Today we began the process of getting Kind Organics on the Map of several farming and community organization websites. WWOOF Canada is a member of the International World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms and provides a website where volunteers can look up farms and contact farmers for short or extended apprenticeship programs in exchange for food and shelter. C.R.A.F.T. Ontario (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training in Ontario) is a great resource aimed mostly at college and university students here in Ontario, similar to WWOOF it provides information on farms where students can get training in exchange for free labour (room and board). International Communities is an international directory of communities and community minded groups with one focus being on visits and volunteering. The outcome hopefully will be to get some volunteers or apprentices for the summer. We sure could use the help, the to-do list is very long for this year.

These two trays are filled with Golden Frill Mustard, Red Russian Kale, Purple Radish, Suehlihung, red Cabbage, Arugula, Kogane, Giant Garnet, Tatsoi, Daikon Radish, Curly Cress, Brown Mustard, Red Clover and China Rose Radish. The timing and methodology behind both of these trays is different but neither is the intended finished product, just in the experimental stage. The intention is to grow these sprouts to about 2 inches tall and then cut them for consumption.

Its been an exciting and fear filled start to the year as Kind Organics has no official home and while we are still looking for a farm we needed to start some of our seeds so as not to be too late for the season. With the help of my dad and the kind extension of my sister and brother in-law's place we erected this small greenhouse. I bought the greenhouse off of Craigslist for $200, its a 6'x8' that could be purchased from Home Depot new for about $800, we put a small space heater in there to keep the plants from freezing at night. We have had -5C temperatures a number of nights in a row here in Toronto. Planting began in mid march, but there is still lots more seeds to germinate for this year. I just got the order I had placed with West Coast Seeds (from Vancouver). I have not ordered from them before but they have a few rare heirloom varieties of tomatoes that I just couldn't resist. The delivery came almost a month after placing the order, not sure that I will be ordering from them again, unless the results are exceptional in which case it was worth the wait.

I began ordering Organic and Certified Organic vegetable and herb seeds for the year back in February. Although February seems early enough, I would have felt less rushed had the seeds been ordered in January. It took from 2 weeks to a month to get the seeds in the mail and it took considerable time and effort to organize them all by planting dates.

The majority of my seeds were bought from the Cottage Gardener. I like to get seeds locally when possible. In theory locally grown seeds will acclimatize quicker and therefore produce a better harvest. The theory remains to be tested and I will post the results at the end of the 2009 growing season. A large portion of my sprouting and micro-green seeds were purchased from Mumm's and from Johnny's. Johnny's seeds has a very large selection of micro-greens all tested and untreated but not necessarily certified organic, their prices are much higher then Mumm's. Ordering from Mumm's is a real treat, you can order 2.2lb's of seeds for less then the price of a quarter pound of seeds from other seed companies. Mumm's is also Canadian and most if not all of their seeds are certified organic. The only problem with Mumm's is that they don"t have much of a selection, but I have been told they will be adding some more micro-greens to their line-up "as time goes by". I would have liked to order from William Dam Seeds also but I got their catalouge too late...there's always next year. I ordered some rare heirloom varieties from the Seed Saver Exchange and from another small seed company in B.C.

While we are on the topic of seeds let me just say a few words about Monsanto. Those guys are the great pirates of the 20th century, complete criminals who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!!! Seriously though, rent the documentary "The World According To Monsanto", watch "The Future of Food", or several other great documentaries on the Wide Eye Cinema web site, there's hundreds of others and many to be found on Youtube. Take it upon yourself to do the research, its not a question of; is GMO good or bad or should we be playing god, its about lies, deceit, manipulation of our government which is supposed to be representing our interests not that of corporate America, poison (Round-up), and lack of good research. Until we know more, stick to organic and non-gmo foods whenever you can. Its more expensive, but in the long run its about your health and it will be cheaper.

Kind Organics is currently in the process of securing its new home. We are looking for a 10+ acre farm with fertile organic soil that gets plenty of sun, a pond or stream to irrigate from, a small forest on the property for mushroom production, with a 3-4 bedroom farm house and a barn to rent or rent-to-own in the Adjala & Mono area of Southern Ontario. Our intention is to secure this by April 1st, 2009 and to set up production and begin selling delicious organic produce by May 24th at Brick Works, Wychwood Barns and Dufferin Grove Park.

A very heartfelt thank you goes out to Alex Schafer who started Kind Organics in 1998, for his willingness to agree to let us use the name and continue in the spirit that he had generated years ago.

Back in October of 2008 I began seriously thinking about getting a hoophouse. Its been a dream for many years but it did not seem plausible to get one within my budget of $1,000.

On March 2nd, 2009 I drove to Bradford co-op to pick up some plug trays for starting my seedlings for this year. I looked at their post it board and found a flyer for a floral business that had gone out of business and was liquidating their equipment. Who would have thought that you could pick up a 20x96 hoophouse, 11' high, gothic style. Complete with irrigation drip lines, exhaust fan, blower fan, an oil burning high efficiency furnace, electrical panel and lights for $1000. It just goes to show you that if you stay with your intention, even the most unlikely circumstances will come to manifest in time.