HOW WE FARM

At Feather & Fir Farm, we grow vegetables, herbs, and soft fruit using organic practices that are both sustainable and regenerative for the soil. Everything that comes from our market garden is spray-free and harvested by hand, and we're proud to share how we do it. Here’s a look at how food makes it from our field to your table: 

When we first began converting our pasture into garden plots and beds, we started with organic compost and soon moved to cow and hen manure. Our back hay field is worked by a neighbouring rancher who feeds it to his cattle, and in return, he delivers the manure that fertilizes our beds. We spread it with a small tractor and manure spreader in late fall and early spring. It's a wonderful example of a circular economy at work.

Throughout the growing season, we rely on hand tools like shovels, hoes, and push seeders to prepare beds, seed, weed, and harvest. Tarps, insect netting, row covers, and ground covers help us manage weeds and pests, while a full irrigation system keeps everything watered through the hot, dry spells. We do use a BCS walk-behind tractor to lightly till and hill up when needed, but we work hard to protect the soil ecology as much as possible.

The seeds we sow at our farm come from suppliers offering an incredible variety of organic cultivars, and season by season we've been learning which vegetables and herbs thrive in our particular microclimate and soil. Seeding starts in pots and trays as early as February and continues through October, keeping us on a steady rhythm of succession planting.

Our cold frame greenhouses and caterpillar tunnel extend the growing season in both directions. That means we can produce lettuce, radishes, and salad turnips in early spring and late fall, before and after these shelters are filled with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and cucumbers.

It takes a lot of hands to make all of this work. At any given time, two to five of us are out working the fields or inside washing and packing. We're incredibly fortunate to have a dedicated team of hardworking people who genuinely care about the quality of the food we grow, the environment we share, and our connections to the local community. Regenerative agriculture is by no means the easiest path, but we wouldn't do it any other way. There's always more to learn, and our team plays a vital role in problem solving and iterating along the way.

Finally (and most importantly) we have the privilege of sharing the food we grow with you. None of this would mean a thing without the belief and the dedication of the customers who support local, sustainable agriculture and understand the value of knowing where your food comes from. So thank you for being part of this real food revolution.