End of an Era

On December 23, with bittersweet feelings, after the last market at The

Calgary Farmers Market at Currie Barracks, all of us Innisfail Growers took down our booth after vending at the Currie Barracks since it opened. Picture to the left was taken in our booth after we finished removing all of our bunkers, etc.

As always, we are very aware of the environment so are now busy rebuilding our bunkers and display units to reuse in our new stall. We are also constructing some new ones as required.

Posing L-R John,Corry,Blaine,Carmen,Jose,Shelly,Rod,Elna,Doug.

We are very excited about the move to the new market

and are really looking forward to our new location at Blackfoot and Heritage. Our booth will be a lot more spacious and will have lots more checkout space for quicker processing of your purchases.

The parking is going to be much larger and more convenient to the building. There is much easier access right off of Blackfoot Trail.

Red Deer Advocate - Asparagus harvesters

Check out the Red Deer Advocate newspapers video of our festival this last weekend

Red Deer Advocate - Asparagus harvesters

River Cafe and off to the Airport

Our daughter Angela was home for the last few days. She and her husband Steve drove down to Edmonton where we picked her last Sunday.

She was to fly back home on Thursday evening when out of nowhere we had a violent spring snow storm. They closed the highway to the airport that evening so she had to reschedule her flight for Friday. We drove to Calgary Friday and saw her off just outside of the security doors. We hadn't even got back to the highway when she called on the cell phone to say her flight was canceled because the plane wouldn't be able to land in Fort McMurray. She then booked a flight on the next available plane on Sunday afternoon.

It was unfortunate she missed her flights as she missed both her baby doctor specialist appointment and the start of her pre-natal course. It will be another 2 weeks before she can reschedule her doctors appointment so she has to go back to her regular doctor for her checkup.

On the plus side we had time to go to River Cafe for lunch before going to the airport on Sunday. This is by far our favorite restaurant in Calgary. For anyone that hasn't been to River Cafe it's a great place that actually cooks your food not just reheating processed food like a lot of the places do. The service is great, the staff all enjoy your company and really make you feel welcome. It was the first time for Angie at River Cafe. She has travelled a lot all over the world in her 30 plus years but had never seen a waiter come and refold my cloth napkin when I went to the washroom. She commented on how great the food tasted, how clean and shinny the glasses were and all the other little things that they do. It's so nice that when you taste your food it actually has flavor, along with the excellent presentation and ambiance.

We then dropped Angie off at the airport and drove home. Once we got home Angie phoned from the Fort McMurray airport letting us know she arrived safely.

Learning how to make buns

Today was bun making day at our house. Grandma Huntly is definitely an expert at this and both of our daughters wanted to learn this art. At about 9:00 AM Grandma and showed up with all her ingredients to make buns. She has to have her own special four, vegetable oil. She did use our cookie sheets but she did comment that they weren't as good as hers (and not as old either).

Making buns is an all day affair, Shortly after arriving she started organizing her ingredients. Angie was the head note taker and took two pages of notes to share with her sister and mother.

One of the big challenges was getting the measurements of all the ingredients as Grandma doesn't measure, she just pours and mixes. During the day they had to stop Grandma and get her to measure each ingredient and then document it and make a real recipe.

After all this at at about 4:00 pm the first batch was ready and I had to be on hand for the taste testing. Of course they we just as good as always.

We had fresh buns for Angie's birthday supper along with all the other great food.

Getting Ready for Spring

With the warmer weather lately we have been able to work out side and get some maintenance done for spring. Several years ago I built a machine to drag across the hay fields to level out the humps and bumps caused by moles, a small rodent that lives in the fields. This machine has worked very well, but has become worn quite badly. Last Friday my nephew Kyle a journeyman welder was out to weld new plates on the bottom of this machine. Pictured here is Kyle in the middle of welding the plates on. Also while he was doing that outside I was in the shop working on welding on a hitch on our manure spreader.

Working the Fields

Today I was discing the field where some of our garden peas will be planted this year. I disced the field twice with the tractor used for our grain farming and then Elna was out in the afternoon with her seed drill planting peas.

Discing is not practice that we do on our grain farm. With the advances in seeding equipment we direct seed most all of our field crops. For the garden peas discing warms the soil and will help kill the weeds in the garden.

