Sitting, late at night, in the pitch-black of South Marysburg, Prince Edward County, Ontario, you are in the heart of some of the best farmland in Ontario. This is a good time and place for reflection. Farmers grow our food, and it is a rewarding, but tough life. Vicki Emlaw, of Vicki's Veggies, is the 9th generation to farm the land in this corner of our province, and her daughter will be the 10th, assuming Sage sticks around to take up the family trade. Being barely a third generation Canadian this is unfathomable for me. Admirable, honourable, yet totally unfathomable what generations have gone through to make farming viable in a world that tends towards an industrialized food chain and cheap fast-food.  

The farm that Vicki and Tim run is not huge, but does produce some of the best vegetables that I've ever tasted. They sell what they grow to restaurants  from The County to Toronto, and to the public via their roadside Post Office, and at the Brickworks and Wychwood Green Barns farmers markets on Saturday mornings, year round. What they grow is organic, and grown with skill and love. This is what I came to learn about, and experience first hand. 

I arrived Wednesday around lunchtime and got quick introductions to the people that help on the farm, all of whom are young women, and are a great bunch with mouths like truckers. Love it! Sitting around the table with them was really entertaining, and of course I jumped in at every opportunity to encourage their behaviour, helping to ensure I was looked at like "one of the girls".

The sun was shining and it was warm out, and being that there was work to do, once lunch was over, we went out to the edge of the property where the garlic planting had been going on for a day and a half. Literally getting my hands dirty and loving every minute of it with my new buddy Jocelyn, who was showing me the ropes. We planted and chatted, and the time just passed. I'm not sure what I was expecting, because I guess I really didn't want to form too many preconceived notions or ideas about farming. It is work, hard work, but I really was enjoying it. The earth was warm and the bulbs of garlic made themselves at home in the soft soil, as we put them to bed for the winter to come. 

As the day came to an end, and the farm quieted down, my personal reflection continued. The farm I was on showed such loving care, not only for what was being grown, but also for the people that helped to grow and the people to whom the produce was going. These people really do love what they do, how they do it, and have deep-seeded reasons for their methods and motivations. This is why I was here; I was finding my own answers.

The evenings on the farm are short and people go to bed early, which was an adjustment for me, being a relative night owl. Tim and Sage go to bed shortly after our fantastic dinner that Tim and I prepared (well, I helped a little). Oh, I guess I should talk about dinner, shouldn't I? I was treated to some great and hearty meals while on the farm. Wednesday night we had some braised lamb shanks and a special heirloom variety of lentil that Tim brought back from his recent trip to Italy for Terra Madre (the Slow Food world conference that happens every two years). There were also some side potatoes from the really cool cellar under the Post Office (where they sell the produce by the road). Lunches were some great soups and salads, all from things grown on the farm of course. Roasted tomato and fennel, parsnip and maple syrup (from a friend who lives close by) and great and creative salads with some cheese from two cheese makers in PEC, Fifth Town and Black River Cheese Co. which is literally at the end of the road. Breakfast on day one was buckwheat pancakes, which have made me think twice about my need for white flour, as Sage and Vicki also used it to make Sticky Date Pudding for dessert after dinner on Thursday night. That night's dinner was a roasted chicken that was freshly killed and processed that day (more on that in my post on day two), and some of their flageolet beans prepared with carrots and soubise. All in all, I definitely didn't starve on my visit. 

But this was only day one, and there was more to come.