Little Blue Barn
Barnhartvale V2C 6V6 Kamloops, BC, Canada

Finally got around to making our front entry way festive! Flower Subscriptions Update - only 2 spots left! Thank-you so much to everyone who has signed up or purchased it as a gift, I really appreciate it! If you would like one of the last 2 spots send me message. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Well the Christmas season officially kicked off in our house today with our annual Christmas tree hunt and a fire with smores. I dried quite a few flowers and grasses this fall and the kids enjoyed making these dried flower ornaments for the tree. They did a great job! This year I have kept our tree really natural just using ornaments we have made over the past years and ornaments that have been given to us with spacial meaning. I have to say these look beautiful on the tree!

WREATH UPDATE Thank-you so much to everyone who has purchased a wreath. I have had a number of orders for wreaths similar to what I have posted already, so I am currently working on filling those orders and then I should have a few more new ones to post next week. I have one more design I am hoping to work on this weekend and post...we shall see if it works!... All this snow has definitely got our household thinking about the Christmas season!

2021 Flower Subscriptions I am opening up flower subscriptions for next season. The following are the details, however as with this past season I know that changes may need to be made, so this plan is flexible and I will adjust if necessary. Number of Bouquets: 9 ... (4 Spring and 5 Summer) Cost: $130 Spring Bouquets: These will be mixed bouquets featuring tulips, ranunculus and peonies. The first one will be in late April, one in May and two in June. Summer Bouquets: These will be mixed bouquets that feature zinnias, sunflowers, dhalias, snapdragons and all the other summer beauties. You will receive one every 2 weeks throughout July and August. Subscribers must be able to pick up their bouquet in Barnhartvale. Pick-up Day will be set closer to the start of the season but I am anticipating Monday. Sign-up: Please private message or email me at [email protected] with the following information: - Name - E-mail Address - Phone Number Once I receive this I will email you an invoice that can be paid by etransfer or credit card and once payment is received your spot is guaranteed. If you are purchasing this as a gift, please provide me with your information as well as the recipient's. I can provide you with a gift certificate to give to them. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank-you everyone!

WREATH UPDATE I have now finished all of the wreath orders from last week. I have already made more wreaths this year than in past years, so thank-you so much to everyone who has purchased a wreath to date. I am starting to run low on materials, so I will be making a few more wreaths this week with what I have left and that will be it for the season. I will be posting all of the available wreaths here and on Instagram on Friday and they will be sold on a first come first ser...ve basis. Thank-you!

Love seeing what people do with my flowers and wreaths! Thank-you so much Leanne!

(SOLD) FRONT DOOR CHRISTMAS PLANTERS $100 (20% of proceeds to the United Way) This is a set of 2 front porch arrangements. The top one is larger than the bottom one. My preference would be to sell them as a set but I will consider selling them separately ($60 for the large and $40 for the small)... Pls PM me if you would like to reserve them!

More for Sale! (20% of all sales to the United Way) These might be 2 of my favourites do far this year. I grew eucalyptus for the first time this year and am loving using it in the wreaths. Both of these feature quite a bit of it so they smell amazing!... Prices in caption of picture. Please Comment or PM if you would like one!

And that is a wrap on wreath season! Thank-you so much to everyone who purchased a wreath, I made more than I ever have before and sold out. I am stopping now because we have welcomed a new member into our family so it is time to move onto the winter season which will be a little busier than usual with this litta fella! It's been a pretty crazy season this year but we had incredible support from our community so thank-you so much! I will be making a donation to the United Way in the coming week or two with 20% of the proceeds from the wreath sale. Though it is a relatively small contribution I am happy to be able to make it and contribute to such an important organization in our community. Especially this year!

Currently Available Wreaths (20% of all proceeds to United Way) Please comment or message me if you would like to reserve one!

FINAL WREATHS (all $40) (20% of proceeds to the United Way) These are the final wreaths of the season! If you see one you like, please msg me, it is reserved upon payment. ... Pick-up is from the farm stand. Thank-you everyone!

