Van Oort Tiny Farm

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Van Oort Tiny Farm

Growing food and living sustainably on a "tiny farm" Welcome! We moved here 2.5 years ago and are now entering our third growing season on the property.

I have started this page to document our attempt to grow most of our own food on our 1/3 acre "tiny farm". Many of the structures and beds that came with the property are old and a few have had to be removed for safety reasons. We are rebuilding and modernizing what we feel we will need to effectively continue to "farm" our small space. Our intent is to inspire others as we share what we do throug

hout our year-round growing season. We hope that more people see that growing your own food is a very achievable way to obtain fresher, healthier food with a much smaller ecological footprint.

25/08/2025

After last year's contaminated straw disaster resulting in no onions, Mother Nature made up for it in spades this year! We planted in a different location and harvested about 175 onions total with 150 currently drying for winter storage. We grew Ailsa Craig, Calibra and Redwing. 🧅🙏💚
ps. WCS is discontinuing Ailsa Craig seed so the stock on their website is on sale right now during their 40% off sale. Stock up now! 😢

02/07/2025

Creative solutions for garden waste

We really don't like to waste anything from our garden.

With everything growing at an exceptional speed this year, it became evident that one area in particular was going to need a very large pruning...the grapes.

As you can see in the first photo, the shed and arbour are buried under vines. When Mr vO went up on the roof of the shed he was met with vines not only covering the roof but with vines that had stretched out and were completely entangled in the Mimosa tree branches.

The pruning has now resulted in a very large pile of long vines and leaves. Rather than hauling them off the property we have two ways of using up all of the debris!

1) Homemade grapevine wreaths
First I cut various lengths of the vine and strip off the leaves and tiny bunches of grapes. I then used the inside of a 5gal pot (approx 16" in diameter but any size will do) to shape the wreath, stacking several vines until they created a full wreath. You could make it even denser if you choose. Slide 2 pieces of wire around a section of branches and twist tight. Repeat in several spots to secure the ends of the vines. Weave in any loose vines if possible. I have left the wire untrimmed incase I need to tighten them further when they are fully dry. They will hang on the wall of the holey greenhouse until the end of summer.

2) Mulch
Any short vines that can't be used in a wreath and all of the grape leaves will get run through the chipper to use as a Fall mulch.

I love making use of as much of our garden waste as we can through creative projects, mulching or composting.

This Christmas I'll be able to collect fallen fir and cedar branches, along with other greenery from bushes that need a trim, to make some outdoor wreaths all from our property.

I'm always looking for new ideas, if you create a usable product from your garden waste please share in the comments! 🐞

29/06/2025

Gardening dilemmas don't always involve plants.

Mr vO was clearing the overgrown garden area under the plum tree this morning and was randomly stung on the arm.

He continued to work not thinking much of it. A short time later when I returned home, we were chatting as he worked when all of a sudden he came tearing out from under the tree. We ran inside and he said that there were wasps everywhere and that he was stung again, this time on the neck.

After a few minutes we crept out and approached the tree from another pathway that runs behind the tree and I spotted the most bizarre wasp nest that I have ever seen!

The wasps have complete enveloped an old wooden birdhouse! I thought that I had taken down all of the old birdhouses so it was quite a sight to see!

We are now researching ways of removing it before the fruit ripens. Does anyone know of a safe method that doesn't include spraying poison all over our organic plums?! 🐝

25/06/2025

Growth and possibilities!

Many things in the garden are growing in leaps and bounds. Others are starting to show what they may offer in the coming months. I never count my chick's until they've hatched but it's hard not to get excited about what looks like an abundant summer harvest!

The fruit trees are all brimming with small fruit at the moment. As are the berry bushes and grape vines. The new Jostaberry planted this year will also have a nice little harvest.

The herb garden is full and lush. I have started drying the rosemary leaves which I grind into a powder to store. Over the next week I will be drying oregano, purple and green sages, chives, thyme, and Bay leaves for cooking.
For tea we have chamomile, spearmint, chocolate mint, licorice mint and lemon balm.
I'm going to plant one of the white sage plants in the herb garden to see if it will overwinter. I grew 2 plants from seed this year and I overwintered 1 indoors from last year. Does anyone have experience with this variety overwintering outdoors?

