Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Beans oh my!

8/23/2017

FAMILY U-PICK - FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

This has proven to be such a happy event for all of us at Nanoose Edibles. Thank you so much for coming out with your friends and family and providing all of us with so much enjoyment. As we continue to pick berries, we begin to pick apples; and soon after pears and grapes. The Thornless Blackberries are beginning to ripen at the back of the farm. We have already picked some. They make a great juice berry for smoothies. There are still lots of snap peas to pick and eat, also snap beans in both yellow and purple pods. Bring along the whole family and plan to have a picnic.

Fall Veggie Box Program

The summer moves along quickly. We will be sending out notices for the Fall Veggie Box Program along with our September newsletter. Prices remain the same and box pick-up will continue to be on Fridays. The Box Program will introduce you to a number of products sold by people who live in the area: Coyote Coffee, Pizza rounds from Bhodi’s Bakery, Salad Dressings and other fine foods from Occasions in Lantzville, Cereal Grains from Vancouver Island Grain and Milling in Port Alberni, Jams, Jellies and Pickles from The Sisters, and pretty soon Hazelnuts from Chemainus. We are lucky to have these amazing people in our neighbourhood.

GARLIC PRODUCTION
Our Yugoslavian Garlic is now harvested, but we still have a long way to go. After the harvest the garlic is left in the field for some days in dry and cure before having the roots and some of the top removed and put into a warm, well ventilated space to complete drying and get it cleaned up ready for the market. We are selling Garlic now at the farm. We will also take garlic with us to a number of events so the larger number of the public will have access to our product. We purchased this garlic from Dan Jason – Salt Spring Seeds about 25 years ago and have grown and cared for it ever since. For the time being, before the final cleaning, our garlic is available at a reduced price when you come to the farm to purchase it. Buy your garlic now and be ready to plant it in October. Newcomers to garlic growing can attend our Garlic Roundtable on September where hopefully we will answer all your questions about successfully growing garlic.

Grant
All the paperwork has been signed and we are proceeding with the Green Haven grant program with our intern Tom! We will be focusing on keeping records for saving seeds for high value crops and the soil for any improvements using cover crops. Knowing the plants in how they pollinate, such as spinach needs a male and female to pollinate, will result in a better understanding of the plants for the information to be shared with others. We will be hosting a Roundtable in 2018 with Tom leading the topic of Seed Saving with his findings.

PARTY ON THE DRIVE coming up on September 10^th at 12 pm. We will be there and will be bringing up of high nutrition sample seeds, herbs, pickled yellow beans and a huge supply of our Yugoslavian Garlic for planting in your garden in October and to stash away for winter culinary efforts.

SUSTAINABLE GARDENING ROUNDTABLES:

Heat and Water Stress - Sept 16 from 1:30-3:30pm
Now is a good time to think about how you might do things differently if, as it seems, the weather is likely to remain the same for a time. I think it will take a re-evaluation of the home garden to take better advantage of the timing, placement, and choice of plants to better suit different weather conditions. We need to think about natural weather conditions and use them to our best advantage – shade trees and buildings; putting in pea or beans trellising and taking advantage of the shade; planting shade loving plants in the shade of taller plants; getting plants well-established while the weather is cooler. Install some rain barrels to handle hand watering. Develop a list of summer vegetables that can manage with little water. Most greens crops will not germinate if the soil is already hot. Some varieties of strawberries will not bear when it is too hot. Consider planting yourself a double row of strawberries on the shady side of your raspberry trellising. Use a light coloured mulch (fresh roadside chips) to cover the soil and keep it cool. Check out the Facebook event Here

Garlic - September 30 from 1:30-3:30pm
We will hold another Garlic Lovers Round Table this fall before planting time. It was thoroughly useful and entertaining last fall. Besides learning about cleaning and preparing garlic for storage, we talked about saving for fall planting, Tips for planting garlic, what to do with the surplus, trying other varieties, etc. Where do we go from here? Check out the Facebook event Here

