CARMAN, Man. – While many Manitoba farmers are hoping flood waters don’t turn their fields into a muddy mess, Len and Edith Rook’s crops are already growing.
Len and Edith operate Dufferin Market Gardens, which has produced vegetables for Carman, Man., markets for almost three decades.
They almost gave up the idea of growing vegetables until the Carman farmers’ market was created in 1989.
“We started with about half an acre that first year, with a little greenhouse about 10 feet by 14 feet (three by four metres) and have grown a bit almost every year,” said Edith.
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Now the Rooks plant 30 acres of vegetables and manage two greenhouses, each one measuring nine metres by 37 metres. The greenhouses are used for starting seedlings for the outside gardens and for growing tomatoes in a potting mixture throughout the season.
“At this time, farming 30 acres is about as much as we care to do,” Len said.
Seeding at the Rook farm starts well before spring thaw.
“We started seeding leek and onions on Feb. 20.… half the kale has already been transplanted into larger flats,” Edith said.
Once the ground is ready, the Rooks and their hired crew will begin transplanting from greenhouse flats into the field.
“All the zucchini, even the corn is transplanted,” Edith said.
Edith said the plants in the greenhouse come up all at once because they are planted at the same time.
“We’re always the first ones to have corn to market,” she said with a grin.
Transplanting corn plants saves on the backbreaking work of weeding.
Seedlings grow quickly enough to discourage weeds and that means more nutrients for the corn and less hoeing for the workers, said Edith.
Efficient planting relies on good timing, practice and some versatile equipment. One worker drives a truck from the greenhouse to the field and loads up every available surface on a small tractor with bedding flats.
The tractor pulls a transplanter that creates a furrow as it goes. Two workers sit on rear facing seats close to the ground, placing seedlings into a dozen cups on the transplanter’s carousel. The carousel turns and the bottom of each cup opens when it’s over the furrow and drops the seedling. Then two wheels, one running on each side of the furrow, push the dirt back over the plant.
“It takes 20 minutes to go down a row about a quarter mile long,” Edith said. “We manage to plant 7,000 plants a day that way.”
Planting takes six weeks and all the seedlings come from the Dufferin Market Garden greenhouses.
Edith said this planting method works for almost all the plants grown on the farm from the leeks, which are thin, to pepper plants and corn.
“The only things we seed in the field are peas, beans and carrots,” she said.
Seeds for the greenhouses and the field are bought through companies with Canadian distributors to avoid problems at the Canadian border.
The Rooks have been hiring temporary foreign workers for many years. Without them, the farm wouldn’t be able to meet its commitments to supply vegetables to the Peak of the Market warehouse in Winnipeg and still produce enough to sell at the farmers’ market and farmgate.
This year, they’ll hire eight temporary foreign workers and four local youth. The extra help will ease the couple’s workload and allow them to spend more time managing the operation and planning for the future.
Last year, Len spent most of the day, almost six hours, driving loads of vegetables to Peak of the Market
Edith said that created some problems because Len is the decision maker and he’s away most of the day.
Len said there are some advantages to doing it himself. It’s hard to find a reliable driver and the temporary workers on the farm don’t usually have the Canadian or Manitoba licensing required to drive the truck, he said.
“Driving to Peak myself lets me meet with the people there, and that contact is also important…. As long as we have reliable workers in the field, it can be relaxing to take the drive and be away for the three hours it takes,” said Len.
The couple’s production lessons have included ensuring there are enough pollinators in the fields to ensure their plants produce enough vegetables for market. With just a few beehives on the property, the zucchini has flourished.
“Now we know if we don’t have bees, we don’t have zucchini,” said Edith.
They’ve also learned more about marketing, including the fact that consumers have different expectations in different venues.
“It’s a tough market,” Edith said.
She said retailers are incredibly fussy while consumers who come to the farmers’ market have more flexible expectations. They understand that misshapen vegetables have the same nutritional qualities and work well chopped up into salsas and stews.
The last three decades have been hard work, but the Rooks and their seven children, aged 16 to 31, have always managed.
“Every year, we’ve had enough to pay the bills,” Edith said.
Prices of seeds and boxes fluctuate with the U.S. market and the value of the Canadian dollar, but so does the price of the finished vegetables, she said.
Len and Edith plan to continue farming for a few years yet and hope that one of their sons will be interested in taking over the business when they’re ready to retire.
For now, they keep on looking for new varieties of vegetables, better ways to grow them and a cheaper way to keep their greenhouses heated in the cold Manitoba winters.
