This last week I was fortunate enough to join a great group of farmers and travel around Vancouver Island, farm hopping. We visited many farms and I got to see first hand some small, farms like ours and learn some cool techniques you'll soon be seeing here on our farm ... look for the Trellis Tower coming soon!
We also got to see first hand two of the largest greenhouses on the Island. One was as large as our entire property, another was a 4 acre greenhouse. One of them grew red, green and orange peppers - all vertically - for the island and the other grew lettuces, tomatoes and more. Just the sheer size was amazing. Can you say HUGE? Just dwell on that for a minute ... one greenhouse as large as our farm. Filled with just 3 colors of peppers. And it was not even large enough to feed even half of the islands demand for those peppers.
While we're not planning on covering our property with a big greenhouse, it was an important visit to see how these farms are raising our foods. Food security, handling and processing. Even I, a self proclaimed "farmer", was in total awe of the process thinking about how this all gets to the grocery stores or the markets. Wow.
OK, ok, yes we had some fun too! We got to see a few of the Vancouver Island Raptor's including ... a Turkey Vulture and yes, a Bald Eagle. So close I could almost reach out and touch him. Then again, looking at that powerful beak and amazing tallons, I thought twice.
All in all it was an amazing week...meeting new friends, learning and a little entertainment to boot.
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