Blue Dot Acres

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Burlington, ON
Blue Dot Acres

We grow fresh produce and share our space with others promoting health, learning & sustainability.
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07/20/2024

I totally understand why Van Gogh painted sunflowers. 🌻

I definitely don't make a lot of money off flower sales (as my last picture in this series indicates) but I sure do love them and try to always have a few cases for sale at my produce stand.

I have an idea for a fall event using flowers but I'm curious, are there any events you'd like to attend related to flowers?

(Most of my flowers are blooming August-September-October. This year the season is a bit ahead of schedule because of the warm winter we had.)

06/19/2024

What do native plants have to do with fireflies? Everything!

Yesterday Anne from stopped by our farm to create a living teaching corner for the Fireflies, Bioluminescence and Native Plants event happening June 29th and July 6th.

Anne is a garden designer specializing in native plants. Thanks to Anne's guidance, our farm already has lots of native plants to foster healthier soil and attract helpful bugs and wildlife. Anne has been advising our farm for years and we're so excited she will be sharing her expertise with you at this event!

As part of your (very affordable) family ticket price, Anne will share how to create an environment to attract fireflies and she'll give you a native plant for your garden to help your family get started. (If you love native plants already, she'll have more available for purchase too.)

If you are interested in joining our firefly event, July 6th still has tickets available! June 29th is sold out - hooray 🎉

Send me a dm for the Eventbrite link!

06/13/2024

Over the years, we've been gifted a variety of different types of chickens and researched and chosen some breeds. Regardless of how each breed came to our farm, we've been grateful to learn about the qualities of each.

So...When we have chosen specific chicken breeds ourselves, why did we get the breeds that we did?

*Sometimes we get chickens because they are good layers (ISA Brown)
*sometimes we get chickens because they lay visually beautiful eggs (Easter Eggers)
*sometimes we get chickens because they are cute and gentle (Silkies)
*sometimes we get chickens because they have cool feathers for art projects (Barred Rock)
*and sometimes we get chickens because they never have a bad hair day and they remind us of the whimsical artwork of books we read as kids (🎉 Our newest addition - Polish chickens🎉)

These little ones are still small enough to peep and very gentle. Welcome to the farm little chicks🐤🐤🐤

06/12/2024

It's worth keeping the kids up late to see this!

On June 29 and July 6, , .possum and are collaborating to host a firefly event. Learn about the role of native plants in how to create and maintain a firefly friendly environment, celebrate firefly season with UV face painting, and enjoy the campfire, farm and fire fly walk.

Tickets are limited but very well priced for families and available on Eventbrite. Get them before they are gone and see the fireflies during their month of mating awesomeness!

06/07/2024

This week Eric and I were fortunate enough to watch 2 pods of Praying Mantis hatch. There were so many of them!

We had been watching their encasements for months and noticed a few disappeared (did something eat them?) but two remained and this week they hatched.

As soon as they hatched they started to disperse but some unfortunate nymphs were quickly caught and eaten by spiders.

Praying Mantis are not native to Ontario, they were likely stow-aways to the US in the 1800's and migrated North to Southern Ontario. I don't mind them in my garden because they eat aphids (which eat the plants I grow). And as you can see in photo 4, they are food for spiders and birds and other creatures.

Within an hour, all of the tiny Praying Mantis had dispersed but I know we'll see them around this summer. Hopefully at summer camp🙏.

06/05/2024

This is kind of controversial but at the farm I have a strict rule about NOT catching frogs.

Every year we have a few frogs who enjoy life by our little stream. They bring joy to me and others, simply by sitting on their log. (Imagine your simple existence bringing joy to others? 💚)

There is a cultural idea that catching frogs is a beautiful childhood rite of passage. I used to subscribe to that idea myself but I no longer do. Since watching these frogs and thinking about how I share space with them, I'm more aware of;

🐸their habitat disappearing
🐸the stress they endure even when they are caught and released
🐸 how we might be valuing our human needs areas of their frog needs when we catch frogs for fun and how we might discover other strategies to meet our human needs that do not cause the frogs stress, harm, injury, or death

So if you visit our farm this season, I invite you to experience the joy of simply seeing the frogs on their log in our stream and hopefully with the right stewardship, we'll have frogs on the log every year💚.

Photo credit: This picture was taken by Eric, who has spent the past few months on our farm as part of his high school co-op placement.

06/03/2024

Happy Monday! Just thought I'd share our strawberry progress with you on this cloudy Monday morning! Farm fresh strawberries are coming!

05/30/2024

The first firefly has been spotted!

Have you ever seen fireflies? They are magical.

We are hosting an event, on two different dates, to celebrate these amazing fireflies.

Your family ticket includes; face painting with artist Liz , learning about native plants and their role in firefly habitat with Anne , a native plant to take home (or alternative if you don't have a garden), campfire marshmallows, and our firefly walk with multiple choice quiz. You are getting A LOT for this family ticket price.

If you want the details, comment firefly below or in the DMs and I'll send you the link!