WREATH SALE DETAILS (20% of all sales going to the UNITED WAY) Wreaths will be starting to go up for sale this week! This year the sale will be virtual so I will post pictures of the wreaths as I make them, with their price. If you see something you like, please comment/send a PM and then I will send you an invoice and you can pay via credit card or e-transfer. PU will be on week days after 3PM or on weekends from the Farm Stand. ... No 2 wreaths look alike, so if you see something you like, don't hesitate because I can't guarantee there will be another one like it! All wreaths are made with locally foraged greenery and dried florals from the garden. This year, I also have some swags - these are great on doors as well as fence or light posts. I will have a few front door arrangements later this month as well and possibly one more wreath design later in the month. I will make wreaths until I am out of materials and time. Some of the wreaths in this post are spoken for, but some are available, so check them out!! 20% of all profits from the sale will go to the Kamloops United Way. If you aren't familiar with the United Way, I encourage you to check them out and see all of the programs they partner with and help to fund here in our community https://www.unitedwaytnc.ca/ Thanks everyone! Watch for the pictures as the week goes on.

And that is a wrap on summer and farm stand days! Thank-you so much to everyone who has been coming to the farm stand this summer. I really wasn't sure what to expect going into this year and was just going off the cuff so thank-you for coming along for the ride! We really hope you have enjoyed your produce. I will have some pumpkins and squash available over the next month so if you would like any, you can message me and we can arrange a pick-up time. We should also have som...e honey available. If I end up with extras of anything else I will post it here. I don't know exactly what next year will look like but I will keep you posted! I do know I will be growing a lot more greens and carrots!! I will be having a holiday wreath sale in late November and again this year, a portion of the proceeds from that will be going to a local charity so stay tuned for that. In the mean time stay safe everyone and enjoy this beautiful weather we are having - Happy Fall! Thank-you

Farm Stand Open Monday 4-7PM Last farm stand day of the season - kind of hard to believe! We will have the following available: - salad mix... - microgreen mix (super flavorful!) - sunflowers microgreens (yes they are back!) - carrots (1.5 lb bags) - beets - beans - peppers - cherry tomatoes - squash - pumpkins - potatoes - honey - garlic As usual, self-serve with cash in the jar or etransfer to [email protected]. Thank-you!

LAST SALE MONDAY Well, while the weather has stayed beautifully warm, fall is definitely arriving and the gardens are really slowing down the past 2 weeks. I have decided that Monday will be our last regular sale of the 2020 season. So come on by 4-7pm and stock up on all that is left. Monday will be a good time to grab a few squash and pumpkins to last you through the fall. As well, there is still some good storage garlic left and lots of honey! We will also have salad mix, microgreens, carrots, beans, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. Have a good weekend everyone!

Harvest Wreath Farm stand is set up and ready to go - open til 7! I am also selling this harvest wreath I made with dried hops, flowers, garlic and popcorn. It is $35. ... This will be one of the last full farm stands of the year. Thank-you!

FARM STAND OPEN MONDAY 4-7PM I have cleared a path through the compost and the farm stand will be open Monday. As the season winds down amounts of what is available will vary week to week, we have a good selection this week. Things you can find this week:... Mix & Match $3ea or 2/$5 - Salad Greens - Radish Microgreens - Tangy Microgreen Salad Mix - Beans - Carrots - Beets - Cherry Tomatoes - Peppers $2ea - Mini Honeydew Melons $3ea - Squash - Pie Pumpkins $5ea - Fingerling Potatoes (2lb bag) - Heirloom Pumpkins - Coffee Bean Samples Garlic - Bulbs $2ea - 1lb bags $12 - Braids $14 Honey - 700g $10 - 1kg $14 Large Bouquets - $15ea As usual, cash in the jar or etransfer to [email protected]. Thank-you!

Wow biggest tomato this year weighed in even heavier than last year's winner at the Kamloops Farmer's Market's tomato festival. Last year's came in at 2.9lbs and this year's at 3.1lbs. This year's is a pineapple beefsteak. While taste and texture are dark more important to me than size, it's fun to grow a few huge tomatoes, the competitive side of me comes out there Haha. I am also proud because we grow them using organic methods of growing. We haven't been selling many of our larger tomatoes this year as we haven't generally been as happy with quality and we have been preserving a ton for winter. We have some different ideas for our tomato program next year but in the mean time we are enjoying our tomatoes right now and should have a yummy winter ahead!

