December 2011 • Metchosin Muse 9 2011 METCHOSIN FARM DIRECTORY PULL-OUT GUIDE
Introduction by Jim MacPheerson, Chair, Metchosin Agricultural Select Committee
Welcome to the Second Annual Metchosin Farm Directory. The Muse printed its first Metchosin Farm Directory in 2010. Reader response to the Directory was extraordinary. Under the continuing leadership of Andy MacKinnon, this second issue includes twenty farm listings - new ones as well as many of those noted in the last Directory. Thanks to the farmers for their contributions, and to Bert Harrison, Metchosin School Museum Society, for the photo of Glenrosa.
Eisenhawer Organic Blue Haze Farm 3817 Duke Road, 250-474-5043 Produce Blue Haze Farm is a small family enterprise located 4266 Happy Valley Road, 250-474 7161 just west of the huge gravel pit on Metchosin Thanks to the nice fall, we did get Road. We are open dawn till dusk most days and Current members of the Armed Forces were also in attendance all the potatoes and apples in the encourage people to check our website www.hol- root cellar, unlike last year, with lychristmas.com, that we update regularly, and also the wet fall and early frost. to telephone or e-mail us first if they have to travel We’ve been farming organically far to reach us. Some people do travel across town here for the last twenty-one years. because besides a variety of apples we have a few Our fertilizer is compost made items not often found in local supermarkets, namely crabapples, quince (these make great with residues mixed with chicken jelly) and figs. Some, like Bramley apples, are an old variety, noted, in this case, for being manure and organic coffee ground. excellent for cooking. Along with these, we often have a few blueberries, blackberries and Green manure is also grown rhubarb. At Christmas we will send boxes containing one and one-half pounds of English over winter as a second option holly anywhere in Canada, or the USA. Holly makes an unusual gift, especially to friends of fertilizer. We do not use any herbicide, pesticide and relatives living in colder areas where holly does not grow. or fungicide, nor any other unnatural product which Contact John and Be Harris ([email protected]) would reduce the quality of our produce. We sold most of our produce at the Moss Street Market, some at the Metchosin Village Market and winter delivery service. We have a good selection of winter veggies, herb tea, Elysian Fields eggs and seed for next year. An experimental anaerobic Pegasus Way off the Galloping Goose Trail digester is working in our #1 greenhouse. With some more tweaking, we might be able to boil more potatoes Happy chickens! That’s what we have at Elysian Fields! for our chickens. We had a wonderful lot of rare and unusual layer chicks With the help of my regular crew and some this spring. These were guaranteed female chicks and “WWOOFer’s” every now and then, we are looking most sold before they were two months old to people in forward to providing you with another year of sustain- the know about birds. We will probably have chicks again able and environmentally friendly, organic produce. next spring, so if you want to “beef up” – or “chicken up"? Contact Dieter Eisenhawer – your flock with special birds with a real personality, con- ([email protected]) tact us. If you want a particular breed you must preorder by mid- January, when hatchery orders are placed. We sell all kinds of eggs: chicken, duck, guinea fowl, peacock, goose, as available from our birds. My birds are fed a vegetarian diet and are out of their house and yard, free ranging over my meadow, woods and gardens, eating seeds, weeds, bugs and worms, interacting with me, my dog and cats and, sometimes, raccoons, owls and eagles. Pasture eating is why my chickens’ egg yolks are deep yellow and have a true “egg” flavour. Eggs are available at the Metchosin Farmers Market from May through October, as well as from the Farm Market at Tom Henry’s Stillmeadow Farm. This was a great year at the Metchosin Farmers Market: lots of new and old farmers and other vendors. Thank you all for coming out to support your neighbours who pro- vide local products for you. Have a good winter and buy local! Contact Melinda Seyler ([email protected]) Fischervale Farm Eales Road Fischervale Farm is a market garden growing a wide Garlic Grove Farm variety of food in the uplands of Metchosin. Now com- 702 Winfall Road, 250-590-7195 pleting our third year, the farm has been a team effort of We love garlic, we grow a lot of it, a small and multi-talented group of family and friends. including many different heritage We did not attend the Metchosin Farmers Market this varieties. Some are better for roast- year as we scaled down to focus on longer-term proj- ing (try it with brie), some better for ects. Our farming education continued and we enjoyed frying, some better for soups, and a great late harvest, and a nearly one hundred percent some people have their favourites deer-invasion-free year (redundant deer fencing is your to slice up on