This is the second planting of the season as we planted on row last November 8 just to see if fall planting of peas would work. So far they look good but it is still too cold for them to germinate.

In the afternoon I harrowed the other field where our garden peas will be planted this year. This field can be quite wet some years, but this year it very dry meaning we are about a month earlier getting on the field compared to normal. Not good as we need moisture!!

Calving Season is here.

March is when we like to calve our cows. We actually start about the 20th of February and finish hopefully before the end of April. It seems that by March the weather is starting to warm up, but the mud puddles haven't got too big yet.

We have to spend a lot of time in the pen with our cows, just checking on things and being there if there are any issues. The cows get quite used to us being around and after a wile almost ignore us as we walk through the pen. They do seem annoyed when I walk through the pen at 3:00 am and shine the flashlight in their eyes.

The grand kids get quite used to being there when a new born calf opens his eyes for the first time, looks around in bewilderment and wonders what all those things are he is seeing for the first time. It seems an amazing act of mother nature to watch him learn to stand and learn to drink milk all in his first 15 minutes of his life.

The grand kids do enjoy going out to the barnyard for fresh air and to get out of the house. They do like to go feed the horses. Our old white horse named Blaze just had his 31st. birthday. In the picture you can see he is getting his mane braided.

Keri's Birthday

Keri celebrated another birthday the other day. We invited her and her family over for a family meal and celebration. We were also fortunate to have my sister Vicki and her husband come for supper and a visit. They only live about 30 minutes away but it seems we never get to see them so it was great to catch up on what was happening in their lives.

Farm Marketer of the Year

On February 24 and 25 we attended the Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Associations annual Berry and Vegetable school. It moves around throughout the province each year and we were fortunate that this year it was in Red Deer which is only an 1/2 drive away.

This is always a very informative couple of days with lots of great speakers all with a wealth of knowledge. We also like all the networking that happens in the classrooms and in the hallways with other growers from throughout the province.

Each year the executive of the association chooses one operation to be their "FARM MARKETER OF THE YEAR". This year Edgar Farms was chosen with this prestigious award. Jim Hill a grower from Sylvan Lake made the presentation at the noon luncheon. He spoke of what we had done on the farm and needless to say our heads got quite swollen from all the good things he said.

We received a lot of good press with this award with a large articles in the Red Deer, and Innisfail papers. We were also interviewed on the radio on the farm news section.

An email from Carlos in Chile

As you may know this last January we toured Chile. One of the memorable stops was at Carlos Crovettos farm. He was the fellow that treated everyone as his best friend and taught the no till school.

Last night we received a forwarded email from him. I have attached it below. He speaks of an earthen damn that he has for irrigation water and he has opened the underwater drain to lower the water level


Pictured here is a view of his irrigation lagoon and a picture of a building that had toppled over in Concepion that I copied from "The Hindu" magazine on line.

Dated March 03, 2010 11:03 PM.
Quoting Calos

"Dear Friends:

Since few minutes ago the cell and internet communication arrive.

My family, closer friends and myself are fine. We are in the fifth day but still we do not have electricity. In the farm we have had little damage. the main one looks to be 60 meters crack in the main dam but it does not have seepage we have open underground pipe for water release. Soon an engineer is coming to check damage.

We have electric generator to produce energy in vital service like, water, light energy for 70 thousand birds, mash food, communication through satellite with CNN and national at Santiago TV.

Our apartment in Concepcion is 3 years old, fortunatelyr Saturday early morning 3.30 hours we were not in there, we were at the farm. The building has 13 floor. Monday we could enter, the building is severe damaged inside the twin towers is 25 cm lay down ay the level of our floor, has to be demolished as well as many others. In Concepcion one new one fall down with 15 floors. Rescue came from Santiago, many people is death, they have to open concret walls with electric machine to get in and rescue some alive people. This is unbelievable, how could fall down,maybe the question is why remain stand up many others tall buildings?

The earhtquake was 8.8 Ritcher scale and last more than two minutes. Unbelievable, Never feel in Chile something like that. I remember the 1939 earthquake, I was six fortunately our house was very solid concret. This one killed 10.00 people. Most of the houses were adobe brick. To day the situation is completely different. During the movement I thought that was the end of our life, every furniture was move about three meters, some fall down, many windows were broken.

