The Jungle Farm

On September 13, 2013 I had the opportunity to go for a tour of "The Jungle Farm" near Innisfail Alberta. Owned and operated by Leona and Blaine staples "the jungle farm" is a successful and popular agro-tourism destination.

"The Jungle Farm" is part of the Innisfail Growers Co-Operative. a group of five families that work together in marketing their produce at local farmers markets. Another interesting thing to note about them is the fact that they are a CSA, Community Shared Agriculture. They have about 40 members as part of their CSA. What is a CSA member? A CSA member is someone who at the beginning of the growing season buys into a share of the produce grown. They pay their membership up front and then for 12 weeks they get a share of the produce grown and harvested on the farm. For an additional cost you are also able to receive a portion of fruit that has been imported from a BC grower. Being a CSA member is an exciting way to get involved in the production of food that you purchase for you family. When you go to collect your share of produce from "The Jungle Farm" make sure to bring your kids! There are many different play structures and activities to keep them entertained and spend time together as a family, including mazes, a 60' slide, a petting zoo, and even a pumpkin cannon!

On site the Staples have a store to purchase additional items along with your share, including pies and classes on pickling and canning. Here you can see some of the additional produce for sale that could even go along with fall decorating!

Just off the store is a deck where you could enjoy a coffee!

One of the things "The Jungle Farm" is known for is their tours. They tour roughly 1000 students every spring and fall to educate people on the agriculture industry. Here is a picture of the wagon that you ride on!

The Jungle Farm is mainly known for their delicious strawberries! You can purchase them picked already or you can come out to the farm and pick them yourself! Here is the patch!  

Thank you Leona and Blaine for having us out!!

BECK Farms

On September 11, 2013 I had the priveledge of going for a visit to Beck Farms with my Production Horticulture class from Olds College.

Beck Farms is part of the Innisfail Growers Co-Operative. Innisfail Growers is a group of five families of growers and entrepreneurs that group together to market and sell their goods.

Beck Farms is owned and operated by Shelly and Rod Bradshaw, with the help of their two sons and a few employees they seed and harvest about 50 acres of produce. They are mainly known for their Nantes carrots but also have cole crops, beets, parsnips, dill and hot peppers.

Their goods are sold at about 20 farmers markets in Alberta per week, from Red Deer south to Calgary.

Here is a picture of their Nantes Carrot field, it is approximately 32 acres in size. Your average carrot farmer would seed in the area of 600,000 seeds per acre. The Bradshaws prefer roughly 1,000,000 per acre.

 

Here you can see Rod harvesting the carrots with their Top Lifter harvester. A bar goes into the earth to loosen the soil and the harvester pulls the carrots from the top.

Here you can see the carrots being dumped into the water to be cleaned and processed. No chemicals are used in the process. Beck farms are know for how clean their packaged carrots come.

Here you can see Shelly explaining how the sorter works. This sorter seperates three different sizes of carrots, baby, pickling, and jumbo.

Here you can see the carrots bagged and ready for storage. 

Here are the carrots being stored and stacked high in the cooler. With their cooler system, carrots can be stored for up to ten months!

Among the many things the Bradshaws sell at the markets, one that they are known for is their pickled carrots. They recently finished canning 6000 jars!

Thank you Shelly and Rod for having us out to see your growing operation!!