bread. friend). The varieties we like are best The goal of this work-in-progress is a self-sustaining planted in October, ready for integrated organic permaculture ‘food forest’ of mostly harvest the following July. They edible perennials, with a few gardens for intensive require a cool winter (like we have), companion-planted annuals. A greenhouse with passive a wet spring (which we have), and thermal storage is a key component to extending the sea- they don’t mind the wind (thank son for annuals, creating a microclimate tolerable even to goodness!). Deer and rabbits don’t subtropicals such as lemons, and leveling out the early, bother with garlic in their diets, and and late, season extremes we are experiencing more the inherent robustness of garlic frequently with climate change. We reuse and repur- beats off most weeds. So it is a great crop for Metchosin. Just be sure to plant in a new pose existing materials as much as possible, and avoid patch each year, otherwise disease will build up quickly. those that break down into toxins in the ecosystem. We After the harvest in July, we cure in August, and sell seed stock to other growers recycle nutrients to feed the soil, employ drip irrigation, in September. We also sell to gourmet home cooks, and keep the soups at The Broken landscaping and mulching techniques to reduce fertil- Paddle Cafe in good supply. If there were any pyramid builders around we would sup- izer, water, and weeding requirements. Pest control is ply them too. Ancient Egyptians believed it was garlic that gave them the strength for achieved through companion planting, resident Pacific their super human engineering achievements. tree frogs, and healthy biodiversity. We strive to be good We will soon be looking for partnerships with local property owners to grow with stewards and partners with the other creatures of this them on their land (garlic, not pyramids). We sold out early this year, by 2:30 pm on land, and to contribute positively to their habitat as well Metchosin Day, so we need to grow more! If you have some land (quarter of an acre or as our own while we call this beautiful piece of the Earth more) and are interested then please contact us. home. Contact Mike Sargent ([email protected]). Contact Mike Fischer ([email protected]) 10 Metchosin Muse • December 2011
2011 METCHOSIN FARM DIRECTORY • PULL-OUT GUIDE
Glenwillow Farm Karen and Don’s 4298 Happy Valley Road, 250-478-7871. Our farm is founded on 2.25 acres Blueberry Patch with approximately one acre for pro- 4405 Happy Valley Road, 250-478-9349 duce, so we are very small. This year, 2011, we attended the Metchosin This was our sixth year of production. The main crop Farmers Market only, due to choos- on the farm is blueberries, with a small crop of goose- ing to plant less and encourage sales berries, raspberries, and black currants. We have four from the farm. varieties of non-sprayed blueberries on the farm. The This year, as in most years, has picking season runs usually from mid-July to mid-Sep- had unique challenges. Early spring tember. The customers enjoy the ease of picking and was fine for cultivating some of our the relaxing time they spend with friends and family. land, and planting our brassicas – We have a very good Metchosin resident customer broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and base. A lot of our customers have been with us for six certain kinds of lettuce and potatoes. years and a number of our customers pick in excess of However, the spring was too wet to till the other wetter parts of our land until mid- 100 pounds a year. June when we began planting our crops which call for hot weather; so tomatoes, basil, The farm is mainly set-up as a U-Pick operation beans, and strawberries were late starting and harvesting. with orders filled on an as picked bases. Our only Even with the obstacles of weather we successfully grew our dahlias, marigolds for commercial client is The Broken Paddle Coffee House, bedding plants, some varied hanging baskets, garlic, herb starts, plants and dried herbs, so you can enjoy our blueberries year round in their lettuce, tomatoes, basil, an everlasting spinach called “New Zealand spinach”, beets and tasty scones and muffins. Two hundred more blueber- rhubarb. This year we added kale, that grew very well, and we expect it to continue ry plants come into production next year on the farm. over this winter. We regularly sell eggs of all sizes at the markets and from the farm all This will help us keep up with the building demand year. Our squash and pumpkins grew very small due to late planting. for blueberries. We welcome visitors and would like to All our produce is grown with hard work, compost, manure, water and tender show off our operation. loving care! We will be open at the Farm next year and look forward to meeting friends, Contact Karen and Don Lindsay and customers. In 2012 we will be found at the Metchosin Farmers Market on Sundays. ([email protected]). Contact Ron and Michelle Simmonds ([email protected]) .
