Photo Karen Graham. Margaret Winslow in her passively-heated greenhouse surrounded by 15,000 seedlings destined for customers at the Millbrook and Peterborough Farmers’ Markets, visitors to the farm on Sharpe Line, and some for her three-acre market garden that lies just south of the greenhouse. While the greenhouse extends her growing season which begins in December, it’s easy to understand why Margaret relishes the time spent here surrounded by beautiful colours and fragrances.
Don’t let her understated booth fool you – Margaret Winslow is a seasoned pro when it comes to market gardening.
Margaret is a member of a multi-family, 6th generation farm on Sharpe Line. The operation, known as Woodleigh Farms, was founded in 1902. Despite its historical origins, it’s clear that one doesn’t keep a business going for six generations without adapting and shifting to new market realities. This is certainly true for Woodleigh Farms.
The family farms 500 acres of land, producing crops, maple syrup, flowers, fruit and vegetables, but how these are produces has evolved significantly. They have shifted away from traditional methods of agriculture towards what they believe to be more sustainable practices. These include more crop rotations (better diversity), less use of commercial fertilizers (increasing organic sources), the use of cover crops (feeding the soil year round), managing our inputs (variable rate technologies to place fertilizer only where it is needed) as well as the use of clean energies (solar generation, composting of waste products as soil amendments etc), as well as no-till practices throughout our operation (reduction of soil compacting and C02 emissions).
Environmental impacts influence each decision, and they follow organic and sustainable practices in their market garden, greenhouse and maple syrup operations.
The farm produces maple syrup, but one of the biggest changes has been to the market garden operation. After a significant fire destroyed most of the farm buildings, the family, led by son-in-law Norm Lamothe, spent a great deal of timing planning the new operations to incorporate modern technology that would improve the sustainability of the operation.
One of the results of this effort was the construction of an 1800 square foot passive solar greenhouse that is banked into a slope and faces south. Most of the north wall is below grade, providing natural, passive temperature stability. Flanked by an office and syrup production, it is buffered from the east and west from seasonal temperature swings as well. Below the floor are a system of pipes that collect heat, equipped with fans that blow the heat into the greenhouse. Above is a solar roof that captures winter sunshine, with windows that open automatically triggered by temperature swings.
This greenhouse has extended the growing season for Margaret. Her season now begins in December, but she doesn’t mind spending time in the greenhouse during winter months. Seedlings get a head start on the season in the office which is equipped with in-floor heating.
Starting soil is also created on-site. For several years, the farm has received the leaf and brush waste from the township, and more recently began to collect it from Peterborough County. It is piled and left to decompose, adding texture to the compost material used to start plants.
The market garden produces seasonal fruits and vegetables, perennials, house plants and annual nursery stock. Many seedlings find their way into the three acre market garden area that sits below the greenhouse and is irrigated by a gravity feed from their spring fed pond.
Woodleigh Farms is gearing up for a big garden season and is welcoming visitors to their greenhouse by appointment only at the moment. Their products are also available at the monthly Millbrook Farmers’ Market and the weekly Peterborough Farmers’ Market, and they are also a member of the local REKO group. To learn more or schedule an appointment, visit www.cavanfresh.ca or visit their Facebook page. KG
