Another stop on my Circle Farm Tour last week in the Harrison/Agassiz region was Limbert Mountain Farm, – a heritage farm that offers up fresh organic herbs, teas, garden vegetables, and a tea room / demonstration kitchen for their Simply Fine Foods collection.
We met up with owners, Trudie & Claude Bouchard in their kitchen for tea, fresh baked artisan bread with garlic and tarragon butter, and Claude’s special (seasonal) tulip herb mousse, topped with a chocolate mint leaf. Yes, there is such a thing as a chocolate mint plant.
Walking around outside and enjoying the lovely view, we learned more about upcoming events the Limbert and that it’s perfectly okay (and encouraged) to touch, feel, and smell all of their fine herbs. In the greenhouse, Trudie encouraged us to “hug” the ultra soft peppermint geranium that was as smooth as a kitten (and smelled of peppermint), the lemon verbena was fresh and crisp-smelling, and the pineapple sage was just far out.
At Limbert they prepare everything from teas to pesto, humous, relish, and I walked away with some chili pepper lime dark chocolate from their on-site retail store.
They have many upcoming events (like the garlic festival) and you may notice that for “Brunch on the Farm” you can choose between Limbert or The Farm House Natural Cheeses (this is the whole community thing I was talking about in earlier posts). Limbert is also a stop on the Slow Food Cycle Tour, happening in August. Be sure to call ahead to book tickets for these events as they are bound to sell out quickly.
I had the opportunity to interview Premier Gordon Campbell a little while ago although unfortunately our schedules couldn’t match up to make it actually happen. As such, the Premier took some time to answer a few questions for my readers (some of the questions were sourced from my Twitter contacts as well). Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
On Friday, Tourism Vancouver (@MyVancouver on Twitter) arranged a scenic flight for a select group of bloggers which saw us soar high above the region in a WestCoast Air float plane.
Sean has a fine recap up already so I’ll simply post my photos and note that this was a really lovely experience, shared with Duane, Grace, and Erica as well.
Taking off and landing on the water was actually a pretty smooth ride. In the air it’s pretty noisy with the sound of the prop but that just leaves you to gaze down on Howe Sound, the Burrard Inlet, and the Greater Vancouver area in silence.
I’ve been following the progress of Stanley Park very closely since the great windstorm of 2006 knocked out thousands of tress, however I’ve never seen the damaged area from this perspective.
I was also handed a pamphlet by Errol, the Vancouver Base Manager at WestCoast Air, and was immediately upsold on their “Fly and Wine” tour. Aside from the special tours however, WestCoast Air operates schedules flights to Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.
Our flight was a quick one, just 30 minutes, but it was a real treat to say the least.
This week, May 4 – 8, 2009 is inner city kids week presented by CLICK (Contributing to the Lives of Inner City Kids).
CLICK is a dynamic fundraising conduit. When you make a donation, CLICK directs the funds to a wide range of programs that enhance the lives of inner city children… CLICK has directed donations to programs and services that include: meal programs, safe and enriching after school, programs, family literacy, sports for inner city teenagers, music and theatre programs, speech pathology, a golf skills program and more. In its short history, CLICK has already improved the lives of hundreds of Vancouver’s inner city children and teens.
For the next few days they will be hosting fundraisers for their causes, starting with an event at the Vancouver Art Gallery today.
The 5th annual “Pulling for Inner City Kids” tug of war is will kick off the week at 11:00am today where you’ll see the VPD and the CTV media team battle it out in front of the art gallery.
On Friday at 7:30pm, they will host the “Touch a Life” benefit concert with Five Alarm Funk along with top local student acts over at Van Tech Secondary [Google Map].
Tickets for this showcase are $25 and are available at Highlife Records (1317 Commercial Drive), Zulu Records (1972 West 4th Ave) or call us to reserve (604) 713-8273. Tickets will also be available at the door.
You can find out more on their website or follow @Click4Kids on Twitter for updates on events this week and the work they do throughout the year.
Continuing the Circle Farm Tour series from my adventures last week in the Harrison/Agassiz region, our next stop was The Farm House Natural Cheeses.
“The family farm is a great thing,” said owner Debra Boyes when we had our tasting. The farm hosts a retail shop so people can come and buy their cheese directly from Farm House and Debra says meeting the people who enjoy their product is key when it comes to being part of the community (and running a business).
The Farm House offers up hand-made cheeses made from goat and also cow milk and we were informed about procedures, milking, the differences in the cheeses, and were able to get some tasty samples.
I have to say that the Farm House Cheddar was definitely my favourite but the Alpine Gold isn’t too far behind in my books and I know John would love their Gouda.
We were also told that the Yew restaurant in downtown Vancouver’s Four Seasons Hotel make their macaroni and cheese with the Farm House Cheddar — something I would be very interested in trying now that I’ve seen where it all comes from… and had a taste from the source. Debra also told us that her La Pyramide was also recently served at the White House.
One of the best parts about The Farm House was not only to see how passionate and professional the owners are, but to also be able to walk around and see the animals themselves. Debra said her cows and goats are very “stress free” and given the lovely setting and the great facilities I can see why. We had the chance to meet some of the goats and they seemed very friendly.
You can stop by The Farm House [Google Map] to pick up your cheese from their store or for one of two tours: a cheesetasting with the cheesemaker, or for an interactive farm tour plus tasting.
Debra is also set to do an event with Books to Cooks next week but I believe it’s already sold out. You can however pick up her book 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes from your nearby book store.
You’ll also notice that when you do the Circle Farm Tour and stop by all of these unique places filled with talented and passionate community members that they’ll reference each other or each others products. The support system for the farms out in this area seems really strong and it just made my experience that much more enjoyable.