The zucchinis, onions and potatoes are all doing very well this year. After last year's straw disaster it will be so nice to have onions again. The bed that they are in has been kept straw free and had a cover crop 2 years ago so the soil is still very healthy.

In the holey greenhouse it's time to pick the kales (to dry and freeze) which will keep the plants compact. The basil starts will get planted tomorrow, they are the final crop to be planted. The celery and beets are slowly growing. The new chard plants are ready to pick as well. I have also left some chard and leeks to go to seed.

In the other greenhouse the pickling and long English cucumbers are really taking off and producing small cucumbers! Some of the tomatoes are fruiting and the cantaloupes are starting to stretch up their strings. The citrus are bursting with small lemons, limes, kumquats and I spotted an orange this morning!

The veggie bed that had straw last year and was topped with cardboard and organic compost this Spring, with some added nutrients, are successful growing lettuces, chard, broad beans, purple and green cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts.

The green pole beans are starting to climb their strings and the yellow bush beans have just poked through the soil. The tomatoes still don't look great and the squash are off to a slow start. But we haven't given up on them.

The perennials are giving nice pops of colour around the garden. The new rose - Celebration that we added this Spring has 4 buds that are just opening up.

I hope that you enjoy the photos, if you have any questions please ask in the comments or message me!

Happy gardening! 🐞

08/06/2025

Garden walk about - June 8th

Ticking off some planting jobs...

Potato patch planted
Zucchini cover removed, plants are growing well
Onions growing like stink
Rhubarb growing like stink too. Second big harvest to reduce the lower leaves where pests may be hiding.
Second round of cabbage and broccoli seedlings planted
Tomatoes planted out but not happy 😢
Squashes and gourds planted out to grow vertically
4 rows of pole bean seeds planted
Tucking random seedlings anywhere they'll grow well. Lettuce, chamomile, lobelia, marigolds, calendula, zinnias
Forgotten packs of nasturtium seeds planted.
Cukes, tomatoes, cantaloupe and stevia planted in the greenhouse
Harvested the last crop of last year's chard in the holey greenhouse. Planted a few more chard seedlings.
Harvesting kale regularly to keep the plants thinned for good airflow
And of course weeding...weeding...and more weeding!

Fun flowers in the garden right now
Pink and white foxgloves
White calla lilies
Yellow yarrow
White goats beard
Voodoo lily! Smells like rotting flesh! 🤢 It's supposed to attract flies for pollination.

Things we are eating....
The strawberry patch is mostly under weeds but it is producing berries nonetheless!
Lots and lots of lettuce!!!
Lots of kale
This year's Swiss chard is just about ready to pick
Welsh onions (perennial green onion)
Herbs and teas! Rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, chives, savory, chervil, mint teas, lemon balm, chamomile just starting to flower
Random potatoes dug up when planting other things!
Kumquats and lemons

It won't be too much longer before the seedlings that we started from seed months ago will be ready to eat! 😋
The berries and fruit trees are covered in small fruit so hopefully lots of fresh fruit will be added to our smoothies and lunches this summer.

Enjoy the sunny weather! 🐞

26/05/2025

Spring changes

I can't believe how much the garden has changed over the past 6 weeks!

The wisteria is vertical again! Yay! The arbour isn't finished yet but we did get the basic structure up. We gave the wisteria a good prune so I think it will be much happier now.

The azalea garden gave a short but beautiful show. Purple, pink, orange and yellow azaleas and the yellow polyanthus' gave the most impressive pops of colour.

The holey greenhouse has gone through several stages over the past 5-6 weeks. In mid April we still had overwintered chard, kale and leeks along with new starts of more kale and spinach.

By May 7 everything was growing quickly and one batch of last year's kale was harvested.

By May 21 the chard had doubled in size and the leeks were starting to bolt so the leeks were quickly harvested and frozen. We started picking and freezing the chard and planted a few new chard seedlings for the summer.