Right now we have a big one............... we have had more than one hundred. Doris panic is out of control. I do not know what to do.

In Concepcion bad people is destroying every thing, some looking for something to eat and water, but many of them are taking out every thing from the super markets malls and others.. Fortunately since yesterday the army close to the police are working for better citizen control.

The central south of our country is paralyzed, the people is suffering, no food and water, oil is difficult to get. We can not send eggs to Concepcion and we are in severe danger in the farm. We have locked the two access road to the farm.

When we receive your emails we feel much better. We have had more than 120 earthquake and only today the internet is open. We loved your messagge, it is wonderfulto have we have good friends that really love us is Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, USA, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, England, Spain, Australia, Canada, Mexico and France.

I would like to know better English and tell and explain in a better way every thing about us. Please receive everyone of your warmest appreciation for your worries about us. It is a great help for our life.

Carlos Crovetto Doris Arrau"

Off to see Angie in Fort Mac.

This weekend some of our family flew out of Edmonton to see our daughter Angie and her husband Steve.

Angie is due to have her first baby this May so Elna has been missing not being closer to her, although I am sure when the big day comes she will up there in a flash.

Their was no school on Friday so Elna and her 2 granddaughters and their mother all went to see Angie and Steve. Randy and I stayed home to look after things on the farm. This was not the first time any of them had flown but while waiting to board the plane when they announce that families with small children could board first they did. They were really impressed when the Air Canada pilot saw them coming across the tarmac and with the flight attendant taking their picture in front of the plane, he offered them his hat for the picture but Elna insisted that he be in the picture.

Argentina Cattle

Argentina is big into beef production. We had the opportunity to be at a beef producers place to watch him work some of his Red Angus cattle through the chute. He was applying an insecticide to cattle for the treatment of insects. After we were done we then went to his ranch house for a delicious meal and an after lunch rest in a shady hammock.

We also toured the largest cattle auction in Argentina. The day we were there they were selling 270 kg. grass fattened steers ready for slaughter. They slaughter their animals a lot smaller than we do because of the lack of feed and if they grew them out to full size you would not be able to chew the meat. Our calves are heavier than that in the fall when we wean them from the cow and then we feed them to a market weight of 500-600 kg. Because we give our cattle lots of good feed they grow faster and are more tender.

We also visited a leather coat factory that made real nice custom leather coats. Elna and her friend Evelyn both bought new jackets. We stopped at the factory at about 6:30 Saturday eve. at which time they measured everyone purchasing jackets. At 2:00 pm. Monday afternoon they arrived a our hotel with about 25 new hand made jackets custom fit for people on our tour. Considering that they don't work on Sunday and that we were not the only group buying coats that evening that seemed to be an impressive feat. Shelley also ordered one but they got the measurements wrong and immediately refunded her money back to her. If it wasn't that we were heading off to the airport in about an hour they would of just made her a new one that same day.

Argentina Soybeans

Soybeans are the biggest field crop in Argentina. One of reasons for this is the Argentinian government has a "cheap food policy" and politically forces down the price of any crop grown for human or cattle feed. This means if they grow wheat they don't get paid much, probably near or below the cost of production.

Soybeans are an export crop so they are sold on the Chicago Stock exchange at the world price. The government does tax the farmer 35% of his crop before regular taxes. Even so they still grow soybeans. These beans are all GMO soybeans and also require fewer crop inputs than other crops. This cheap food policy is why they have no feed for their cattle as they can't make money growing feed grain.

The downside with this whole program is it skews the supply and demand cycle and even though there is demand for wheat hardly anyone grows wheat.

Also they ending up flooding the world market with cheap soybeans especially during their harvest period when all the farmers are selling as they need the money.

Concepcion to Santiago

After our day at the No Till School we loaded on our tour bus and head back to Santiago the capital city of Chile.

After leaving Carlo's farm yesterday we drove by a grain field that was cut and put into stooks similar to what my Great Grandfather did in the early 1900's. The only difference was these were all done by hand and my Great Grandfather had a binder that was pulled by a team of horses. This field had recently been taken out of the forest and still had 2 foot tree stumps spread throughout the field so I am sure this was why everything was done by hand. It is interesting to see the vast differences in production methods in this country.

