– Our Gardens –

[ bio-diversity + native varieties ]

WHAT DO WE GROW ON THE FARM?

ORCHARDS

At Oak Knoll Farm we have planted many different varieties of fruit trees and shrubs. We have planted the orchard with a focus on bio-diversity, which help to strengthen the various species. Companion planting is a practice we use in all of our gardens. For example, a nitrogen fixing tree like a sea buckthorn is planted beside an apple tree which needs the nitrogen that the sea buckthorn provides. We plant onions and aromatic herbs around other vegetable crops in order to repel insects that would eat the crops. The species of fruit trees in our orchard include apple, pear, cherries, plums and apricots. We are excited about the newer introductions of the hardy honeycrisp apples and look forward to that being one of our larger crops. We also have honeybees in the orchard, which benefit from the many varieties of blooming trees and shrubs. The symbiotic relationship is no more obvious than with bees and species dependent upon their pollination. The Berry orchard is anchored by the 800 haskap berry bushes. We are anticipating an average harvest of 7kg of berries per bush. We also grow saskatoons, black currants, yellow, black and red raspberries, blueberries, elderberries and strawberries.The majority of the space in the berry orchard is dedicated to haskap berries.

VEGETABLE GARDENS

Diversity continues in the vegetable gardens. We grow an extensive variety of vegetables and herbs. We practice the use of green manures, our pastured chickens and heritage pigs move throughout the gardens on a rotation that benefits both the animals and the gardens. We are constantly trying new varieties of vegetables.