April 11, 2024
Nathan Wild
FARM NEWS
🚨Plants Are In The Ground 🚨
I repeat, PLANTS ARE IN THE GROUND!
This was another busy week for us on the farm. We finished mixing in our soil amendments and compost, prepped our beds, set up our irrigation system and we planted our first crops in the ground. We seeded snap peas, beets, carrots, radishes and turnips and transplanted Asian greens , lettuce, and cold-hardy flowers. In just a few weeks we should have a bounty of greens for everyone! 🌱
Getting To Know Linden Lane Farms
If you've been enjoying our spinach and green onions you have Linden Lane Farms to thank!
We've gotten veggies from Matt, owner of Linden Lane Farms in Krestova, for a few years now. Even though he hasn't even turned 30 yet Matt has been running his farm for 10 years! We feel it's important to know the people who grow our food, so here are 5 things you didn't know about Linden Lane Farms.
1. Who are you and where are you from originally?
I grew up in the Central Kootenays and started my side of the farm in high school.
2 How did you end up in the Kootenays?
Only left for a brief few years for junior hockey and University in Saskatchewan to pursue a Horticultural Science degree. I was able to bring back my fiancé, Emily, who now produces our cut flowers on the farm through Aemilia Gardens.
3. What inspired you to become a farmer?
Growing up involved in the family farm had a big impact as well as a curiosity for plant physiology. While you do not need a degree to farm, I have learned from a vast network of farmers and academia across North America through my studies and try to bring innovations back to showcase what is possible in the Kootenays.
4. What's your favorite part about being a farmer?
Interacting with our customers and knowing that they appreciate the dedication required to grow great food.
5. What are your future dreams?
Continue to expand to meet the needs of the community for both food production as well as education and agritourism. We will be breaking ground to expand production capacity at the main farm in Krestova, but are also looking for additional land leases close to the Playmor Junction.
NEW PRODUCTS
Grass-Fed Beef Liver
Description: the term "superfood" gets overused and abused these days, but without a doubt grass-fed beef liver is fit for that title.
It's in fact one of the most nutrient dense foods that exists. It's vitamins and minerals are in their most bioavailable form for humans, making them easy to digest and absorb. And it contains difficult to find nutrients like iron, vitamin A, B12 and omega 3 fatty acids.
If you're someone who is serious about improving your health, a dose of grass-fed beef liver should be a regular part of your wellness routine.
About Granby Meat Company
Granby Meat Company is a new butcher shop out of Grand Forks. The owners of Granby also own PV Beef Ranch which has been in their family since 1972. Devin and Brittani are now third generation ranchers and have been running the ranch for the past 5 years.
All of their cows are pasture-raised meaning that these animals spent the majority of their lives outside on a grassy field with the sunlight on their skin, fresh Kooteny air in their lungs, clean water to drink and plenty of nutritious grass to eat.
Their cows diet consists mostly of fresh grass from the mountain range in the summer months. In the winter they're fed a mix of alfalfa, straw, corn silage and rolled barley which is all grown on-farm.
Heirloom Dry Bean Medley
Description: Our friend and fellow farmer Jordan from Unearthed Organics in the Okanagan grew over 25 different varieties of dry beans last year. This beautiful mix features a few of his favourite heirloom varieties. Perfect for baked beans and soups!
About Our Fresh Dry Beans
These are no ordinary dry beans. These are the freshest and tastiest dry beans you can find. They were harvested in the fall of 2023 by Jordan Marr, a solo farmer from Vernon and Emily's former boss. Jordan's farm, Unearthed Organics, used to supply premium salad greens and veggies to the top winery restaurants in Kelowna, such as Mission Hill and Quails Gate.
He recently transitioned his business so he could focus on something he was more passionate about - beans, corn and chiles! He now grows a variety of top-quality dry beans and this year we were lucky enough to get a hold of some.
NEW RECIPE
Saag Paneer
This Saag Paneer recipe was inspired by the first greens of the season - spinach! It features spinach from Linden Lane Farms, cream from Kootenay Meadows, yogurt from Jerseyland Organics, wheat “rice” from Treasure Life Farms and tofu from Silverking Tofu out of Nelson.
When you challenge yourself to eat as local as possible you'd be surprised at what you can come up with!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT 🍎
Decentralized Investing
To all the non-believers who don't think small scale regenerative farming could feed the world I have this to say: you have a tiny imagination.
The photo above was captured by the new James Webb telescope which can see so far off into space it's able to see what the universe looked like a quarter of a billion years after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies started to form. This photo shows the galaxy cluster MACS0416, known as the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster. It's a massive collection of galaxies bound by gravity 4.3 billion lightyears away.
NASA has sent a land rover to mars, landed it safely on the surface, scoop up soil samples, analyzed them and then sent the data back to earth.
A company called Neuralink recently installed microchips into the brains of parapalegics which gives them the ability to play video games with their minds.
To feed the world without the use of petroleum-based fertilizers, poisonous chemical sprays, mass transportation systems and destroying vast swaths of ecosystems could easily be accomplished. We clearly have the intelligence and resources to do astonishing things. The only thing we lack are investors.
The reason we have the industrialized, centralized food system that dominates our food choices today is because people realized there was a lot of money to be made if they could control and consolidate it. This is why most of our fresh produce comes from just two regions - California and Mexico. It's why just three meat companies produce 95% of the meat we consume. And it's why only a handful of companies produce the world's agricultural seeds. Whenever there's a lot of money on the line big investors will come from far and wide for a chance to get a piece of the pie.
In a small scale, decentralized, regenerative farming system the community becomes rich instead of a handful of individuals. And since nobody can become a billionaire off of this system nobody wants to invest in the large sums of money required to grow it.
If we want a decentralized food system it seems we need decentralized investors. Luckily we have nearly 40 million of them in Canada alone.
If each community decided to shop and support local whenever and however they could, those small investments would quickly add up. And overtime those investments would start to compound, eventually leading us to the sustainable food system that we all want and deserve.
🍅 Save up to $200 by joining our Farm Membership! 🍅 Farm Members play a vital role in our farm business. By paying for food upfront you allow us to invest in seeds, new tools, equipment, ingredients, and infrastructure which greatly improves the overall financial stability of our farm.
⭐ Help us reach 100 Google reviews! ⭐
If you like what we’re doing and would like to help us spread the word, leaving a Google review can make a big impact. All you have to do is click the link below and leave a short review.