On our way back we stopped at a John Deere dealership. It was quite a change to see nice new shiny tractors, as we sure hadn't seen any in the country. The one thing we noticed was the lack of used equipment at the dealership meaning once they sell an item it goes to the farm and stays there.

No Till School

After some long days on the bus today we have a short one hour drive to a farm operated by Carlos Crovetto and his brother. Carlos has been a very strong advocate of no till farming. He has spoken all over the world and was in Edmonton just a couple of years ago. He even has a classroom set up right on his farm complete with thank you plaques from no-till associations all over the world.

Upon arrival Carlos insisted on meeting each one of us individually and introducing himself to us.

We spent the entire day on the farm in the classroom and in the field. We even took our brand new bus out to the field much to the drivers dismay.

One of stops was at his brothers farm who has a collection of Mercedes Benz cars. He probably has 20 or 30 of all vintages and styles, all stored in a beautiful building.

We went to one of his other farms where they were combining. We even got a chance to get grain dust down our necks while watching the combines work.

After the tour we went to Concepcion for the night, before the long drive the next day back to Santiago.

Santiago to Chilean

Up at 6:15 and drove all day with the exception of a few rest stops on the way to Chilean. Finally got to our hotel by 9:00 PM. After getting into our hotel decided to go to a grocery store, check out the produce and buy some bottled water. We had not eaten dinner yet so we went to the local pizzeria. The place was right full of customers and we were tired so the 6 of us just ordered the pizza to go and ate it in one of our rooms.

When visiting with other people in our group they were asking if we had felt the earthquake tremor of about 4.5. We were in the grocery store at the time and hadn't felt a thing. The locals were unconcerned but for an Alberta boy this was something new.

**Note. This is the same town that the on the 27 of February, 2010 had a very devastating 8.8 earthquake that has killed 700+ people. We also stayed a night in the city of Concepcion, toured the port of Valparaiso and spent a few nights in Santiago. All these places were badly effected by this earthquake. So tragic for all those people and their families.

National Election day in Chile

National election day in Chile today. Every person of eligible voting age is required to vote in this country or you are assessed a monetary fine. If you don't pay your fine you can't cash your pay check, register your car, renew your drivers license, or a myriad of other inconveniences. Needless to say every one that is registered has to vote, although there are a few unregistered citizens. Can you imagine how that system would be in Canada or the United States.

Today we did a city bus tour and then we walked down to a local park for a while. Because of the election all the stores were closed, a lot of the town square was closed and as a result the city was quite quiet.

This evening we went to a fancy restaurant for dinner. On election day no alcohol can be sold or served, but because this was a private function and we are not Chilean citizens we were allowed to have wine with our dinner. Weren't we lucky!!

Planes Trains and Automobiles Today

Got to sleep in till 6:15 today as we have another overnight flight to Chile tonight. Caught the train for breakfast and a nice 2 hour ride down the Sacred Valley to the nearest road that a tour bus could navigate.

We then bused up to the top of the valley (12,300 feet elevation) and drove through highland agriculture fields. Most everything is done by hand or oxen although there are a few small tractors, which are not common.

We saw a lot of animals on our trip with most of them being tethered rather than having the expense of a fence. As we drove by a dairy farm the farmer and his family were out in the pasture milking cows by hand with pails and stools.

After our bus ride back to Cuzco we caught an evening flight back to Lima. We then caught a night flight to Santiago, Chile. After a grueling immigration (I don't think they like tourists) we arrived at our hotel at 4:20 AM. Thank goodness our wake up call isn't till 10:30 AM.

**Note: Just 1 week after we did our train ride in and out of Machu Picchu the rain came down and the mud slides started which washed out the train tracks. The Military had to use helicopters to fly food in and some 2000+ stranded people out of Machu Picchu. Weren't we lucky!!!

Machu Picchu

Up at 5:30 AM, after breakfast took a 3 hour train ride down the river valley to Machu Picchu
Spent the day touring this 14 th century site. It is hard to believe what they did back then without any equipment, only their bare hands and a few crude tools.

It is interesting that the reason they built this huge infrastructure was to feed themselves as it rained up in the mountains but not down at the coast. On top of each of the terraces was soil brought in from somewhere as there is no soil like this anywhere close. Today the only way in is by train, back then they had to hike up the mountain trails with a basket of soil on their back.

