Learn more about food

12/1/2016

Resources to learn more about food, farming and being self- sufficient

WHISTLER PRESENTATION, Back from doing a presentation called “ Planning and Building your Sustainable Garden” at Nourish at Whistler's Cornucopia in November.
The presentation was well attended and there are a great group of knowledgeable people asking questions. Barbara did this presentation in Tofino as well.

One of the main topics we enforce at the farm and in presentations is to plan and grow foods you want to eat; AND grow nutrient dense food. After reading Jo Robinson's book 'Eating on the Wild Side' we have made significant changes to our current varieties of fruit and vegetables to those with higher levels of nutrition including beans, onions, beets, corn, carrots and potatoes.

From this presentation we have started to create a resource of a farming database, food ideas, seed catalogs and much more. Check it out on ourwebsite - under resources

Many changes are happening on the farm to make the farm friendlier for our family U-pick days, planned for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the 2017 production season. This is an attempt to make the farm friendlier for families with young children to have the experience of seeing and picking fruits and vegetables for themselves and their families. Farmers are always in need of young folk who can take on for farm chores and be helpful on the farm at whatever level is suitable for their age. Sign up at the farm to be put on the list for the summer time to help out at the farm.

CROP RENOVATION. Back to working on renovations to the berry crops gardens. Replacing or replanting: – strawberries, raspberries, marion berries, thornless black berries, blue berries. All these plants are relatively trouble free, but at least once a year we truly need to pay attention and see that they are pruned, tidied up and in tip-top shape for the coming season. This is a great time of the year for these tasks as cropping slows down as we move toward the Winter Solstice.
We have raspberry canes for sale at this time 5 canes for $20

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October 07th, 2016

10/7/2016

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Open House Thanksgiving weekend - come help, clean and learn about garlic.

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Thanksgiving Open House Weekend

Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10am-5pm we will be cleaning garlic and talking about how to plant it.

Come down for some tea and coffee and bring your family to learn how to plant your own garlic.

The garlic has been dried but it needs to be cleaned up. Learn about the method that Barbara uses to clean garlic and why she does it this way. The garlic heads are big and beautiful but they didn't start off this way. Learn about selecting garlic and different garlic types that grow well in our area.

We also need your help in planning for the next year as we want to have a larger area for Family U-pick. What would your family eat in a large quantity or what can you create to store up for the winter next year?

Events - Oct 8th,9th,10th, 2016-10am-4pm Nanoose Bay Studio Tour
Oct 7,14,21,28, Nov 4,11,18,25 - Veggie Box Program at the farm
Oct21 & 22BC Water Sustainability Act Infomation Session in Parksville
Oct 24 at 7pm Coombs Farmers' Institute Fall General Meeting at Coombs Fair Grounds
Oct 26 at 7pmNanaimo Beekeepers Club
Nov 10-20 Nourish at Whistler

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September 2016

9/7/2016

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NEW FARM STORE INTRODUCTION - FROZEN FOCACCIA/PIZZA ROUNDS

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FOR YOUR HOME CREATIONS -- READY FOR THE OVEN -- FOCACCIA/PIZZA ROUNDS

Beginning Thursday, the 8^th of September the farm will begin carrying Focaccia/Pizza rounds, ready for the oven from BODHI'S BAKERY, with organic flour purchased from Vancouver Island Grain and Milling. We have wanted to do this for ages, and with the help of Bill and his staff at Bodhi’s Bakery we are ready for the launch. This is truly the time to start. We have an abundance of fresh fall produce and local add-ons. It’s a great way to support local vendors and create a unique culinary offering. Help us collect a selection of the best local recipes to pass along to our customers.