Well it has been quite the week, back to work and back to school and figuring out how this fall is going to look...but sunny fall weather is my favourite and we have had a week full of it! Though it's really warm in the afternoons the nights have really cooled off and everything in gardens really slowed down this week. The flowers are really starting to wrap up for the season but the sunflowers and dhalias are putting on quite the finale right now! They are 2 of my most favou...rite flowers so I just needed to bring a bunch into the house this week to enjoy. A new fall favourite for me this year is the quinoa, I took a picture of it last night as the sun was going down, it is so pretty! We will be doing some harvesting today and starting to pull out crops that are finishing so I can start wheelbarrowing that big pile of compost! I am going to try to overwinter some salad greens this year so we can start selling salad mix in early spring next year so it will take a bit to get that set up. Hope everyone had a good week and hope you all get a chance to get out and enjoy the sunshine this weekend. Farm stand will be open again on Monday 4-7. (Orange vase was made by my son and he gave it as a gift before he went to school ) See more

Kids were pretty excited to come home to a huge dirt pile today! Thank-you once again to Westwold View Farms for the awesome compost! We are going to try to get all of our beds prepped this fall as we take this years crops out. This will make for an earlier and quicker start to Spring next year and all of the beds could use a compost top up. This compost is critical to us being able to be no till and grow without using chemical fertilizers. Not all compost is made equal, we are lucky to have a great local source! We will create a walkway to the farm stand for farm stand days - when you buy straight from the source you really get to see up close where your food and flowers come from and what they are grown in! So, I guess it's time to get because trust me folks, this is a lot of wheelbarrow loads!!

THANK-YOU!! Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by today - we got pretty cleaned out, so sorry if you came a bit later and weren't able to get what you were looking for. We are so grateful to everyone who has been stopping by the farm stand this summer and are glad we could offer it. I am not sure how many more weeks we will be going as some of what is left will be stored away for our winter but we will for sure have a sale again next Monday and most likely for another week or two after that. This season has been really helpful in helping us determine our "staples" so next year we may offer a little less variety and more of those staples. It is always a learning process. Have a great week everyone!

FARM STAND OPEN 1-7PM MONDAY The farm stand will be well stocked Monday. I have decided since it is a long weekend, we will open early to hopefully work for more people. Most things in the farm stand are $3ea or 2/$5, with the exception of honey, garlic and flowers. Things you will find this week: - carrots - beets... - salad mix - cherry tomatoes - slicing tomatoes - peppers - fingerling potatoes - melons - squash - pumpkins - garlic - honey - bouquets There will also be a few odds and ends of other things. As usual, it will be self-serve with Covid protocols to keep everyone as safe as possible. Change in the jar or etransfer to [email protected]. Thank-you!

SALAD GREENS & MICROGREENS UPDATE So, salad greens and microgreens really became customer favourites this year!! Though we had increased our growing area for salad greens from past years you have still managed to eat us out of greens! I will hopefully have some for this Monday's sale 4-7pm but then it might be a couple of weeks before my next planting is ready . Sorry!!! My goal for next year is to have greens producing in May and hopefully keep harvest consistent through Oc...tober... We have just grown microgreens in the summer as we have had time and space the past couple of years and our method isn't the most efficient. So, due to their popularity we are working on developing a better system that would allow us to grow them for longer. We are also trying to find a good mix to act as a salad mix when it isn't outdoor growing season. So bare with us as we work that out. Sorry, no microgreens this week but probably next week. I know the lack of greens will really disappoint some BUT there is still a lot of produce to fill the stand over the next few weeks. Things you will find this month: - carrots - beets - fingerling potatoes - squash - beans - tomatoes - peppers - garlic - honey - flowers - pumpkins We will continue to run sales on Mondays as long as we have produce and our schedules allow. Thanks everyone!!

