 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca find it upsetting to be surrounded by animals I knew would one day be sent to slaughter? And more to the point, would it make me feel guilty knowing our living came from their deaths?” she writes. “I vaguely figured I’d keep myself at arm’s length to avoid any potential discomfort.” But it’s hard to stay aloof on a farm. In the city “it had been easy to see myself as separate from the natural world.” Among the grass, sky, and birds, the cows and calves, “I became daily witness to nature’s beauty, its force and its cycles,” she says. The “physically and emotionally intense tasks” of caring for livestock became “deeply rewarding moments, etched in my memory and my soul.” She also returned to eating meat. After 16 years as a “vegetarian rancher,” Hahn Niman accepts a burger from her husband and feels a “wave of relief”. She discovers the ranch’s grass-fed beef “is more in accord with my own values and beliefs” than her previous meat-free diet. In the hands of another writer this would be a major part of the story. But true to her legal training, Hahn Niman marshals arguments like a defence lawyer. She relies on expert testimony, garnished only lightly with her own fascinating personal story. Her pacing reminded me of a night in a bowling alley, as she methodically set up the pins of the various anti- beef arguments and then bowled fact-laden chapters towards them. Cattle cause climate change. Wham! Raising cattle uses too much water. Wham! Meat is bad for you. Wham! Take climate change: Hahn Niman wades through the complex issues of methane (a byproduct of ruminant digestion), nitrous oxide, and carbon. She gets into the weeds on how greenhouse gas outputs are estimated or determined, and she cites ways cattle can help fight climate change. As she repeatedly says, the problem with cattle “is not the cow, it’s the how” – not the critter herself, but the way we manage her. Put the cow on grass and let her run in a way that mimics natural systems, and remarkable things can happen. On Georgia’s White Oak Pastures, a 3,200acre ranch raising cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and rabbits on grass, a life-cycle analysis by an independent consulting firm found every kilogram of beef the ranch produced put the equivalent of 3.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide back in the soil. Meanwhile, readers who follow this issue closely will know similar lifecycle studies found the production of two major “plant-based” meatless burgers emits the equivalent of 3.5-4 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every kilogram of fake meat. In this case, the grass-fed burgers are removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, while the plantbased ones are adding to climate change. When cattle and grass team up in the right way, cows “are not, in fact, a climate problem,” Nicole Hahn argues, “cattle are actually among the most practical, cost-effective solutions to the warming of the planet.” This makes Defending Beef handy ammunition for arguments with vegan friends, if you’re so inclined (not something I necessarily recommend, by the way.) But how likely is it to sway the people who prefer plant-based patties and oat milk? The court of public opinion doesn’t necessarily operate from a shared set of facts. People know what they know, and if they know that X is “bad” – and for X you can substitute animal agriculture, or vaccines, or your least favourite political party – they will find reasons to confirm that “knowledge.” So how to explain, to people who live in a static world of concrete and glass, this essential grassland dance of seasons, of decay and regrowth involving livestock and wildlife, roots and fungi, billions of insects, and microbes? Describing the mystery and wonder of grasslands requires a mix of poetry and emotion, leavened by the experience of time spent in that rustling ocean of greenery. But it also requires intellectual rigour, and that’s what Hahn Niman brings to the debate. If I could hand that young couple a copy of Defending Beef and walk them through my own pastures, maybe they would glimpse the value of engaging with local agriculture. As Hahn Niman admits, it’s hard to explain a life devoted to livestock and grass to non-ranch types. But when you’re caring for other creatures “thinking beyond yourself becomes second nature.” In a world that’s increasingly in love with its own social-media reflection, “a country benefits by having a good portion of its population in agriculture and connected to the natural world.” Amen to that. The pay isn’t great. The working conditions are hard. Few understand what it is to do labour that’s both occasionally heart- breaking and regularly soul-filling. If Hahn Niman conveys even a bit of this complex beauty to the people who now prefer milk and faux meat from distant factories, she’s doing farmers, ranchers, and the planet a favour. Listen to Nicolette talk about beef on Climate One’s podcasts. CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING
10 June 2025 35 Howard Ave, Elmira 519-669-5500 NOLT’S COMPACT MULCH LAYER CROP CARE PICK ASSIST TAR RIVER ROTO TILLERS 41”-81” width In-stock 1. 3 & 5 row. Also a good selection of Seed Rollers and Replacement Parts. JANG PUSH SEEDERS We’re helping you grow with these great brands: Weeding, planting & harvesting with ease! GOOD FOR A TIGHT BUDGET SOLAR CHARGED CROP CARE SPRAYERS From 25-750 gallons. Also Specialty Sprayers. CALL US FOR A FREE VEGETABLE AND FLOWER GROWING SUPPLY CATALOGUE AZS BRUSHER Call with your fruit and vegetable washing needs. Hosted by: ALL CANADA SHEEP CLASSIC 2025 July 10-12, 2025 Keystone Centre, Brandon, MB Canada’s premier sheep show and sale! www.sheepbreeders.ca office@sheepbreeders.ca
11 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca If you could, why wouldn’t you collect rainwater? It is free! Steel roofs are best suited to collection, but all will work. Even when it doesn’t rain you can still collect morning dew. REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD: • By collecting rainwater, you get to control the runoff by using the water at a time and place it is best put to use. • It conserves groundwater. • It also doubles as a fire retardant in case of a grass fire. • It is there to wash down the equipment, or the dog, or the Boss if she gets sprayed by a skunk while trying to release it from a cage • And finally the ultimate reason… it’s this Scotsman’s favourite four-letter word, “FREE!” HOW To start with, you will need an eavestrough. The longer the trough, the more water you collect from the roof and the faster you fill your container. It doesn’t matter whether you use a round drum or a square tote for collection. If you can raise it off the ground a bit it helps with the outflow and allows easy access. If not, you can use an automotive heater hose to make up a manifold for discharge. Your reservoir does not have to be directly under the trough downpipe, I used white plastic drainage pipe to build my intake manifold. This allowed me to shelter my totes under a roof which slows the plastic breakdown caused by UV rays. Note here, that the end of the pipe where the water will flow into the tank should have a 90° elbow to direct the water into the tank. Otherwise, in a heavy downpour, the water will glaze over the screen and miss the hole. The most important part of collecting water is to ensure the filler hole is covered with a screen to prevent mosquito larvae. This is a good tactic to prevent the spread of diseases like West Nile virus. For the totes, I have both used a bungee cord and silicon caulking to hold the screen in place, either work just fine. As for fire prevention, leave a five-gallon bucket and an old corn broom beside the rain barrel. I once came across a grass fire heading across a field towards a home. The owner was not there but they had left a pail and corn broom beside the rain barrel. I partially filled the pail, called in the fire on my radio and headed out to meet the blaze. By wetting the broom, I just dragged it along the leading edge to extinguish the fire. I was able to snuff out about 300 feet before the fire department got there (it felt like two days). What a workout! PRACTICAL H2O COLLECTING ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY DAN KERR Two 45-gallon malt barrels with adjoining plumbing on the top which then becomes the bottom Totes showing the intake pipe with 90° elbow into tank with screen Totes raised on skids showing outlet manifold made from auto heater hose CHECK IT OUT! MOBILE RAIN BARREL - FREE WATER WORKS ON WHEELS TOO SFC Magazine | July/August 2021 TOTE Totes can be expensive, but barrels are quite reasonable. It is best to use containers that have had food-safe products in them for safety’s sake.
