Farm to Fork Meal at Forage Restaurant

Last week we were fortunate to be able to attend Forage restaurant/ Infuse Caterings "FARM TO FORK" meal. This meal was at the Forage restaurant in Calgary. What made this meal even more special was that Chef Wade used several of our Edgar Farms products to prepare this meal. We had fresh asparagus of course, also some of our pea tendrils (baby pea plants) in the potato salad with potatoes from our neighbors. For desert we had rhubarb upside down cake with Edgar Farms rhubarb. Also we had fresh flown in Atlantic Lobster, but that wasn't from our farm. Even the menu was special because Chef Wade came to our table and gave a verbal menu of what we would be having with a little story about each major ingredient

The picture is of Elna and I standing in front of the display case at Forage restaurant. If you notice behind us he has for sale, our home made beet pickles, asparagus pickles, asparagus relish, and fresh asparagus in the cooler to our left.

Weeding the vegetables

This a picture of some of our garden peas that have been cultivated between the rows with the cultivator and now we are hand weeding with hoes some of the major weeds. With the asparagus slowing down and nearing the end of this years season we now have time to do these jobs. Pictured are Martin, Roberto, Domingo, Epifanio, Ventura, and Valente. These guys are trilled to go and weed the fields because every nickle they make really makes a difference to them when they get back to Mexico.

Fixing Again

One of the things that I (Doug) do around the farm is fix things. This week I noticed a bad spot on one of the tires on our Asparagus trailer, also upon closer inspection I noticed that the wires for the brakes were in bad shape and would require some maintenance. On Tuesday I took the trailer to town for 4 brand new tires. Of course they didn't have the right size but a larger size was available for less money so the decision was easy.

After getting the new tires on I came home, and removed the wheels and proceeded to fix the brake wires and repack the wheel bearing. But once again, upon closer inspection I find that the suspension was worn quite badly. This seemed unusual especially since this trailer is not that old. So off to Red Deer for new Pins, bushings, links, U bolts, and new springs (stronger ones this time). Also if we are fixing it we might as well put in new wheel bearings, and seals, requiring another stop at the bearing supply store. I worked on this project on and off Wednesday between other jobs. Randy and I finally finished it that night even though we had to quit at about 9:30 pm to go put a pen of cows back in because a strong wind blew a tree over the fence.

Saturday mornings at Edgar Farms

For the months of May and June, Saturdays start at 4:00 AM by loading asparagus for the Edmonton markets. These pictures were taken after loading the truck with daylight just beginning. Even though we are almost at the longest day of the year we still seem to end up working in the dark. It takes 5 people to man (woman) the markets for the day. They stop at the neighbors and pick up Helen, then off to Innisfail or Penhold where they pick up either Brenda or Janice. Once they get to Strathcona market where they meet either Dianne or Christina they unload the truck, set up the tables, then Elna and Keri and one other person travel downtown to the 104 street market. They then unload and set up more tables. Elna then returns to the Strathcona market. When the Strathcona market finishes they clean up their tables and then back down town to pick up Keri and her tables. Then finally they can head home. Usually they get home by 6:30 PM in time to unload and then reload to ship to Innisfail Growers for the Sunday markets. Some where in there we get an 1/2 hour break for supper. All said and done we are usually done by 10:00 PM. No sleeping in the next day though as the crews start at 8:00 Sunday morn.

Touring the Asparagus field

Touring the asparagus field. We were very honored to have Chef Wade and a group of students from the Calgary school of nutrition touring our farm yesterday. They really seemed to want to learn what it takes to get their food to them. Chef Wade is one of those people that "Gets-it" when it comes to producing food. It was so nice to be appreciated by the Wade and the students for what we do.

Moving cows to greener pastures

This last week we have moved several of our groups of cows out to pasture. Some we just have to open the gate, other groups we had to haul in stock trailers. We also have several pastures that have bulls quite close to each other so we have to build electric fences to keeps the bulls with their own cows and not over checking out another group.

Grade 5 School tours

Tuesday was devoted to the grade 5 classes of the Innisfail school. This is the 5th. year we have hosted the grade 5 classes to our farm to show them the workings of a farm. It always surprises us how much these children don't know about a farm even though they live in a farming community. This is a great opportunity to show them how a working farm runs. We look at the tractors, combine, seed drill, grain elevator, etc.
They went on a hay ride to the pea field, asparagus field and the cow pasture. We even take them down to a dugout that has been fenced off from the cows and a solar watering system added to the cows can drink fresh water without walking into the water. They always stop the hay ride a listen to the birds and other water species that sing or croak while enjoying life at the dugout.

Rainy days on the farm

What happens on the farm on rainy days? Well, the first rain day (Friday) we still picked asparagus even though it was freezing cold. Because there wasn't a lot of asparagus we only had 6 people (2 machines) working in the field. We then had 1 crew and our shed crew busy in our commercial kitchen making asparagus soup and do a first run on a new product we are developing. The new product is an asparagus chip dip. We have spent the last while taste testing, and running to the grocery store for more ingredients.

Anyway back to the second rainy day Saturday. Randy was feeding cows for part of the day even though he has a 3 year and a 5 year old in tow. Keri and Elna and all their helpers are off to the Edmonton markets (bright and early at 4:00AM). The rest of the staff got a well deserved day off. Our Mexican workers got to sleep in, a first for a long time. They then asked me if they could go shopping in Red Deer. After fully stocking the farm store the 6 of us packed in the family car and off to R.D. First stop the Chinese all you can eat buffet (after all you shouldn't shop on an empty stomach). Then off to some assorted stores and lastly to the grocery store to stock up on food.

A great benefit of shopping in rural Alberta on a rainy day is you get to see lots of friends and neighbors. Pictured above is Mike and Kathlenna and their 2 daughters. Mike worked for us for several years and it is always great to keep in touch. Even Domingo, Valente, and Epiphanio were happy to visit with them as they haven't seen them since last year.

Wonderfull rain

We have had 6 tenths of an inch of rain in the last 2 days. This was a much needed rain as the last moisture we had was the snow in mid may. Most of the crops were just holding there own, but now they should really start to grow and make up for lost time. Also the weeds will be happy now. Even the asparagus is happy with the rain but it will have to warm up for it to flourish.

Asparagus festival door prize winner

Shirley Charlton of Innisfail was our lucky winner of the door prize at our Asparagus Festival this year. She received a gift basket full of preserves, our cookbook, some fresh asparagus and some of our certified Angus beef hamburger. She was out to the farm today to pick up her prize. It was only 5 degrees outside when this picture was taken which is not good for growing asparagus but the 3 tenths of an inch of rain over night will do a world of good, but lots more rain is needed for the crops and pasture for the livestock.

Busy days on the farm

Even the asparagus was tired after the festival as production slowed down with the cool nights on Monday, and Tuesday. Then the warm days and warm nights came again and we were very busy. Pictured here is Elna and Keri and our 2 grand daughters helping bundle. The grandkids really enjoy bundling for a while but get tired after a bit. They then can just go and play while Mom and Grandma still work. Oh to be a kid again!

Seeding garden peas

Yesterday Elna planted another planting of garden peas along with all the other things she does in a day. This a picture of her standing behind our "Matermac" precision vacuum planter mounted on our John Deere tractor. You can tell by the shadows it was late in the evening when this picture was taken. She plants a planting of peas each week starting about mid April through to mid June. Starting mid May we also plant some beans. We will end up with about 25 acres of peas and a couple acres of beans that will be all picked by hand.

Asparagus festival pictures

More pictures at our flickr website http://www.flickr.com/photos/37363547@N03/