Pollinators - October 21 from 1:30-3:30pm
Bees do like it hot, but there isn’t a lot of available food when the weather is continuously hot like we are having. Things we can be thinking about for them is to make sure that you have flowering plants available and watered and also that you put out shallow containers of water near the hives. It is helpful to bees in stressful situations to let bi-annual herbs and flowers go to seed. Cucubits blossoms of all kinds are very welcome. Especially the bumble bees like to bumble around inside the yellow blossoms. The honeybees have spent almost a month now hanging out in our 50 foot Little Leaf Linden Tree. The entire tree buzzes away from morning to night. The ants carry the nectar around which drips over the leaves and everything else. I have read that it does not make great honey, but it is sweet and the bees seem to like it and I don’t think there is anything much we can do about it.

All About Fava Beans- November 4 from 1:30-3:30pm
For the past few years Nanoose Edibles has been paying attention to Fava Beans as a source of high quality food, especially in the winter months when we tend to search out more nutrient-dense food. The crew and I have grown on about twelve different types of Fava Beans to plant throughout the Fall and this year and Spring of 2018 in order to become more familiar with the crop and its usefulness as a major food source. Favas are 26% protein, the same percentage as beef, and it is perfectly possible that it could be used as a home-grown substitute for many meat dishes. We will be seeking your assistance with cooking and taste-testing.

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Family U-Pick

7/31/2017

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FAMILY U-PICK - FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 10am – 5pm.
The U-pick has turned out to be such a treat for everyone. Lovely to have the family groups arrive to explore the farm and pick whatever crop they choose. The staff have helped out with locating product and teaching what to look for and how to pick it, but mostly we have left them to themselves to enjoy their time on the farm. Some groups bring their lunch and have a picnic and many go for a walk about the farm. We look forward to seeing you at the farm.

Garlic Week

Sunshine and Garlic. That is what this past week or two has been all about. Truly a grand harvest of very handsome looking garlic. We have been growing this Yugoslavian Garlic which we purchased from Dan Jason more than 25 years ago. It now looks more like Nanoose Garlic as we have added trials of other varieties from time to time. It is much travelled garlic as customers from away buy it to take home for planting.

Irrigation Pond

Similarly to the past two years, we have very little water left in the pond and if it stays hot, we may have none. We are on our own wells and pond, so when we run out, we truly run out. Water conservation strategies are certainly at the top of our planning list.

Bees

For the first time in quite a few years, we have been able to harvest honey from our hives. Probably not enough to sell, but after we have it extracted, bottled, etc. we will have a limited amount for our friends and family. No orders please. Lorne and Cathy have taken such good care of our hives, that it must be a special pleasure for them that they have earned their reward. We have paid serious attention to flowering plants and are working away at a demonstration perennial pollinator’s garden. Not an easy task getting new plants to take root and grow in weather like this, but we are working on it. Many people have gifted us roots of their favourite pollinator plants and we are growing many from seed that are yet too young to be useful. However, chive flowers, borage, the herb garden, and especially lavender, plus the Linden tree truly gave their all.

CROPS: Your best planning crops are sure to surprise you… Take strawberries. We doubled our acreage of strawberries so we would have lots of strawberries for customers and for U-pick. We had two weeks or picking in early June, and that was it! No more strawberries. Too hot. We mulched them, we fed them, and we watered them. No strawberries. And so we wait. However the rest of the berries are doing just fine and we have serious numbers of pickers. That is very nice. After harvesting several weeks of shelling peas, we have now have moved on to Snap Peas. Everybody loves them and it is fun to show the children how they must work their way into to bush to find the nice full ones. Artichokes are coming along fine. Artichokes are very nutritious and easy to grow (with stunning flowers); totally worth growing in your home garden. Plant a few now for your 2018 harvest. Buy expensive seed that wraps tightly over the crown of the choke.

VEGGIE BOX PROGRAM
We will do a Fall Veggie Box Program. Usually it begins about the first week in September, but this year it will begin when we have fall crop available. The information is on our Website if you wish to have a look. We will mail-out material when we are certain that it is possible. Look for it sometime early in September. In the meantime we will continue with our Farm Market which will run along with the Family U-pick days. So that would be a good time to shop as well as pick as the largest variety of product would be available and fresh.

