The Sorrento Farm
Come share in the abundance
JULY 30, 2021 UDATE: the farm is currently lying fallow.
The Sorrento Farm produces an abundance of produce while battling weeds in the field naturally without the use of any chemicals whatsoever. Farmer Gwen with assistant manager Farmer Kaitlin and their team of summer youth staff are working alongside nature to bring an abundance to feed our visitors and take to market!
On this day (July 30, 2021), we are speaking with Farmer Kaitlin:
Some of the perennials we are maintaining and planting are raspberry, blackberry, elderberry in one patch while in another we have red and white currants, haskaps, rhubarb, lovage, asparagus and horseradish. At the front of each planting row for our annuals we have planted bee pollinators and plan to grow more herbs like parsley, chive, thyme, sage, and many more in coming years.
In our annual planting beds we have lots of pumpkins, zucchini, spaghetti squash filling in the spaces for less weeds to grow. Beside some of our zucchini plants (that we have started to harvest – see below!) we have a few rows of sweet corn that are growing more each day.
FUN FACT: Did you know that corn can grow more than a inch a day and could grow an entire 12 inches in a week! They do all their growing during the night, so cool!
Come and get it every Friday
Farmer Kaitlin has harvest ready for your eyes and stomach to enjoy all throughout August at the Sorrento Centre every Friday morning from 8:00-10:30am
We have bags of garlic scapes that are perfect for any dish you use garlic, but with a lighter taste similar to a green onion. Perfect for garlic butter, pickled scapes, jellies, salad, or even pesto!
Our fields continue to produce lots of delicious fresh tomatoes, beans, and zucchini.
We expect to have microgreens and salad greens for sale in the coming weeks At the market we will also be featuring some specialty plants. Lamb’s quarters and redroot pigweed are both highly nutritious and can be an alternative or substitute for spinach. These are extremely versatile produce – their green leaves can be eaten as salad greens, cooked or sautéed but their seeds are also unique. Lamb’s quarter seed is a grain that has similar nutrients to quinoa, a superfood! While pigweed is part of the amaranth family and the flower tops can be eaten or made into a gluten-free flour. Ask Farmer Kaitlin about it more, if interested!
You’ll also find potted comfrey – a pollinator plant that is a powerhouse natural fertilizer for the garden. This plant regenerates as fast as a chive plant and grows like mint.
Find out about more specialty plants and produce at our Friday Farm Market at the Centre from 8am until 10:30am throughout August and at the Market by the Bay every Thursday from 6pm until 8:30pm (located at Centennial Field, Blind Bay).
Farmer Kaitlin looks forward to meeting you!
Colours Colours Colours!
We are growing plenty of colourful produce here on the farm. Currently, or, are on their way to harvest we have zucchinis, beans, tomatoes. Our zucchini plants are producing the familiar traditional green and yellow varieties along with a another yellow/light green variety called yellow crookneck. Many types and colours of tomato can be found in the field; Tomatillo, slicing, grape, zebra, and roma. While our beans can be found in green, yellow and purple.
Yummy Garlic and delicious dill
Our delicious red Russian garlic is ready to eat! Fresh from the fields and harvested in just two weeks ago – if you love garlic you’ve got to try these! The curing process is not complete yet, so if you don’t want to cure at home (easy to do) these will be ready in about one more week of dry heat. We have a beautiful row of planted dill which is ready for harvest, call the Sorrento Centre to let us know your interested.
Oh ddd-deer!
Unfortunately for us, some annual produce we have planted did not do so well including Swiss chard. It seems a neighborhood deer continues to enjoy the vegetable for us. Lucky deer! Radish and carrots grew few and far between…