12 June 2025 Showmanship JUDGING Fitting elite.stockmanscongress@gmail.com July 10-13 2025 Carp ON Entries Open April 1 2025 sponsorship opportunities available SALE ON UNTIL MAY 31 ,2025 FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT 519-669-2192 Email us @ efsaudersales.ca or vISIT US AT OUR WALLENSTEIN LOCATION Rotary Plow Power Harrow * SALE ENDS june 30, 2025 Chipper/Shredder Precision Depth Roller
13 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca This plan is for a low hotbed or cold frame structure suitable for home or small market gardener. Hotbeds are basically the same as a cold frame but are wired with a soil heating cable (like our plans) or use manure with compost as a heat source. Hotbeds can extend the growing season a couple of months, spring and fall. To build a hotbed without adding a power source, dig a pit underneath the area the cold frame structure will reside. Add fresh, straw-filled manure to the pit to make a layer about 75 cm thick. Level the top before adding 15 cm of planting medium on top. The planting medium should contain well-composted manure and loamy-sandy soil to provide good drainage and fertility. HOTBED & COLD FRAME TO WIRE OR NOT? ARTICLE BY JULIE HARLOW IMAGES BY JAMES LEWIS - SFC ARCHIVES PRACTICAL: GARDENS CHECK IT OUT! PROTECT YOUR GARDEN FROM FROST TIPS FOR CANADIAN GARDENERS SFC News | October 2024 The sloping plank frame pictured provides the framework for standard sized wood windows (.9 x 1.9 metres.) The frame can be made any length in multiples of .9 metres. TOP (L-R): TONY BAGGETT - ADOBE STOCK | LEOPOLD - ADOBE STOCK | MARTINA BERG - ADOBE STOCK
14 June 2025 TOP LEFT: SITI - ADOBE STOCK | ANNA - ADOBE STOCK | MASITHOH DESIGN - ADOBE STOCK | VIPERAGP - ADOBE STOCK | FRIZIO - ADOBE STOCK | CILEJUG - ADOBE STOCK | RAWPIXEL.COM - ADOBE STOCK | ARUN168 - ADOBE STOCK WATERCOLOR IDEAS - ADOBE STOCK | TOP RIGHT: VITALII - ADOBE STOCK A LITE LOOK AT PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ARTICLE BY JULIE HARLOW NEW MENTAL HEALTH DAY The government of PEI officially named May 5th as Mental Health in Agriculture Day. “May is particularly stressful for our agriculture industry – the physical, emotional and monetary costs of starting another planting season can get the best of us all – but my hope is that we can all use this day to recognize the importance of keeping our mental health strong,” said Bloyce Thompson, Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture and the PEI Federation of Agriculture established FarmersTalk.ca in 2019 to provide a centralized portal of free mental health resources for farmers and family members to access during times of struggle and stress. Source: FruitandVeggie.com FERMENTATION PARTIES OFFER VALUE FOR ALL The “party” is one of the fermentation workshops launched through Heart Beet Organics and the PEI Food Exchange. These ferments have become a staple for Heart Beet’s business, but preparation is labour- intensive. An exchange of knowledge of fermentation for peeling, chopping and cutting is the perfect pickling partnership. BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Kensington Country Store told Small Farm Canada on May 9th that they secured chicks for their meat bird orders this spring. They had told a CBC in early April that they were concerned their customers would be out of luck this year. Charlene Profitt of Kensington Country Store said they had orders from small and hobby farms for almost 1,300 chicks at the time, so she was hoping for a source by May. With no hatcheries on PEI, most eggs and chicks come from either New Brunswick, Nova Scotia or the U.S. Ironically it is the only province with zero cases of avian influenza confirmed. Update - sadly PEI’s first case of AI a was confirmed by CFIA on May 16th. PEI SEED ALLIANCE The Prince Edward Island Seed Alliance is a network of small farmers committed to growing Island-adapted, Open Pollinated (OP) seeds for our community of Island farmers and gardeners. Organized in 2015 through the generous assistance of the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, they offered our first cooperatively produced collection of seeds for the 2016 growing season. Their goal is to continue to expand our collection by trialing open-pollinated, open-source vegetable varieties, as well as pollinator flower varieties to continue to build our living collection of Island adapted seed. They hope to grow their organization by tapping into the PEI community to collect other open pollinated varieties of seeds that have been grown and saved by other Island gardeners and farmers, as well as supporting new seed growers in their efforts to select, save and clean their own seed. Source: Prince Edward Island Seed Alliance VESEY’S CANADIAN SAFFRON CROCUS In 1939 at a very young age, Mr. Arthur Vesey operated a market garden in the rural community of York, PEI. During his market garden years, he was keenly interested in securing and testing seeds that were suitable for the cool, short growing seasons of Atlantic Canada. From those days to now, seed varieties, staff and sales are at their highest levels in company history with Crocus sativus, a wonderful example. Crocus sativus produces the most expensive spice in the world, saffron! Exclusively Canadian, these bulbs are produced in Quebec. The different and indescribable taste of saffron is one that is not forgotten once tried. Once the herb is dried, you can enjoy such dishes as Risotto alla Milanese, Paella and Saffron Chicken at home!
