Picking Garden Peas in the heat

We are picking peas full speed these days as with the hot weather they are coming on too fast. Here is a picture of 2 of our pea team picking team sitting under their umbrellas to keep out of the hot sun. We have had these umbrellas for many years and some years we seldom use them, but this year they are getting lots of use. We usually start picking at 8 am but then we started picking earlier at 7am because of the heat. We are now starting at 6am just to take advantage of the cool temperatures. We also find that peas picked at a lower temperature are sweeter. This heat is also hurting the upcoming crop, a couple weeks from now because there will be fewer pods with less peas in them.

Pictured above is Cheri and Helen. Cheri is attending university in the winter months and trying to make and save money in the summer months. She has been working extremely hard for us this year working all the hours she can get so she can buy another text book or reduce her student loan. Helen besides working hard picking peas also works the farmers market for Innisfail Growers selling our peas. Her daughter Sam also works with her at the farmers market.

Baling Hay

Today we were baling hay. It was +30 degrees today so I was lucky to be able to be in a air conditioned cab while I baled hay. At about 6 this evening Elna brought the camera down to the field and we took some pictures using the tripod and the self timer. The picture to the left is one of the ones we took. It sure was nice to get back in the cool tractor after being outside.

The hay crop yield was not that great, but the quality was very good as it was nice fine short hay with no rain on it, and baled totally dry. Some years we have lots of hay, but it always gets rained on before we get it up and some times we have to put it up a bit damp as it will get rained on again if we don't.

Asparagus Staff Appreciation Evening

Last Saturday evening we had our staff appreciation evening. With over 40 people on the payroll this was a big evening. Not all of our staff and spouses were able to attend but with almost ideal weather conditions it turned out to be a very nice evening for both us and our staff.

Pictured is Keri putting on BBQ sauce on the steaks and Randy holding up a cooked steak.

We borrowed 4 extra picnic tables from John at the Bowden Sun Maze, and along with our own tables everyone had room to sit and enjoy the evening.

Picking Garden Peas

Last Wednesday was the first day that we picked peas for the season. We only got a few peas off of the hill tops that happened to ripen earlier than the rest. On Friday we picked a few more for our store and a few for some of the markets. We probably won't pick again until maybe Tuesday.

Pictured here are our granddaughters out checking out the pea field and having their first taste of the season.

End of Asparagus season

Putting our asparagus to bed for the summer. Saturday was the day we cleaned up our field to get rid of all the weeds that have grown since spring. We mowed all the rows with our flail mower, then shallowly tilled the field to kill the weeds. This was a full day job starting at 8 o'clock and finishing by 10 p.m. The mowing didn't take so long but the roto-tilling goes really slow.

Interesting Guests last Sunday

We had some interesting guests last Sunday. They emailed me their newsletter of their story of coming to the farm. I attached part of their story plus a couple of similar pictures that they had included.

QUOTING:

"BS Lunch 5
The continuing Sunday lunch adventures of the intrepid old bikers.
Sunday June 28 .........
.............. we saddled up for the 10 km ride to Edgar Farms. Upon arrival, we were met by Elna Edgar who gave us a tour of their asparagus operations and the story of how they got involved in the business, she described it as an overnight success that took 20 years. While we were perusing the offerings in their store, Doug Edgar came by to say hi. Of course he was curious where we were all from and why we chose to come to their farm. We explained that we decided to do a motorbike ride every Sunday for lunch but also to have a purpose to our ride and had chosen their farm based on an article in one of the local papers. Doug indicated that he also had a motorcycle, and when pressed, he admitted it was a Honda 90. With a bit more encouragement, (actually it didn’t take much) he offered to show it to us. Upon see it, I thought this is the same as my first bike. I turns out Doug bought this bike in the summer of ’68 when he was 15, (I also bought mine in the summer of ’68 when I was 15) and it was the exact same model and color as mine, a Candy Apple Red Honda CL90 Scrambler. When he learned this, he offered to put a bit of fuel in it (he said purple gas is the only thing it has ever seen) and let me take it for a putt. Having put a bit of gas in it, we push started it (reminiscent of my old 90) and away I went for a putt around their farm yard. I roared up to the store area where everyone else was still shopping (Ok not much of a roar) tooted the horn and offered Rhonda a ride, now this was true reminiscing. Somehow, the bike seemed a lot smaller than we remember, and Doug suggest we swing by the shop and put a bit more air in the tires (what’s he really saying). With topped up tires and fuel, off we went for a tour of the farm yard, around the machinery sheds and grain silos and back to the parking lot. Obviously there was whole host of photo ops in this visit.
Not only was the Edgar Farms the most entertaining of our Sunday rides to date, the added feature of taking a ride on a vintage Honda CL90 was an unexpected bonus. If you are ever within a 100 miles of Innisfail, we’d highly recommend a detour to Edgar Farms and meet Elna and Doug. This is definitely worth a repeat visit.
The ride home was anticlimactic but had it’s moments with very gusty winds to keep you alert.
Ron, Sue, Elna, Doug, Rhonda, Lynn, Ron"

END OF QUOTE

Nearing the end of Asparagus season

Weeds even grow in a drought. This is a picture of our asparagus field on the 2nd of July. Notice all the weeds. We don't spray anything on the asparagus to kill the weeds so this is the result. The major weed is red root pigweed. Our Mexican help like to eat this weed in salads or cook it up for a dish something like cooked spinach.

Tomorrow is the last day of picking for 2009. We will then totally work the field to kill all the weeds.

Adopt-A-Road

The County of Red Deer has a new program this year called adopt a road. We chose to adopt the 2 miles of Cottowood road (4 miles of ditch) in front of our farm from Range road 13 to Range road 15. We then clean the garbage from the ditches a minimum of 3 times a year for a minimum of 3 years. In return the county posts a sign at each end of the section of road. The county would if we asked supply saftey vests, garbage bags and collect the garbage if we requested, but it is just easier to use our own vests, and garbage bags. We then just put the garbage in our own dumpster for disposal after removing the recyclables.

Today they erected our signs at the ends of road so we had to pose for a picture.

A day off the farm

Wow, a day off the farm (almost 2 days). Some time ago we received an invitation from our bull supplier, Soderglen Ranches for tickets to the chuck wagon races and the stage show at the Ponoka Stampede. But with as busy a schedule as we have we had to decline the invitation. We did however keep the date in mind as midweek is probably our best time to get away. At the last minute we managed to get all our ducks in a row, grab some last minute seats, and with Keri and Randy looking after the farm we snuck away to both the Rodeo performance ,the stage show with Neal McCoy, and the fireworks on Tuesday evening. We then stayed overnight on the stampede grounds in our trailer (first time in 2 years). After enjoying the evening performance we purchased some tickets for the afternoon performance the next day. We then packed up and arrived home that evening feeling at least a little bit more relaxed than when we left. Even though when we got home at 8:30 in the evening the pickling crew was still hard at work making pickles. Even though we were gone our dedicated staff still goes the extra mile to get things done. Keri and Randy did an excellent job of keeping things running smoothly, although I think they almost had to move into our house just to be here with all the things happening on the farm and 2 little girls to keep track of.