Please find us at murraysgardens.com

Our online store is open but will only be stocked once a week for orders. Sign up below to get an email when it does, and get a message ahead of the public!

ORDER PRODUCTS ONLINECLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR STORE

Well, there’s no point on going on about how 2020 events are affecting everything all of us do these days, it’s just the story of life now. At this point, the Farmers Markets are closed and so are most of the restaurants, both of which made up almost 100% of our sales last year. We are continuing on though, same as always, with a few adjustments, as far as planting and growing high quality vegetables for our customers.

Currently, as of April 16th, seedlings are started, greenhouses are being prepped and we should have produce ready for sale near the end of May, and all through the summer and into the fall. We will be planting more area then normal though, if the small farms like ours on the mainland are any indication, this could be a very busy year for us. Our good friends and farm partners Nezar and Emaad will be back this year to help with the expansion and are already anxious to get going.

We will be adding new crops this year being sought by the Syrian community, including more fava beans and cucumbers, marrow, eggplant, garden cress, and sorrel. Our regular crop selection this year will include green onions, radish, white turnip, beets, romaine, salad mix, various greens like tatsoi, spinach, chard, kale, pea shoots, arugula and mixed mustard greens. As the season progresses tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, turnip, potatoes and carrots.

We will be starting an Online Store with contactless pick-up shortly, the logistics of how it will run are still being worked out, but will likely start with a pick-up location at the Murray’s Garden Center. We may try to have one in town too, but that still needs to be worked out. Sign up above for updates. Feel free to send us any questions you have, or suggestions for crops you’d like to see us grow to farmer@murraymeadows.ca

Hold on, stay safe and try to enjoy the downtime. This too shall pass.

This year, instead of a traditional pay-in-advance veggie hamper, or CSA program, we are going to let you choose what you want and how much of it. Every week, when we stock fresh picked organically grown vegetables into the display cooler at Murray’s Garden Centre we will send you an email with what’s available. It will be a set time, probably Thursdays. This will allow you to get ahead of the weekend crowds and get the freshest produce we have available. This year at Murray Meadows Farm we are continuing to grow more of your favorite vegetables, from everything you need for a fresh salad to a Sunday boil-up; plus we’re adding two more greenhouses for increased production of cucumbers, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes! All of our vegetables are grown using organic methods, without the use of any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We use fertilizers made from Newfoundland fish waste and seaweeds and other certified organic soil inputs. We are proud to grow beautiful flavourful and healthy produce for you and your family. The first email will likely be near the end of May or beginning of June. Thank you for supporting small local farms.

We are looking to add a new position to our farm, a Farm Manager. It is our intention that it will be a permanent position on our farm, with the expectation that this person will become responsible for many of the day-to-day operational aspects of running our organic vegetable farm, including seed-starting, transplanting, soil fertility and structure management, cultivation, harvesting, post-harvest handling and packaging. This ideal applicant will possess an agricultural background from school and/or work-experience. Initially they will work with the owners to develop a crop scheme that builds on the farm’s six years of successful production. Providing regular updates to owners and overseeing of other farm-hands, the Farm Manager will ensure the execution of the cropping plan.

With the Farm Manager handing the operational aspects of the farm, the senior management will focus on the business’ continued expansion through increased market exploration and new production techniques. It is hoped that the selected employee will continue in this role in future years, as a permanent part of the management team of Murray Meadows Farm.

The position will provide for 40 hours of works per week at a wage rate of $15.00 per hour, plus the potential for production bonuses.

The Farm Manager will gain experience in overall farm management, including: the use of various tools and techniques for organically growing vegetables; plant disease and pest identification and treatment; soil fertility management; and the the supervision of subordinate employees. Additionally, the selected employee will gain experience in interpreting and modifying a cropping plan which is analyzed continuously to ensure harvest yields and profit targets are met.

It is expected that the employee will develop skills and gain experience in areas ranging from: farm equipment use; organic vegetable production techniques; plant disease/pest identification and treatment; soil fertility management; and staff task organizing and scheduling. Furthermore, it is hoped that that selected employee will gain insight into the modern market-farm business approach, including those that seek to minimize the cost-of-production, while still ensuring maximum yields per unit area.

Upon honing these skills and gaining the necessary experience the employee will be ensured a continued permanent position as part of the overall management team of Murray Meadows Farm.

Send your cover letter and resume to farmer@murraymeadows.ca

We have started our sixth season of production and are as busy as ever. We should have produce available starting at the first summer St. John’s Farmers Market on June 3rd 2018.

This website is updated very rarely but be sure to follow us at facebook.com/murraymeadowsfarm or instagram.com/murraymeadowsfarm for updates and see our history of growth and growing!

