Haven Acres Market Garden
PO Box 22 T0C-0A0 Buck Lake, AB, Canada

Here’s most of this year’s variety options for seedlings. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, and squash will be available in 3.5 pots for $3.50 each. Full trays of 18 pots (mix any varieties) will be discounted to $55 Mesclun mix hanging salad bowls available for $10 each... Head lettuce mix packs, onions, cabbage, broccoli, kale and chard will be available in small 6 packs for $3 and large 6 packs for $5 depending on the size of the plant.

Hey Everyone! I know it’s been quiet here for way too long but I’m back into the thick of planning and gearing up for an exciting season ahead! I’d really love to hear from you! What are you most excited to grow? Are there plants or varieties you’d really like to try, or have had great success with? I want to make sure I’m growing exactly what you’re looking for! ... The order form will be going live on February 1st and sales will begin April 15th though I don’t recommend planting out without some extra cover until May 15th. Can’t wait to connect with everyone again- feel free to spread the word!

Amidst the challenges of our last post there are good things to report! The first zucchini are looking beautiful, winter squash plants have exploded now that they’re properly planted and the greenhouse is being filled with cucamelons, cucumbers and peppers in pots and hanging baskets. Even if they’re not growing in the beautiful (albeit currently tainted) raised beds, we’re still going to try and get the most out of this space this season!

We’ve just had a devastating discovery tonight. We were gifted with 20 cubic yards of composted horse manure from a neighbour up the road. We felt like we’d hit the jackpot and spread it over 2,000 square feet of the garden and filled 3 of the 4 brand new greenhouse beds with it. Tonight we’ve discovered that it’s tainted with some form of herbicide. Our tomato crop is all but wiped out. We’re trying to save a few plants that don’t seem to have been hit by it yet, whose new ...roots haven’t reached the tainted ground yet, but it’s not looking good. Hundreds of hours of shoveling, bucketing in compost, caring for plants and transplanting- its all a write off now. We’re not sure if we have enough of our own home made compost to fill the beds, and even if we do it’s days worth of work to pull everything out and refil them. Our tomato crop is pretty much lost. Perhaps a fall crop can salavage the lost greenhouse season, but today we could really use your prayers, it’s devastating for us as weeks of energy has all become wasted effort and the hope for even a modest farm income starts slipping away. Farming never seems to deal fairly, it’s the most unpredictable profession out there I think, we’ll step back and re-assess, hopefully there’s some redemption at the end of the season, but right now, things feel really bleak.

Did you know we also have Bison available for purchase? Fresh product arrives next week and we’ll have a great variety for the grill this summer! I happened to be in the right place at the right time to watch a few of our mommas and babies cross a small creek to join the rest of the herd in new pasture. We’ve been waiting for the ground to dry up enough for it to be safe for them to cross and are so thankful there weren’t any mishaps!

They just got an upgrade to their new home which is 4x the size of the one they spent their first week in! So much flapping and happy inquisitive roaming about!

We have been so so busy! With the help of a friend this week we finished off, and planted!!, the second raised bed built the trellis for some of the peas, the chicken babies have doubled in size and Jon has done an amazing job today digging down and installing tin along the greenhouse edges to prevent the creeping quack grass and to give a clean deep edge to build the final raised beds up against! So many things coming to life here, even if it feels a bit behind schedule!