FARM NEWS

Sleep Tight Garden! 😴

About half of our garden has been put to bed now. And this side of the garden won't be put back into production next year.

This year we learned that about half of our garden has water running underneath it. The water table is so high that when we watered it the water would sometimes pool for hours in the middle while the outer edges remained dry. Needless to say the plants didn't grow well here.

Next year we'll be shrinking our garden to a 1/4 acre. This sounds small but the soil here is so rich and mighty that we think it will be plenty of space for us 😊

 

Confluence Farms x Luv Affair Pastry

Mike, header baker behind Luv Affair Pastry is famous in Nelson for making some of the most delicious baked goods around. We've always heard amazing things about his pastries but you can only get them at his Saturday morning pop up at Au Soleil Levant in Nelson. We finally got a chance to try his stuff and oh my… his pastries are phenomenal! Some of the best we've come across so far in the Kootenays.

We often run into Mike at the commercial kitchen that we rent in Winlaw. He bakes on the day after us. We noticed that he started selling his pastries frozen for bake-at-home. We asked him if we could carry his bake-at-home pastries and he said definitely! We're so excited about this collaboration and we can't wait for you to try his creations.

 

NEW PRODUCTS

 

Bake-At-Home Sourdough Croissants

Description: Imagine the look on your family's face after you reach into your oven and pull out a tray of fresh, golden brown, authentic, French sourdough croissants.

The smell of fresh baked croissants is sweet and heavenly. When you take a bite the thin layers of pastry crackle like fireworks. The flavour is buttery, sweet and yeasty. If you close your eyes you can almost feel the cobble streets of Paris under your feet.

These are seriously good croissants that you would typically have to travel to a French bakery to have. Instead, in about 20 minutes after proofing you could have them in your very own home.

Details: Comes in a box of 6 unbaked croissants. Available in original and chocolate.

 

 

Storage Onions

Description: These classic storage onions have a nice spicy kick with a mild sweetness on the back end. 

Details: Sold per pound.

 

Butternut & Garlic Calzone 

Description: In just 12 minutes you could have a steaming hot calzone fresh from the oven. Cut one open and let the cheesy squash filling slowly flow out. Pick it up and take a bite. The rustic crust has crispy edges and a satisfying whole wheat flavour. The filling is cheesy, garlicy and slightly sweet with a touch of spice. These calzones are easy to make, guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser, won’t make a mess and require minimal clean up. What more could you ask for!

Details: Each box contains four large frozen calzones.

 

Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkins 

Description: Last year we arranged to have Settle Down Farm out of Grand Forks grow us 200 lbs of winter luxury pumpkins. These are the pumpkins we'll be using to make our famous Pumpkin pie with shortbread cookie pie crust for Thanksgiving 🤤

We were finally able to pick them up this week and they look gorgeous!

Details: Sold per pumpkin. Each pumpkin weighs about 5 lbs and is enough to make a 10 inch pie.

 

Garlic

Description: We just picked up some beautiful garlic from Against The Wind Farm in Winlaw this week. They're right in the middle of a family farm succession which we think is super cool.

Against The Wind Farm has been run by Corky and Helen since 2007. As they are near the age of retirement they've decided to pass on their farm business to their daughter Nikko, her husband Jeremy and their two kids.

We're stoked to be able to support these second generation farmers - a term rarely seen in today's day and age.

Details: Sold in 1/4 pound (1-2 bulbs) and 1/2 pound (3-4 bulbs)

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 🍎

How To Turn The Koootenays Into A “Blue Zone”

I just finished watching the Netflix series “How to live to 100: secrets of the blue zones”. It's about the behaviors and diets of communities that have the highest average life spans in the world. 

Apparently if you want to increase your odds of living to 100 there are a few key factors: move your body frequently, nurture your relationships, have a purpose that gives your life meaning, live in a tight knit community and eat whole foods. But not just any whole foods. 

Each community’s diet varied but there was one commonality. They primarily ate fresh, locally-grown, seasonal foods. It appears that how your food is grown is more important than what you eat. 

Many of these communities live in poverty without any of the pharmaceutical or medical technologies that we have. They're not up-to-date with the latest nutritional science or supplements. They don't have gym memberships or supermarkets. And yet they are living longer and are far healthier than we are. How is that possible?

We've become so far removed from our roots we've forgotten the basics of how to live a good life. Everything we need to be a happy and healthy community is right in front of us. The kootenys could easily become a blue zone. We have all of the ingredients. We'd just have to alter our environment to encourage healthier eating habits and more human interactions.

Here's my suggestions: buy most of your ingredients from local farmers or food producers or grow them yourself, if possible, and eat food that was made from scratch . These simple habits will not only help you build and maintain more relationships, you'll also vastly improve your diet. Grocery stores have their place, but if you can make your food from scratch or find someone locally who does that's what you should eat. You can live a "convenient" life or you can live a long healthy life. Those seem to be our only options. 

By the way if you want a more accurate and balanced depiction of what people in blue zones eat be sure to watch this podcast by Dr. Bill Schindler. He also spent time in the Sardinia blue zone to learn what they ate and what he experienced was vastly different than the plant-based diet promoted in the Netflix series. 

I personally found it odd that they didn't talk about the meat and dairy that these people eat. If you live on a rocky island or mountain there isn't going to be many places to grow vegetables or grain. Certainly not enough to feed a community. So your primary sources of food would have to be goats, sheep, pork and fish. And you're not only going to be eating the meat but the organs, blood, brains and intestines too. Nothing would be wasted. In the podcast Dr. Bill Schindler describes a cheese he was served that was fermented in a baby goat stomach for 15 days! This might not be something you want to see but it is the reality.

 

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