Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

Fresh Facts
Newsletter #281
September 2012
Volume 27, Number 8

Presidents Message
September is finally here and we all know what that means: Back to School. Funny how those three words can mean such different things depending upon who you are and where you are in life. Funny too, how some students get giddy about back-toschool while others dread the annual return to class with such conviction. Parents too. I know some parents who are more than a little excited to "get back to normal." Sound familiar? It's been more than a few seasons since I went back-to-school in September but I still feel it around this time of year. It always starts around the last week in August, this feeling that the long days of summer are coming to an end - that change is coming - that it is somehow time to get serious again. One thing I'm serious about doing this September is securing my spot for OFFMA's Annual November Bus Tour. This year, OFFMA is heading to the Illinois/Indiana/Michigan area for a few days to check out what's new in direct farm marketing in Illinois. I've had the scoop on where we'll be going for a couple of weeks now (I know people) and I'm really excited for you to see this newsletter's insert detailing most of the stops on our tour. This year's trip looks fantastic - but the truth is, these trips always are. We always return home full to the brim with new ideas and new ways of looking at old ideas. Best of all is getting the opportunity to visit with OFFMA friends on the bus and at mealtimes (and at cocktail time...). If you've never been on one of these trips, I really hope that this is the year you will decide to change that. Decide quickly though - the Bus Tour always sells out early so call Cathy soon. A few weeks ago, we had the really great pleasure of visiting and touring Watson Farms at our Annual Summer Pot Luck. Paul and Tami Watson showed us all over their beautiful and busy farm. They had a lot of questions from our group about their neighbours (a subdivision on one side, and a Wal-Mart across the street!) and we really appreciated their candour and their positivity. Huge thanks to Paul and Tami for such a great afternoon. As an added bonus, this year's event also featured our first ever Farmer Olympics - special thanks to Geri and Ken Rounds for organizing. If you missed it, you just may have missed my very last sack race. Ever. To all the folks who made it out this year: thanks for coming...and most importantly, thanks for the great food! Have a super September -

Inside this issue:

Membership News Hulshof Farm Market Innovation Awards are meant to Inspire Direct to Consumer Sales Waddell Apples Upcoming Events

2 3 4 6 7 8

Jesse Lauzon OFFMA President

2012 OFFMA Tour

Bus Tour Supplement included with this newsletter. Check it out, dont miss out on this opportunity.

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Fresh Facts

MEMBERSHIP NEWS
New Members Welcome to these new members. Thanks for coming on board. Make sure you get out are participate. Christian Cooke Cookes Farm Omemee 705-799-2746 Clay Eborall Eborall Farms Beamsville 905-988-0348

McKay Salmon Wedding

Things were hopping at Willowtree Farm on August 18th. Marlene and Rod McKays son, Alex , got married to Kelty. Congratulations to the whole family. This is one step closer to Marlenes dream of having grandchildren to spoil. Keep asking for pics but havent seen any yet to share with the membership.

Classifieds
WANTED: Supplier for wagon canopies. The canopy on our people wagon needs to be replaced. If you have suggestions, pls call Arwa at Mapletons 519-638-1115 FOR SALE -Small-sized straw bales (24x12x8 inches) available for $1.75 each. Contact Kevin Shantz, Shantzholm Pumpkins 519634-5252 for more info. WANTED: Looking for 300-400 lbs of elderberries for wine. Contact Bob and Dyann Birtch, Birtch Farms and Estate Winery, at 519-469-3040. WANTED: Foodland has had a request for tomatillos and elderberries. If you grow them, pls let the OFFMA office know and we will pass along your contact info. WANTED: On-Farm Markets looking to sell fresh milk within 100 km of St. Jacobs. OFFMA member, Eby Manor is a Guernsey dairy farm located in Waterloo County. They have their milk processed and bottled in one litre glass bottles by Hewitt's Dairy. Currently Eby Manor has 2% milk, but they are working on other dairy products as well. If interested, contact Jim Eby at info@ebymanor.ca

Thanks for sharing this picture with us. They are Ellie and Garnet, twins born to Nathan and Darlene on March 25. Ruth and John Downey now have a dozen grandchildren to keep them fit and busy. Congrats to all.

