Important Links for all things related to what we do on our farm.
Our Retailers
Can't make it to the farm? Don't worry! Our produce can be purchased at these great local retailers:
The Cow-Op A farmers market meets the internet for convenient year-round shopping at the Cow-op. They are a non-profit farmer and food processor co-operative with an online marketplace of locally grown and harvested food, featuring a variety of produce, meats, eggs, fruit, baking and more all grown or produced throughout the Cowichan Region.
Sweet Meadows Market specialize in selling local fruits and vegetables. Their goal is to provide customers with premium produce grown close to home.
Community Farm Store Planet friendly shopping with heart! Providing real food for real people.
Tofino Ucluelet Culinary Guild The Tofino Ucluelet Culinary Guild is a non-profit organization that connects Vancouver Island farmers, fishermen, foragers and food producers to families, restaurants, groceries and businesses on the west coast. They strive to make local food more accessible and affordable while providing a reliable market for small and passionate farms.
Local Farming Resources
The Cowichan Green community, including a great search engine to map out the kind of food you want by type, characteristic and location.
Island Farm Fresh has a great resource for all of Vancouver Island, also to search by food type or a characteristic
BC Farms and Food provincial site like above.
Pickyourown.org - a site which shows you where to find and pick local food
Canning resources - Find info on how to preserve your picks
Great Fruit Tree Resources
Pick great varieties suited for organic production, or learn about grafting.
Permaculture Links
The Permaculture Orchard - he has done some amazing things and has some of the healthiest trees I've every seen. He even has a movie and videos on Youtube. Check it out:
Permies. This website is a great learning resource for permaculture.
The Permaculture Research Institute.
Organic Farming
Although we are no longer Certified Organic, we thought we would offer these links to those interested in the process
Orange Pippin has a great fruit tree selector, helping you narrow down by uses, climate, and even disease resistance.
Fruit trees and more - Bob and Verna Duncan have a great supply of hard to find fruit trees
Dinter Nursery - A large supply of fruit and other trees here in the Cowichan
Raintree Nursery in Washington has a great list of varieties suited for the Pacific Northwest
The University of Vermont has a great page with organic growing info for trees, berries, fruit, and even on how to pasture chickens!
Saltspring Apple Company - great variety of organic apple trees and their website provides a comprehensive list of those varieties.
Pasturing Chickens and Ducks
IOPA - Island Organic Producers Association
The certifying body that Fruit Forest is certified through.
Find out about our standards and guidelines here, and how to become certified here.
Certified Organic Associations of BC
They have great resources and tool kits for organic farmers, plus links to help find who has what where.
Safe alternatives to glyphosate:
Here is a link to some organic farming solutions.
American Pastured Poultry Producers - Info on Pasturing chickens
Rodale Institute. - Good beginners guide.
Backyard Chickens - great resource about raising chickens in general, chicken tractor designs, with the largest forum for raising chickens out there.
Video monitoring of poultry - Thanks Learning Haven group for sharing this one.
Wire Fence - Chicken breeds A-Z with info on primary usage, egg size and colour