Thank-you! This week I have received so many kind messages and pictures of people enjoying their final subscription bouquets or bouquets they picked up from the farm stand and I just want to say thank-you to everyone who has been supporting our flower program. This spring with all that was happening in the world I really wasnt sure if I should be growing flowers or what the season would look like. I am glad I kept my flowers going because they have brought me lots of happine...ss and I am so glad to see them putting smiles on the faces of others. There will continue to be a few bouquets in the farm stand as long as there are flowers, I am also hoping to do a few fall floral wreaths that will be for sale and before Christmas I will be having my annual wreath sale - so still lots of floral stuff to come! Next year the flowers will be moving into their own separate plot and I am going to increase my dhalia production quite a bit which I am excited about. Every season we learn and while we are happy with this season throughout all the twists and turns this year has had, we definitely are already planning our vegetable and flower production for next year and I am excited for both! Enjoy the sunshine this weekend and stay safe! Farm Stand will be open on Monday 4-7pm. I will post more on that this weekend! See more

Squash & Pumpkins! We are starting to bring the squash and pumpkins in from the field to cure and will continue to do so over the next month. Both will be available in the farm stand starting this Monday. We have the following varieties this year:... Delicata (pictured) - this looks like a beautiful acorn squash but is actually a delicata. Its flesh is light and fine and it's an excellent choice for roasting Kabocha (dark green) - bright orange, drier flesh with rich flavour. Fantastic mashed or fries as tempura. Can also be roasted Black Futsu (our favourite!) - this one wont be ready for a few weeks but you will know it when you see it as it looks like a beautiful little pumpkin. It is a Japanese heirloom kabocha with a deep and nutty flavour. Same uses as the more common kabocha Butternut - soft flesh and great for soups or adding to chili. Also, a good choice for adding to baking in place of pumpkin. All of the pumpkins we will be selling this year are dual purpose heirlooms, meaning that they look beautiful but are also great eating pumpkins. We do have "winter luxery" pumpkins which are the heirloom variety of the ever popular sugar pie pumpkin, they just look a little fancier. Is it too early for pumpkin pie???

"And all at once summer collapsed into fall" - Oscar Wilde It is hard to believe September is here already, though I haven't felt like we have had much of a summer weather wise, I must say I just love this time of year when the days are still warm but the mornings and evenings are crisp. The garden is full of rich colours and the harvest is ever so bountiful. I try to take the final week of summer off each year for some family time and also to reflect. It's the perfect time t...o stop ans breathe before the next wave of busy comes. It's also a great time to start planning for the next season while this season is still fresh. This is our 4th year growing as Little Blue Barn and our 7th season growing produce on this property. Our learning has been exponential and it has been fun trying all kinds of things and looking for our niche. As we look to next season, we are really looking at refining some of our crops as to maximize productivity in a small space and efficiency. But for now I will continue to enjoy the beautiful colours and bounty of the season and time with my family and then get busy again next week!

I have to say I was completely surprised when Chelsea from Fern and Frond Floral Studio asked me about flowers last week for an upcoming elopement. She came out and took a walk through the flower patch and we had fun talking about our favourite varieties of flowers and bouquet ingredients. She took some cafe au lait dhalias along with a few other goodies and she incorporated them into this stunning bouquet and arrangements! I have to say it was really rewarding to see my flow...ers in these works of art and I very much appreciate Chelsea's enthusiasm for locally grown ingredients - I definitely look forward to collaborating with her more in the future! If you aren't familiar with Chelsea's work and studio, check out her website https://www.fernandfrond.com/ and social media sites. Trust me, all of her work is this gorgeous! Also, for those who have been telling me they are going to miss their subscription flowers over the winter, Chelsea has a great "Flower Friday Club" that you could look at signing up for this winter. (: Fern and Frond Floral Studio) See more

FARM STAND CLOSED THIS WEEK Well when I wasnt doing flowers this weekend I was in the kitchen canning and freezing the garden bounty so that we will have a tasty winter! We are taking this week off for some family time, more food preserving, hopefully catching some fish and working on a few projects. Oh, and doing the final honey harvest of the season! The farm stand will be reopening after the long weekend on MONDAYS 4-7pm. Sorry for the switch in day, as my work schedule ch...anges for fall I have to change the farm stand day, but maybe Monday's will work better for some. We will stay open until we are out of produce for the year. Again, thank-you to all those who have been supporting the farm stand this summer. Enjoy this last week of summer everyone!

