Here - Small Scale Food Processor Association

An experience for the senses
After deciding to make their home their place of work, Trudie and
Claude Bouchard got busy. They harvested trees from the mountain
behind their property in Agassiz, B.C., and used them to build a barn,
a store and a parking lot.
The farm, built in 1902 by Claude’s great grandparents, was transformed
into a herb and specialty food farm called Limbert Mountain
Farm.
Besides their special little bistro built with a seating area, where
they cook for private parties while teaching people about the food and
herbs they grow, they have a store, two greenhouses, two cold farms
and acres of vegetables and herbs.
“Cooking is Claude’s thing and the gardening and herbs are my
thing. We like to say that we divide them up into blue jobs and pink
jobs,” laughs Bouchard, a trained herbalist.
Their daughter also helps out, raising their beef. The family prides
themselves on doing everything from scratch and being 100 per cent
independent. They also, just recently, have started a community
supportive agricultural program where they feed families each week.
People can come and prepay for their vegetables and other specialty
foods for the season.
“It’s a partnership,” says Bouchard. “The money they commit
to us helps us cover those early spring costs of production. And we
provide them with fresh vegetables, fruits, our special jars of pesto
and if they want to pay extra, we can add game hens, turkeys or even
bread to their box.”
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Bollwitt, Miss604.com.
It’s also very educational. The Bouchards let their customers know
all about what they are getting and how to use their herbs.
Although Limbert Mountain Farm is a local business, most of
their customers come from Vancouver, about an hour and a half
away. “It’s the city people that really appreciate real fresh food,” says
Bouchard.
“Sometimes it’s the first time in their life that people have tasted
food like this, whether it’s in the tea room, taking home fresh produce
or tasting our pesto. The comments we get are very profound. Feeding
people healthy, delicious and nutritious food is something we are
very proud of,” she says.
Contact:
www.limbertmountainfarm.com
From red carrots to purple cauliflower
At Pattison Farms in Black Creek, B.C., Gerry Pattison and his wife Dagmar strive to grow the best quality vegetables possible for the local
community. In 1998, Gerry left his career in the wholesale electrical industry to follow his passion for growing food. They began slowly, with
a very small property, and then purchased their first 10 acre property to start growing vegetables in earnest. It was a personal choice to grow
their crops organically without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and so they followed the lengthy process to become certified organic.
“It was definitely worth it becoming certified,” says Gerry. “With a third party inspection and certification, there’s no hearsay. People know
that what they’re buying is actually organic.”
Gerry and Dagmar began making a name for themselves by
taking their produce to the local farmer’s market. Customers appreciated
the quality and freshness of their vegetables, and local
chefs looking for a quality local supply of produce for their restaurant
were attracted to the new and different varieties that Gerry
loved to grow, such as coloured carrots (red, white, yellow, black
with orange centres, and ho-hum orange), purple cauliflower,
heritage tomatoes and more.
“We developed a niche market for our product. But you don’t
always see our specialty vegetables, like the coloured carrots, in
stores because then you get customers standing there wondering
why the carrots aren’t orange,” Gerry laughs.
But the carrots have become a hit and it wasn’t long before it was
time to move to a larger property. They have expanded to three greenhouses
for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and basil, and field production
with different varieties of beets, carrots, squash, garlic, and broccoli.
Pattison Farms is located in the heart of Black Creek on Vancouver
Island, half-way between Campbell River and the Comox
Valley on a 15.5 acre farm.
Contact: www.pattisonfarms.com
More on page 12
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