Purple Ridge Farm

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Airdrie, AB
Purple Ridge Farm

Purple Ridge Farm is a local, family owned & operated farm. We do not use any pesticides or herbicid
(8)

06/05/2024

Good morning! Off to the field to do some recreational w**ding. Everything is growing well but now some rain would be most welcome. A few pictures of my juicer/steamer that I have told many of you about. If you make jelly or juices this is a game changer. I have had mine for about 15 years and it has made countless batches of juice to turn into jelly. Last night I decided to make some rhubarb juice that will turn into a base for some delicious cocktails. The rhubarb is amazing and loving this weather. If you’d like to whip up some pies, muffins, scones, crisp etc just msg me.

05/21/2024

It’s a beautiful sunny morning. Right now, at this moment in time, everything looks so green. Picture perfect. Rhubarb is ready to go to new homes. So if you would like to try any of the million or so rhubarb recipes msg us and we will have it ready for pick up. The garden looks like it has good germination this year. Thanks to the rain! So very grateful for the moisture. A few pictures of the garden with the rhubarb and raspberries in the background. Raspberries always look like sticks until about the middle of June!

09/08/2023

It definitely feels and looks like fall. What says fall more than a sheet of root vegetables going into the oven? Golden beets, chiogga beets, red beets, carrots, white fingerling potatoes and a few small onions. Only a bit over a week ago it would have been unthinkable to put on the oven. For dessert? Cantaloupe! I could not wait another day. We actually sampled it and it is the best cantaloupe ever. We have lots of root vegetables for everyone but unfortunately the melons are strictly a treat for us.

08/16/2023

Another hot day🥵. The heat is taking a toll on vegetables and raspberries. Basically the raspberries are done. We are hoping for some moisture that will help our fall raspberries. We will know more about them at the end of August. Peas and beans have also given up. We are left with - red and golden beets, carrots, zucchini, green onions, dill, 2 varieties of fingerling potatoes and 2 varieties of regular red and white potatoes. I will leave you with some pictures from around the farm. 1. Our double row of 🌻 2. Zinnias looking lovely 3. Zucchini doing what zucchini’s do best - producing 4. A tiny watermelon - I have 5 and they are loving the heat 5. My first ever attempt at growing cantaloupe - there are many on the vines. 6. The new cherries are getting an expanded fence. The watermelon and cantaloupe are for my own personal enjoyment!

07/19/2023

What a beautiful Alberta day! That is what I thought on Monday, too! Then we had the terrible wind storm and the result was a mess. Branches flying, trees falling! One narrowly missed our house. The dynamic duo of Marvin and Magnus worked so hard yesterday. They chain sawed, raked, chipped and mowed so that looking at front yard you would never know what happened. The good news is that the garden has remained unscathed by the two weather events. The peas are amazing and will be ready to pick in good quantities by Friday. Beans are also looking great but they might not be ready until Monday. As you can see the potatoes and beets are lovely. The photo has our white fingerling and our standard red. Saskatoons did take a bit of a beating from the wind but so many wonderful plump berries left to pick. Enjoy the day.

07/10/2023

This was this morning. Everything was beautiful. My post was going to be happy and one saying the picking would start this weekend. Mother Nature had a different plan. A diabolical one! Hail. We had some very large hail for a long enough duration that I am not exactly sure what I will find in the garden. Not exactly sure what the damage will be but I will update as soon as it dries up enough to get out to the garden.

06/30/2023

Happy Friday and Happy Canada Day long weekend! It seems to be looking good on the farm so far. Fingers crossed that the thunderstorm misses us this evening. Posting a video of Marvin hilling the potatoes. The lower bowl of potatoes! The hiller is one that Marvin made. The tractor is his 1960 Massey Ferguson. Manufactured in Detroit.

06/19/2023

Good morning! A cool, windy day so far. More rain and less wind would be nice. The peas are so happy with the moisture that we have had. I’m sure they are singing and dancing. Beans, beets, potatoes are enjoying the weather too. The heat and lack of moisture seems to have taken the biggest toll on the carrots so I’m hopeful that this moisture came soon enough. I think the zucchinis and cucumbers might be sad as they were happy with the heat. On Saturday Magnus put up nets around most of the bigger garden to try and slow the rabbits and deer from eating everything. Marvin finished putting up more strings for the peas to climb on as well as “hot wiring” the peas. Sharing is fine but the deer and rabbits are opportunistic eaters. Munching their way through the garden. The saskatoons are looking fantastic. Keeping my fingers crossed for sun, moisture and no hail. Still thinking the second week in July for an opening date. A couple of pictures of the garden that is almost w**d free! That was my contribution over the last week. Hard on the knees and hands but so satisfying. Enjoy the week!