And that is a wrap on the flower subscription! The final bouquets head out tomorrow and they are definitely some of the most beautiful ones ood the season, it was hard not to take a picture of them all! Thank-you so much to everyone who signed up for the subscription - with anything new there always some links to work out and this year there were some added ones with Covid and the odd growing season but I hope everyone has enjoyed their flowers! Special thanks to my mom for a...llowing me to prune her perennials and growing some annuals for me and helping me make bouquets all season long! I do have 3 EXTRA BOUQUETS AVAILABLE for $15ea if anyone would like one.

Super proud of this little monkey. For the past few years he has wanted to grow grain. So this spring I got him some wheat seeds to grow as a test batch and I will use the wheat in floral work. He grew it and harvested it this morning and is threshing some of it for seeds to plant next year. Its beautiful and I am excited to use it in wreaths this year but I am more happy he saw his goal to fruition. I guess it's those Ukrainian grain farming genes coming through! Next on his list to try is hullless oats for eating!

Here is a peek at what is in the farm stand today! We are open 4-7pm

FARM STAND OPEN WEDNESDAY 4-7PM The fridge will be full tomorrow with the regular staples and we will be adding a few new things to the mix! Almost everything in the fridge is $3ea or 2/$5. Garlic will be out for sale by the pound ($12/lb) and lots of honey! I will also have Mason jars filled with dhalias, sunflowers and zinnias for $10ea. - salad greens... - microgreens - carrots - beets - potatoes - cucumbers - cherry tomatoes - slicing tomatoes - sweet peppers - squash - watermelon and honeydew - beans - pumpkins See you tomorrow!

It has been a tough year for the heat loving field crops. They are slowly coming but they are behind and not nearly as prolific as what we are used too. We harvested a few pumpkins and squash today - the first pumpkin harvest is always an exciting day in our house. All except one variety of pumpkin this year are heirloom varieties that are fantastic for cooking with but also make wonderful decorations. Normally at this time we have a lot of pumpkins and squash ready to come ...in, they are just beginning to be ready this year and as I said in my post a week ago I am not sure that I am ready for fall just yet but it is definitely on it's way as it was really in the air again today. Regardless, I cant ever resist a beautiful pumpkin! We will have some squash and pumpkins available in the farm stand over the next month. We also ate out first honeydew and watermelon this week so those should show up in the farm stand soon as well. Have a great weekend everyone! See more

Thank-you to everyone who stopped by today! See you next Wed 4-7pm

Sale 4-7 today! Here is a quick peek in the farm stand. We harvested our first watermelon of the year today so hopefully next week we will be adding some melons and squash to the mix!

SALE WEDNESDAY 4-7PM Fridge will be stocked up with fresh veggies. We will also have garlic by the pound ($12/lb), honey ($10/700g or $14/1kg), fresh bouquets ($15ea or 2/$20) and freshly roasted coffee samples $5ea.... As usual, self serve - cash in the jar or pay by etransfer. Thank-you everyone for maintaining distance and using the hand sanitizer before opening the fridge.

It was the garden sushi style tonight! Green bean and zucchini tempura and sushi rolls that used cucumbers, carrots, radishes and peppers. Yum, yum, yum!

EVERLASTING BRIDAL BOUQUETS I did 2 very special bouquets that will be for sale this week but I think they could also be a great concept for late summer bridal bouquets. The first bouquet might be my most favourite bouquet EVER! All of the elements except for the 2 dhalias will dry beautifully and last forever but on the wedding day you would also have that big pop of colour. In the second bouquet, ALL of the elements dry gorgeously so you could keep your entire bouquet as a ...memory of that day forever. Let me know whatcha guys think and 2 lucky people might just get their hands on these this week! Ingredients in the bouquets: - hydrangea - statice - German statice - straw flowers - pin cushions - queen lime zinnias - amaranth - eucalyptus - hops - dhalias (not everlasting)

Bouquets are headed out to flower subscribers tomorrow and I will also have quite a few bouquets for sale at the farm stand on Wednesday 4-7pm. I am a sucker for sunflowers but I have to say I really love the pink and peach tones this week too. Lots of sunflowers too though!

