When I started Cubit’s 4 years ago, I couldn’t have possibly imagined how the business, and really our entire lives would change so much in so little time.

Starting out collecting seeds from our city garden, taking business classes while gigantically pregnant with Rebecca, writing a business plan with the satisfaction that only the recently fired can know, and sending out our first orders was especially sweet.

Thousands of orders later, we’re as ready as we’ll ever be to start the next chapter of Cubit’s. We have out grown the city gardens we’ve been growing in and have agreed to purchase 14 acres of Ontario farm land to grow our seed on. We just wrapped up our first growing season and are busy preparing for next year.

So today we’re launching our #farmraiser; That’s like a barn raising crossed with a farm buying fundraiser. Please join us over on the crowdfunding site indiegogo for all the details and to pitch in.  You can do a little holiday shopping or get started on your spring planning and help us all at the same time.

In addition to the #farmraiser, we’re having a contest. We need help spreading the word and are hoping you’ll help.  Let us know when you’ve shared the campaign on sites like faceboook by leaving the link here in the comments or by using the hashtag #farmraiser on twitter and pinterest. Every  share counts as an entry and the winner will receive a double seed of the month subscription along with one of my photo post cards and a coupon for 25% your spring order.

Contest closes December 31st, 2012. Open to Canada and the USA.

Well, baby Robin is seven weeks old today and although he is pretty much the most agreeable baby I’ve ever met he has requested to not be put down ever. Not even for a minute.

This request is totally reasonable but not compatible with writing the blog post that is supposed to go with these photos.

So as I sit here holding this little guy, join me in taking a minute to think back to a warm day in June. I’ll reflect on how babies grow into berry picking beauties and hope that Ryan brings me some of that jam on toast.

 We went berry picking at Lakeshore Farms in Wellington, Ontario, just down the road from our farm, followed the same instructions for jam as last year and used these great labels from mud and twig.

The farm is just full of treasures.  Well treasures in my eyes anyway. For example, this bee-filled vehicle shed has quite a few giant, blue glass, made in Canada, Crown jars.

They start out looking pretty hopeless.

But all it takes is a little elbow grease and an sos pad to turn them into this:

They may not be up to modern preserving guidelines but  now I have all the glass jars and lids I could ever want for storing my dry goods and leftovers. I think they’re gorgeous.

Behind this barn door is such a glorious mess.

Hidden in that mess there are some pretty worn out apple crates from when the farm really harvested from the orchard.

After some hard work, a good scrub, lots of sanding, a little planing and getting Ryan to cut new bottoms from some old wooden siding, we were set. Everybody pitched in.

Now we have the nicest toy storage that I’ve ever seen.

They stack so nicely and even make good forts so I’m banning all plastic tubs from view.

6 sturdy crates of duplo is surely enough for one house.