Twitter Anyone? If you are on Twitter, make sure the OFFMA ofce knows about it. We want to following all OFFMA members on Twitter so we can help get the word out about activities on your farm. Send us an e-mail or better yet send us a tweet.

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From the FieldHulshof Farm Market

Owned by Jim and Elayne Hulshof Article written by Cathy Bartolic as told to her by Elayne Hulshof.
One of our big purchases this year was a cash register for the on-farm market. The market had always been Jims dads, Frank Hulshofs, domain, but unfortunately he passed away in 2010. The market was his passion and he was a whiz with numbers so there was no need for a cash register. We now have students helping us out at the market and they sometimes get flustered when there is a line up and may miss something or miscalculate a purchase. Usually not a big deal but it starts to add up if it is happening even a few times a week during our busy growing seasonhence the register arrived a few weeks ago. There are so many benefits to having it at the market: Safer place for your cash We look more professional and more serious about our business. Customers can see and feel this as well. Better records, because we set up the register to record the sales of different categories. It is easy at the end of the day to see what was actually sold. Better records will help during our planning process when we are trying to decide how much of what we should be growing. We can also now track the number of sales each day and calculate the average sale per customer. All very valuable information. On the con side, we have less flexibility in serving several customers at once. We also have more paperwork to deal with, but that is far outweighed by the pros we have experienced. Our next objective is to get a debit system set up to better serve our customers since many people have very little cash on them these days. Although we have a smaller-sized market, we are trying to keep up with all the technological changes constantly coming at us.

Innovative Ideas

A little low on the number of apples you have available this year for pickin? Why not offer Yoga classes instead. Spirit Tree Cidery is doing just that. Not sure which heirloom tomatoes (or any other varieties of vegetables) your customers prefer. Maybe they arent sure either...how about giving them a choice. Let them fill their own quarts with whatever they would like to try.

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Fresh Facts

Innovation Awards are meant to inspire

The Premier's Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence recognizes the success of our rural communities, farms and food processing sectors. Their innovations improve existing products, create jobs and drive economic growth. They also provide inspiration for other agricultural businesses. This year, the program recognized 50 regional award recipients across Ontario. From these regional recipients, six are OFFMA members. Congratulations to these winners. It is always nice to be recognized for the hard work you do day in and day out. Following is a short summary of why these farms received the Innovation Award. Have a peek, be inspired and consider applying next year. Every farm has something innovative and original they are doing. Andrews Scenic Acres Inc. Innovation has been the philosophy of this farm since 1980 when Lauraine and Bert Andrews began their adventure. First, there is the 100acre Pick Your Own berry farm that has everything from blueberries to raspberries to black currants. Then, there is the fruit winery that produces award-winning amber, black raspberry and black currant wines, and recently added home-produced grape wines to the shelves. An on-farm market sells not only berries but also root vegetables and cut flowers fresh from the fields. And to top it off, there are numerous cost and energy-saving production innovations including an underground winter storage area for dahlia bulbs. Jakemans Maple Products If you like maple syrup and ice wine, this product is sure to tap into your taste buds. Maple Ice Wine Syrup is made on a family farm that has been producing 100 per cent pure and natural maple syrup since 1876. The nonalcoholic ice wine is the most recent invention that finds a new way to market the liquid gold that flows from the farm's maple trees. The product has been featured in national magazines and made the top five listing of best new sweets at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. This sweet innovation is now making its way into speciality shops throughout Canada and the U.S. Nicholyn Farms The Van Casterens looked at the traditional pizza and hot dog fundraising lunches at their local school and thought "We can do better than that." They now offer daily nutritious and tasty local food lunches that are healthier for the kids. A pilot that ran for 20 weeks at one school has now expanded to serve five schools in the area, as well as staff at the local Ministry of Natural Resources and Public Health Unit offices. On average, the Van Casterens prepare 600 lunches weekly for these clients. The family expanded its own vegetable crop by five acres, and draws from the production of several other farmers in the area.