15 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca THE PEI PLAN 2025-2030 PEI is now responding to climate change impacts with “Building Resilience for PEI Agriculture: Adaptation Plan 2025-2030 (The Plan) is the province’s first ever agriculture sectoral adaptation plan. Its purpose is to: • Highlight the shared and unique adaptation needs of commodities at the field and sector levels; and • Address barriers faced by PEI farmers and agriculture sector organizations in proactive adaptation.” This Plan presents an opportunity to explore how climate change adaptation can also address other challenges like attracting workers, meeting consumer preferences, skills development and more. The eight key actions include: 1. ESTABLISH PRODUCER CLUBS Producer clubs (including extension services) was at the top of the list to address the lack of resources, improve knowledge sharing, and increase collaboration and capacity required for successful adaptation. 2. SUPPORT CO-OPERATIVES Supporting cooperatives that provide specific shared services, was also a top choice to address the capacity required for successful adaptation. This could apply to labour, and admin services like bookkeeping. 3. IMPROVE SOIL HEALTH Having access to soil data, information, and manure were seen as foundational components to supporting ongoing improvements in soil health. 4. ENLARGE AND UPSKILL WORKFORCE Upskilling programs already offered include micro credentials through Holland College, AGRI Skills through Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, Class 3A and forklift training through PEI Agriculture Sector Council, but the need to enlarge and upskill labour remains in PEI. 5. APPLY AND DEMONSTRATE INDUSTRY-LED RESEARCH Increase producer access to research findings to implement similar practices on their own farms, and see applied research create and validate new approaches. 6. ENHANCE AG INFRASTRUCTURE An approach to support technological adaptation, address resilience of sector and farm assets during extreme weather events and add redundancy and capacity of supply. 7. SUSTAIN AGRICULTURAL LAND With competing land use pressures and lack of succession planning, the loss of agricultural land has been apparent. 8. SUPPORT LOCALLY RELEVANT ADAPTATION Commodity adaptation plans are underway to fill the gap of addressing commodity-specific climate related issues, opportunities, and challenges. TIP: On-Farm Actions - outline climate change impacts and adaptation responses for 17 species of crops and livestock. Download the PDF. Source: PEI Federation of Agriculture PEI FOOD EXCHANGE PEI is sometimes referred to as the Garden of the Gulf or Million Acre Farm, but research shows that PEI has some of the highest levels of food insecurity in Canada. The PEI Food Exchange is a volunteer group harnessing the power of food to create new foodways on Prince Edward Island. MISSION To empower people to address food security for themselves and their communities through the “3G’s” gleaning, growing food, and gaining knowledge. GLEANING Gleaning enables people to secure healthy food through exchange. Benefits are realized by both the farmers and gleaners. Typically, the harvest is shared: 1/3 to the farmer, 1/3 to gleaners and 1/3 to social service agencies. GROWING YOUR OWN For people who want to grow their own food but don’t have the space, a community garden is a great option. Many community gardens have shared tools and other resources. GAINING KNOWLEDGE The Food Exchange gives workshops on growing, cooking and preserving food, like: Edible Gardening for Beginners - skills workshops presented throughout the growing season. Fermenting workshops collaborating with local farmers from Heart Beet Organics. Pressure canning collaborating with Bernardin Home Canning. Preserving using the water bath method collaborating with Salvation Army. PEI FOOD EXCHANGE
16 June 2025 Being the first fruit of the summer, I eagerly anticipate the arrival of strawberry season. And I am truly blessed to be able to get sweet, juicy, sun-ripened strawberries from a farm only two miles down the road. During their relatively short season (these are the June-bearing variety), I load up on fresh strawberries every couple of days. We eat them fresh morning, noon and night with our cereal, in salads, with quark (a fresh cheese with a Greek yoghurt-like consistency from another farm neighbour – how lucky am I?) or they are delicious eaten all by themselves. We also freeze quarts and quarts of them to be enjoyed all winter long in smoothies. After hulling (and slicing the big ones), we spread the berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Once they are frozen solid, we transfer them into bags. (Pre-freezing the berries