Metchosin Farm 542 Wootton Road This spring (‘Spring’? What Spring...?!) was a sig- nificant challenge for many local farmers, including Metchosin Farm. Wet, cold, wet, stormy and wet. Oh, and it was wet. Despite this, it was a good year for sales in my little organic plant nursery, and the 2011 expansion into soft fruit bushes was well received. I sold out of many of the varieties I grew: loganberry, tayberry, marionberry, raspberry, straw- berry, thornless blackberry, grape vines, five variet- ies of currants, four sorts of gooseberries and of course a good selection of native fruits such as salal, thimbleberry, oregon grape and salmonberry. For the first year since I started in 2004 the farm stand wasn’t broken into! Metchosin Farm attended many of the island ‘Seedy Saturday’ events this year, and the farm products and plants did really well. Pacific Holly Probably the biggest improvements this year were a new field greenhouse, raised beds, and some auto- 4459 Parry Cross Road, 250-516-8306 matic irrigation – wow, not spending three hours A few things have changed since our last report. each day watering in the summer! I was away We have made two new additions to our farm. Meet teaching Ethnobotany at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for three weeks this sum- Pumpkin and Spice (calves)! Pumpkin is older by a mer and also did three trips as ship’s naturalist for Maple Leaf Adventures for much- few days, is tan and a little “plump”. Spice, our black needed off farm income, so the automatic watering was key to the farm flourishing in beauty had a difficult start, but is thriving now. Both my absence. Once again, many thanks to the wonderful farm helpers that I’ve hosted little ladies are enjoying the sweet green grass that is this year from Germany, Japan, France, Canada and the UK. now shooting up after fall rains. If you walk past our Contact Fiona Hamersley Chambers ([email protected]). farm on Parry Cross Road, you will most likely see them resting near the bottom of their pen; they love to watch the activities on the road and are very social. As long as you don’t mind a little cow saliva, stop by and give them a scratch behind their ears. Pumpkin and Spice are boarding with us until they are old enough to become milking cows. Our two boys, Nahoa and Koa Mountain Valley Trout Farm love them immensely; Nahoa calls for them each morn- 250-642-4642 ing and both boys enjoy giving and receiving attention Mountain Valley Trout Farm has continued its exclusive focus on stocking private ponds. from these two girls! This year we have stocked many ponds on Vancouver Island from Victoria to Courtenay As we are nearing the Christmas Season (yes I said as well as out to Sidney and Sooke. We have also stocked ponds on Thetis, Saltspring, it!), we are getting ready for selling holly again! The Pender and Saturna Islands By July 15th we had sold out all of our 2010 fall stock as berries are ready and the leaves green! If you would well as the 2011 spring stock. like something to help get your home and spirits ready We purchased another 10,000 two to three inches fingerlings in July that are now six for Christmas, give us a call! to seven inches and ready for our fall stocking, Betty Kahakauwila ([email protected]), Kyara starting next week. We get amazing growth Kahakauwila ([email protected]). when the water temperature is higher which boosts the fish’s metabolism. Growth of one inch per month in the summer time is very common. In three years a trout will grow from a few grams to five to six pounds. People stock their ponds for a variety of reasons. Many do it for the pleasure they get out of feeding fish – the fish take the food on the surface of the water and it is a very relax- ing activity; others stock ponds so that they can do some fishing right at home, while others use the fish as a local source of good food. Trout is a good source of protein and is high in omega- 3 fatty acids. The primary ingredients in trout feed are soybeans, wheat and canola oil with the usual vitamins and minerals like any pelletized ani- mal feed. There are no antibiotics or medica- tion of any kind in the feed. Contact Rose and Bernie Chandler ([email protected]) December 2011 • Metchosin Muse 11
2011 METCHOSIN FARM DIRECTORY • PULL-OUT GUIDE
