Susanna Hammond

Hi Ana,

I'm in zone 6 in Nova Scotia Canada. There's a book I use as my bible for this....
It's called "The Year Round Vegetable Gardener" by Nikki Jabbour. She's just down the road from me in zone 6 too.

There's tons of ideas about ways to mulch stuff so you can harvest into winter, create easy cold frames from straw bales, etc.

But the part I refer to constantly is her index of vegetables! For each one, she lists when and how early you can start plants, indoor or outdoor, whether to cover, and then.... most importantly for your question, she lists when to sow for your fall crop. She also lists all her favourite cold-hardy varieties so you can keep growing longer.
It's a really great resource!

You'll need to know your average first fall frost date, and then you'll need to add however many weeks for your plants to mature after seeding and germination. Work backwards from your frost date and  that's your sowing date. Once they're mature, you can usually protect them from the first few frosts for quite a while and keep harvesting. And if you're growing in pots, say kale, you can move them to the attic when it's time. For in ground crops like carrots, etc. you can mulch well, and cover them and just keep harvesting, even in the snow!

Wow, so many great combos to try here!
I'm in eastern Canada, but I took my herbal training in New Mexico. We made an all purpose wound salve there and I was introduced to Chaparral or creosote bush. We also used yarrow, walnut hulls, elderflower, wild bergamot and usnea (old man's beard). But I'm convinced that the salve's ability to fight infection has a lot to do with the Chaparral. It takes over large areas because nothing eats it and nothing infects it. It's anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral.... pretty much anti-everything! Coincidentally, I found myself standing in front of an enormous creosote bush at the Desert Botanical Gardens on the day I flew home from Phoenix and the smell of it can knock you over, but it's one of my all time favourites.

Hi James!
Thanks so much for the seed link, they look great! I'm especially looking to try growing melons next year and I was looking for something that might already be adapted to our season. Thanks for posting!

Hi Alex.
A next step after landraces, might be to get your hands on everything George Washington Carver ever wrote on the subject. He was a master botanist and plant breeder and created many new crop species.

I read somewhere that he had the ability to walk through a field of germinated hybrids and know by feel which ones were going to express the characteristics he was selecting for. Now that's a skill to cultivate!!

Hey Everyone, thanks to Ann for bumping this thread and thanks to everyone for chiming in!

My husband and I have been talking about these vents - has some mechanical know how - and we've come to the conclusion, like you did Doug, that it's all down to the seals and possible gas leakage.

And Mike, I think you're right, the leaflet mentions that the opener can be damaged if there is any movement of the piston or adjustment screw while frozen and that they need to be thawed slowly. That damage could definitely happen here, with a cold night and then a vent 8 feet up at the top of the straight back wall warming up quickly as the sun starts to hit the glazing.

I've done some more reading about wax vents and I've read that the Bayliss wax cylinder vents are meant to be left out all year round. I've heard people say that they've lasted 5+ years.

What you've all said has helped me confirm my decision to return these gas models and get myself some quality wax openers that will last a lot better in the long run.
Thanks so much!!

Hi Megan,
Congrats on your purchase! I used to live nearby in Brookside.

You can check out Jen Stotland at Halifax Earth.
http://halifaxearth.ca/contact/

She's the only one I know of, but I'm sure there are others in the area.
Have fun!

Hi Gang!
I'm in the process of building a small passive solar greenhouse, 6' by 10', and I'm not planning to heat it. I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada, near the coast, equivalent to about Boston or coastal Maine. The maps from years ago put us in Zone 6a, but I would say we're 6b now and maybe approaching Zone 7 some winters. Between thermal mass and insulation, I'm hoping I can keep things generally above freezing in there, but this will be it's first winter, so we'll see!

I just bought 4 vent openers today from a local retailer who tends to do their homework on what they carry. The name on the box is "Thermoflor Autovent". I notice they're made in the UK. They look just like this model from Halls: https://hallsgreenhouses.com/halls-auto-vent-opener/p/63939

At the counter, a half page sheet was given to me along with the product. One of the paragraphs on it said that in areas where temps will be below freezing, the openers must be "removed and stored indoors for the winter to prevent damaging the unit". Then there were instructions given for how to thaw the units slowly if the seals happen to freeze.

