Madeline Lake Market Garden
Ingraham Trail Yellowknife, NT, Canada

Open Farm Day on Aug 23rd. Explore the commercial local food growing spaces in Yellowknife. These small scale farms sell produce at the Yellowknife Farmer's Market and through CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). You can tour them all or take your picks, ask questions, marvel at the bounty and food growing possibilities, or just hang out and enjoy the day in a garden. All visitor are welcome.

Heat and rain. what else. The garden is thriving in that. Wild berries and mushrooms are out, too. So we're in full on harvesting and preserving mode most days. The flowers have reached their peak, which means bouquets for all my customers every week. Beets, baby carrots, kale, leeks, mustard greens, arugula, green onions and radishes and lots and lots of herbs have been going into the CSA baskets. The peas are coming in strong. I've started pickling a few jars of cucumbers every other day. 6 roosters went under the butchering knife last weekend. A male rabbit, borrowed from Hay River, has come for a visit. Hoping to have baby rabbits on their way soon;) Smoking fish and drying mushrooms. It's a farm life. Lots of gratifying work. We're eating well here. And we'll have an open farm day coming up towards the end of August. Stay tuned.

Summer is in full swing at the Madeline Lake Garden. We pump water from the lake every 3 days to fill our 2 and 1/2 big holding tanks that feed the drip line irrigation system. It works wonderfully. The row covers on the beds are slowly coming off because the plants are getting too big and wanna push out. There is less need for protection from winds now (alas, much more need to protect ourselves from mosquitoes...). And the flea beetles get in anyways, so row covers will be b...ack in season when the frost comes. The greenhouses are getting their second wave of plantings in. Cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers and lots of flowers are all picking up speed and making the most of these perfect temperatures. The rain has been giving everything a good soak. Oh yeah, grass cutting is a thing! And weeding, too. Trying to give the veggies high priority for growing space. The chickens are trying to ignore their fence, and chasing them back in feels like a punishment of sorts. The CSA veggie boxes are going strong. It's great to get to know my customers and fill their bags with veggies and recipes and chat about what to do with them and get their feedback on the produce. The NWT Brew Pub has been so welcoming to me in letting me set up every Tuesday from 3 - 5 for my customers to pick up their veggies. I haven't yet had any extras to sell. But do feel free to swing by for a chat or check out the boxes if you like.