PARTY ON THE DRIVE, SEPTEMBER 10^TH, 12 – 4 PM.

This is the 6^th Annual Party on the Drive, a Fun Free Family Event. Nanoose Edibles has been asked to take part in this celebration of all those things we can do best. We are already planning and looking forward to meeting you there. Please tell your friends about it and plan to be there. We look forward to seeing you at Party on the Drive!

HELP WANTED: Our staff is over-run with jobs needing doing! They need help. If you are handy with tools and machinery Lorne and Mark could sure do with a hand. But if you are simply interested in that kind of farm work, they still need and hand. Lousy pay, but interesting work and lots to learn.
Also the gardening staff needs help: weeding, picking, seeding, pruning, transplanting, greenhouse maintenance; etc. Same thing – lousy pay but interesting work and lots to learn about farming and gardening. Must be pretty flexible and able to bend down.

FRIENDS OF THE FARM
We can’t say enough nice things for people who come and give us a hand, bring a friend along, or offer to take over a task for us. The response to the need for pickers was such a relief, otherwise we could be in danger of losing the crop. Those blueberries had ripened too quickly: we needed farm friends and those berries needed picking.
Thanks to all and have a Great Summer.

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Happy Canada Day

6/30/2017

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Happy Canada Day Weekend

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Happy Canada Day Weekend!

Normally we host a potluck at the farm but with all the celebrations taking place around the region, we are off to check out the events! We wouldn't be hosting a potluck this year but you are most than welcome to come and walk around the farm. We are going to be hosting a farm to table event later in the year. Let us know if you wish to join us!

Family U-Pick Season

We were busy last week with the Family U-Pick season getting underway. Our first crop for the Family U-Pick crew was picking strawberries! We don't have berries in abundance yet and they cleared out quickly. We must wait a few weeks for the next bunch to ripen. The strawberries are ever-bearing and we will keep getting berries until Aug/Sept depending on the weather.
It was nice to hear the children’s cheerful voices and comments from parents and children on how much they had enjoyed the experience. For some children it was the first time they had visited a farm! Great to see the agriculture experience start at a young age. Raspberries and peas should be making a move soon! Keep checkingFacebook or our website for updates on the Family U-Pick Season which runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We are excited to share with you that we have been accepted for a grant with Green Farm Stream Program. We are looking for an intern for a 4 month contract. Please check out our ad for all the details.

The greenhouse crops are happy with this warm weather. Cam is doing a great job maintaining the tomatoes, cucumber and basil crops in the greenhouse. We plant basil in between the rows of the tomatoes to maximize the growing space. Each tomato row has a different variety of Heritage tomatoes, from assorted cherries to beefsteaks. On the east side on the greenhouse I seeded an entire row of assorted salad cucumbers. All survived and we have picked our first cukes. A bed of pickling tomatoes has been seeded in Field 6 for the pickle makers amongst you. We will try to have enough dill and garlic to keep it company. The pickling cucumber are a U-pick crop, so you might want to have an able bodied picker along. The cukes had a tough time last year but these are looking fine.

Cams gift to the farm

Our young farm worker, Cam, has been taking the welding course at VIU while working at the farm. He completed his welding project by producing this portable fire place and gifted it to the farm. It is a lovely addition to the farm and we will cherish it. Thank you so much Cam.

Laying Hens
Eggs have been in short supply at the farm since the mink got half our flock earlier this year. Some new chicks arrived this spring to take over the egg-laying responsibilities, but it is still going to take a couple more months before they are mature enough to lay eggs. We received them in the mail the first week of March, and it takes 20 weeks for the chicks to become mature enough to produce eggs. That will take us to the first week in October.

