FARM NEWS

How much do you know about how your food is grown? 🤔

The more we know about our food, how it was grown, and about the hard working people who produce it, the better decisions we can make while shopping. Otherwise we run the risk of unknowingly supporting food producers that use unsustainable or unethical practices.

We want to be as transparent as we can be with how we grow your food. Food is what sustains us, it shapes our culture, determines our overall health and has a significant impact on our climate and ecosystems. And yet, how much do we really know about how food is grown?

We’ve already shared How We Farm, but we think it's important to know what amendments and inputs that we use on our soil as well. We strive to be as sustainable as possible and so we want to share with you what that looks like for us. All of the amendments we use are certified organic and we source locally whenever possible. Here is a list of what we use and why:

Compost. We make our own compost on the farm, which is made from hay, grass clippings, chicken bedding, food scraps, and weeds. We make a large pile, cover it with a tarp and then let it sit for a few months, turning it occasionally with a tractor. As the microbes in the compost pile eat away at the plant matter, it becomes a nutrient rich black soil. We use compost on almost all of our beds as it provides essential nutrients and organic matter.

Organic-Approved Chicken Manure Compost. We have a separate pile of chicken manure compost that we source from an a chicken farm in Armstrong. Chicken manure is very high in nitrogen which some plants need a lot more of than others.

Glacial Rock Dust. Mined from a piedmont glacial moraine in British Columbia Canada, glacial rock dust is a natural mineral product containing a broad spectrum of minerals and micronutrients. We use glacial rock dust on most of our beds because it provides many of the trace minerals that plants need to grow.

Azomite. Azomite is a natural mineral substance which is mined in Utah from an ancient deposit left by a volcanic eruption that filled a small seabed an estimated 30 million years ago. We use it on a lot of our beds and in our seed starting mix because it is high in essential trace minerals.

Kelp Meal. Kelp meal is made from dried ocean seaweed that is then ground up into a meal. The Kelp meal that we used is sourced from the East Coast of Canada. We use Kelp Meal on our beds for its high micronutrient content.

Organic Feather Meal. Feather meal is essentially dried, ground up feathers that are collected from poultry that have been harvested for meat. We use feather meal on a lot of our beds for its high nitrogen content, which is essential for optimal plant growth.

Organic Gia 4-4-4 Balanced Fertilizer. Gia is made from alfalfa meal, bone meal, blood meal, glacial rock dust, mined potassium sulphate, fossilized carbon complex, rock phosphate, greensand, kelp meal, and gypsum. We use Gia in our seed starting mix and for our berries.

Organic Potting Soil. We use Sunshine #4 potting soil in our seed starting mix.

Horse Manure. We source horse manure that is void of any medications from a neighbor who does horse training. We use it on a lot of our beds because it is rich in organic matter and nitrogen.

Hay. We source hay from a local farmer and use it as mulch and organic matter for the soil.

We’ve created a food culture that seems to look the other way when it comes to this paramount question of how our food is grown. Farms, which used to be at the center of our communities, are now so far on the outskirts that most people never step foot on a farm, know a farmer or have any idea how food is grown. By not asking questions about our food we forfeit accountability. And with no accountability, unsustainable and unethical farming practices can go unnoticed.

LAST CHANCE FOR EASTER TREATS! 🐰

Do you want a restaurant-quality Easter meal that you can easily make at home?

We've got you covered!

We believe that locally grown, artisan made ingredients make the most epic meals. So why not treat yourself this Easter with the best the Kootenays has to offer?

Planning an Easter brunch? We’ve got FOUR flavours of frozen sourdough waffles that can be made in just 14 minutes, bake-at-home buttermilk biscuits, local wildflower honey, locally-crafted pork sausages, locally roasted artisan coffee and organic, free-range eggs from our farm. YUM! 🤤

Need a dessert for Easter dinner? We’ve got Carrot Cupcakes made with our freshly milled, locally sourced, organic Soft White flour and a swirling dollop of vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, made with real organic Madagascar vanilla bean that we scraped fresh from the pod. We’ve also got a Bake-At-Home Apple Pie With Brown Sugar & Oat Crumble that’s worthy of a standing ovation 👏👏👏

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

We’ll be offering a special Saturday April 16th delivery day only this week

We want to make sure that everyone can get their Easter goodies before Easter, so deliveries for both Nelson and Castlegar will happen on Saturday only this week.