Jump on the ferry and check out two sweet Pender Island farms!
Join Katie Selbee and Matthew Vasilev for a farm tour of Twin Island Cider – a farm-based cidery and orchard in its first year. We’ll walk the heritage orchard, the new cider variety orchard, and chat apples, craft cider, grafting, and all of the triumphs and frustrations of a start-up farm business based on a value-added product. BYO lunch picnic & social will happen in the orchard after the tour!
After touring Twin Island & enjoying a picnic BYO lunch, we’ll head over to visit Ben Kadel & Roland Maurice at Valley Home Farm.
Where to meet: 5601 Lupin Road, Pender Island (for info on rideshares & ferry pickups, read below)
When: October 8, 2016 – starting at 11:00AM – 4:00PM
Bring: Weather-appropriate clothing, a blanket for sitting on, and a lunch for picnic time
About Twin Island Orchard & Cidery
We’re a farm-based cidery in our first year. Matthew has a background in cider-making and organic farming, and Katie has a background in orcharding and mixed-vegetable farming.
We have heritage apple trees and a lot to say about how to properly use our sweet island apple varieties in cider-making. We also have a nursery of 1200 trees we grafted in the spring, and have a lot to say about grafting, too!
About Valley Home Farm
Valley Home Farm is one of the oldest and biggest farms on Pender Island, and one with an impressive history of agricultural innovation. The first farmers, the Menzies, were known nationally for their Jersey cows and their forward looking farm management. We are building on that tradition to create a living demonstration of regenerative farming techniques working together to create a self-supporting agricultural ecosystem. We are hoping to create a “footprint farm” that provides a complete, balanced, high-quality diet working within “our share” of the global hectares available per person. We are just at the beginning of the project, but have already incorporated companion planting, huglekultur, chicken tractors, and plan to add rotational grazing of mixed cows and sheep to our management practices. Eventually, we hope to completely feed 75 people off of the farm in a way that actually increases the health of our soil, forests, and people.
Find out More about the Farms
TWIN ISLAND FARM & CIDERY
On our YA Blog: Green as the Cambium of an Apple Tree: Getting Started at Twin Island Cider
Instagram: @twinislandcider
VALLEY HOME FARM
Facebook: www.facebook.com/valleyhomefarms
Getting there
From Victoria: Take the 10:05AM from Swartz Bay non-stop to Otter Bay, Pender Island | Click here for BC Ferries schedules from Victoria
Interested in carpooling? Check out our Facebook event page to organize ridesharing!
If you’re walking on to the ferry, email Moss at westcoast@youngagrarians.org and we will arrange to pick you up at 10:45AM at Otter Bay, Pender Island.
Ferries back to Victoria after the event include: 5:40PM, 7:25PM & 8:00PM
