Sunday, September 19, 2010

Welcome Newcomers





Hello Everybody!

If this is the first time you are reading my blog, WELCOME!

My name is Peter, and this blog is about me, documenting my efforts to start my own farm! I also use this blog to share news (good and bad), announce events, and anything else that I find interesting while working in the field every day.

I just thought I would share with you what I am about:

Mission: My eventual goal is to run a fully functioning farm, made of various vegetable varieties, fruit, and mini orchard. I also would LOVE to raise my own poultry, pigs, and cows (right now I raise only chickens and turkeys). I try to avoid using gas-guzzling machines as much as possible, and I believe in hand picking all of my produce. This is because I feel proud of what I grow, and can attest to its quality. I want to be able to tell all of my customers what kind of soil it grew in, how much water it was fed, and when it was picked. Most of all, I aim to never use any chemical pesticides, herbicides, and anything that ends in “-cide”!!!

If you have already visited my farm-gate, first of all THANK YOU for your support. We aim to sell only what we grow. Our product selection is variable with the weather and growing conditions, and we only want to put out the best. So the selection varies everyday.

RIGHT NOW: I am selling at my farm-gate, in Uxbridge, at the northwest corner of Main and Wagg. We are open Fridays and Saturdays. I am selling strawberries, raspberries, and a selection of vegetables including corn. I also have available various pies, jams, and baked goods. These are always made with the products from the farm, using local ingredients wherever possible. Even all the vegetables and chicken in our chicken pot-pie are all from my farm!
I also sell free-range chicken. My chickens are fed a whole-grain diet, and are never given any hormones and antibiotics. For Christmas, I am also raising free-range turkey, again I never feed them any hormones or antibiotics.

BELIEFS: I want to eat food that is as natural as possible. To me, this means that I want to feel like my food is safe to eat. I want to know where my food comes from, and to be able to eat food that has not been sprayed with pesticides and herbicides, and has not been fed antibiotics and hormones. I believe in supporting local business, and I want to sell my products to those who share these beliefs.

Contact Me: send me an email or give me a call if you have any questions. You might be surprised to find out some of the things we offer (like year-round frozen fruit and vegetables!). I also hope to expand on my fruit and vegetable boxes, and deliver more chickens, turkey and produce for the next season.

Email: oakridgesfinest@gmail.com

Phone: 647-833-6360

Facebook: Find me on Facebook at “Oakridges Finest”. Please “like” my page!

Thanks for reading, and check back here for more news!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

best berries of the year




Hello again i am back it has been a really busy last half of the summer i cant believe its almost fall already i am definitely not ready to even think about winter yet. In the last month a number of really good things happened. The biggest was that i have my first wholesale account for my strawberries and i am getting a great price for them. The strawberries have really come into there own in the last month i am now averaging about 20-25 quarts every two days for my customer while still have more than enough to meet for myself to eat. I hope that my peak production for the season will be 30 quarts which is a lot higher than i though i would manage in my first season but is still small potatoes in the long run. The strawberry patch has definitely been my star performer of the season and because of this i have begun to realize that expanding the amount of strawberries and raspberry i am growing will be the most profitable area for me to focus on as the foundation for the business. I do not know how much i will expand them by yet it will depend on a few different factors but i hope to at least triple the amount of plants i have growing. The great thing is that even if i manage to expand more than that next year i will not have to buy a lot more plants. This is because i can subdivide and spread out all the strawberry runners that have grown off of the ones i planted this spring and transplant all the tiny raspberry canes that have begun to pop up like weeds in the raspberry rows. The raspberries have also produced better than i thought for how many i planted. The raspberries i am picking now are the nicest, firmest and largest ones i have ever seen in my life hands down the photos don't really show it but believe me they are. Well that's it for now lets hope the beginning of fall will bring one last round of nice weather so that the berries will keep on fruiting.