Blackbird Organics

I'm excited for the Kiss the Ground film coming out on Netflix. FarmFolk CityFolk is having a watch party next Wednesday at 7pm!!!

Fresh Thanksgiving Turkeys!

Anyone looking for certified organic, ready to lay (approx 16 weeks old), ISA Brown layers contact me. Picking up a batch next week. If interested, I need you order as soon as possible.

Certified organic, whole, frozen chickens now available. First batch is 3/4 sold out so PM me quickly for details if interested.

Opportunity for our fellow farmers: Do you still have some row space to fill up? Were overstocked on tomato and sweet bell pepper seedlings, as well as some ot...her odds and ends. Certified organic, all varieties are proven winners for productivity and marketability. Would like to clear out the greenhouse asap so everything can go cheap. First come first served :) Text or call Dave for prices and varieties. 1.778.931.1315 Pick up from the farm in Keremeos.

One stop shopping if you dont like the on line ordering!

Paper Mulch has arrived! Available in 4x400 rolls for $100 each, pickup from our farm. We use this mulch on our hops and our gardens - anything that is plante...d singularly (from broccoli to squash, tomatoes or melons) benefits from using mulch. Paper mulch biodegrades over winter under snow, leaving only scraps behind that can be composted or burned. It breathes, so unlike plastic mulch, your soil will be full of life under it. Highly recommended, and allowed for organic farmers. Contact us by phone, email or message for details and pickup arrangements.

If you are fairly radical, looking to head waaaay north, and totally covid free, i highly recommend applying here.

Hi there! We are looking for 2-4 people this early-spring to help us prep, harvest, graft, and plant out our nursery stock. All of these tasks take place from... the beginning of March until mid-May. We strive to create a fun and dedicated environment, and we look forward to hearing from you! Ill be available to meet on the phone/in person over the next week or so to see if this would be a good fit. Experience (at least with some form of agriculture) is preferred but not required. Pay is $16+ per hour, depending on experience. Please pm me if interested. Thanks for your consideration! Josh Brown Similkameen Nurseries Ltd.

Get ready, its here...

This post isnt really about the picture. Its just a pretty picture. Also, parsley was one of the crops we all-too-occasionally sold to Whole Foods in Victo...ria. Thats that this post is about. When Whole Foods announced they were coming to Victoria we went to the event they hosted to look for local suppliers. We met a produce buyer who was a really nice guy. He assured us that buying local was very important to Whole Foods, and told us that our price list looked reasonable. We had high hopes. We jumped through a significant number of hoops to become an approved supplier. Meanwhile some of our loyal farmers market and CSA customers expressed concern that we were selling out or that we would abandon them. We assured them this wasnt the case. We had more produce than our markets could sell, and we had capacity to grow even more. We had internal conversations about the merits of selling into the big corporate food system. Change has to come at all levels, we said. If we can make that system a bit better, thats a win. Furthermore, we want to get as much good, healthy, sustainably-grown food as possible into kitchens in the region. Not everyone can make it to the farmers market, and our CSA isnt for everyone, so we should meet the people where they are. We should partner with a company that seems to care about healthy food, and claims to care about local suppliers. In retrospect, it should have been a red flag that a photographer from Whole Foods came out to our farms immediately, even though all the back end administration of getting our products into their system was incredibly slow and onerous. Our faces and the name Saanich Organics was soon plastered prominently in several places in the store. At this point I could write many many paragraphs about the frustration of the subsequent years. That would be boring. Suffice it to say that local, store-level produce staff seem to have no decision making power. Sara (our administrator) had to deal with a back office in Texas. We had to buy additional insurance to be approved suppliers, and we had to pay for the "privilege" of using their mandatory online administration system. Whole Foods was, hands-down, the most administratively costly customer we have ever worked with, and the amount and variety of products they bought kept diminishing year after year. We finally gave up. On December 17 we emailed our Vancouver-based contact person and said we would no longer be selling to them. We asked them to take down the poster of us immediately. As of yesterday our poster was still up, but I asked someone in the store to remove it. We have worked very hard for 20 years building Saanich Organics. We believe our name signifies integrity, sustainability, and commitment to a building a better food system and a better world. It is enraging when our name is used as window dressing. So, it turns out those market customers who were skeptical about our decision to sell to Whole Foods were right. I strongly believe we vote for the world we want with every dollar we spend. I urge you to spend those food dollars at farmers markets, at farm stands, at CSAs. But grocery stores can be wonderful too! And we all use them. Best case scenario, choose the nearest locally owned grocery store that you can walk or bike to. Ask around, see if they treat their staff well, and if they give back to the community. Then encourage them to buy local. See more

I have a few fresh (not frozen) turkeys available for Thanksgiving. Or freeze one for Christmas! Ready for pickup on Friday. PM, email, or text me if interested.

We are opening a restaurant in Cawston, BC. We are looking for cooks with a desire to better understand the food system, learning to cook over fire and as Row14... is built on Klippers Organics, utilizing the produce that they grow. If you or someone you know is interested in being apart of the opening team, please email [email protected] Thank you for taking the time to read this post. #seedtoplate #row14_rest #klippersorganics

Ill be at the Penticton Winter Farmers Market tomorrow with both fresh and frozen certified organic chicken. See you there!

Ill be back at the Penticton Farmers Market this coming Saturday with fresh and frozen whole chicken. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Were proud to support the Young Agrarians BC Land Matching Program, helping farmers to grow farmers. http://youngagrarians.org/tools/land/

...but when you meet the vegan who eats mostly seasonal and local, please shake their hand for me. https://www.theguardian.com//veganism-intensively-farmed-m

"And how is it possible to criminalize activism that as its only goal and only outcome reports on, reveals, and documents the secret, abusive practices of powerful corporations? Why would the FBI expend substantial resources investigating and searching for two removed Smithfield piglets, out of the tens of millions that are extinguished each year in the U.S. alone? ...the most consequential aspect of what these activists are doing is...the light they are shining on the abusive conditions within this powerful industry. In other words, they are engaged in classic journalism, activism, and criticism of this industry. That, and that alone, is what makes them so threatening" https://theintercept.com//animal-rights-activists-face-mu/

This farmer is *very* excited!

Need leather goods? Come see Rad Juli the leather genius at my stall at the market!

https://bc.ctvnews.ca//province-to-offer-farmers-market-co

The numbers are in. The BC Ministry of Agriculture received more than 2,300 responses on plans to fine-tune the Agricultural Land Reserve and Commission. In a p...ress release the ministry reported participation in the online consultation included more than 750 farmers, 115 agriculture specialists and 1,400 from the general public. There were also 240 responses from people representing an agricultural industry or interest group. South Coast residents completed 900 surveys, while submissions from the Island topped 800, with close to 200 from the Okanagan, and more than 100 from each of the North, Kootenay and Interior regions. #BCAg See more

Also this weekend. https://www.facebook.com/events/190882941522195/?__mref=mb

This weekend! https://www.facebook.com/events/195066631109544/?__mref=mb

I will have certified organic Novagen brown layers for sale on April 16th. They are 4 months old and just about to start laying. I dont use FB messaging so if interested, please email me at: blackbirdorganics(at)gmail.com Im located in Cawston B.C. But can possibly deliver between Langley and Cawston.

For any producers or supporters of Small-Scale Meat Production in BC, this is your new association! Please share widely. https://www.facebook.com/smallscalemeat/?notif_id=1521785705682286¬if_t=page_fan&ref=notif

The 28th season of the Penticton Farmers Market begins April 21st. #farmersmarket 8:30am to 1:00pm