Lorne and I have given a lot of thought to the future of the farm and its’s role in the community. There are a number of diverse goals that come to mind: provide the community safe, highly quality nutritious food; encourage others to grown their own sustainable farms and gardens, and provide some guidance; encourage families to introduce their children to locally produced food and provide them with opportunities to visit the farm, learn about gardening and provide work experience. We are also rethinking our cropping plans and have made several changes to high value food crops that are possible to grow in this region: for example artichokes, asparagus, varieties of beets, high nutrition potatoes, and fava beans, edamame beans and other bean crops. We have also enlarged our berry crop acreage and added many new varieties of pears to our orchard. The aim is to develop a model for a sustainable organic farm that could become one of a number of local farms working together to provide our community with a secure supply of high quality nutritious food and a measure of economic well-being to the community.

We will be here for you all summer. We can always do with a helping hand and we really enjoy our visitors so please feel free to bring them around. We are intending to rent the Pond House. Please see our advert on line.

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Summer Solstice

6/8/2017

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Summer Solstice Workshop June 24

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Summer Solstice

Box Program Is Underway

Thank you to all the box program members! It has been tough getting it started as we had so little produce available this Spring. Normally we plant a large variety of bi-annual crops which are harvested throughout the fall, winter and available in abundance in the Spring. Not this year. Most everything we had planted was winter-killed and we had to wait for the new Spring growth. Hard on the farm as crop required reseeding for spring production. We so missed all the cole crops -- kale, collards, sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage and the rest. We are moving right along now and strawberries should ready in a week. We have room for more members. You can join anytime. Please check our website. http://www.nanooseediblesfarm.com/csa-box.html to get the sign-up forms or visit us at the farm.

June 24 from 1:30-3:30pm at the farm is the next Roundtable and we will talk about ummer Solstice planting. What does the solstice do for you and your garden? The Solstice is the beginning and the end of your gardening year. Learn how to plant with the seasons and the with solstice!
Check out the Facebook event.
Bring a notebook and a drawing of your garden.

Come be apart of the conversation.

No registration required.

The Sustainable Roundtable is a farm initiative to build a community of gardeners to share their knowledge and learn from each other.

Peppers

The peppers have made it into the pepper house and are loving the heat. They are heirloom peppers that will produce a range of different colors from red, orange and purple. Green peppers are unripe peppers and we like to eat as much nutrition as possible. It's all about heat with peppers. Keep them warm.

Baby Chicks

5 week old baby chicks have been moved to the poultry building. After an extraordinary amount concern for their well being, the chicks were finally moved. We just hadn’t had much practice, and didn’t remember how it all worked. You had to smile when it was all done as they just settled down in their new building as if they had lived there forever and wondered what all the fuss was about. We have a lot to learn.

Greenhouse
Tomatoes and basil just go together. One cannot imagine it otherwise. I try to have lots of basil seeds on hand and sow it just like any other seed to have it available in abundance for mid-summer. It is so suited to summer. Easy to pick and easy to dry.

Family U-Pick!

This is the first year we have seriously looked at U-pick as a way of marketing our produce. We really missed having families on the farm to visit and pick produce. We know it is going to be a long haul; and that it will take time before families remember why we are here and that they are welcome to come to the farm. Some young and enterprising members of the family may wish to pick for us while the family visits the farm. It is a great way for youngsters to get used to the farm and become associated with local farm families and to help out family member to make themselves a bit of pocket money.
To assist you with choosing what day you will come to pick, we will post available crops on Facebook each week.We are expecting to begin the strawberry pick very soon.

Natural Pastures Cheese Company

For more than 25 years we have been friends with Edgar and Mary-Ann Smith who own Natural Pastures Cheese Company. Located in Beaver Creek in Comox, we heartily recommend it for a walkabout when they have their Annual Open House. You will be amazed at their gorgeous farm. They have been making prize-winning cheeses for more than 25 years. If you haven’t tried them, you really should. They have many world prize winning cheeses to their credit. It can be purchased at our farm stand and in many supermarkets around the Island and elsewhere.

Red Can Gourmet

Red Can Gourmet can be found at Industrial Way in Tofino, just before you enter the town of Tofino – same street as the Tofino Brewery. im May is a splendid cook with a happy knack for cooking tasty and original food. We have been friends for endless years. He, Rodney Butters and I used to go to Feast of Fields in Victoria together more than 25 years ago. Great memories.

