Straw mulch somehow makes every garden look a little bit more professional, doesn't it? Even though we're no less amateur than we were a few days ago, covering the pathways between beds (and sometimes, within beds) with a layer of straw does make it look as if we're on top of things. We picked up some bales of straw from our favourite local food market, Burnham Family Farm Market on Highway 2, which just opened for the season a couple weeks ago.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my father's death. My friend Veronica stopped by our market stall yesterday and said, what better way to commemorate Richard by showing up at the local farmers' market with fresh produce grown from the very soil that he began working a few years ago. I can hardly believe that it was only a year ago when Laire and I were still so busy with Nelson Urban Acres; we still had no idea that we were going to end up moving to Cobourg—not until a few weeks after my father had passed away.

While it's still early in the growing season, we are pretty much all set for the first market of the year at the Cobourg Farmers' Market. It happens tomorrow morning at the market square, starting at the ungodly hour of 7am and lasting until 1pm. So don't sleep in!

Here is a sneak peek of what we're bringing to the market. We'll also be bringing some copies of my cousin Elizabeth's brilliant creation, A Dictionary of Simplicity, as well as hopefully a few creations put together by our neighbour Lesley. You'll have to actually come to the market to see.

(Also, check out the baby robins on our front porch!)

It's pretty fun getting used to Ontario weather patterns again, 23ºC one day, -2ºC the next! Well, hopefully this is the last of the cold snaps before spring is here for good (and next week it will probably be summer, not spring). I decided to record a little video of what we have growing around the property to give you a more tangible sense of what we're doing here. As you'll see, we're always making mistakes and learning—no "master farmers" by any means!

This little-known crop is one that urban growers might want to pay some attention to: microgreens, or, the edible baby seedlings of larger plants. Sometimes I call them sprouts, although they differ from most sprouts, which are usually the whole sprouted seed – roots and all. Microgreens, on the other hand, are cut at the base of the stem and are just the tender stems and leaves.

Here's an illustrated summary of some the farm's activities over the last little while. You can see how the radishes in the greenhouse are doing, the precarious condition our little tomato seedlings got into after the flash frost, all the amazing work Laire has been doing shaping gardens around the property, and the robin that's made our front porch its home for the spring.

The pallets you see Laire digging around are an "instant garden" experiment. We underlaid them with cardboard, filled them with compost, and now we have greens planted in the different sections. I came across the idea through the electronic grapevine.

We've had some charmingly springlike days lately. Over the last few days we managed to build a greenhouse and get our compost tea setup running, and the seedlings sure are happy about it. I think they'd had quite enough being cooped up in the office. Nothing like real sunshine, fresh air, and poo-steeped water!

Howdy folks, Farmer Paul here. You may remember me from the last farm that kept me busy out west, called Nelson Urban Acres. Well, as stated on the website, Jasmin took that operation over this year, and now it's going to be keeping her busy instead! I'm excited for her and I wish her the most prosperous first season of running that little business, in whatever form it takes.