Sycamore Farm Market

05/21/2026

This Saturday is our Grand Opening of the 2026 season! Thank you to Art Griffith Farms, Egg Farmers of Ontario and Heidi's Your Independent Grocer for being our generous sponsors of our Grand Opening of the 2026 season. This Saturday vendors are Kilted Farms, Claylan Farms, Awesome Berries & Gardens, R & R Self Care, Heather's Hot Stuff, Carver's Natural Farms, White Gold Candle Company, Creative Cookie Confections, Aunt Ree's Meat Pies, Melissa's Artistic Creations, Petrolia Bloom Co., The Lazy Pup, Well Read Book, Cheryl's Garden Creations, Parks Blueberries, Sycamore Farm Market, Cedarview Farm Bakery, Pop Up Popcorn, Der Stammtisch, Zekveld's Garden Market, IODE Margaret Stokes Chapter will be selling their famous butter tarts, Lambton Meadowview Villa Aux. will be selling quilt raffle tickets, Petrolia Lions Club will be selling Lobsterfest tickets, IODE Margaret Stokes Chapter will be selling 50/50 and Sue and Ben will be our Musical Entertainment. See you Saturday from 7:30am-Noon.

05/21/2026

Only a few weeks away!

05/15/2026

It’s Endangered Species Day!

We do a few things to protect and promote species at risk on the farm.

First of all, we don’t use any chemical herbicides or insecticides. We understand the importance of insects as pollinators, predators, and food for other wildlife. There are a huge number of grassland ‘aerial insectivores’ (birds that catch insects on the wing) at risk in Ontario. Birds like Bobolink, Meadowlark, and barn swallows which we are lucky to see and hear regularly here.

Our pastures and prairie plantings provide habitat for these grassland birds to nest and forage. This is why I would always argue cows and livestock are good for the environment. Pastures and hayfields comprise much of the remaining habitat for grassland wildlife since there are so few prairies left in Ontario.

We’ve added tree swallow nest boxes around our pastures which are used by a variety of species- bluebirds, tree swallows, wrens and even flying squirrels!

We are always planting native plants and trees including several species at risk.

The farm feeds us and provides part of our livelihood- it’s important to us to give back to land and to try our best to do no harm. Reciprocity with nature.

05/15/2026

Are you coming to the Petrolia Farmer’s market tomorrow and wondering what’s in season? This week we have spinach, baby kale, salad mixes, bok choy, spring garlic, green onions, rhubarb and a few other odds and ends. Bok choy is a really good stir fry option if you’re looking for any easy meal this week.

There will be lots of other great items from other growers and makers too.

We will ofcourse have honey and a small selection of seedlings.

See you tomorrow 8- noon behind the Petrolia library.

05/12/2026

We’re working on prepping the expansion area we started last year. Our main planting area is almost 100% full so we spent some time last week adding lots of compost into this new growing space. Last year in this space we mostly grew cover crops (crops with the sole purpose of soil building) plus a little bit of squash to pay for the expenses associating with making this new space.

This year we’re going to use more of the space for crops we intend to harvest, so we spread out our big compost pile to add to the fertility. Today Silvan and I disced it with our old international (first photo) and then we used our smaller kubota with a rototiller attachment (second photo) to incorporate everything nicely.

Someone last week asked if we use tractors and the answer is yes! It saves our bodies a lot of wear and tear. There are 3 tractors of varying sizes I use for growing vegetables.

The last photo is what the cover crop looked like this spring. Last year we grew sorghum sudangrass which we mowed late summer. We no tilled in rye in the fall. You can see all the residue from the sorghum cover crop on the surface. This biomass is what builds up fertile soils. I noticed a big difference pulling the disc through this area compared to area that didn’t have the sorghum last year. The disc pulled through more gently and the soil broke up into smaller pieces.

We plan to use this space to grow lower maintenance crops like potatoes, squash, paste tomatoes, peppers and more. We have some extra help hired for the summer and I’m looking forward to seeing how this expansion goes.

05/10/2026

We spent Mother’s Day enjoying Mother Nature. 🌱

Our wonderful friend took us and a bunch of our tree loving friends on a trek to see the Swamp Cottonwoods. If you haven’t heard of swamp cottonwood, it’s probably because it’s only known from a single location in all of Canada, which happens to be about a 5 minute drive away from us.

It was only discovered there in 2002 and I would guess there’s a possibility it’s elsewhere in our area, it just hasn’t been observed by someone who can recognize it. The bark looks quite similar to an eastern cottonwood and I think most people would just assume it’s that.

The patch here is thought to be all male clones and since there are no females to produce seed, it can’t spread from this location. The trees are known for growing in buttonbush swamps here and elsewhere in its range. There are similar habitats in the woods behind the farm, so now that we’ve seen it in person, we’ll be on the lookout for more.

We felt very privileged for the chance to see this uncommon species and had the best group of people to experience it with.

Then, this afternoon we planted some cedar and spruce trees along one of our fence lines. We’ve been working on this fenceline for a few years. Some sections are doing okay, but we had a bunch to replace. We want trees surrounding our fields to prevent wind erosion, create a nice microclimate for crops, and to provide habitat for wildlife.

The kids only lasted for the first 30 trees, but Justin went along and planted the rest.

It was the prefect Mother’s Day for me🍁

05/07/2026

Spring here is lots of hustle, but it’s exciting to see new growth everyday. We have one more week until we’re back into the farmer’s market routine. Here’s a few happy scenes from the farm these past few weeks.

04/08/2026

Jansen Homestead and Highlands has organized this fundraiser for a dear friend. We’ve donated a seasonal veggie bag, honey and make syrup to go along with an amazing collection of local food goodies. Get in touch with Meranda for tickets!

A local farmer, friend, mom, wife is fighting the battle. Please if you have it in you to purchase just one ticket I will put you in our draw. A few of our local farmer friends have donated to help raise some money for their family.
Basket value over $200!!
Honeylocust Homestead
Susan Plant | Black Creek Acres
Sycamore Farm- Felicia Syer Nicol
JandA Farms

04/05/2026

Happy Easter from our reluctant bunnies🥕🥕

03/20/2026

We’ll be there tomorrow!

Let’s finish off March break with a trip to the Pop Up Market! Tomorrow we welcome Awesome Berries & Gardens, Kilted Farm, Sycamore Farm Market, Beats & Bites Bakery, and Home-goods by Greg! See you tomorrow from 8am-noon.