on cookie sheets makes it easy to take out just the amounts of frozen berries needed). Not only are strawberries delicious, they are also good for us. Registered Dietitian and FoodNetwork.com nutrition expert Toby Amidor puts strawberries on her list of top 25 foods for boosting immunity. She says a serving of eight strawberries contains 140 per cent of the Daily Value of Vitamin C along with other antioxidants that help fight free radicals that can harm the body’s cells. According to Amidor, there is evidence that eating strawberries every day can also reduce risk factors for diabetes and strawberries are included in the MIND Diet, an eating plan that could lower the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by more than one-third. And there’s more good news. Amidor says freezing strawberries, if done properly, doesn’t significantly affect their nutritional composition for several months. This recipe for Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Almonds is from Amidor’s, The Family Immunity Cookbook. She published this cookbook in 2021 to help people boost their immunity through the food they eat instead of turning to supplements which “can be potentially dangerous, haven’t been properly tested, and can interact with medications.” Click here to find more of the award-winning nutrition expert’s recipes including trending recipes like sweet potato and prune stew, Asian lettuce cups and Greek chicken and rice bowls. FOOD STRAWBERRIES: BERRY NUTRITIOUS AND DELICIOUS YEAR-ROUND ARTICLE BY HELEN LAMMERS-HELPS AVAILABLE AT INDIGO/CHAPTERS TOP: ALICJA NEUMILER - ADOBE STOCK | TOBY AMIDOR
Once shunned in favour of hydrogenated oils that were thought to be healthier for the heart, pork lard is making a comeback. Lard is a healthy natural fat, largely monounsaturated, but is often mistakenly labeled as saturated fat. The best way to ensure your lard is pure is to make it yourself. So, how do you make lard? All you need is pork fat, ideally raised from a heritage breed pig. The rest is easy! When I send a pig to butcher, I ask that he saves all the fat, after all I am being charged hanging weight, which includes the fat. I take home the fat and freeze is in small quantities until I’m ready to render. I cut the semi-frozen cubes and put them in a stainless-steel pot, which is then placed on the woodstove. On low-medium heat it is important to keep stirring the fat, preferably with a wooden spoon, making sure it never comes to the boil. There is nothing like babysitting lard on the woodstove for two days! I use different grates to adjust the heat under the pots. As the liquid fat comes to the top, ladle it into another pot, catching the cracklings with a metal strainer or sieve as you pour. You will notice dark crackling residue at the bottom as you pour the liquid into containers or jars. Once the rendered fat has cooled, it can be placed in the freezer for storage. In the past, it would have been considered ‘criminal’ to waste any part of the slaughtered animal, and the fats from there were an essential constituent of people’s diets. Before refrigeration, fat was more valuable than meat. Lard would keep for a very long time, either in cool storage or frozen. Lard’s uses are many. It can be used to seal jars, in making soap, biscuits, pastries and pie crusts and in frying eggs, liver, onions, fish and my personal favourite, French fries. One might even put old lard to good use by making suet for the backyard bird feeder. The kidney and internal organ fat is the premier fat, the first choice of bakers for making pastry, but any lard taken from the top of the container is pure and ideal for baking. Near the bottom, it gets a little darker, which is better used for frying. Lard scraped from the bottom dish will contain trace amounts of crackling, a tasty sediment that goes great atop a baked potato. Cooking with lard adds flavour to any dish. It’s liquid gold! WONDERFUL LARD ARTICLE BY KAREN PLUNKETT EDITED BY REBECCA LANGE Reprinted with permission from Heritage Livestock Canada, Genesis, Volume 21, Fall 2006 INSTRUCTIONS 1. To make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, sesame seeds, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper until well combined. While continuously whisking, add the oil until incorporated. 2. To make the salad: In a small saucepan, heat the almonds over medium-low heat until toasted, about 5 minutes. Transfer the toasted almonds to a small bowl and let cool slightly. 3. In a large serving bowl, add the spinach and top with the strawberries, almonds and feta cheese. Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad before serving and toss lightly to combine. SPINACH SALAD WITH STRAWBERRIES AND ALMONDS Reprinted with permission from The Family Immunity Cookbook by Toby Amidor (©2021, www.robertrose.ca). DRESSING • 2 tbsp (30 mL) red wine vinegar • 4 tsp (20 mL) honey • 2 tsp (10 mL) sesame seeds • 2 tsp (10 mL) Dijon mustard • 2 tsp (10 mL) fresh lemon juice • ¼ tsp (1 mL) salt • 1⁄8 tsp (0.5 mL) ground black pepper • 1 cup (60 mL) extra virgin olive oil SALAD • 1 cup (60 mL) sliced almonds • 4 cups (1 L) spinach, packed • 1 cup (250 mL) strawberries, sliced • 1 cup (60 mL) crumbled feta cheese NUTRITION NEWS 17 www.SmallFarmCanada.ca TOP: LIMESKY - ADOBE STOCK | POSINOTE - ADOBE STOCK