Parry Bay Sea Bluff Farm Sheep Farm 565 Wootton Road, 778-433-8269 4335 Lindholm Road, Sea Bluff Farm is located 250-478-9628 at the bottom of Wootton Road. There are four acres This has been a good year for of land in deer fence, used the farm, with a good lamb crop, for growing vegetables, with and a moist spring which made another ten or so acres used for lots of pasture and good hay for hay. The field is well suit- yields. Germination of our grain ed for winter harvest so we crops was not great because of can provide food for twelve the cold, wet soil conditions, months of the year. but the harvest went well, and For the past four sea- the quality is good. We con- sons we have grown a tinue to do many things with large variety of vegetables Stillmeadow Farm, including for Farmer’s Markets, Box Customers, and Local the grain, chickens, marketing and this year sharing an apprentice and several young Restaurants. In 2011 we grew multiple varieties of travelling workers. It has been a great experience. Our apprentice, Michael Brydges, has leafy greens, brassicas, alliums, about a dozen varieties been with us nine months, and we have appreciated his get-at-it attitude, and his inter- of squash, beets, potatoes, artichokes, and more. We est. Next year we are hoping to get two apprentices. Our marketing explorations, begun regularly sell vegetables from neighbouring farms as last year, have moved us away from Farmers Markets that are very time consuming. We well, increasing the diversity of our produce list. And have had considerable success concentrating instead on our farm store, and wholesaling we launched our website and a new box program in to restaurants and shops in town. If you would like to be notified about our farm news Victoria this year. and events throughout the year, “like” our Parry Bay Sheep Farm site on Facebook, or 2011 was a wonderful year for Sea Bluff Farm. visit our website at www.parrybaysheepfarm.com. We have recently posted some slide- There were some concerns in the spring, as there shows and news about the farm on both those sites. always are. But the harvest and the markets were plen- John and Lorraine Buchanan (www.parrybaysheepfarm.com). tiful and this could be shaping up to be one of the best fiscal years Sea Bluff Farm has had in many years. It’s a good time to be a farmer in the CRD. However, Sea Bluff Farm is undergoing some changes in management this year. Adam Saab, the cur- rent General Manager, is taking advantage of other Ravenhill Homestead & Pioneer Museum opportunities outside of Metchosin. But rest assured 4411 Bennett Road, 250-478-5334 Sea Bluff Farm will continue with new management for the 2012 season. This year was a busy one on the Contact [email protected], www.seablufffarm.ca. Ron and Sandy Jenkins’ homestead. Our major crop was raspberries, supplemented by garden vegetables of beans, chard, broad beans, and yellow zucchini, all sold at the Swallow Hill Farm Metchosin Farm Market. Of course our primary source of farm income and Orchard is brown eggs. 4910 William Head Rd. 250-915-1119 We also raise pet bantam chickens, rabbits, and miniature Nigerian/African pygmy cross This year has produced some beautiful apples on the goats. In the spring, we bottle-fed a sunny slopes of the old Hans Helgesen orchard. lamb, BaBah, who is now a member We have some of the original trees, and a couple of of our farm animal petting zoo. mature orchards of diverse varieties. The trees have This summer we formally launched our Ravenhill Homestead & Pioneer Museum been changing all year, from the bare winter branches, agri-tourism attraction. A few years ago Ron built a five-room 1800’s Western Pioneer waiting for signs of spring and blossom. Looking for Museum to house and display his collections in the Trappers Cabin, Workshop, Pioneer early flying Coddling moths, (not finding any, though Kitchen and General Store. they are here somewhere). Looking for bees. Too cold. We offer mini-horse buckboard-cart rides and the farm animal petting zoo. It gives Then fruit set, summer pruning, attention to weeds and visitors a peek into living the pioneer farming life, interacting with farm animals and mulching. Lots of grass cutting (should we get some- just plain fun too. thing to eat all this luscious grass?). Have a peek at www.ravehillhomestead.com. Contact Ron and Sandy Jenkins Time to watch the butterflies, count the different ([email protected]) . sorts of bees and flies, look for