Month: May 2018

Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-operative is a spectacular 50-acre farm in the low lands beside the Fraser River. Off in the distance there is the sound of boats working the river and small-aircraft pilots practicing their maneuvers well out of the flight path of the major airports. The rumble and rattle of trains is constant and often not-so-distant, the tracks running along the northern edge of the property. John Switzer farms about 40 acres of the co-operatively held land, working thick top soil laid down by the workings of the river over the thousands of years since the last ice age. Geographically, Glen Valley is a long way from Carbury, Manitoba where John grew up. But Carbury is farming country, […]

Beekeeping is an ancient art. The art of beekeeping goes back not just centuries, but millennia, into our pasts. Honey is prized not just by humankind but by bears, apes and dozens of other animal species on the planet. Just as agriculture is the cornerstone of all civilizations, beekeeping is the cornerstone of agriculture. It could even be argued that modern flowering plants evolved in the presence of, or at least parallel with, pollinating insects—bees. The structure of the honeycomb has appeared continually in art and engineering throughout the centuries. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution that honey was supplanted by “neat and tidy” white sugar and beeswax by “clean, modern and efficient” petroleum products—principally paraffin. The health benefits and […]

The decline of family farms in Canada is very real. However, as many farmers are demonstrating, it is not inevitable. Cowichan Bay Farms on Vancouver Island is an exciting example of a modern heritage farm, incorporating many new ideas about farming, marketing and sustainable agriculture. Lyle Young operates Cowichan Bay Farms, a fourth generation family farm, along with his wife Fiona and three children. As a child he visited the farm only sporadically but it made a strong impression on him. “We used to come and visit my grandparents here when I was a kid, two or three times a year. I loved this place. It was just magical for me” he recalls. “They had an enormous amount of respect […]