05/28/2023

What a beautiful morning! Everything is growing, grass is green and birds are singing. Right now we are in the “field of dreams” stage. Wishing for rain and not thunder storms. We do have rhubarb ready to be turned into pies, muffins, scones, juice. If you would like fresh rhubarb you can msg or phone and we can arrange a time for pick up. I will pluck it just before your arrival or you can come out to the field with me. A few picture of what makes me happy- other than kids and grandkids. Note the deer protection for my flowers. Marvin has been making me a few so that the “dead heading” marauders leave them alone. Enjoy the day and the week.

12/23/2022

Snowing and blowing. The weather outside has been frightful but it is almost Christmas and it is Alberta. As 2022 draws to a close I’m wishing all of you the merriest of Christmas’s. May your travels be safe and the days filled with love and laughter. It has been 4 weeks since my second hip replacement and I can hardly wait for spring. Looking forward to seeing everyone. As the song goes, “we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet. For auld lang syne”.

08/30/2022

Good morning! Another beautiful hot, sunny day. I have been remiss in my FB postings this summer. I have to confess that as I age, my multitasking abilities seem to be diminishing. Answering messages on the page and the phone as well as being in the field seemed to overwhelming this year!
Our season was very short this year. The cool wet spring delayed some of the growth on our crops. Then the hot, dry conditions spelled the end for some of our vegetables. The saskatoons were great but just for a very short time. The deer and the rabbits were our constant companions and I very much wish that they would pack their own picnic lunches when they come to visit! They munched their way through so much this year.
As we wind down for the season we are left with potatoes, zucchini and chokecherries. The potatoes and zucchini you can place your order and pick up.
I will add our pictures of our sunflowers. The rows of sunflowers were at the back of our property.
To those who visited us this year and to those who we were unable accommodate, thank you. To old friends and new, you always make my summer enjoyable.

08/30/2022

Check out Magnus' zuchinni corral and the crazy sunflowers at Purple Ridge Farm!

07/20/2022

Good morning! Another beautiful sunny day in the forecast. We are patiently waiting for the Saskatoons to ripen. Our best estimate is now July 29 for our opening picking date. I had someone ask me why our berries weren’t ready to pick. They had been to another farm and theirs weren’t ready either. My answer? I don’t know! If anyone could predict Mother Nature they would be a miracle worker. It’s kind of like predicting the weather. Peas and beans are looking good as are the potatoes and the zucchini. The raspberries look amazing. I’m hoping that they will be ready the same time as the saskatoons. So the good news is that everything is growing and looking happy. The bad news is that other than potatoes and rhubarb we will be waiting another week for our opening. I will post a few pictures later in the day. Off too do some recreational w**ding. Enjoy the sunshine.😎

07/16/2022

This is a basic housekeeping post. We are a cash only farm. We do not have debit or credit machines.
1. We do not grow strawberries
2. We are a by appointment only farm. We are a small family farm and do not have the capacity or the man power to have large groups of people come at the same time. You are coming to our home and are guests. We enjoy meeting everyone and being able to have the time to answer questions regarding how we grow our produce.
3. Being a by appointment only farm we have the flexibility to offer evening appointments. We will try to accommodate those that are only able to come after work.
4. Excessive heat will occasionally mean the we will not take appointments in the heat of the day. Being surrounded by black soil is akin to standing on asphalt. Berries will be soft as are beans and peas when it is extremely hot.
4. As a general rule we will be closed daily from 12:30pm - 2:30pm. My mom is now 100 and I go daily to the Bethany Care to help her with lunch.
5. We sell our produce by the pound and I will post a picture of our price list. Most produce is upick but we (not me) will dig your potatoes while you pick your other produce.
6. I am a passionate believer in “fresh is best”. Our growing season is so compressed in this area. We are so close to most of you that I encourage you to buy the peas that you will consume in a day or buy the potatoes that you will consume in the next few days. Strangely enough, potatoes are absolutely fabulous when they are dug and then boiled, baked, bbqd, or made in to potato salad in the same day. New potatoes have a wonderful flavour that diminishes with each day out of the ground. You can certainly buy 2 lbs or whatever works for your family.
7. Be prepared to move at slower pace. To enjoy (hopefully)your time with us. We have no fast checkout lane and with each passing year I move somewhat slower. My husband, our grandson and myself endeavour to make your time with us enjoyable.
😎

07/16/2022

Another beautiful day. Everything in the garden is doing what it’s supposed to do. Saskatoons are looking wonderful and amazingly enough the raspberries are looking like they will produce a bountiful crop. The update is that as near as we can tell we will have peas, beans, potatoes, rhubarb and saskatoons by the end of this week. As always, everything depends on the weather (hail), the deer and the rabbits! So, we are going to plan on picking something by July 22. Just as an aside, the fingerling potatoes are delicious. Enjoy the weather !😎

Address

107 Farries Drive
Airdrie, AB
T4B2A4

Telephone

+14039487735

Website

http://purpleridge.com/

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