OUR NUTRITIOUS FALL VEGGIE BOX PROGRAM begins Friday September 9^th. Pick-up is at the farm from 2:30pm-5pm. You are welcome to come early and take a walk about the farm. Proceeds from this Fall Veggie Box will pay for staff salaries into the fall and winter to enable us to complete all manner of season chores.
You will receive fresh produce directly from our fields; products from fellow farmers in the area; and produce which we have dried or frozen for late season eating. Contact us at neorg@telus.net if you would like to sign up or check out our website NanooseEdiblesFarm.com

Now is the time to stock up on GARLIC for the winter months. We will have our garlic packed for gift giving, and in various sized lots for fall planting. It is now time to prepare your planting location and have your garlic purchased and ready to go into the ground. Planting date Thanksgiving Weekend, depending on the weather conditions.

We are blessed with some short and long-term volunteers – some who may have gone for good and others planning to return as time becomes available. We were recently blessed with a visit from Lorne’s nephew Don from Eugene Oregon. He is the nicest and handiest guy you can imagine. It was great having him with us and we are happy to report that he intends to return. Don helped us with the farm and built a new drain board for the farm store.

MARKETING HAS BEEN DIFFICULT this year, possibility because of the numbers of new farmers entering the market, not enough people buying local and little improvement in the development of secure markets for certified organic produce. Coupled with difficulties in finding staff with good farm experience, and the farm having not enough income to pay them what they deserve and need to live in this area. It is a demanding job and deserves a high rate of pay and greater appreciation by the community in general.

We have enjoyed our teenage staff – Holden, Spencer and Cam, all working full-time for us this summer. With so many tasks automated these days, we find ourselves constantly passing along skills that might be missed in modern everyday life. Farms are good for skills testing, as the have heaps of challenging tools to try out on the job.

STRAWBERRIES have been splendid. We all agree that growing fruit of every sort is a pleasure and something we should consider concentrating on in the future. The taste of our strawberries gives folks a lot a pleasure, and the farm has sufficient berries for freezing for the winter. Berry production is an acquired knowledge and we are constantly discovering new methods of production and varieties to try. It ties in well with the farm’s U-pick weekends which have worked well for us this summer. It is lovely to have children, families and friends stop by to visit the farm and enjoy stocking up on winter fruits and veg. Currently we are picking table grapes, delicious Canadice, a small seedless pink grape for snacking on or tossing into a nice salad.

Some interesting crops have produced well this year. We have grown Artichokes for the first time in ages. It is interesting to grow and is popular with our restaurant folk. We also have replanted asparagus, plus more varieties of specialty fruits. Artichokes for example turn out to be seriously beneficial to your liver and is a bile booster. Seems crazy, but there you are. The Romans knew this and grew them in abundance.

I’m off to Victoria later this month to do a local sustainable gardens workshop at Marla’s HOLD GENERAL shop on Craigflower Rd in Victoria. More information following shortly. Also I've been invited to present on Food Sustainability From Your Home Garden in November in Whistler at Nourish Cornucopia.

This is an exceedingly important topic for me and I wish everyone to take it seriously and use our natural and technical resources to teach ourselves about food sustainability, for ourselves and our community. Check out our bi-monthly produce list guide.

BUSINESS HOURS AT THE FARM WILL remain the same for the time being, Tuesday to Sunday 10am-5pm. Likely we will not change until Thanksgiving Weekend. We are continuing our u-pick hours from noon until 4 Fridays, and from 10-1 on Saturdays and Sundays.

See you at the farm!

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Aug 2016

8/9/2016

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Fall Box Program

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Thanks everyone for coming out and supporting the farm and for your help in attracting new customers for our Certified Organic produce. We so much enjoy having you and your families visit the farm. It’s all part of being a community, creating food sustainability, and celebrating locally produced healthy food. Please pass along to us any ideas you have for making your time more enjoyable.

Canada Day turned out to be a lovely day – we even had a guest drone turn up to observe the festivities and check out the menu. All that was missing was a Canadian flag trailing out behind it. Thank you Peter.