Check out some of the events that are happening at the farm and in the community. If you would like a hard copy of the events pick it up at our farm store.

June 24 Sustainable Roundtable - What can the solstice do
for you? 1:30-3:30pm at the farm
June 24 & 25 Open House weekend at the farm 10am-5pm
July 1 Canada Day - Open house at the farm

Do you want to pick for the farm in the summer?
We have planted more of berries this year and we will need people to pick for the farm. Come sign up and register at the farm store by putting your name and what days you are available. When we have berries to pick we will be going through the list of people to come in to pick for us. It is open for all ages (parent permission required). Please see our posted notices for summer workers and pickers.

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Mothers Day Weekend

5/11/2017

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Spring Time!

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Mother's Day Weekend

Planning a Mother's Day Weekend?

This Saturday, come learn how to eat from your garden at the Sustainable Roundtable! It is from 1:30-3:30pm Saturday May 13, 2017. Stay for a walk around the farm after. By donation and no registration required.

My goal is for all of us are to maintain a sustainable small garden with choice Perennials, Bi-annuals, and Annual to feed ourselves and our family with all the delectable things we can think of. Please stop by at 1:30 on Saturday to plan your sustainable garden.

Bring your binder, lined paper, scissors, glue stick, seed catalog and a list of your best small garden ideas to share with gardening friends

We will also have Herbal bouquets for Mother's day!

Artichokes and Asparagus

Spring time is all about trying new fruit and vegetables for the garden. After learning that Artichokes and Asparagus were at the top of the list for nutrition, we produced several hundred plants of each for production this year and next. We may be eating artichokes later on this summer, but likely not asparagus for another year or two because the asparagus plant requires that you leave the foliage on the plant for two or more years as it requires is to produce photosynthesis. That answers from Lorne.

Greenhouse

The greenhouse is slowly making a transition from a winter greenhouse to a tomato greenhouse. The greenhouse is unheated and allows the greens crop to produce until the weather outside warms up some. Half of the greenhouse is in tomatoes and soon it will be full of tomatoes and cucumbers.

Family U-Pick!

We are planting, seeding, and making the beds to produce more local food. When the produce is ready, come down Friday afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday to pick your own food. See the vegetables in the ground and pick food for yourself or your family. We had several customers last year come to pick a large quantity of beets, beans and berries. They canned and preserved them for the rest of the year. We have other customer who came and picked their groceries for the week. Kids are excited to pick their own food, be outside and eat what they have picked.
Check out our Facebook page on what is available, in season and our start date for the u-pick season!

Celery

Farm celery is quite strong flavor and a little goes along way. It is wonderful in soup stocks because of the flavor. When we talked to the Chef at Sobos in Tofino, they are pickling the celery to use in their Caesars! We will have to try it. Do you have a favorite recipe to use farm celery?

Bees
As well as vegetables, we are taking care of our bee population by developing a perennial flower garden for use by our farm customers guests can use as a demonstration garden for bees. Please, if you do have a very favourite perennial plant that you can spare we would love to add it to the mix, and we are certainly willing to share anything we have to keep bees well fed and cared for.
Two of our staff contingents have joined the Nanaimo Bee Club and help Lorne with our hives when required. Not nearly enough honey, but we are hoping for an increase in production when our new flower garden comes into production.

Chicks
The chicks are a couple week old now! They are thriving and looking very happy. They are enjoying the chick balancing beam as they build up strength to roost.

Beans
Cold as it is we must plant those vegetable seeds. Besides all the usual vegetables, we are going a try out a selection of every Fava Bean variety we could get out hands on. All colours, shapes and sizes. We have a few serious and imaginative cooks about the farm, so I expect they will be bringing out some cooking bulletins as the season moves along. There are at least three specialized growers in Canada and we have seed samples from them all.
We are also growing Edamame Beans this year. We did it once ago, but not enough interest at the time. So, we shall see. Also nutritious, heritage purple potatoes to go into the ground when it dries out a bit. Don’t hold your breath. We have secret plans for discouraging the wireworm, with my homegrown recipe. We will soon see if we are successful or not.