On May 24 the spinach and one batch of chard was harvested, and the 2 new kale patches thinned (and some removed) to make room for leeks. Where the chard was, now has celery and golden beet seedlings.

There is one more batch of chard that has to be harvested and frozen.
The outdoor hoops with brasiccas, lettuce and spinach have had a slow start. We ended up testing the organic compost that we purchased and it came up very alkaline and deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus. Mr vO purchased the necessary amendments and we have noticed some steady growth starting over the past week.

Mr vO has also been preparing the beds outside of the holey greenhouse so this past weekend we went full steam ahead and planted out all of the onions and zucchinis.

In the other greenhouse I cleaned up the citrus bed and planted tomatoes, pickling cukes, long English cukes, cantaloupe and stevia on the opposite side.

With the exception of the stevia, I planted all of our starts from seed.

We also chipped a lot of our garden trimmings. It's a great way to recycle your garden trimmings into free mulch.

The other day I weeded the herb garden, added a drip line on a timer, trimmed back the unruly herbs and planted some more perennial green onions and garlic chives. This is the one and only bed that is pretty much self sufficient!

The "tea pots" are all filling in nicely. I will be drying many teas very soon.

The apple, peach, fig and pear trees are all covered in tiny fruit, as are the grapes vines. This may be a good year for fruit but I expect many will naturally drop off if there are too many for the trees to produce.

It's been a great year for rhubarb so far.

The perennial gardens have woken up and literally filled in over night! Alliums, hostas, bearded iris, columbine, Mt. Bluet, soloman seal, ferns, lupins, foxglove, and many more varieties are so pretty right now.

I hope that you are able to enjoy your garden, whether they contain food or flowers. It can be an overwhelming time for sure but remember to always celebrate all of the jobs that you DO get done rather than dwelling on the jobs still on the list. They'll get done eventually!

Take care and please share what you are doing in your garden at the moment. 🐞

14/04/2025

Jobs on the top of our list

With everything growing so fast it's becoming more of a challenge to get all of the tasks done! Each day we decide what can't wait, and start with that.

This weekend planting out the cool weather crops made it to the top of the list. Mr vO planted out 2 kinds of kale, spinach, broccoli, red and green cabbages, and collards.

He is trying out a new kind of netting to protect the brasiccas from the cabbage moth.

The lettuces and onions are probably next on the list to plant. The golden beets, chard, brussel sprouts and cauliflower need to get a bit bigger.

The tomatoes came outside for a few hours during the nice weather on Saturday to get a watering of fish fertilizer. It's not something we like to do inside! 🫢 Lol

Now is a good time to start pulling the more stubborn weeds while the soil is still slightly moist. I have been going around tackling different beds focussing on getting the weeds out before they go to seed. Our hairy bittercress isn't exploding seeds just yet and the dandelions haven't turned to puff balls, but I know that it's not far off!

Today the bed under one of the peach trees and the herb garden had a thorough weeding. I will be swapping the soaker hose for a proper irrigation system in the herb garden. Now that the weeds are gone I can make a plan for placement but I may have to move some plants around. All of the plants in the herb garden are perennials so it's nice to have a bed that doesn't require anything but a weeding in the Spring. We have green and purple sages, oregano, rosemary, chive, parsley (which I think I will move to a pot as it seeded itself everywhere!), Welsh onions, common thyme and lemon thyme. My sister in law has some garlic chives for me to add in as well.

I also cleaned up the "tea pots", trimmed the dead stalks and pulled the weeds that somehow make their way in. I was pleased to see that the chocolate mint, spearmint, licorice mint and lemon balm are all coming back strong. I will just have to plant the chamomile seedlings into the last pot when it warms up a bit more.

We also have an unusual cologne mint which was given to us last year by our neighbour. It was apparently used to make cologne before chemical scents.

And the other important job that had to be done this weekend was pouring the remaining posts for the wisteria arbour. The cement will need to cure over the next week and then we can add the side and top supports.

So a productive weekend overall! I hope that you have all had some enjoyable time in your gardens. What jobs are at the top of your list these days? 🐞

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