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Rain, rain go away, I'd pay a lot for a sunny day! (or 3 or 5). I can't believe I left Newfoundland for this weather!

Anyway, here's whassup in this issue:

1. Opening Notes
2. Market Gardener Minute - Never Stop Learning
3. Book Review - Cholesterol-free Cooking
4. Farm Fun - new low-ku

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Products and Promotions
This section presents stuff you should see (and maybe buy) because, well, I said so! Just kidding, as you know we only promote products and services we have personal knowledge of and really believe deliver value, and that are worth your time to check out. So, uh, do it!

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Great little IT tool, f-r-e-e to download and try. I'm always looking for ways to save time and get more organized. Here's a handy little application that I use daily - TurboNote. I use this note-taking software to help keep my many streams of activities organized; I don't forget things anymore (well, not as much!). I strongly recommend TurboNote+ as a useful sticky note utility you'll find handy every day.

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GROCERY DELIVERY right to your door. Our delivery service of great natural and organic foods has launched! You should have received a catalog with a recent veggie delivery. Just complete the order form and fax to me at 613 482-4601 or e-mail scott@new-terra-natural-food.com.

Lots of these products are from local and Canadian sources, and are made in the most natural way. I've checked out each of the manufacturers and am satisfied they deliver a quality, eco-friendly product. You can get everything from grains and cereals, to dried foods and canned foods, to personal care products and natural cleansers delivered right to your door

If you didn't receive a catalog, or have misplaced it, contact me and I'll get another one to you. You can also call me at 613 269-3884.

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CHICKENS! I've got about a dozen chickens left in the freezer that i would like to move out before the new batch comes in a few weeks. If you would like a couple or three chickens you can get them for last year's price, $3.50/lb. You can also use your coupon towards these birds.
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BEEF! I've about 3 box orders of beef available, from a steer that went in about a month ago. Beef boxes are about 20 lbs, half steaks and roasts and half hamburger and stew. $8.00/lb.
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KITTENS! Not for the freezer, we have cute and cuddly KITTENS free to go to a loving family. Drop me a line if you want a kitten (or 2)**

end promo **********************************************************

1. Opening Notes

I know the delivery boxes have been a little monotonous; we are eagerly awaiting some variety ourselves. We have big beautiful tomato, squash, pepper and cucumber plants, with not a ripe fruit on them. I think the eggplants are a write-off, single-digit temperatures at night (in July!?!) have prevented them setting fruit. We need about a week or so of uninterrupted sunshine to get things back on track.

In the meantime, we have increased our plantings of fall veggies; if the long-range forecast of hot, dry weather is true, we may harvest a bounty late in the season. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

On with the garden update!

p.s. if you haven't made other arrangements, please submit your final CSA installment this month. You can mail us a cheque (address is on the website, bottom of every page) or leave it with the delivery driver, or use the credit card payment link on our farm web page below.

thanks

Scott

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The lettuces and mesclun have been reliable producers so far (too much so in some cases). The mesclun will be coming to an end for a while; we will do more of a different variety in the fall. The cabbages are looking good, but the broccoli was only so-so; it never achieved a good size before starting to go to flower, and stayed yellowish. This is a function of too much cloud/rain and not enough sun. There are still a few broccoli coming that looks better, and we have started a LOT more for the fall.

The peas are kind of straggly, they were hammered pretty good by the heavy rains. We are starting another planting of those as well. The carrots also got flattened a bit by the rain, but most should still produce and we have back-up beds coming along. You should see carrots in your delivery bags shortly, if you haven't already got them. The early beets are in the same shape, not responding well to the heavy rains; later plantings look better and we are planting more batches for the fall.

As mentioned, the squash, cuke, tomato and pepper plants look healthy (we have a lot of little tomatoes on the vine) but we need a week or two of good sun to really get them growing. We guesstimate the warm weather crops are 2-3 weeks behind the norm (if there is such a thing). You may have noticed, if you have flowers at home, that they are either not flowering or are flowering later than usual.

The onions and leeks look a LOT better than last year; we planted them on higher ground and they are shaping up well. The only real disappointment has been the herbs; they thrive in hot, sunny weather, pretty much the opposite of what we are getting so far.

Still lots of season left, and we are planning a blockbuster fall bounty of goodies. Keep your fingers crossed for a little sunshine.

New Terra Farm page

2. Market Gardener Minute - Never Stop Learning

I am continuously reading, researching and hunting for better ways to manage my garden and deliver value. Some of the places I hunt for information include:

Other farms' websites: I regularly Google 'organic farm' and look at what 'turnip' (pun). Many farmers give you a lot of information about how they operate on their web-sites. Its also fun to see what and how other folks grow.

Gardening and market gardening forums and list-servs. Here's a good place to find answers to questions (and to find out that other people have the same questions you do). Check out this link for a sampling. Market Farming

Great gardening books (besides mine, of course). Go to this link to see a few you should own. Book Reviews

Visit other farms. You REALLY should make time to visit other organic farms and market gardens. Most organic gardeners in my experience are happy to share their knowledge with you. Be courteous and arrange the visit at a time when they can talk to you i.e. probably not on Market Day.

I have visited farms up to 2 hours away; those trips take a whole day. Believe me when I tell you that getting just one good idea or learning one new way of doing something will make the trip worthwhile (p.s. I GUARANTEE there will be more than one good idea if you keep your eyes and mind open).

Learn the business, too. Remember to keep learning about the 'marketing' part of market gardening as well as the gardening. For example, another good reason to check out farm web-sites is to see how they are put together. A lot of stuff on my site was inspired by others I have seen.

I also found a good company to help me build the site. By 'good' I mean they provide more than just a web-hosting service. They actually taught me step by step how to build a web-site that 'gets the clicks', as well as providing quite a few meg of information about marketing goods and services via the web.

For more on this check out How we Grew a Web-Site

3. Book Review - Cholestrol-Free Cooking

After my lovely chat with the doctor I went looking for some more information about cholesterol and diet; here's one of the books I found.

Heart Healthy Foods and Recipes is an e-book full of information about managing cholesterol through appropriate food choices. It provided me a lot of information about the condition itself, backed up by the research sources. Note: previously I had 'surfed' a few sites and found some of this information, but this book put it all together in an easy to follow way.

Naturally the book also has lots of recipes; they tend to be quite flavorful, spicy dishes, a lot of which are based in Indian cuisine (suggested spice list is included, many of which you will find in your catalog from New Terra Natural Food.)

Soups, salads and healthy dressings, vegetarian dishes, smoothies, pickles and chutneys; they are all healthy and hearty dishes.

If you are concerned about your cholesterol, or just want some good meal ideas, check out Heart Healthy Foods and Recipes

4. Farm Fun - New low-ku

I've umm, produced another low-ku, consume at own risk.

Garden Grace

lettuce all be green,
turnip our heads in choi, and
sing 'give peas a chance'

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