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Laughing Apple farm grows a wide range of produce
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Apple Juice
Available: All year longWe press our apples (and some pears) into juice that is 100% pure. We grow a mixture of heritage apples (Gravenstein, Grimes Golden, Golden Russet, Baldwin, Wealthy, McIntosh, Cox Orange Pippin) and some new varieties too (Jonagold, Gala, Fuji). We press a mixture of apples so each pressing is different, depending on what is ripe. In 2006 we installed an ultra-violet pasteurizer in our pressing operation. This unit allows the juice to flow past a source of ultra violet light so that any pathogens are destroyed without altering the juice (it is not heated). (Here is a link for more information about the UV Pasteurizer)
Although we now UV pasteurize our juice, we still follow the approved Code of Practice for un-pasteurized juice set out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. We are periodically inspected by the CFIA. The water that we use in pressing comes from a 400 ft. drilled well on our property and we have it tested every year before pressing season. We have a commercial stainless steel belt press and we sort and wash our apples before they are mashed and pressed. We have one filter stage after the juice is pressed, but we do not filter the finer pulp. We bottle the juice and then freeze it immediately. The caps of our bottles indicate the time during the season the apples were pressed because the flavour varies. We find that the juice will keep for at least 2 weeks refrigerated.
We sell our juice at our farm stand.
A note on the apple varieties in our juice
We label the caps of our juice bottles with the time in the season that the juice was pressed. Depending on when it was pressed the juice contains different apple varieties. Mid season has the most varieties of apples in it and is always very complex. But the juice also gets sweeter as the temperature gets colder so the late season apples tend to be quite sweet. The early season juice is always very fresh tasting, like Gravenstein apples, since these dominate the juice.
Early Season varieties:GravensteinMacintosh Sunrise |
Mid Season Varieties:JonagoldCox Orange Pippin King Northern Spy Prairie Spy Grimes Golden Fuji Honey Crisp Golden Delicious Winterstein Blenheim Orange Elstar |
Late Season varieties:Ben DavisGolden Russet Baldwin |
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Fruits and Berries
We grow Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Grape Kiwis, Cherries (Rainier and Lapin), Japanese plums, and Pears. See our detailed monthly list of produce. From June through September and sometimes into October we harvest our fruit as it comes ripe. We sell all the fruit at our farm stand.
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Veggies
Salad mix, arugula, onions, garlic, herbs, potatoes are usually available all year round. We grow seasonal vegetables from April through December for our farmstand and our membership program. Beginning in July we usually have garlic through the season - it is one of our big crops. For more information see our detailed monthly list of produce.
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Eggs
We raise a small flock of chickens for eggs. They are organically fed, free range and have a large pasture to exercise and explore in. Our chickens are heritage breeds, so their eggs are a spectrum from light brown to dark brown. We keep our chickens healthy and happy because we love them! Their eggs available at our farm stand only.
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Veggie Starts
We grow all our vegetables from seed on our farm and we have extra plants available for sale in the spring. If you know in the winter what you are looking for on the spring, please let us know and we will do our best to accomodate.Typically available plants:
- Heritage Tomatoes
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Sweet & Hot Peppers
- Eggplant
- Broccoli
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Honey
We have been keeping bees for over 10 years. We try to follow best organic practices when possible, but at the minimum we use no medicines or miticides when honey supers are on the hive. We grow a large diversity of plants that provide a mixture of pollens and gives our honey a rich and distinct combination of flavours. We usually keep from three to five hives and sell the honey we can't use. A healthy hive should get around 100 pounds of honey, but we have not seen these quantities yet. Beekeeping is more difficult now with increased mite and weather stresses. We continue to learn and develop better practices by comparing our experiences with other people on the island.We normally take honey off in August. We sell the honey in 500g glass jars at our farm stand.
Our bees help to pollinate our apple trees
We also have a large perennial garden so our honey is rich in different pollens
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Hay
We take orders for our hay starting in January. We usually cut, bale, and deliver our hay in early July. We try to sell all of our hay directly after baling. Call if you need small quantities, we may still have some left. We do not use herbicides on the fields. The hay is good for horses, goats, and sheep. Bales are 50-70 pounds.
Juice - Fruit - Veg - Eggs - Veggie Starts - Honey - Hay - Wood
Firewood
Seasoned firewood (mostly alder and fir) is available in one cord loads throughout the year. We cut and split our firewood from trees that have been down and in logs for over a year. Call for availability and delivery.
Firewood
Home |
About Us |
Produce |
Membership Program |
Work Experience |
Farmstand |
Nursery |
Custom Pressing |
Contact |