Did you know that Occasions Fine Foods has been selling their salad dressings at the farm for over 20years!! They are so popular that we have customers from Vancouver that come over just to get the salad dressings.

Did you see on Facebook this week Huband Park Elementary school in Courteney showcasing their salad bar in their school with 50% of the food being local? Check it out here if you missed it. Do you have a salad bar program in your school? How is the program operated? Does it work with local farms? Share your story with us so we are able to share it with others! Email neorg@telus.net

Green Soul Organics
When you go up to Tofino make sure to check out the health food store, Green Soul Organics. We supply them with weekly produce and eggs. They have been wonderful customers. Check out their Facebook page by clicking here

Check out some of the events that are happening at the farm and in the community. If you would like a hard copy of the events pick it up at our farm store.

Do you want to pick for the farm in the summer?
We have planted a lot of berries this year and we will need people to pick for the farm to see to our customers. Come down to the farm store, at the cash register there is a book to sign up and put your name and what days you are available. When we have berries to pick we will be going through the list of people to come in to pick for us. It is open for all ages (parent permission required).

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Easter Open House & 2nd Roundtable event

4/10/2017

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Easter Weekend Open House

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Easter Weekend Open House Friday, Saturday and Sunday- special guest Rose McCulley from J&R Farm on the Saturday 1:30pm-3:30pm

We are excited to host another OPEN HOUSE Saturday, Sunday and Monday April 15-17, 2017 from 10am-4pm
Bring your family and friends for a walk about the farm.
Come and check out the new Chilton garden - named after Barbara sister and brother. It is a trial garden that has 20 different varieties of pears. There is lots to see and do such as the fava beans that were planted in November 2016 have come up!
Check out ourFacebook event for more information

Community Supported Agriculture Box Program

We had hoped that the weather would have picked up by now. Since our winter was especially cold compared to previous years the plants aren’t growing as fast as we anticipated. The crops are in the ground and we watch them grow as the weather improves. We will be in contact by newsletter, Facebook and on our website when there is enough produce for the first box. I expect that will be in a month or so.

It's not to late to join the box program!

To join, please check outthe website and email us the application or come to the farm and drop it off with a cheque.

We will be hosting our SECOND ROUNDTABLE with special guest Rose McCulley from J & R Farm. Her specialty is mason bees and she is going to be bringing her supplies if you wish to purchase your own. Price listhere. Bring your mason bee questions and ask about her pollinators program.

We will also have pollinator transplants for sale at the farm and walk around to see our pollinator garden.

Bring your questions and knowledge to the table and be apart of the conversation.

Event is by donation. No registration required.

The Sustainable Roundtable is a farm initiative to build up a community of members to share their knowledge and learn from each other
Check out theFacebook event.

SAVE THE DATE- Saturday April 15 from 1:30-3:30pm.

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Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Beans oh my!

Family U-Pick

Garlic Week

Irrigation Pond

Bees

PARTY ON THE DRIVE, SEPTEMBER 10^TH, 12 – 4 PM.

Happy Canada Day

Summer Solstice

Mothers Day Weekend

Mother's Day Weekend

Easter Open House & 2nd Roundtable event

Easter Weekend Open House Friday, Saturday and Sunday- special guest Rose McCulley from J&R Farm on the Saturday 1:30pm-3:30pm

Categories

Month

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Beans oh my!

Family U-Pick

Garlic Week

Irrigation Pond

Bees

PARTY ON THE DRIVE, SEPTEMBER 10TH, 12 – 4 PM.

Happy Canada Day

Summer Solstice

Mothers Day Weekend

Mother's Day Weekend

Easter Open House & 2nd Roundtable event

Easter Weekend Open House Friday, Saturday and Sunday- special guest Rose McCulley from J&R Farm on the Saturday 1:30pm-3:30pm

Categories

Month

PARTY ON THE DRIVE, SEPTEMBER 10^TH, 12 – 4 PM.