Open Farm Day results...........

Hi all,
Open Farm Day went very well. We had over a hundred people visit. It is a good way to meet the neighbors from across the road. And their new neighbors as well. They moved in about two months ago. I never knew. We had a model tractor for a doorprize.
There were 73 ballots left over, after we took all the doubles out first. Klaas phoned the happy winner shortly after six, and he came down right away to claim his new John Deere 8330.
There were lots of comments about our digger collection of steel.
Most people figured that the round object seated on the yellow pedestal was indeed a cannonball.
We will wait for some official say in this matter from our family expert.
Digging came to a halt today. All was going well until we started the Red Norlands this afternoon. The first load was fine, but when we topped the hill, the potatoes were skinning too much yet. And with a little bit of rot and blight in the field, we decided to wait until next Monday before we start again. So there is your update in that department. I hope you guys have a great week...........

Open Farm Day tomorrow.............

When you read this, it will likely be all over. We were asked this summer if we would consider hosting open farmday again. Since it was the year of the potato and they did not have a potato farm yet. So after some thinking, we decided to host this event for the second time. We did it two years ago as well. It is really enjoyable, but it takes a lot of work to get ready for it. I'll post some pictures on the next blog, maybe even tomorrow, so be warned, two blogs in a row.
We started digging a few headlands yesterday, the potatoes were still skinning a bit. The crew is coming in on Monday and hopefully we will be able to start digging the seedplots. I could put some archived pictures in for that, but I'll wait for the real ones. We had one interesting find however. Diggin right clos to the shop, we noticed a round iron object in between all the Gold nuggets. Yukon Gold that is. If you look at the pictures I would like you to tell me what you think it is.....

Roguing Seed Potatoes......

These days on Blue Bay Farms are mostly spend in the fields. Roguing seed potatoes is a very important job. The job consists of finding virus infected potato plants, and then remove them from the field.
The top picture shows the roguing crew. From left to right: Rebecca, Tineke, Pete, Marten and Klaas. The empty seat is mine.
These pictures were taken in the field in front of our house. The variety is Prospect. A processing variety.
And this is a picture that shows a Mosaic plant. A potato plant infected with PVY (potato virus Y). You can see how much smaller the plant is. It is going to have a small yield. Therefore it is not desirable to have these in a potato field. That is why we rogue them out.
The last picture shows Prospect on the left and Yukon Gold on the right. In the background you can see all the mussel buoys in the bay.

Hi to you all..

Or the few ones that are left. Summer has arrived on PEI. It is really warm, at least for us. It was around 30 degrees , and high humidity. You folks in Ontario and below that have our sympathies. Hope you stay cool.
The potatoes are growing fast. they could use a shower now. But the dry weather is keeping blight in check.
As most of you probably know, Sarah Terpstra is biking across the U.S. in the Sea To Sea Bike Tour. If you want to follow her progress, here is her blog address.
http://sarahterpstra.blogspot.com
They are at day ten.
All the best for now and have a great week........

Yippey......

We are done planting. Sorry, no pictures. But it is a great feeling to be done. We finished late yesterday afternoon. And today is dedicated to paperwork, cleaning, grading and putting equipment away. More later, we have to eat now........

Change of siding............

We finaly have our new back door in place. Got it late last fall,and then it sat in the barn for the winter. I wanted to finish it before planting. The top pictures shows you how nicely things are greening up here. The flowers are starting to grow as well. We certainly had enough rain lately.
Also put some new siding on the house, as you can see in these pictures. I kind of like the rustic wood look.
Planting has come to a standstill. Last Friday afternoon and Saturday we planted about thirty acres. And we have not turned a wheel since. It was nice yesterday, but is raining again right now.
Matt and Amanda are coming here tonight. We are all looking forward to that.
The stockcar races are starting again tomorrow. Weather permitting. It was cacelled on Monday because of the rain. The farm is sponsoring Walter again this year. I hope that he has fun, it is certainly entertaining for the crowd. Well folks, I hope everyone has a good weekend...........

The Crisis in Agriculture..........

This past Thursday we went to an event in Charlottetown called: May Day, MayDay!
It was organized by the West Prince Chamber of Commerce. In support of farmers, rural businesses churches and schools. The situation with Island Farmers and farm related business here on PEI is serious. After the second year in a row of low commodity prices, a high Canadian dollar, too many potatoes on the market, the closing of the only hog processing plant on PEI and poor beef prices. The Island farming community came together in front of Province House to plead their case with the government. It was very cold, drizzly weather. But about 400 people came out for this very important gathering. Premier Ghiz came out to address the crowd. But not much was accomplished. The PEI GOvernment can't fix this with a big cheque, he said.
We knew this already, but what else can be done, that is the question.
Many speakers had passionate words to say about the quality of rural life that is quickly coming to an end. One young farmer come up and said that in his area, last year there were six small family farming operations. This year there will be only one left on his road. And sadly, that is becoming more frequent, as you talk to other farmes from different areas. The financial crisis in farming today is equal or worse then the thirties were. Something needs to happen. And it has to happen REAL SOON. Or it will be to late for many!
What will happen in the big cities where there is no awareness, if the farmers are not there to feed them anymore. Are they all going to be content with the fact that their food now comes from China and South America? What if the borders are closed for some reason? We need farmers in this country. And all we ask for is a decent living like everybody else. But it seems with the pricing of our products, we depend on others to set the price for us. But when we need parts, then too, the price is set. The problem is, that the margins betwqeen cost and return have overlapped the wrong way for too long. We are no longer able to support this cheap food policy that we have hear in North America. It is time for change. Or life on PEI as we know it today, will be a thing of the past. And that would be a shame. Anyway, let me introduce you to a few people in these pictures.

In this picture, in the white shirt on the left, is Dr. Gary Morgan. He is a vet. from the O'Leary area. With the guitar I believe is Gary Gallant, a dairy farmer from the West Prince area. He sang the song May Day, MayDay for us. It summed up in a few words the serious situation that we find ourselves in today.
The above picture shows you the amount of people that turned out for the event. It was good to see this many show up, eventhough the weather was very poor. It showed the government that we were serious.
This last picture is one for the books. Never before have I been at a meeting where the Federation of Agriculture and the National Farmers Union were standing side by side and coming with a joint resolution to bring to the premier. That actually didn't happen until a little while later, after the meeting was moved inside the House. When the premier was finaly cornered for the third time that day, he started to get the picture that this was serious. Not just a bunch of upset farmers. But mayors, church ministers, equipment dealers, feed company owners. A representative portion of rural PEI. Including farmers.