The farmer in winter. Is a mess. She is gaining weight, most notably. She is unproductive, almost concerningly. She has probably created at least one cavity per week in her sugar assaulted teeth. The hard-working aspects of her life have been shoved aside by riotous leisure. To set the context, recall she is allowed a … Continue reading Anna Helmer’s creative non-fiction column for the New Year: Personal Issues Edition.
The shortlist of self nominated, self-awarded, self-indulgent and perhaps of interest only to self Awards for the 2016 season at Helmer’s Organic Farm are as follows: Crop Flop: Celeriac Doomed from the start. The first set of terribly delicate, freshly sprouted, faintly visible and hand-seeded starts got mistakenly baked by an unseasonably powerful February … Continue reading Anna Helmer’s Creative Non-Fiction Column for December
The evolution of parsnips 2016: Here we go from seeding, to sprouting, to sized-right-up-very-nicely-thank-you-very-much. We(I) have nominated parsnips for Crop of the Year award. We(I) will be handing out the gongs next month. I(we) still have a lot of work to do before sitting down for a good session of typing. Looking forward to it. … Continue reading Root vegetables on your mind? Anna Helmer thinks it’s about time you discovered parsnips..
I am sorry to say that I have left the writing of this Wellness Alamanc article to the very last minute. It’s an effective, although perhaps not very innovative way to generate extra stress in life. I don’t think I could handle the pressure of trying to come up with brand new ways to mismanage … Continue reading The pros and cons of downtime
I think this entry will consist mainly of pictures and a loosely connected, rather random series of thoughts and seasonal observations. It’s the type of thing from which good stories are grown. For now, we’ll have to make do with the planting of the seed. The season has started with a bang. The mixed vegetable … Continue reading Anyone else suffering Spring Overreach Syndrome?
This article will take the form of unapologetic “Dear Diary”. Sometimes a writer is well advised to embrace the obvious in place of more sophisticated inspiration. Indeed, in place of it altogether. The following entries are mere highlights from the last month or so. Dear Diary: I need new work pants and I think I’ll … Continue reading Dear Diary – a month in the life of an organic farmer
It is very tempting to write about the weather this month. I don’t suppose it would make much of an article though- suffice it to say, the rain might eventually be interrupted by the sun and the mountains could appear when the gloom ceiling lifts. Sunlight, though it may be the enemy of shady dealings, … Continue reading Is that a big splash of passion on your organic vegetable? You better believe it.
From time to time I go to work on the neighbouring conventional seed potato farms. At this time of year, the growers are starting to dig into their piles of spuds and fill truckloads for delivery to potato farms all over the western states and provinces. It begins in January with the California trucks and … Continue reading Roothouse helper wanted? Call Anna.
Consider the following New Year’s Resolution: pressure self to achieve everything self knows that self must achieve. Noted: clever use of third person so self won’t know self is at risk of being pressured into doing anything self considers to be a little over ambitious or that self simply has no interest in doing. It’s … Continue reading Resolutions that lead one straight to the pond
The weather. The most memorable aspect of the 2015 growing season must be the weather. Although to be honest, at this point it’s little more than a remote impression consisting mainly of heat, flies and forest fire smoke. As always, it seems the minute the snow flies and the kale freezes I have trouble recalling … Continue reading An organic farmer wades into the muck of the legality of on-farm weddings, because ultimately it’s about food
The Wellness Almanac 