In the Creston Valley, fresh produce can be found with little difficulty. But it’s even easier to eat veggies when they’re delivered right to your door, courtesy of Cartwheel Farm.
More than 30 clients are taking advantage of the delivery service, which Laura Hannant and Nigel Francis started last month, offering weekly drop-offs in three sizes.
“A number of people are young families,” said Hannant. “It’s more convenient than making sure everyone gets packed up and off to the market every Saturday. This is a way for people to not worry about it week to week.”
Each delivery includes — depending, of course, on a variety of factors — a salad green, another green, onions or garlic, a root vegetable, tomatoes and one or two random selections.
“We try to have something different and new,” said Francis.
“Mostly every week, there’s something a little bit weird,” added Hannant.
The random selections have included, for example, kohlrabi, and have had clients reaching out to each other for recipes and preparation suggestions.
“I think it has people talking more about what they’re eating,” she said.
Even the expected items are a bit different. Francis and Hannant have chosen varieties for taste, not uniformity, and some are in unexpected shades and colours — such as their black tomatoes.
The couple — Hannant from Ottawa, Ont., and Francis from Meadow Lake, Sask. — moved to the East Shore in 2009 and to Creston in 2012. They worked at the College of the Rockies, and later partnered with the owners of a Canyon farm before making the big leap to start their own farm this year.
Neither had really been involved with farming or gardening before they moved to Creston, although Francis’s grandparents had a small farm — it skipped a generation, I guess,” he said — but both already found it was easier to eat produce when it was delivered.
“When we were in school, we used a home delivery program,” Hannant said. “It worked really well for us.”
She and Francis both work in the garden, he full-time and she part-time, which, at just under a half-acre, serves their clients and the Yasodhara Ashram. And their own table, as well.
“Sometimes, we only eat vegetables,” said Hannant.
“And I graze all day,” said Francis.
They’ve already discovered some of the ups and downs of farming, with this summer’s intense heat too much for the spinach and arugula, as well as, likely, the parsnips.
“You get one shot at doing it,” said Hannant.
“Farming can be really emotional,” said Francis. “That’s not something I expected. Sometimes there’s stress, sometimes joy and excitement, and disappointment — all kinds of things.”
But the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.
“It gives extra motivation when you know it’s going to someone that wants it,” Francis said.
“We know when we’re taking care of the food where it’s going,” added Hannant. “That’s kind of awesome. With most things, you’re going to have someone saying, ‘That’s my favourite.’ ”
Older men, for example, are enjoying fresh broccoli.
“They said it was the first time they’ve liked eating broccoli,” said Hannant. “They said it tasted sweet.”
Even after only several weeks into their first season, the couple already has a wait list for next year, and plan to keep making deliveries until the first week of November — something they can’t help but enjoy.
“To turn up with a delivery and have kids run at you like you’re Santa Claus is pretty awesome,” Hannant said.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/cartwheelfarm.