05/29/2024

There were some great guesses and logic about what was "wrong" with my egg picture from yesterday. Thanks for playing along with me everyone including
and

The sizes of eggs vary depending on the breed, the color of eggs vary depending on the bird, and sometimes I'll collect the eggs and find a feather left behind, curled on the shell. Those things are all normal. What was unusual was the egg shell that "looked smushed".

This soft shell can happen for a variety of reasons; the hen is getting old, the hen isn't getting the right nutrients in their diet, or the chicken is feeling stressed. In this case, our hens were feeling stressed because we added 6 new girls to the flock!

So 🎉 introducing the "barred rock" sisters! Aren't they pretty? And thankfully, after a long week, everyone is back to laying eggs again as usual💙.

05/28/2024

When I was a kid, I liked puzzles, so I thought I'd turn this post into one of those games. So... What's wrong with this picture? Put your guess in the comments and I'll share the answer in my next post🐓

05/07/2024

I've got the best coworkers.

Working with animals around (whether domesticated or wild) really puts things in perspective and ramps up the learning. Never a dull moment over here🤎

03/11/2024

These are the Sentinel Apples ripening on the tree in June last year. We bought this tree from a few years ago and it was exciting to see such an abundant crop! If you bought from us at the Waterdown Farmers Market - this was how it all began!

I've recommended www.transitiontreemobile.org to buy fruit trees and shrubs to everyone who asks me for recommendations. TreeMoblie is a volunteer run group and currently open for purchases until April 9th. You make your purchases now and then pick up a month later. Pick up is happening at my farm and other GTA locations the first weekend in May.

Currants, raspberries, pawpaws, pears, comfrey, asparagus... So many useful plants to choose from at great prices , sourced from Ontario farmers PLUS every purchase contributes towards community garden projects! If you're planning to add to your garden, check out TreeMobile's offerings for 2024 🌱

03/09/2024

There were many signs of spring I spotted this week;
🪶the hawks were active
🐦‍⬛the first red winged blackbird of the season sang from the dead tree that the birds love
🐸2 frogs in our neighbor's pond began to sing in the evening
🌼and I spotted this coltsfoot by the driveway.

This little flower is actually not welcome in Ontario. It's not native, difficult to kill and competes with grasses and tilled crops on farms. It spreads by both rhizomes and seeds and it's resistant to many chemicals. It grows in poor, disturbed soil such as gravelly roadsides. It really perseveres!

When we first moved onto this property I noticed it in March before the snow melted. We had disturbed the land while building and brought in gravel for the septic system and that's where it was growing. There wasn't much that would voluntarily grow in the disturbed soil except for coltsfoot and ragweed. We decided to actively restore what we could afford to by investing in native plants, starting with sections we were most concerned about. In other parts, we let the land go fallow while we gathered more resources.

In the fallow sections, things are still evolving. Nature is amazing! And every spring, I notice fewer of these little coltsfoot flowers on our property. 🤔 As the soil improves and new plants grow are the coltsfoot gone forever or just dormant, waiting for the next soil disturbance? I'm not sure. Have we been doing a good job of learning and stewarding the land? I hope so but I'm also regularly humbled!

Coltsfoot look like a cross between a daisy and a dandelion - it's pretty cheerful! Now when I see the odd coltsfoot, I consider it a sunny reminder of how important it is to responsibly steward the land. The Earth has an incredible capacity to heal and resilience is expressed in unique ways but we also need to be mindful of the impacts of our actions. As you get outside this month and make choices about the land you interact with, I hope the lesson of responsible stewardship guides you. 💛Thanks for the spring reminder coltsfoot!💛

02/08/2024

Blue Dot Acres summer camps are now open for registration! We're bringing back the Children's Market Camp for kids with an entrepreneurial spirit or a creative "maker" vibe. We've also got a Feelings on the Farm camp for kids who enjoy observation and reflection of themselves, animals and nature.

For descriptions, dates and details, check out our camp registration on Eventbrite. You can get the links via our website or send a DM and I'll share the link.

One more thing - we've got a coupon code for our summer camps which expires at the end of this February. Register in the next few weeks to take advantage of that!

Address

2179A Dundas Street
Burlington, ON
L7P0S8

Website

http://www.bluedotacres.ca/

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Videos

We've got some new family members; 🐰 Sterling, 🐰 Daisy, and 🐰 Ringo. They are so cute. I hope they don't mind me staring while they eat! #bunnylover #farmlife #burlington #bunniesofinstagram

I'm trying something new at Workman Arts Farmers Market today - miniature salads! 1001 Queen Street West Toronto, 11am-4pm @workmanarts_farmersmarket #foodforagoodmood #socute #miniatures #supportlocalfarmers #farmersmarket

Our First Farmer's Market was Lovely!

Our first market experience was lovely! Workman Arts Farmer's Market is happening again Aug. 28 & Sept. 4, 11am-4pm, 1001 Queen Street West, Toronto @janinasoupcompany @_foreverlilith @wafarmersmarket #foodforagoodmood #supportlocalfarmers #burlingtonontario