frogs and enjoy the rapid growth of almost everything. The plums came first. Turning a pale yellow, then a red blush, then ripe, Oh! Yum! A patchwork quilt of assorted lettuce, grown quickly from Metchosin Farms’ Sonnleiten vegetable starts. Delicious multi-coloured eggs from 4556 William Head Road, 250-478-9572 free range chickens and a crop of tasty, free range meat At Sonnleiten, 2011 was taxing, as birds. well as rewarding. We had the most Now the apples are ripe! What a sight! Hanging in exuberant bloom on the pear trees, for swags, all colours. One mystifying oblong apple from a harvest of two pears in the end; we a Victoria seedling – pale green, a white dapple and didn’t bother about six more hanging magenta blush. Large. What is it? Have you seen one in high in the old trees. It was somewhat Victoria? like this with many crops: out of twen- You are invited to visit the orchard and see the ty-four hills with five seeds planted apples for sale now – Belle de Boskoop, Prima, each, we grew in the end some six to Alexander, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, (tasting of eight squash plants and four squash honey), Gravenstein. which matured beyond the size of an Contact David and Sarah Richardson orange by end of September. Usually, ([email protected]). the peak of our black berry crop is in July – this year it was at the end of September. But we did bring in a good crop of potatoes. Lettuce lasted until early October! A great crop of beans, and a bumper crop of beets were also rewarding. Even some tomatoes did ripen in the end. And our apples and The Sonnleiten Crew, including Noreen Dennis, Alex quince trees provided another great Tchernakova, Jochen and Chris Moehr crop. So, at the time of this writing, a few days before Thanksgiving and the twentieth anniversary of Sonnleiten, we’re ready to give thanks! Contact Jochen and Chris Moehr ([email protected], [email protected]). 12 Metchosin Muse • December 2011
2011 METCHOSIN FARM DIRECTORY • PULL-OUT GUIDE
Stillmeadow Farm Taylor Beach Farm 4198 Stillmeadow Road 558 Taylor Road 2011 saw a lot of changes at Stillmeadow Farm. For the first time we were able to irrigate 2011 was our second (with well water), thus enabling us to get a second cut of hay from two fields and to pro- year growing organic vide grazing for the sheep. heirloom plants and Working with Parry Bay produce for sale. This Sheep Farm, we grew a variety year we grew fifty of grains, including oats, bar- varieties of heirloom ley and an old German type of tomatoes, fifteen winter wheat, called Monopol, varieties of pep- which we are hopeful may be pers, twenty herbs, well suited to overwinter in our and a big selection area. of melons, squashes, Our regular wheat, which pumpkins, eggplants, you may have seen in fields on onions, greens and William Head Rd and Happy winter veggie starts. Valley Rd, had lower-than- Our farm stand was hoped for yields but is excel- even busier than last lent quality. This wheat is used year with customers by Wild Fire Bakery and Fry’s coming from all over Red Wheat Bread. Metchosin Claudio Cavanna, from Italy, was clearing land at the south island seeking out the varieties that they had is one of the few communities Stillmeadow Farm this summer Photo by Frank Mitchell success with in 2010. We had almost no theft, which was in Canada where you can buy a heartening improvement over 2010. The late spring bread made from local grain. decreased the tomato yield, however our customers Sixteen travelers to the farm. In total we had nine young people stay with us—from reported that they had their best pea, lettuce, garlic and Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Austria and Canada. Some stayed for a month, oth- greens in recent memory. ers for much longer. Dig This stores sold our plants again this year, and we Not only did they help us with regular farm activities but they pushed ahead on those sold at the James Bay Market at Superior and Menzies things that always loiter at the bottom of the to-do list, like fixing fences before the pigs on Saturdays. break out, putting tools away in the right place. They were also fantastic fun, bringing We improved our greenhouse this spring by building the world to the dinner table every day. We, and the farm, are much the better for their 300 sq. ft. of raised beds and by installing a beam down presence. the