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Puddicombe Cider Company

high levels of antioxidants; they collect pomace from Ontario's organic vineyards and process it to produce a functional food product called "Bioflavia." Health Canada has approved it for use as a naturopathic product and it's now one of the highest antioxidant powders available on the market. Bioflavia powder can be added to drinks, sauces and baking and has been featured on the Canadian television show, Dragon's Den. This pomace-based product packs a nutritional punch. VG Meats Two heads are far better than one in the case of this producer/food processor duo. Combining the skill and expertise of a producer and processor has meant getting the tenderest and tastiest meat products to customers and a better return for each partner. Cattle production and beef processing have been finetuned to meet specific retail- Ted McMeekin, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Cory Van Groningen from VG Meats er and consumer expectations, such as adopting whole herd vaccination protocols and collecting metrics to ensure efficient production methods. Further, the partners have shared the lessons they've learned with many others during farm and plant tours. Their efforts have garnered both the Meat Industry Achievement Award and an Ontario's Finest Meat Competition Platinum Award.

Farming and innovation have been part of the Puddicombe family for eight generations. They grow a variety of fruit on their Winona farm and operate their own winery. While studying agriculture at the University of Guelph, one of the family's younger members discovered a British cider made from fermented pears. He found it too sweet for his taste, but liked the idea that it was made with pears, which also grow on the family farm. Working with the company's winemaker, they undertook months of research, trials, and samplings to come up with the perfect balance and taste for their pear cider. Others are benefiting from the fruits of their labour too. Last year, the company bought 78,000 kg of pears from local producers who would otherwise not have a market for their fruit. Southbrook Vineyards Wine pomace is what you call spent grape skins and seeds left over after crushing. In the past, vineyards paid waste companies to dispose of the pomace, but Southbrook Vineyards has found a novel use for it. Recognizing that dried and crushed red grape skins contain very

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Fresh Facts

Direct to Consumer Sales Reach One Billion in 2011

Submitted by Carl Fletcher, OMAFRA Strategic Business Planning Lead. For more program information go to www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/about/growingforward/busdev.htm

In 2011 OFFMA reported provincial direct on-farm sales totalled $313 Million. Farmers Markets Ontario reported $700 Million sales at farmers markets across the province during the same year. They combine for a total of over One Billion Dollars of annual direct to the consumer sales. Wow! Now appreciating that the following comparison is not apples to apples, if we take these direct to consumer sales, which include all kinds of produce and products, and place them in OMAFRAs Top Commodities in terms of Market Receipts, 2011 they would stand in sixth place.

Item Dairy products Corn

2011 Ontario Farm Market Receipts in Millions 1,895 1,338 1,272 1,077 1,028 1,013 902 891 784 301 315 203 103 70

Vegetables (including greenhouse) Soybeans Cattle and calves On Farm Markets and Farmers Market Sales combined Hogs Poultry Floriculture and nursery Eggs Wheat Fruit Potatoes Dry Beans

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/stats/agriculture_summary.htm#commodities Direct to consumer sales continue to grow as a marketing channel choice for Ontario Farmers.

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Waddell Applesits More Than a Business, Its a Passion

By Gary Johnson Depending where apple growers were located in the province and the degree of frost that was experienced this spring, some growers did lose most of their apple crop. On some farms, however, where either the frost was lighter or blossom development was later or due to air movement efforts or smudge pots, the growers have partial crops. On a recent visit to Waddell Apples Orchard & Bakery north of Kingston, Charlie Waddell showed Cathy and I the spottiness of the frost and how it impacted his crop. One tree was full of apples, and the one beside it was totally bare of any fruit. The night of the heavy frost, Charlie drove a tractor with a spray unit up and down his orchard rows trying to keep the air moving. He had limited success as he estimates he has somewhere between 50-60% of a crop. Waddell Apples is owned and operated by Charlie and Marita Waddell since 2003 and joined Ontario Farm Fresh in 2006. Both have family backgrounds in growing apples, and both are passionate about their business. This is a second career for both of them. Charlie manages the orchard, equipment and the harvest lifecycle, while Marita looks after the farm bakery, marketing, public relations, and record keeping. Marita also holds down a full time IT Management position at a local firm. Their main orchard is made up of 1200 trees on 5 acres. The trees range in age from 3 to 40 years, and there are even 6 big old McIntosh trees that were planted in the 1940s! In 2009, they purchased more farmland to expand their orchard. They planted 250 young trees in 2011 and 400 more in 2012. With over 12 varieties of apple and several more coming, they have lots to offer the consumer. Charlie and Marita are proud of the heritage varieties they grow that keep bringDisplay case in the rustic log cabin apple ing back their
store.