18 June 2025 LARKSPUR SUPPER CLUB I remember sitting beside one of the directors of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association years ago at a banquet at the Banff Springs Hotel where I had been invited to speak. He did not look like a sentimental fellow. As the pie came around and I put my notes together for my talk I happened to mention that my son, Hart, was in 4-H and had become very fond of his Shorthorn steer and christened him Decaff. “They do get attached to them,” he nodded. “I certainly did.” “But you had to let him go, in the end, didn’t you?” “No. I kept him.” “What? How long?” “Sixteen years, I think. I was married with two kids on the ground when Skip fell over with a heart attack. He would have weighed more than a ton and I think it put a strain on his heart. Anyway, we buried him in front of the house by the lane. And then we put that big Hereford statue on top of him.” I think of my cattleman friend every so often, usually when someone is mocking me for giving a name to a chicken or giving up a pasture to a pair of miniature donkeys. Affection is always the most sensible and reliable driver of a person’s energies. If we learn to like a thing we are much more inclined to look after it and protect it from the forces that would destroy it. This notion applies to everything from the chicken to the farm itself. There is an ancient Confucian idea that the best way to look after the world is to start by looking after your own house and garden. A nation is a collection of communities and each community is made up of households. Any process of improvement or destruction in the nation naturally begins in the home. Only when those things around us are put in order should we begin to look outside our fences to solve neighbourhood or national problems. As anyone with a small plot of land knows, putting house and barn in order can easily become a life’s work. Environmentalists typically bristle at this notion and argue that it is too passive. They insist that more vigorous action is needed to tackle the big issues of the day like carbon emissions or disappearing species. But what action is likely to raise more of a sweat, shouting at a government or planting a few hundred different species of native plants on a single acre of marginal land on your farm to create a Miyakawa forest? Most of the small farmers I know have the energy to do both. But the creation of the Miyakawa forest to walk through will probably give more satisfaction and be of more lasting benefit to the planet. Cows do not play well with forests of any kind. We have a Shorthorn steer named Will deBeast who weighs a thousand pounds and crashes through the woods like King Kong when he hears the ring of the grain scoop on the pasture gate. My son is in his thirties now and works as an arborist but he still misses his Decaff and is toying with the idea of training Will to work in the woods with him as an ox and a beast of burden. What could go wrong? According to the ox training manual on my bookshelf, the trick is to give the animal a name, which we have done. Then you get him to recognize his name by saying it to him repeatedly. (That would be my job because my son works during the day.) Next, you teach him to walk in a straight line but the book is vague about just how this is to be accomplished. The horns on an ox serve as the steering wheel, but Will is a polled Shorthorn, which means steering would always be a problem. There was some degree of trampling involved 20 years ago trying to get Decaff to walk a straight line and he weighed half as much as Will. The leaves are beginning to turn as I ponder Will’s future. Confucius also advised us to hold those things we love at arm’s length so that we are prepared to live without them when the time comes. My wife says she is better at holding Will at arm’s length than me and maybe I’d better let him go for his ‘sleepover’ with Scotty at Grey County Meats. THE FOREVER COW STORY BY DAN NEEDLES ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW NEEDLES SFC SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
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