We have one of the nicest smelling cars on Gabriola Island, despite the sweaty and stinky feet of three active children and two dogs! On wedding weekends we load up the back with our buckets, baskets and carefully packed bouquets and set off for Dragon’s Lodge, The Surf Pub or the Haven to bring a little bit of the Weed Patch’s fragrant bounty to someone’s special day. We are honoured to be a part of this islands’ growing community of small family farms. Our fourth season of cut flowers has been terrific and we have amazing clients! Our 250 nut trees are thriving under the meticulous care of our in-house arborist, stay tuned for nut orchard updates. The Styrian pumpkins are flourishing in this season’s warmth. THANK YOU for your support and encouragement during these last four years as we continue to grow our farm and our futures.
Just a gentle reminder that if you are giving flowers this week to the special mom(s) in your life, consider choosing SEASONAL, FRESH and LOCAL blooms. For those of you close to our patch, we’ll have a limited number of bee-friendly bouquets ready for pick up in time for Mother’s Day. Email weedpatch@telus.net to place your order for a natural and beautiful alternative for her table!
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To follow our more regular goings-on be sure to visit facebook page! We’re posting wedding flower photos, updates on our nut tree orchard and sample ingredients from our weekly bee-friendly bouquets April – October. Spring is upon us and here we grow again!
Our 18 week CSA delivery season is halfway done and the wedding season is just starting to heat up! The cut flower rows have never been this full, or varied.The warm, sunny weather is perfect for growing everything on our wish list this year, now if only it would rain once in a while! We wish all our clients a prosperous summer season filled with sustainably grown blooms. We are not being diligent with updating our website until the field growing season ends or the rains return – whichever comes first!!
We’re busy this month disinfecting the greenhouse for our third annual cut flower CSA (community supported agriculture) and farmer-florist wedding season! Our little farm team is re-energized from a restorative winter break and ready to deliver our best ever ‘bee-friendly’ bouquets across Gabriola from May – September!
If you’re considering joining us this year, please email to request a CSA order form to find a subscription option that is right for you. Or consider a subscription as a beautiful and unique gift for someone who would appreciate local, sustainably grown blooms! Although we don’t have much in the way of flowers on the farm right now – we’ll provide you with a digital gift card to share with your loved one who will receive their floral bounty later this spring and summer.
We hope to grow for you and see you at our members only ‘Wine and Sneeze Farm Tour’ later in the growing season!
We do enjoy the first good frost of the season…this week we had our share! Lots of indoor time cracking nuts and fall garden cleaning. Who on earth has time for spring cleaning in the spring?!? This is the sacred time of year when we tidy up the cut flower rows, vegetable beds, flower studio, workshop, house and barn. The windows are clean and clear to let every drop of precious winter sunshine into our home. The seed catalogues are stacked next to the chair by the woodstove, where we intend to spend a lot more time these next few weeks. Happy frostmas to all.
We just finished our last wedding for the cut flower season…no sooner was the order completed and we headed out in the trusty ‘Tree Swallow’ for a leisurely sail and quiet dinner at a secluded island beach. It was time to celebrate our joint efforts as a family towards another bountiful wedding flower season. We had the pleasure of growing and arranging for another season’s worth of amazing families who chose Gabriola grown, sustainable cut flowers. THANK YOU!!
Our cut flower CSA is two weeks away from wrap up so the energy on the farm is definitely quieter, more relaxed and reflective. The song birds appreciate all the dead heading I didn’t get around too and are fattening up on flower seeds. We’re taking stock of what we’d like to do differently and better next year. And most importantly we’re finally stopping to smell the late summer flowers!
Thick ropes of amaranth in hot pink.
…my arborist-partner-in-crime who is meticulously tending 250 nut trees while I get completely caught up in sweet peas, peonies and weeds this week. We have the BEST games of ‘path tag’ in the evenings that result in high pitched screams of delight as the kids try to stay out of the tall grass. Pre-summer bliss despite the never ending work!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the adoptive and foster mums in our world and a special thanks to our mums for all you do…