FALL VEGGIE BOX
In just over one month we will begin our Fall Veggie Box Program: Friday, September 9^th. Your will find all the sign-up information on our website NanooseEdiblesFarm.com The farm has an abundance of produce in the fields. You may wish to consider sharing a box with a neighbour or a friend. This veggie box is picked up at the farm on a weekly basis, or arrangements can be made for deliveries. If you wish to talk to us about the Fall Veggie Box Program, please contact Barbara at the farm or call 250-468-2332, or review the information on our website.
We realize that it may be a large amount of money to put out at one time, and the farm is agreeable to breaking the total amount into three post-dated cheques. If you have a suitable vehicle you may wish to consider doing box deliveries for our box customers, thereby covering the cost of your personal veggie box. This has worked well in the past.

FARM EMPLOYMENT
This is the month when many of our employees leave us to pursue their careers elsewhere. We hope their time with us has been fruitful and that they have learned many new skills and grown fond of the idea of farming and gardening. We thank them for their contribution to the well-being of the farm.

LIVE-IN FARM ASSISTANCE
Because we need more permanent support staff, in the near future we are wishing to hire an experienced live-in farm couple to share farm activities and responsibilities, including a 200 bird poultry operation. Please contact the farm for further information neorg@telus.net The farm is offering independent living space. This additional staff would allow us to continue to improve and enrich farm production on the farm. Lorne and I have for some time been considering our vision for the future of the farm and could see it becoming a regional agricultural training facility offering courses and demonstrations in all manner of food production for young and old. We all about food sustainability and see that as the underlying theme for a farm training facility.

APPRENTICES:
The farm is encouraging anyone who wishes to do a horticulture apprenticeship to come and join us. Hours are somewhat flexible but mostly we will follow the guidelines from the apprenticeship manual and introduce the candidate to all aspects of certified organic farming, including bees and poultry. These positions should begin in the near future so that candidates have the opportunity to learn care of crops for the fall, winter and spring, including orchard and berry plants. Our first undertaking will be the seeding and development of our fall greens crop as both indoor and field crop. Please check out our website NanooseEdiblesFarm.com for more information

Photo Credit: BC Farm Writers' Association

The BC Farm Writers' Association stopped by and had a nice visit at the farm. A wonderful group of people that had a nice tour.

BEES
Except for early in the season, pollen and nectar seems to have been in short supply. In the hot season it seems the flowers were short of nectar and not supplying their needs. We have some early honey from the farm but much less than we had expected. We had one hive go visiting and collect and serious load of veroa mites. Otherwise they have been healthy and for that we are grateful.

POULTRY
Mobile poultry flock has lost quite a few of their numbers to hawks and eagles, and owls earlier in the season. The birds are fairly small and light and the larger birds can fly in and carry them off in spite of our best effort. They are in mobiles and that makes it much more difficult to provide good security. They remain a very popular item in spite of the high cost of feed.
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WINTER PLANTINGS
Beginning next week we will have vegetable transplants available at the farm market. These can be purchased in smaller volume over time as they become available from our propagation area. Also have 2016 Yugoslavian Garlic to purchase for culinary use or for transplants. The farm has been maintaining this garlic crop for more than 25 years. We grow a number of berry crops and can supply you with transplants as we move later into the Fall. We have an order book at the farm market and can order plants you wish to add to your garden. Several varieties of strawberries, as well as raspberries – new and good variety, Marion Berries, Black Currants, Thornless Blackberries, grapes.

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FREEZING AND CANNING SEASON IS UPON US
We have a great selection of vegetables, specialty products like Artichokes, new planting of asparagus, sunchokes, cabbage and more; and each year we are increasing varieties of fruits and berries to canning and freezing. Come and check us out. Right now we have a great picking of basil which you can hang and dry for later use. Most other herbs are ready for picking and drying as well. as well. Just coming is our planting of tomatoes and peppers in all colours, shapes and sizes. It all sounds like a good pickle and jam making day to me.

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If you would like to sign up for the box program to support your local farm please download this form or visit our websiteNanooseEdiblesFarm.com . It has been a splendid year for crops and allows us to plan ahead for crops at the farm.
We will have u-pick for about another month to supply your self-sufficient household.