long-time loyal customers. Waddell Apples is conveniently situated on Highway 15 just north of Kingston and offers pick-yourown, ready-picked apples, as well as added value products such as pies, tarts, dried slices, and apple ribbon in their rustic log cabin apple store. (They re -located a log cabin from the Lake Charlie and Marita Waddell started Waddell Simcoe area which Apples as a second career for both of them. is unique to the Kingston area as most older buildings are made from limestone.) They also welcome daycare and school groups for tours of the orchard to learn about growing apples as well as visiting the pumpkin patch. All of their value added products are made by themselves in their certified kitchen using their own apples. They are constantly on the look out for something unique they can offer. Traditional Colonial Apple Butter is produced by slowly cooking applesauce to the point where the sugar caramelizes, turning the apple butter to its distinctive deep brown colour. Apple Butter makes a tasty spread on its or own or as a condiment with cheese, ham, poultry or pork roast. They also make Beurre de Pomme, a light-coloured Apple butter produced in the traditional Quebec style, with real butter and maple syrup -- the delicate flavour and smooth velvet texture make a gourmet spread on toast, fresh rolls or scones! Try their Spiced Pumpkin Butter, and enjoy that special 'pumpkin pie flavour' on your breakfast toast for an extra special treat! Both Charlie and Marita are actively engaged in ongoing business planning and improvements. They look for ways to combine their farming experience with new ideas and improvements using customer feedback and industry resources such as Ontario Farm Fresh and of course lots of commitment and hard work. www.waddellapples.com

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Fresh Facts

Upcoming Events
Sept. 11-13 Oct. 3-4 Ontario Farm Fresh
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director 2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9 Phone: 905-841-9278 Fax: 905-726-3369 E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com www.ontariofarmfresh.com 2012-13 OFFMA Board of Directors Jesse Lauzon, President Springridge Farm Brian Hugli, Vice President HugIis Blueberry Ranch Amy Strom, Past President Stroms Farm Cara Epp, Associate Member Cara Epp Marketing Leslie Forsythe, Forsythe Family Farms Jay Howell, Brantview Apples & Cider Hollis English, Murphys Farmstead Colleen Pingle, Pingles Farm Market Geri Rounds, Rounds Ranch Steve Smith, Smiths Apples Carl Fletcher, OMAFRA (Acting Advisor to the Board)

Canadas Outdoor Farm Show, Woodstock, ON Visit www.outdoorfarmshow.com for more information Canadian Greenhouse Conference, Scotiabank Convention Centre, Niagara Falls, ON Visit www.canadiangreenhouseconference.com for additional info Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON Watch for details at www.royalfair.org OFFMAs Annual Bus Tour, Chicago Region, details included with this newsletter. Act quickly if you are interested in joining us. Call Cathy at 905-841-9278. Great Lakes Expo, Grand Rapids, Michigan, www.glexpo.com

Nov. 2-11 Nov. 48

Dec. 4-6

NEW WORKPLACE POSTER

In 2010, the Minister of Labour appointed an Expert Advisory Panel to review Ontarios occupational health and safety system. The Panel included representatives of organized labour, employers, and the academic community. Throughout 2010, the Panel consulted extensively with stakeholders across the province to identify structural and operational improvements to the occupational health and safety system, which includes the prevention of workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, and the enforcement of occupational health and safety legislation. The Panel advised the Ministry of Labour (MOL) to "create a health and safety poster that explains the key rights and responsibilities of the workplace parties, including how to obtain additional health and safety information and how to contact a Ministry of Labour inspector. It should be mandatory to post this in the workplace." Employers can now obtain this free new workplace poster in English, French and 15 other languages. Visit http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/ posterinfo.php. Employers are required to post the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) and any explanatory material prepared by the MOL, which includes this poster. However, the MOL wants to ensure that employers have sufficient time to become aware of the new requirement to post the poster. Inspectors will begin enforcing this requirement effective October 1, 2012.

The last word.

The last word this month is a BIG thank you to the Watsons for opening their on-farm market, their farm and their machinery shop to OFFMA members. The tour was wonderfulit gave the rest of us an idea of what you have to deal with when homes are literally a few feet away from your fields. Your attitude and comments regarding the near proximity of WalMart and Loblaws were enlightening and inspiring. Your gingergolds were fabulous. Everyone on the tour was very appreciative of your hospitality THANK YOU.