Our Greenhouses, Your Greenhouses

If you walk through the two separated half acre greenhouse ranges at Fisherville Greenhouses you will see a variety of different crops cultivated and harvested by Cindy and Ron Mueller. As you make your way thru the first heated range you will find tidy rows of hydroponically grown beefsteak and grape tomatoes as well as English cucumbers, red and yellow bell peppers some basil, parsley and a row or two of zucchini. In amongst all of this you will also find the odd Ginger and turmeric plant growing which is how the couple first dappled in their new venture.

If we continue our greenhouse tour through the double doors that separate Range one from Range two you will enter an area that is more garden than greenhouse. The 10, 2000 sqft bays are composed of compost, coco fiber and sand. A few bays contain various greens, kale, chard, broccoli etc that the couple offers along with tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in their year round CSA program. But the rest of the bays contain a tropical fragrant crop that Cindy and Ron are so excited to be able to offer their customers.

Ginger is typically a tropically grown plant with its origins in the rain forests of Southern Asia. It requires a warm and humid climate which a greenhouse environment lends well to. When most people think of ginger they most often think of the gnarled root found in the grocery store but this greenhouse is home to a fresh immature baby version of ginger called “pink” ginger aptly named for the rosy undeveloped leaves called bud scale. Pink ginger is a softer less fibrous version of its big sister that can be used all the ways that mature ginger is used and also can be pickled and candied and does not need to be peeled since it is so tender.

Ginger grows from sprouted roots and push up annual leafy shoots that can grow to a height of 10 m in the right climate. We plant our ginger in the greenhouse from small sprouted pieces of ginger root seed from a disease free source in February through April and harvest the beautiful tender pink rhizomes in August to December.

Ron and Cindy both grew up on family farms;  Ron on his parent’s cash crop farm in the Niagara area and Cindy on her parent’s tobacco farm in Delhi, Ontario.  Both family farms also raised animals; milking cows, beef cattle, pigs and chickens both for meat and eggs.

Ron and Cindy value the opportunity that they both had to grow up “on the farm” and are grateful that they can give the same opportunity to their three children Ian (13), Tommy (11) and Ava (9).  Though the three don’t always want to work, they are an invaluable part of this family farm business and help out in every aspect. Not only do they work in the greenhouse but they also are the primary caregivers of the families many meat chickens, 50 laying hens and 20 sheep.