Cusco and John's Birthday

After a long drive yesterday, a late night last night and an early wake up call at 5:15, breakfast,bags packed, and on the bus by 6:45. Today we head back to the airport for a short flight to Cusco.

We have been taking altitude sickness pills for a couple of days as it is very high here 11,500 feet.
Once in Cusco we arrive at our hotel for a local Inca traditional show while waiting for our rooms to be ready. The altitude sure makes you feel weak so we rested before our afternoon of touring the city.

I spoke to the tour director and asked him if he could do something for John's birthday. That evening we went to a lovely buffet meal that served all sorts of local delicacies. There was a live band singing and playing local instruments. Between songs they announced that it was Johns birthday and the waiters brought him a large birthday cake to share with everyone on the tour (41 of us). They have a custom in Peru that at the end of the happy birthday song the waiter drops 4 or 5 metal pizza plates on the floor right behind John. Needless to say it scared the tar out of him.

Touring Peru Asparagus Fields

Up this morning for breakfast at the hotel. On the bus at 7:45 and off to tour the countryside.

The big reason for Elna and I going on this tour was that we were going to tour an asparagus farm and today was our lucky day.

After a few hours of driving we finally got to the farm. The farm is surrounded by a tall wall and a thorny hedge row to keep people out. After waiting at the gate for a short while, a vehicle escort lead us through the fields up to the owners residence.

The owner pictured with us above was the former Minister of Agriculture of Peru. He was very well spoken with very good English, which is much better than getting the interpreter's version of the question or answer.

The owners met us as we arrived and were very cordial and invited us in to their yard by the pool which sits just outside a large and very nice home. They offered us cool Peruvian drinks and appetisers. The owner then spoke about his farm. He soon figured out that we were asparagus growers from Canada and was very forthcoming with information of how they produce their asparagus.

We did ask him a lot of questions and received a lot of answers. Some of the interesting facts were that they harvest 3 times in 2 years, the wages they pay their staff are $8.00 to $10.00 for a long day of work.

They do air freight some asparagus to Los Angeles, but because of the cost they usually ship by boat. He was quite pleased with the fact that he could get his product from the packing plant to Los Angeles in 13 to 14 days. After that it is trucked to the final destination even if it is Calgary Alberta. Certainly different than on our farm, if our product is 3 days old we are panicking and making it into pickles, soup or some other way of preserving the crop.

The climate in Peru is quite warm, but it hardly ever rains so all the water, fertilizer, and even pesticides are fed to the plant through the irrigation. The other thing is they have warm nights which allows the asparagus to grow all night where ours stops growing in the cool nights and instead forms sugars in the plants, hence a sweeter product.

During our stay in Peru we did have asparagus at several of our meals (even asparagus pizza), but maybe we are biased but we felt ours was much superior.

We did learn a lot, now we know why ours is better.

This farm among other crops produces table grapes. There was a crew doing a final picking or cleanup of the vineyard and we did get a chance to pick and eat fresh table grapes and I have to admit they were better than the ones transported to Canada from Peru.

Arriving in Peru

Very nice flight on LAN airlines. It was certainly a change from the US airline we last flew on. We were allowed carry-ons, were served an evening meal and breakfast. Complementary wine in a glass wine glass. The cutlery was real metal, not cheap plastic, and a very accommodating staff. Even all our bags made it to Peru with us.

We arrived in Lima Peru at 5:30 AM, got our bags, went through immigration, and loaded on our tour bus. This was a brand new bus with only 2000 or 3000 km. on it, it even still smelled new.


We then did a city tour, went for a nice buffet breakfast, before getting to our hotel at 11:30 AM.
Our rooms weren't ready so they were offering complimentary drinks while we waited. Once we got our rooms we could freshen up. We then caught our bus for the ride to the National University. This university has an extensive agriculture program so we were lectured on potatoes, grain crops and assorted other ag. topics.

Once leaving the university we went one of the most prestigious Gastronomy schools in South America for a short cooking class, a tour of the facilities, and for a dinner cooked by the chefs and students of the school.

Back to the hotel by 11:15. Wake up call tomorrow at 6:15, so off to bed we go.