❄️ The Scoop on Winter Shares and our frosty Farm ❄️

In This Newsletter You’ll Find:

• ❄️ Why there’s no Winter 2026 CSA share (burnout, weather chaos, and the Great Aphid Resort of 2025)

• 🌬️ A look at how winter hit our greenhouses and what bounced back

• 🚚 Why winter deliveries are… pas bien

• 🥶 What it’s really like working in the packshed in January (spoiler: damp)

• 🌱 Possibility of a small March/April CSA share

• ⛷️ Farm Store reopening in mid-January — ski + shop at the farm!

• 🥔 What local partner veggies we’ll be carrying this winter

• 🙋‍♀️ We’re hiring! Part-time winter help wanted

• 📦 Big CSA Update for 2026:

  • One continuous season (June to Christmas)

  • More balanced workload for the team

  • Around 300 shares total — limited spots

  • A renewed push for magical quantities of carrots & squash

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Winter came in like an icy slapshot

Winter descended upon us with fury and determination this year. We were not prepared for unrelenting cold temperatures and our greenhouse greens definitely suffered.

We still managed to harvest a decent amount (and variety!) of greens and herbs for the fall share and the store, and the spinach and kale will bounce back in March once the sun returns in a meaningful way.

Despite the positive spin, this harsh start to winter is a reality check: it’s not easy to farm or distribute food throughout a Canadian winter!!

Even before winter went full drama-mode, we had mostly decided not to run a Winter 2026 share. Our team has been feeling the burnout from the 2025 season and really needs a couple of months to recover. Also, our cold room isn’t exactly bursting with variety—we have a LOT of cabbage and daikon, but that does not make for a particularly inspiring weekly share.

Last year, we kept the heat going in the greenhouse so we could offer greens all winter long. The hydro bill for that was astronomical, and to add insult to injury, it created the perfect cozy breeding ground for aphids.

So this year we’re deliberately turning off the greenhouses at the end of 2025 to let the cold do some of the pest management for us! Plus, we’ll save a lot of money by not heating.

SKI AND Farm-SHOP

Robin and I (Jess) will be here all winter and will reopen the farm store in mid-January. We’re looking at being open Thursday–Saturday.

We are only 5 minutes from the P19 parking lot, so if you're coming to Gatineau Park for a ski, make a stop at the farm and stock up on veggies, pastries and bread.. and much, much more!!

We’ll also be carrying beautiful supplemental vegetables and fruits from friends:

• Ferme Aux Pleines Saveurs – beets, napa, leeks, carrots

• Waratah Downs (Jess’s dad!) – potatoes, carrots

• Verger Croque Pomme – apples

• Ferme Chapeau Melon – sweet potatoes

  
  

🙋‍♀️ We’re Hiring

We’re looking for a bit of help in the store this winter.If you love food, customer service, and a part-time job that smells like carrots and apples… get in touch! (bilingualism is a must)

(We will be closed sarting December 21st until January 14th.

A NOTE ABOUT THE NEW 2026 CSA FORMAT:

Spreading Out the Workload

We have changed the format of our CSA this year to be one continuous season (from mid June until Christmas). Part of this is to reduce admin for us and for customers, but mostly it’s to spread out the workload for our team.

Having 400 CSA baskets a week during the insanely busy growing season and then dropping to 200 during the slow time )when all we’re doing is washing and harvesting a bit of greens) just doesn’t make sense.

We really need as much time as possible in the fields from May–September in order to maximize our yields. This also helps even out the cash flow and makes it easier to support an (almost) year-round, steady crew.

We know some of you have never signed up for the fall share… don’t be afraid! It’s really great! Some of the best greens you’ll ever taste are grown in the fall. And in 2026 we are going to do everything humanly (and possibly spiritually and magically) possible to grow an abundance of sweet carrots and gorgeous squash.

Our aim this year is to have around 300 shares for all 26 weeks. So this means not everyone who signed up for 2025 will get a space in our share.. it also means a big portion of people will commit to eating seasonally for longer than they have in the past!

That's a wrap

Thanks for sticking with us through the icy details of winter farm life! We hope this gives you a clear picture of why there won’t be a Winter 2026 CSA, and what exciting things are coming in March and beyond.