Under the Oak Farm

Best Mothers Day gift ever! The family pitched in to finish planting potatoes! We finished early and now get to enjoy this weather!

35 acre farm, protected pasture area with coops to choose from, her fav is the fuel storage. Crazy Chicken!

The babies of the moment are 1 week and enjoying their first outdoor day. Strawberries and apple trees suggest we will have a good harvest and I only have two beds to complete before our orchard area is complete!

Maple syrup almost ready to can!

Its that time of year again! We are staying local for Christmas this year so we can better understand our full production capacity. Wish us luck! I am including an interesting article about our local growing industry, but after reading this I also have to announce a rise in price. I will now be charging $20/250ml as that is the local price and I dont want to undercut the market. Please either post here or PM me if you are interested this year and how many jars you would like. I will also be sending out an email soon https://www.theglobeandmail.com//bc-bigle/article1371859/

Its that time of year again. Heres an interesting article to read on our local and growing maple industry. Please take this opportunity to let me know if and how much you are interested in this year. Typically I make 250ml jars, though I occasionally do 125ml jars as well. Because all the other farmers are charging $20 for 250 ml, my prices are going to have to come up this year. No undercutting the market and other farmers here. Pictures to follow soon! https://www.theglobeandmail.com//bc-bigle/article1371859/

I just sent in the yearly farm status application, hoping this is the last one! We got loads done this year and still have tons to do before I get down to the grind of making maple syrup for potentially 4 months this year.

One of two experimental crops for next year. https://www.google.ca//artic/japanese-knotweed-recipes/amp

Trying to finish our new massive composter this week! Man is it hot, how does one work quickly in this heat?! We are also being overrun with berries! It is a good problem to have. As such, Wednesdays are my food delivery day and so if you want strawberries and trailing blackberries, I am selling 300g for $6.

Summer is here! And so are the berries

Its Spring!!! Now that we are sold out of maple syrup and almost sold out of potatoes, I am madly clearing trails and fight for access to all my stinging nettle. Officially supplying our local organic grocery store! One of my goals reached, took 3 years on the farm but its progress. Now to finish renovating the orchard beds....

Entered my first competition this month and learned about all the interesting flavours maple syrup can have. Who knew! My average score was 42/50 and while I didnt place, I think I did pretty good for a first try. Now to see what nature throws me next year...

I am hoping to put all our maple syrup customers together in one email group to make it easier to give them first dibs every year. I had some PMs from people but because of changes to the messenger, I cannot find them. So if you want to be on our email list to purchase maple syrup this year or to be given a chance to pre-order next year, please Email me at [email protected]. Maximum 3 emails per year. Thanks so much for the support! Maple contest results to be following shortly! H

Its that time again! If you want maple syrup, please PM me. I am starting a preorder list and it looks like we will have more this year. Please keep orders to two jars for now so that more people get to try it. Selling 250ml for $15, 125ml for $10. Not your average syrup; think dark with maple and caramel flavours. Due to the new equipment my jars are far superior to last years, no more sugar sand on the bottom. So proud we are joining competitions this year.

First Maple Syrup boil of the year! Couldnt sleep last night I was so excited! Also cured the new fire bricks in the new improved evaporator. Today we finish more of the setup so when the last of my parts start showing next week I get to put this big beauty her inaugural boil on the farm

Kudos to our school and the volunteers that pulled off a turkey dinner despite the storm that knocked out power to the whole valley! After cleanup, I even managed to mortar and skim coat the evaporator. The farm is a little worse for wear after the storm though! What a wild ride yesterday was... hoping for fair weather till I can put things back to rights.

Started the process in August, the evaporator arrived about 7 days before I have to leave for the holidays. Officially dry fit all the brick, returned the saw, delivered eggs, picked up additional collecting buckets and still have a dentist appointment for one of the kids and a Christmas concert tonight. Hoping to mortar it all in so it can cure while I take a long winters nap...

Needed a reflective day today, so went for a walk with an old friend in my heart, taking pictures of this farm she loved so much

Now thats a bad hair day! Poor girl!

Since its now legal to smoke pot, can I buy my 100% Canadian, raw and organic milk please?! That it the answer to American milk products. Lobby for it! Copied this from Sacred Heart Farm... Now that the Trump administration has managed to strong arm another 3% of their dairy products into our Canadian food system, theres a few really important things you need to know for the sake of your health and your familys. Please read and get informed. You might just want to consid...Continue reading

Just in time for Thanksgiving feasts... Potatoes 1kg for $4 or $5 depending if it includes our purple potatoes (they stay purple after cooking) Herb bundles $4... Chicken Eggs $6 per dozen Stone-fruit Chutney (amazing as a cranberry addition or alternative) $5 for 125 ml PM me if you want a delivery to QofA parking lot this afternoon

The ingredients for tonights dinner. Only the lentils werent grown or harvested by us or a family member! And the best news ever is that our field is officially finished and seeded! This means we are 4 years from planting our truffiere!

Things are looking up! There are rain clouds forming, I got an Email back about a Maple Evaporator, we are moving mulch today, our younger birds are starting to lay and M&As potato harvest is crazy!

This awesome article talks about the benefits of pasture raised animals, something we need to replace our industrialized meat with. As always do what you can but the longer it takes all of us to make our changes, the more drastic our changes will have to be. https://www.theguardian.com//veganism-intensively-farmed-m

Blackberries! Eggs! And more babies, oh my!

Ellys first day open! Lavender sachets and Queen Annes Lace bunches. Going berry picking later...

Go follow my farm on Instagram! @under_the_oak_farm

Welcomed some new farm inhabitants this weekend. My first time using the incubator and it was a little like Easter each morning as we rushed down to see how many more eggs had hatched. Man are these guys cute once they dry off.

Productive day! A little like Christmas when I finally have a truely mobile coop! I also got the girls (rabbits) out on our micro pasture so I wont have to mow it.

http://bctrufflefest.ca Shhh.... The events are starting to creep over the Canadian border.

Another year of the Oregon Truffle Festival is done! A very exciting year for us, attending with land and our orchard in the works! I arrived early this year, allowing time to sightsee and I took a break from some of the programming to go look at a potential truffle farm. This a stellar year!

Farm Update! Making maple syrup as fast as the sap is coming in. I am hoping to start canning tomorrow. I need someone crafty to come help with label ideas, this is not my forte. All my micro saving every month has finally paid off! We have a new to us ATV, with a barrow trailer coming next week! Cannot wait to stop hauling the sap by hand! I made the ramp today in between laundry and sap, pretty pleased with it and using up a bit more of our big pile o scrap. I have some extra hands this month, and I am super thrilled with what I can achieve in a day when I am not constantly trying to keep up with things in the kitchen. The weather is beautiful and the month is only going to get better, flowers are coming, and I still have the Truffle Festival to attend!

https://oregontrufflefestival.org

One of the many reasons I love the valley!http://montecristomagazine.com/food-and-drink/deerholme-farm

The To Do list never seems to lessen and then I see a post like this. I now have visions of my own olives, tea, kiwis produced just steps from my door. It gives me energy to tackle the lists and also makes me wish I had more cash!https://www.facebook.com/groups/midvanislepermaculture/permalink/1650757368327809/