Market update:

We will be at Squamish this Saturday July 17, and hopefully Whistler July 18. We will begin to harvest in earnest next week and attend the East Van market July 24 and Kits July 25. Potatoes have been slow to grow but are catching up now with all the heat.

Last day of June entry

Here are the first potatoes picked this year. They are a little small just now. We consider this a "promising" sign of things to come. As it stands, our first East Van market will be July 17th.

June 2010

A windy and rather wet start to the summer up here in Pemberton. Potatoes don't mind, but I think the corn might get a little behind...

We look to be on track for potatoes mid-July, and look forward to joining fellow Pemberton farms Rootdown and IceCap at the Vancouver markets. It's a good looking field. We have spent lots of time cultivating with various implements and the weeds are not competing well against the potatoes.

We hosted the UBC Farm Apprentice Progam students recently. Great prgram. Good luck all you future farmers.

Pemberton market starts this Wed June 30 outside the Pemberton Supermarket.

And this is exciting...we are on Facebook: Helmer Farm. And even more exciting...we are on Twitter helmerfarm.

My two favorite vehicles.

Here is a little potato. This was taken at the beginning of the month. Much bigger now. Flowers possibly in the next 2 weeks, depending on the variety.

Jeanette and Anna did a bike trip up over the Hurley Pass, over Mission Mountain, and along the Highline Road back to Darcy, and then to Pemberton. 3 nights, 4 days of fairy epic cycling- very little traffic, wonderful wildflowers, good company, and ridiculous hill climbs on ungraded dirt roads.

May 2010

Want to know what else is happening in Pemberton's farming scene? Go to www.pembertonfarmers.com.

Stay up to date with the big summer bike ride at www.slowfoodcyclesunday.com.

Anna has been writing articles in the local paper, the Whistler Question. Read the latest here.

March 2010

Welcome to the farm, cows with curly hair.

Mom and Uncle Duncan, the famous ex cattle rancher and current organic orchardist.

The fuel line failed and got replaced. An adventure in learning.

We are spending some hours in the lab cutting plantlets. We will end up with 150 plants of each of our varieties which we will then plan in the field, harvest, plant again next year, repeat, and then bring to market. We do this for 8 of the varieties we grow; the others are grown for us by other seed growers in Pemberton.

Here is our spring newsletter!

March can be a bit of a messy month on the farm. The hole is filling with water as the water table is just about at the surface just here.

Maggie discussing RPM's with Anna

This is a picture of Jennie working on the biodynamic preparation 501 (from last fall).

Jan 2010

We are all back from various holidays and are now planning for the coming season. Plans are the only things that grow at this time of year, and do they ever flourish. Can be a little frustrating as there is lots of snow on the frozen ground and there is plenty of winter to come.

Still lots of spuds in the root house. We are attending the winter markets on alternate Saturdays, and Capers Cambie, Raincity Grill, C, Nu, Peartree and Bishops are getting regular deliveries. Thanks to all those hearty Vancouver shoppers who come out to markets rain or shine. Vancouver market shoppers are quite hard-core. There have been some cold, wet markets days where we have been run off our feet. Thanks so much, everyone.

The Pacific Agricultural Show is this weekend. We are going on Thursday to attend some potato meetings, see the latest new equipment, and make even more plans.

Happy January.

December 09

The barn is finished and we are now stuffing it with equipment.

However, we are slightly distracted with this in the back field:

One sweet sheet of ice. Heavy rain almost every day in November, (while building the barn), has resulted in some big ponds. Now that the weather has turned cold and sunny (now that the barn is finished), we are rewarded with pond hockey.

November 09 update.

The barn is coming along very well. The new part is now finished and we are tarting up the old barn and the shack-teau. The ridge cap went on at 5pm just as the first really big snowfall of the season got into full swing. Too wet and cold to bring out the camera.

Tons of rain in November. Neither river flooded, and there is an abundance of water on the fields. Every time we think it is going to get cold and really start snowing, the rain comes (again and again). The fields are happy for the water, and the cover crop on this past season's field is really taking hold before the winter comes, so we are actually quite happy with the weather.

This picture shows the log work on the barn. Roger is an absolute artist.

October 09

Well another summer is done and dusted. And dusty it was. And smoky too. 1,600 hectares of wildfire within sight of the farm was a little distracting. No significant rain from very early summer until late August and then very little (enough to douse the fires, thankfully). High temperatures. Everything that got water grew really well.

The potato crop is all in now. We had an irrigation system on 1/2 the crop this year (for the first time ever). A good year to start.

upper roothouse now full

chickens "helping" to dig the base of a new compost pile

The fall project: rebuilding Grandpa's barn, which had sunk two feet over the last 40 years and become downright dangerous. Roger Harris is doing it and we are helping. He is also going to expand it so that we can fit more equipment in there.

Somebody is going to be peeling all those logs for the barn...

Earlier in the summer....

Jennie the bee lady.

Collecting Dandilions for a Biodynamic preparation

Garlic coming up strong.

We started planting potatoes April 26th and finished May 7. Today is May 18th and they are starting to show! Go to the Farmer's Markets page for our market schedule. This year we have 18 varieties.

Twique (the dog) and a chicken on guard over newly hatched chicks.

The celeriac is started! This is going to be a banner year. I have promised Chefs Quang AND Scott.

Jennie and Maggie keep the bees company on a nice warm winter day.

This little owl has become part of the family and spends hours around the wood pile waiting for mice.

In case anyone was wondering what we get up to all winter...

Everytime it snows we shovel the snow away from four greenhouses before it gets too heavy and threatens to crush the structures. Here is Jeanette hard at work. It has snowed a lot lately.

The field on the left is next year's potato field, planted in fall rye. The field on the right is this year's (2008) potato field, planted back to forage (clover and grasses).

2007 potato field with a good cover crop showing the mulch from regular mowing.

The small greenhouse has some lettuce planted which will be ready in February

The garlic was planted at the end of October.

Doug, Jennie and Anna on the tractor.

How we grow

We use biodynamic methods to build soil health and productivity. Our potato fields enjoy a five year rotation under cover-cropping which returns the nutrients to the soil. The off-year fields are mowed 4-5 times per year which creates a thick layer of mulch- we consider this to be porridge for the soil and thus there is no need for blood or bone meal fertilizers. We cultivate the fields using our tractors and PTO driven implements and well as more simple discs and harrows. Garlic, celeriac and other vegetables are cultivated using stand-up hoes, hands and elbow grease. Garden soils benefit from applications of healthy biodynamic compost heap material.

A proud mother with 7 babies!

Potato Nutrition:

Potatoes (with the skin on) contain fiber, protein, more Potassium than bananas, complex carbohydrates (the good ones), Vitamin C, important B Vitamins, and other minerals (Copper, Magnesium, Iron). They can be a healthy meal all on their own!

tomatoes, sunflowers and a handfull of fingerlings...

Garlic hanging in the barn to finish curing.