After five years of offering a CSA from our vegetable farm, we have decided not to offer one this year. Instead, we are excited to attend two markets a week at the new St. John’s Farmers’ Market, Wednesday afternoon/evenings and Saturdays. We are also planning on offering our produce all week at The Grounds Cafe in Murray’s Garden Centre. We hope all these options will make up for the lack of a weekly package. Other farms that we believe are offering organic CSAs are Seed to Spoon, The Organic Farm, and Roots on the Rock.

We are full up for the season! If you would like to be added to the wait list or be willing to buy someone else’s share if they can longer receive it, email farmer@murraymeadows.ca Our fifth year, bigger and better! Murray Meadows Farm is growing in size and we want to share the bounty with you! Our farm provides fresh produce for restaurants and families throughout Portugal Cove-St. Philips, St. John’s and now C.B.S.! Every week, our CSA can provide you with a wide variety of vegetables, from arugula to zucchini, as they become available throughout our growing season – June to November. A list of all we grow is below.

What is a CSA? Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is sometimes known as “subscription farming”. A CSA is a group of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the food produced is ‘shared’ among the community, with the grower and consumers sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Your subscription helps support local small farmers and keeps food dollars in local communities. And, when members obtain food from local farmers, environmental costs associated with the transport, processing and distribution of food, and the consumption of fossil fuels, are significantly reduced. Community Supported Agriculture: good for farmers, good for consumers, and good for the environment.

Our CSA members’ support helps cover the start-up costs of our farm operation. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. When you order from us, you are eating the same food we do.

The price for a Murray Meadows basket of farm fresh produce, suitable for a
family of two to four, depending on how much you love eating fresh vegetables, for 17-18 weeks will be $500. That works out to around $30/week. Compared to grocery store prices on similar products, we are on par or a bit lower…but one thing for sure, is the freshness and flavour of our naturally grown vegetables can’t be beat. We grow everything using fertilizers and inputs that are approved for use on organic farms. That means no pesticides, herbicides or GMOs and all our fertilizers are 100% natural.

Food for Thought is another great place to get locally produced foods like meat, cheese, eggs and more to compliment your local veggies!

Our hope is the first package will be out in June. If you have any questions, feel free to email, farmer@murraymeadows.ca or call Brian at 689-0775.

Thank you so much for your support!

Arugula
Basil
Beans
Beets
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Chard
Chives
Cucumber
Dandelion greens
Dill
Fennel
Kale
Lettuce
Onion
Pac Choi
Parsley
Peas
Peppers
Radish
Rapini
Rutabaga
Spinach
Tatsoi
Tomato
Turnip
Zucchini

Chefs and restaurateurs interested in Murray Meadows Farm produce can reach Brian at 689-0775 or farmer@murraymeadows.ca to discuss your needs. We usually deliver into St. John’s twice a week.

What a winter. Boy are we glad its over! Well, we think its over, isn’t it? Hard to tell today.

In the middle of our Christmas vacation in BC, we got word and pictures of our collapsed greenhouses. It was devastating news. Immediately upon our return, we began removing the destroyed pieces and replacing them with new parts, purchased and assembled with wonderful help from Fixed Coffee and Baking and their customers, Murray’s Horticultural Services and the Murray family.

One year to the day that we first put plastic on them, we put new plastic on the newly assembled frames. It was a calm sunny and warm day. It felt good to be back where we left off. Then, a few days later, the first forecasts came in for that huge March storm. On the night of the storm, we removed snow from the sides and sadly, cut the new plastic off one house before it collapsed in the gusts.  We realized just how vulnerable our structures are. We now have them strapped together and to the ground which is reducing their shaking in the strong winds. We plan to remove the plastic in the late fall and hopefully reuse it in the spring. We will also remove it in the event of a hurricane or post-tropical storm.

So far so good and now there are plants it the ground! One house is full of kale, another of lettuce, Napa cabbage, and seeded with radishes, arugula and baby kale. The next one will be planted up next week, and a small recycled fourth house is up that will also be planted up in the next couple of weeks, or as soon as the weather warms a little!!!

 

Other projects this Spring included a new and improved wind-fence across the field to protect both crops and greenhouses…its unsightly rope guy lines should be covered in Scarlet Runner Beans this summer. And, a fifth recycled greenhouse is also slowly being assembled, hopefully done by mid May, in order to grow trellised tomatoes and cucumbers.

We learned a lot last year, our first year growing vegetables at this scale,  and it feels great putting those lessons in place this year to improve our efficiency and increase our output. No more kale shortages!