Last night my son said to me "I think I felt a tinge of fall in the air this morning mom". I had to agree, I have felt it the last few days too. Usually I am excited when I start to feel a bit of fall in the air, but after only a 2 week heat wave and the odd year it has been, I am not ready to let summer days go just yet...but it does look like we have a scorcher of a weekend on the way. The August garden is definitely the garden you are dreaming of when you are planning and ...planting - it is overgrown and bursting with colour and some plots are growing their third or fourth crop now. It's certainly been an interesting year and the field crops are way behind where they would normally be but there is still an abundance and hopefully lots still to come. We will be open the next 2 Wednesdays at the normal time of 4-7 and then our hours will change as we head into September so I will update about that soon. Have a great weekend everyone! See more

***Reminder no sale this Wednesday*** Honey! We did a huge extraction of honey this weekend and still have more to go. So we are well stocked for sales through the rest of the summer and fall and will now be offering 1kg jars as well. We get lots of questions about our honey and what the bees forage on and the answer is it is pretty diverse and that is why we call our honey "wildflower honey". We have the vegetable gardens as well as fruit trees, berries and many ornamentals ...on our property. Then we back onto grasslands which are host to many wildflowers over the season as well as lots of wild clover and alfalfa. There are also alfalfa hay fields close to us. In the below pictures I have a jar of honey from the first harvest 3 weeks ago (amber coloured honey) and a jar from this weekend (very light) and you can see they are very different colours! They also have slightly different flavors. This is almost entirely due to what the bees are feeding on. Interestingly our early harvest is usually the lightest and then it darkens later in the summer. My guess for the lighter honey now is the weather. The cooler damp weather we have had most of the season has everything behind and has also kept the grasslands so green - normally they are dred out by mid July. The clover and alfalfa exploding into bloom in late July was like nothing I have seen in the 7 years of living at this property. So while the bees usually forage on a lot of clover and alfalfa early in the summer, by mid summer they are usually switching to more domestic plants but this year they have had tons just outside the fence to keep them busy! Clover and alfalfa usually produce very light coloured honey, but very sweet. So, if you had a jar of the first harvest, grab a jar of this harvest and you can compare colour and flavour and see which you like best!!

SALE CANCELED WED AUG 12 Hey everyone, do to a change in my work schedule for next week I am going to have to cancel next week's sale. Sorry for the inconvenience. But we will be back for regular sales on Aug 19th and Aug 26th.... Thanks again for supporting local and we will see you on Wednesday August 19th and may have some new items to add to the list!

SALE DAY WEDNESDAY 4-7PM There is a pretty good variety of produce in the fridge today, almost everything is $3ea or 2/$5. This heat has the flowers blooming like crazy so I have buckets of bouquets for sale this afternoon and they will be on special - $15ea or 2/$20.... There will also be garlic and honey available. Cash in the jar or etransfer to [email protected]. Thanks!

MARKET DAY WEDNESDAY 4-7PM Hope everyone had a good and safe long weekend. We love to get in our kayaks and do some fishing in the hot weather so we had some fun this weekend exploring some new lakes and my littlest caught her first fish which she was so excited about. There is quite an array of produce ready right now so we ate well all weekend and enjoyed some smoked trout too! This week we will have all the usuals except microgreens (ahhh sorry ) but they will be back ne...xt week! There will be many more tomatoes and peppers than last week and some green beans to add to the mix. There will also be a few bouquets available. The plan is for sale days on Aug 5th, 12th, 19th. The 25th may be a sale day too but we may also take that week off so I will keep you posted!

The cooler is absolutely brimmed with blooms! Bouquet Subscriptions headed out tomorrow afternoon. I lost count of how many bouquets Mom and I made today but I do have extras, so those will be for sale at Wednesday's Farm Stand if you are looking to brighten up the middle of your week!

Thank-you to everyone who has been coming out on Wednesday's to the Farm Stand. We are planning to continue sales for August on Wednesdays 4-7pm as well. We will continue to have all of our staples but August is the bounty month so some more things you can look forward to seeing in the fridge are: - beans - tomatoes - peppers - honeydew melons... - watermelons - fingerling potatoes - squash - brussels sprouts Hope everyone enjoys their long weekend and stays safe! See more

Go grab some great food!