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July 01st, 2016

7/1/2016

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FAMILY U-PICK AND CANADA DAY AT NANOOSE EDIBLES FARM!

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Early Summer Greetings to All of Our Enthusiasts!

What a crazy start to the summer June has been! The team at the farm is busy keeping up with all of our suddenly succulent offerings that are ready for the picking!

We have Fava Fever here at Nanoose Edibles. The tasty broad beans are very versatile. They are a favourite among vegetarians because of their high protein content. At 26 percent protein, they even give Bessie and Babe a run for the money. You can use Favas in salads and stir fries, saute dishes as well as prepare them as humus. Favas store well dried, frozen, or canned; but they are a wonder to enjoy fresh while they are in season, which means right now! Because this is Fava Week in many place is North America, this weekend we are offering U-pick Favas at $1.00 per pound, pick your own, for volumes of 10 pounds or more. Farm price picked is $2.00 per pound. We produce four different varieties, as the plant breeders have made significant improvement in recent years. So do yourself a Fava!

Our usual hard-working and talented crew had some extra help this month with some generous volunteers. Susan and Daphne brought us their orchard expertise, smartened up the apple orchard and thinned the crop for us. Stephanie was in the area on her way working around BC, and stayed to assist with any task we could throw at her. We welcomed her timely visit, and hope she enjoyed her stay as much as we appreciated all of her efforts.

BEWARE OF DOG....IT MAKES HIM FEEL IMPORTANT.

Kathy's sidekick Shiny has been doing his best to pull his weight around the farm as well, and has appointed himself chief in charge of chasing any brazen deer intruders. Any four legged pea thieves that let themselves in the gate when it is open for customers best beware of our fearsome hero.

We hope that you will join us for Family U-Pick Weekends this summer. You are welcome to bring friends and family on Fridays from noon until 5PM, and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 until 5PM and enjoy the experience of doing your own picking. There is a continuous supply of fresh produce for harvesting and we encourage you to take a walk about our beautiful property and enjoy the butterflies and birds. Take time to reconnect to nature and enjoy some fresh organic fare.

It's a rewarding way to spend quality time together. So bring your picnic lunch and a camera to capture your favourite moments!

On July 1^st we celebrate Canada Day with our annual Farm to Fork potluck dinner for family, friends and folk in the neighbourhood. Come along and meet some old and new friends, have a walk about the farm and play a few crazy games.
Please bring your favourite Canadian dish and some portable chairs and join us - the more the merrier! If you want to come earlier and take a walk around the farm you are welcome to do so. Also plan to have a swim if it is a nice hot day. Dinner will be served about 5PM, leaving plenty of time to catch the fireworks in Nanaimo or Parksville.

Folk are inquiring about our certified organic produce box program. We will start-up again at the beginning of September and run through until close to December. That is such a rewarding time of the year to produce a veggie box: both for the farm and for the customer. We look forward to having you join us then. You are welcome to sign up at any time this summer. Stop by the farm and walk about the garden and speak with staff about what you would like to see in your veggie box. If you are a small household you may wish to sign up with a friend and take turn-about from week to week. This has worked well in the past.

Featured Restaurant – Local businesses have helped the farm increase their production as chefs try out different produce to pass along to their customers. Each of our customers has been hugely generous in supporting the farm. Bistro 694 in Qualicum Beach has been a buying from us for many years now. Their customers love the greens that are picked fresh each week. Make sure you check them out the next time you are in Qualicum Beach. Chef Eric and his staff at Tigh-Na-Mara have been our friends forever. We truly appreciate his support and friendship. Realm in Parksville has been buying more and more from us as their business takes off! These young chefs at Realm have focused their meals on local food and we couldn’t be happier.