The page also mentions "the gas" in the opener expanding. My first question: is there a significant difference between an opener that uses gas and one that uses wax in terms of how they handle cold? Until I was given this page, I hadn't read about needing to remove openers anywhere else while I was researching various models.

Second, I was thinking that since they're not going to be opening unless the temperature hits 55F at the vent level they won't be damaged by sitting "inert" in the cold. According to the leaflet, this is wrong.

Does anyone have experience with these type of vents and how they behave during winter?

And do you bring them in for part of the year? Has anyone had them damaged by leaving them out in the cold? I'm trying to decide whether to return them and get something different.
Thanks so much for your help on this!

Hi Lizz and Cher Bear. Thanks for reigniting this thread!
What part of NS are you in, Lizz?

I just got back to the St Margaret's Bay area after a year and a half of looking after my mum in Calgary during Covid, and a year of traveling before that.

I'd love to know what everyone else following this thread is up to. Whether farms were found, etc.

I'm slowly reclaiming the hay field that is my former garden.... at least the soil is still awesome! My baby black walnut trees are still going and I'm hoping to plant a lot more trees and shrubs and forest medicinals in the coming years.

Since the earlier posts, there's now a pretty good (if small) Farmer's market in Hubbards, Chester and I think in Upper Tantallon as well.

Hope everyone has weathered the past year+ well.

Hey Brody.
Thank you for your thoughtful, in depth responses and I hope you and your wife had a happy Valentine's Day!

It's hard to get the full picture of a person's life from a series of postings. I'll admit, I had the impression of a relationship with fewer miles on it. It sounds like the two of you have rolled together through quite a lot over the years and withstood some major tests. I'm really happy for you! There must be some strong intentions holding you together, or you might have come apart by now.

I also definitely agree that her caution is a very good balance to your "enthusiasm", lol. And yes, I would say it's very good news that our thoughts have been motivating, rather than a total downer.

From the perspective of both a wife and counselor, the one thing I would recommend is that you find a way together to have fruitful discussions that aren't blowouts. We tend to inherit whatever ways our parents worked things out. Good dialogue is very definitely a skill and, in my opinion, it should be on the SKIP skills list. The upside of that, is that it's both learnable and teachable if someone is willing. And it takes conscious practice. If one of you has a more positive skillset from your parents, perhaps let them lead the process. And find ways to interrupt the old pattern when things get heated. Laughter helps a lot! And I think a PowerPoint is an awesome idea.

Re: how you're feeling at work..... I was thinking a moment ago, I wonder if you could enjoy the feeling of being in your workplace but not "of it"..... sitting there at your desk knowing that you are energetically, just by being there and being you, broadcasting the subtle seeds of change all over that place. I wonder if there are others there holding some of the same ideas that you haven't met yet. Intention is a powerful thing. By intending it, you just might find another subversive at your work place who is also flying under the radar like you are.

I wish you all the very best with all of your dreams Brody!

Hi Antonio, nice to see your update!

I want to echo the suggestion of trying WWOOFers or something similar to get some help in the short term. I'm from Canada and I did farm and hotel work in the UK and Europe via a website and app called Workaway.info.

I had planned to be traveling again all through 2020 and 2021 before Covid happened. So last summer, I used the Workaway app to find a farm just 18 minutes from me here in Canada and I worked a few hours a day about 5-6 days a week from April to Oct 2020. Because we were so nearby, travel restrictions were not a problem. My hosts' helpers did not arrive as they were stranded in France.

The usual arrangement for Workaways is 5 hours work per day, 5 days per week in exchange for room and board. No salary is required.

It's completely free to register an account as a host. You can put up a basic profile and then see if there are people in your area.

I just did a quick search and here's an example of a couple who like to look after farms:
workaway.info/en/workawayer/ken07000

I see they are German and likely not on the road due to Covid. However, there are quite possibly some local farm workers in your area who might be able to travel to your place under the current rules.
The farm owners here in Canada that I worked with thought they would have to give up their garden completely last year without helpers, but we found each other!

Keep sharing your updates Antonio, it's encouraging and inspiring to see your progress!