length of the structure to allow us to trellis plants, Contact Violaine Mitchell & Tom Henry, www.stillmeadowfarm.ca. install irrigation, and grow hanging baskets. We also added a large raised bed to the outdoor garden, and cre- ated healthy soil by sheet mulching aged horse manure and straw. The squash production in this bed was amaz- Three Creeks Farm ing! One of the most noticeable changes over last year 777 Winfall Road, 250-478-9521 was the decrease in honeybees. Hopefully this isn’t a trend, and we are considering beehives to help with this Three Creeks Farm is a U-pick flower problem in the future. farm specializing in Old English type Thanks again to all of our great customers! Contact flowers (e.g., dahlias, zinnias, baby’s- Greg, Jill, and Jared Witt (www.taylorbeachfarm.com). breath), with a wide variety of annuals and perennials. We have been selling flowers for five years from our farm, generally between springtime and late autumn and for fifteen years before that at the Metchosin Farmers Market. This year was an excellent year for flower-growing. The wet, cold spring produced a good quality of hay from our fields. And our two turkeys thrived, though there were no offspring this year! Please drop by our farm sometime, and bring home flowers to beautify your home! Contact Joanna Henry, 250-478-9521.
Uminami Farm 61 Matheson Lake Park Road, 250-391-0703 Uminami Farm specializes in Japanese vegetables and year-round organic vegetable production. This year, we Wind Whipped Farm grew our usual range of pro- 4645 B William Head Road, 250-661-8099 duce. This includes Japanese It is great to be back growing vegetables and fruits in greens (such as komatsuna), Metchosin. It has felt a bit like we started all over this traditional Japanese turnips, year: we doubled our cultivated area, built new deer daikon, chard, kale, carrots, fencing, overhauled our washing and packing shed, con- beets, rapini, collard greens, verted an old chicken coop into a tool shed, and started green onions (especially tra- a new marketing system of weekly subscription food ditional Japanese types), bulb boxes. onions, broccoli, strawberries, The Local Food Box Program was our primary mar- tomatoes, eggplant, green pep- ket this year. We provided thirty-five customers in pers (including the Japanese Metchosin and Victoria with a weekly $25 supply of shishito), okra, snow peas, vegetables from June to the end of September. By collab- snap peas, green beans, dry orating with Stillmeadow Farm/Parry Bay Sheep Farm beans, potatoes, summer and winter squash, zucchini and tree fruits (apples, quince and and Elysian Fields we also provided customers with the Asian pear). option of receiving excellent quality local meats, flour The cool summer was great for leafy greens, but difficult for the heat-loving crops. We and eggs every week. We are planning on expanding the decided to shift our planting schedule toward fall/winter brassicas like broccoli and cab- program next year so if you are interested please get in bage in order to cooperate with the cool weather. touch! This year the Uminami team included a second-year farm apprentice and a highly This year we also continued to operate a small dedicated volunteer couple, and everyone contributed to a vibrant community at the honour-system road-stand on William Head Road from farm. With their help, we experimented with using grass mulches to control weeds. Friday-Saturday throughout the summer. This has made As usual, we sold our produce through our year-round box program, Daidoco restau- us particularly appreciative and encouraged by how rant in downtown Victoria, the Moss Street Market, and (occasionally) Tama Organic Life trustworthy this community is. in Vancouver. We also sold some of our produce through Sea Bluff Farm, and recently Many thanks to everyone who has helped and sup- began selling veggies to Kulu Restaurant in Fernwood. ported us and other local farms this year. We look You can read about some of Uminami Farm’s adventures through the apprentice’s forward to providing you with more fresh, organically blog at http://heatherxenia.wordpress.com. grown and wind-whipped produce next year. Contact Heather Ramsay (apprentice) on behalf of Yoshiko Unno (farmer) (uminami- Contact Virginie Lavallée-Picard and Alex Chisholm [email protected]). Fletcher, [email protected], www.windwhippedfarm.com.