Eyes of BC did a nice feature of the farm on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EyesOnBC/posts/10153813699118650

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June 2016

6/10/2016

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U-Pick weekends

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FEATURING STRAWBERRIES THIS WEEKEND
The farm has a U-pick Program in place for our customers on weekends. Friday afternoon, and from 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. Children are welcome. We will have a farm employee available to show you about and take care of your needs. A shaded area will be available, and water if required.

There are many reasons to open the farm to the public and encourage a local U-pick operation. We believe that many families do not realize the food we eat does not need to arrive by truck and be delivered to the supermarket, but can be grown right here in our neighbourhood. Saying that, local food can be more valuable in other ways. By learning to grow our own food we can guarantee that we will have healthy food available when we need it; teach families gardening and farming skills; grow our local economy and make the best use of our precious farmland; provide recreation and employment to our citizens and grow a culinary industry based a specialty foods grown by our producers and marketed throughout our region.

Farm Safety
Please talk to your children about the farm safety rules.

Please be aware that an ELECTRIC fence surrounds the perimeter of the farm and one end of the pond. Please stress to your child that it is must not be touched.
The float on the pond is there to service the irrigation and is out of bounds to children. The dock can be slippery and tippy and is unsafe for small children.
Tools, machinery and other farm equipment are located around the farm. Please do not allow children to play with the farm machinery and equipment. It is against the rules of the B.C. Farm Safe Regulations.
Chickens are attractive and entertaining, but proper sanitation after touching them is advisable. Wash your hands. Please also make sure no outside food goes into the coop.

Father’s Day

Father’s Days coming up! We could show how much we appreciate him by preparing a dinner made from all locally grown products. Come by the farm to purchase or pick-your-own produce. Or try the locally produced products we carry in the shop: salad dressings, eggs, cheese, coffee, tuna products, jams, jellies and pickles, cereals grains, and U-pick fresh strawberries.

Fava Beans and Garlic Scapes in Lemon Butter Sauce
Just like it says. Shell the beans and cut the garlic into bite-size pieces and saute in lemon juice, butter and a small amount chicken stock. Thicken slightly if you wish.

Tomato Crop
Our tomatoes are planted in the greenhouse and in the field. We are expecting another good year. Our customers love our tomatoes as we have a great assortment of heritage plants from cherries to monsters to suit your fresh eating and culinary choices. If you wish to order a volume of tomatoes please email us neorg@telus.net with quantity and variety and we will keep your order on hand and contact you when they are ripe. Don’t forget to order your garlic and herbs as well.

Transplants for sale
We have a selection of organic vegetables transplants available at our farm market including well grown, potted tomato plants, all sizes and varieties, ready to go into your garden, greenhouse or patio. With the steady increase in food prices, we encourage you to grow your own food!

CELEBRATE LOCAL FOOD

Walk about the farm. Please take time for a walk about the farm. Pay special attention to the pollinators: honey bees, bumble bees, hummingbirds, and many other bird species.

Supplying local businesses with farm produce is always a treat for us at the farm.
Have you checked out Hilltop Bistro in Nanaimo? Ryan is a long time customer and buys locally and have won a number of Culinary Prizes for Best Restaurant.
Just down the road from Hilltop is Fairways Market. They have also been a long time customer and they sell our famous greens! We make weekly deliveries there so they are always fresh.

If you are in the Qualicum Beach area check out Bistro 694. They have also been long time customers who support local businesses.

EVERY FARM NEEDS A DOG.
Although we are blessed with visits by other people’s dogs, we still have not replaced our farm dog. If anyone knows of a dog that would be well suited to the farm, please let us know. We have missed the opportunity of replacing our dog twice in the past few months, so maybe we will be third time lucky.

Granddaughter Marla Ebell, who lives in Victoria, celebrated the opening on her new shop Hold General. located on 422 Craigflower in Victoria.
As part of her dedication to local, naturally produced product, she will be carrying a selections of produce from Nanoose Edibles. We expect that we eventually will have in place a weekly courier arrangements to connect the farm to her Victoria market.

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