First Market: Vibrant Energy Married to the Start of a New Season

For those privileged enough to have homes and community, the beauty of the winter months is undeniable. The blankets of snow that quiet and slow the organisms beneath them and above them and the chill that draws people together in a common search for warmth and comfort; these moments are uniquely valuable. For farmers (and agriculture students) the winter is a time for study, planning and recharging. During the winter we take a collective breath and reflect on ways to improve our farms and us in the spring and summer. As the cold and dark months gradually unroll and slip into the past we are now looking towards a busy summer. Energy abounds as the trees break dormancy and the microbes in the soil gather around them, de-thaw and become active.

Before I begin explaining our last agro-ecosystems class of the spring, I feel that a little backstory is necessary: our monthly farmers market was set to start in the first week of May but due to the gloomy weather through the spring it had to be postponed. Before we were made aware that the market wouldn’t be running until June, we had put our first seeds in the soil. Since the greens were ready to pick we decided to strike out on our own and run a pop-up market in the main foyer of our campus.

At the pop-up market on the Kwantlen Richmond campus we took advantage of the early season foods through the harvest of fresh greens from our terrace garden. With no more web-of-life presentations to be done, our day began with the deposit of a cubic meter of compost onto our terrace plots, feeding future plants and the soil. We transplanted a set of chives onto the terrace as well. After the compost haul we took buckets of water to our leafy greens plot to harvest for salad mixes. After yields were recorded and the greens took a ride in the salad spinner, the salad greens were bagged up for sale at the market, a minute’s distance from the terraces. Weather that day felt like being within a great cloud – grey, cool and heavy with moisture. Although somewhat dreary, the high humidity and coolness was perfect for harvest and the young leaves that we collected were crunchy and full of fresh water.

Separate from the harvest and processing group, a few of us went to the university lobby to set up our booth. We collected all of our tools (sign, pens, cashbox, baskets and bags) and prepared a table that humbly boasted our excellent produce. We sold mixes of lettuce, arugula and kale, and bags of roasted pumpkin seeds from our fall harvest. Human error caused a mix-up with some of our brassica starts that left us unsure of which were cauliflower and which were broccoli, these were given away at our pop-up market as mystery plants – a surprise for the home-gardener. Interested passers-by slowed to a halt in front of our table, intrigued by the sight of fresh vegetables indoors, intuitively understanding that this marks a significant change in the seasons. Our first market of the season was a culmination of excitement and a glimpse into the near future, in which we pull together as a farm team to bring food to our community.

Final Work Out at the Orchard

This was the final day for the semester that we visited the orchard for some maintenance work

and a site tour.

Agsembly time!

We were greeted by chilly winds and heavy rain when we arrived, so we quickly gathered under the tent for a run-through of our routine for the day. On the list were three activities: Clearing, Tree pruning, and Tent building. We divided ourselves accordingly into 3 teams and rotated through the activities.

What better way to get some exercise, fresh air, and work done all at the same time on a rainy day!

Clearing team:

Clearing around the pear trees

We helped clear the twigs and branches around the pruned pear trees(above), cherry trees, and throughout the site. 

Pruning team:
It's raining, it's pruning...

Sterile pruning the cherry trees

using 10% Bleach solution

We also helped prune the cherry trees. Prior to pruning, Rebecca explained that the cherry trees were suffering from Bacterial Canker, a disease caused by the pathogen Psudomonas syringae pv. syringe (PSS) ¹.This pathogen generally resides on the surfaces of the leaves, around during spring or early summer under wet  conditions¹.
Visible signs of the disease were dark regions of cankers and twig die backs along the branches of the tree. The cankers form as a result of the hypersensitive response of the tree. From plant science class, we have learned that the hypersensitive response is the rapid programmed death of cells at and surrounding the site of pathogen infection, along with a high production of Reactive Oxygen species that destroys the infected cells or pathogen directly. Lignin then gets deposited around the site to isolate the infected area to prevent further spread of the infection.
Despite the infection, we still wanted to prune the cherry trees to stimulate growth of new fruiting shoots for next year and maintain the canopy for light penetration, so we made use of the Sterile Pruning Technique. It uses the same concepts as regular pruning, but comes with the extra step of dipping the pruners into a bucket of 10% bleach solution for sterilization after each pruning cut.
The timing of pruning is important in preventing disease development, as pruning wounds make the tree susceptible to infection by pathogens, especially during cold wet conditions during spring. As a result, pruning is generally done outside of spring.

Tent-building team:
 We also helped assemble a storage tent that will soon be used as a culling site for the chickens after the end of an experiment that will be conducted this summer. The experiment will explore the food waste reduction potential of incorporating into chicken feed dried larvae from Black Soldier Beetle flies that were fed plant-based waste from Enterra Feed Corporation.

deciphering the instruction manual

solving the jigsaw pipes

finished product

Site tour:

We also had a site tour led by Mike for an update of what has been happening and plans for managing some of the problems on site.

Research experiments:

garlic trial

carrot rust fly trial

weed suppression trial

Many research project experiments are currently being conducted by some of the sustainable agriculture students and faculty staff. Some of the current experiments that are being conducted include examining the effect of planting large versus small-cloved garlic on yield, examining the relative effectiveness of carrot and onion monoculture and polyculture as a management strategy against carrot rust fly, and examining the relative effectiveness of mulch and rye cover crop in weed suppression.

On site problems: 

Soil drainage

One of the problems at the orchard is that the site contains clayey soil and on days with heavy rain like this, the soil becomes waterlogged and causes water pooling. Waterlogged soil can be harmful to plants since it depletes the plant of oxygen, which creates conditions for anaerobic microbial activity to occur and accumulation of toxic forms of micronutrients². Installation of drain tiles should be underway this spring, and this will help drain the water down to a nearby ditch and alleviate the problems of waterlogged soil.

Pest control:

cozy home for the owls
One of the major pests at the orchard are the voles. Voles generally cause girdling of trees, damage to field crops, and often create underground runway systems³. We have established a nest box for visitor owls to inhabit, as owls are one of the major predators of voles.

We’ll be back doing more work out at the orchard again next semester. Stay tuned for more updates!

works cited:
1. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=86
2. http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/edition1/?q=content/18-1-1-root-zone-aeration
3. http://icwdm.org/handbook/rodents/voles.asp