JULY 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC of surf ‘n’ turf
proven. Currently, shrimp are sold to restaurants, small fish markets and on site.
Record year A few blocks away on 40
acres handed down through her husband’s family, Kendall Ballantine runs Central Park Farms with the help of her mother and other family members. She began farming five years ago to better understand the origins of her family’s food. Last year, she broke $250,000 in sales from her pasture-raised pork, grass-fed beef, free-range chickens and eggs and has been increasing sales by about 100% each year. She pre-sells her product and while some of it goes to restaurants, most (and all her beef) is sold direct to consumers. The property is also home to Ashlee Brillert of Inner Peas Market Garden, which operates a greenhouse on the site. The hogs are Yorkshires, which generally produce larger litters of up to 18 piglets.
Tim Heyes, facing page, cradles a handful of shrimp grown on dry land in Langley at Berezan Shrimp. Above, Central Park Farm’s Kendall Ballantine talks about the challenges of raising pigs and how moving her Angus herd to Rock Creek will improve the farm’s bottom line. [RONDA PAYNE PHOTOS]
“I need to produce as many piglets as I can,” Ballantine says. “Doing all of [the work of hog reproduction] to get two piglets isn’t enough.” Ballantine loses a few each
a year to squishing, but she does her best to protect them by providing a heat lamp to draw the piglets to a safe space where the sow won’t crush them. The hogs eat a diet of food waste recovered from local greenhouse growers, ends from a granola bar producer, whey from Golden Ears Cheesecrafters, milk, eggs and pasture. “I sell direct to consumer,“
she says. “It’s a premium product and I have a wait list. 98% of my business comes from social media.”
Social media has been a
double-edged sword for Ballantine. While it has created a loyal premium-price Vancouver customer base, it has also led to animal-rights activists finding her online and reaching out with aggressive comments, but she doesn’t let it to get to her. “As long as they don’t
cause problems for my kids or the safety of my animals, I just really don’t care,” she says. “I
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The Sweet Pickins Farm is a 39.45-acre mixed use farm. Main crop is blueberries with a small herd of Black Angus cattle; plus, board horses. The store (open during blueberry season), selling blueberries, pies, jam, and some fruits and vegetables. Products Vegetables - Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Garlic, Pumpkins, Zucchini /Berries - Blackberries, Blueberries/Fruit -apples, Crab Apples, Plums, Rhubarb /Meat - Beef /Specialty Items - Baked Goods, Jams & Jellies, Soaps/ Compost & Fertilizer - Manure/ Store sells: Fresh and Frozen Blueberries, Fresh picked seasonal Vegetables, Fresh and Dried Garlic, Summer and Fall Apples, Free range Eggs, Rhubarb, Blueberry and other Fruit Pies, Homemade Jams and Chutneys. Out buildings; Store/Shop 30X20, Covered Patio 20x8, Walk-in-Cooler 7X11, Garage 25x28, Freezer Room 18x9,Caretaker 12x20, Barn 70x40, Equipment Garage/Horse Stalls 52x41, workshop/Wood shop/Horse Stalls/ Garage 70x40,farm hand accommodation 45x12. This is a great multifamily purchase.
Sweet Pickins Farm
Sweet Pickins Farm – 39.45 acre mixed use farm. Blueberries, Black Angus cattle; horse boarding. Seasonal store features blueberries, pies, jam, fruits and vegetables. Outbuildings: 30x20 store/shop; 20x8 covered patio, 7x11 walk-in-cooler, 25x28 garage, 18x9 freezer room, 70x40 barn, 52x41 equipment garage/horse stalls, 70x40 workshop/wood shop/horse stalls/garage. Accommodations: 1930 Country Farmhouse, 12x20 caretaker, 45x12 farm hand. This is a great multi-family purchase.
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get threats bi-weekly. They think we’re brainwashing people [to eat meat].” She recently bought 160
acres in Rock Creek to produce grass-fed, grass- finished Black Angus, a venture launched in 2018. There are currently 28 in the herd. The move may allow for a cheaper cost of production than in Langley. “We feed exclusively alfalfa,”
she says. “It gives us good fat marbling. We chose really good breeding stock and feed them a really good diet. It’s expensive to raise them this way, but we have a waiting list for our meat.”
Ballantine sells 93 products and other local items, including produce from Inner Peas, in an on-site market that opened in May. Packing orders is done in the area behind the market by the same people that run the till. It keeps the staff lean, and Ballantine has limited her own time off the farm to weekend farmers markets in Vancouver. “Physically, I don’t think we
can have any other products,” she says. “We have seven kinds of pepperoni.”
Cider capacity The last tour stop was
Fraser Valley Cider where owner Rachel Bolongaro served cider samples and a charcuterie plate featuring meats from Central Park Farms. The cider business has continued to expand to accommodate consumer demand. In the first year of business (2015), she produced 8,000 litres; now in her fourth year, she produces 40,000 litres. “That better be enough,”
she jokes. Apples are starting to
come from her own orchard, with the fruit going into a small batch of Roosters Revenge cider produced from 750 pounds. Bolongaro also teamed up with the Langley Environmental Partners Society to create Gleaners Gold, a cider made from unused apples from trees kept by Langley residents. “It’s selling like hotcakes,”
she says. “It’s awesome cider and I can’t take credit for it because it’s all about the apples.”
39+ ACRES ON SOUTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND
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