Ever-Green Greenhouses

Ever-Green Greenhouses

Ever-Green Greenhouses was started 35 years ago by Brian, an Olds College graduate. This greenhouse focuses on mass production for the big box stores, such as Walmart and Canadian Tire. Balancing quality, efficiency, and mass production are the key to Brian's success.  During this time of year Ever-Green Greenhouses is growing poinsettias and preparing for spring.

The EC and pH are carefully monitored to achieve optimal growth. Acid and fertilizer are also watched added for their benefits. Safety is always very important when dealing with any chemicals in the greenhouse. It is highly recommended that you have procedures in place. 

When you are growing large quantities of any crop it is very important to monitor for bugs and other plant health problems that could be detrimental to your success. This year Ever-Green Greenhouses has had problems with stem rot, wiping out over 900 plants. This problem stems back to the transplants being planted too deep. 

Every week the poinsettias are measured for height and they change out the bug cards. 

Holy Mass Production!

Nice pots!

BowPoint Nursery

BowPoint Nursery

BowPoint Nursery is owned and operated by Ken Wright and his family since 1988. The farm is situated on approximately 16 acres of land just outside of Calgary. BowPoints focuses is on sustainability and growing local quality products.

The BowPoint Nursery uses local horse manure and local wood chips mixed in to their media. This is a great example of how this farm is sustainable. 

 Ken finds root pruning and under cutting to be very successful.

The irrigation for this nursery is purely based on rainwater. They collect rainwater as well as snow melt to water their plants. They really don't have any other choice as there is no access to water for this nursery. So this means you know you are getting a tough, hardy, Alberta grown product. 

BowPoint Nursery, hands pick their local seeds. They are closed on Thursdays so they can go and do this. They use a GPS to mark where they have collected seeds, and keep track of the quality of the seeds. 

They leave seedlings where they are for over wintering. They make sure they are moist and hope for the best. This is inline with their mission of only growing quality sustainable products. 

Eagle Lake Nurseries

Eagle Lake Nurseries

Was started in 1970 by Tony and Anne Heuver. Eagle Lake Nurseries is located east of Strathmore. Tony and Anne's daughter Anita is now the part owner and manager of Eagle Lake Nurseries. Anita graduated from the Horticulture program at Guelph University and has extensive experience working in the industry. Anita even spend a year working in horticulture in Holland! When Eagle Lake Nurseries first started up business there were no there similar businesses in the area, they even use to dig in shelterbelts for landscape material. 

Eagle Lake Nuseries is situated on over 800 acres! 500 acres is designated for caliper tree and shrub production, 25 acres of container and pot in pot production of trees and shrubs, and the reminder is in crop rotation, roughly about 300 acres. Eagle lake Nurseries also has a cold storage facility where they overwitnter products such as perennials.

The Staff at Eagle Lake Nurseries record the amount of time they spend on a task. This helps to determine the price set for a particular product. Eagle Lake Nurseries also prepares their own media, is is composed of sawdust, sand, peat moss and bark mulch.

Eagle Lake Nurseries get their water from the Western irrigation District Canal system. This canal system is only open from May 1st through until October 1st. When this supply is not available the have a slough they have access to that is filters by cat tails.

They have both a drip line irrigation and a sprinkler system. The drip line is much more efficient than a sprinkler system, because it is less effected by factors such as wind. 

The photos here display the pot in pot style they use at Eagle Lake Nureries. They use 7, 10, and 15 gallon pots of this and it covered approximately 25 acres. 

Eagle Lake Nurseries ships their product throughout Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Northern United states and even as far as Alaska. However 40% of their product is sold to the Strathmore area. 

85% of the material sold at Eagle Lake Nuseries is for wholesale use and only the remainder if for retail use. They do have a retail area located on the farm, however they do no annual production here and must have that material brought in. 

Eagle Creek Farms

Eagle Creek Farms

Eagle Creek Farms is owned by father and son, Stan and John Mills. This farm has been in the family for many many years and is located in Bowden. The farm is situated 30 minutes from Red deer, just off of highway 2.  Eagle Creek farms is a member of the CSA, providing a large assortment of vegetables. They also have a u-pick flower area, sunflower and a corn maze, along with animals and arranged flowers bouquets. 

This farm has over 40 varieties of seed potatoes for wholesale.

After John returned from school, it left his Dad, Stan with some extra time on his hands. Stan created raised Strawberry beds in eaves troughs. Stan is experimenting with over wintering them by stacking them once the season is finished. 

Eagle Creek farms incorporates Facebook, twitter, blogs, and newsletters into their social media communication. They also have a very helpful website. 

This farm has many different types and styles of signage. I feel signage is key, I have heard them referred to as "silent salesmen". I prefer a hand crafted look to signage, but I think that is just me. As you look through my blog I have many pictures of the different styles of signage they use.

Same information in a different location

Wind damage to high tunnel

Eagle Creek farms also produces produce under high tunnels. However as you see above, these tunnels are easily damaged by high winds.

Yummy peppers!

Mountain Sod Farms

Mountain Sod Farms

Mountain Sod Farms, is a second generation sod farm and has been in business for 49 years! They have between 230-300 acres of production sod and rotate these fields every 2-3 years. To grow harvestable sod it takes 16-18 growing months or harvest in its third year. Usually seeding occurs in May or June. At times though, they seed in late August depending on the season. They use a blend of 90% kentucky blue grass and 10% fescue. However, there has been an increase in demand for a more drought and hardy type of grass. The Mountain Sod Farm has met this demand by providing an increased fescue content in their grass, yielding a more drought and hardy type of sod. 

Mountain Sod Farms is located on the Red Deer side of Innisfail, and they serve customer within approximately 100km. After you purchase sod you have about 24 hours, or one night to lay it. This beautiful sod is watered by an irrigation system. It is only watered when absolutely necessary, as it is piped from a river 2.5 miles away. They use a mixture of phosphate and potassium fertilizer after seeding and then add nitrogen to the mixture once the roots are established. 

Sod cutter

Sod is best cut very early in the morning. This machine (above) cuts the grass and then rolls it. Once there is a pallet load the machine drops the rolls. As the cutting occurs, the driver can check the quality and discard any that do not met standards. The photo below shows how a minimal amount of soil is sent with the sod. This is why it is necessary to place top soil down before laying sod. 

One pallet of sod

Country Thyme Farms

Country Thyme Farms 

Country Thyme Farms is located in Bowden. Anna and Daniel Chappell started this 40 acre farm three years ago.  They believe in preserving agriculture heritage. You will find chickens, geese, ducks, rabbits and sheep to just mention a few of the animals they raise. Among the mounds of vegetables they grow are herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage. 

Country Thyme farms is also a member of Community Shared Agriculture. They also sell their products at farmers markets and at Owl in the Barn, a sister store. You can also stay updated on what is happening at the farm by following their blog or following them on Facebook. 

Me and a donkey

Bunnies

Donkey friends

Cabbage

Vegetable field

Greenhouse crop

Mmmm.. tomatoes!

Anna and Daniel are both young farmer with lots of experience. They have a strong educational background through Olds College. I feel they made many strides in the right direction with their farm. They are thrifty, they use a bathtub for washing, the use an old refrigerator truck for their storage and are always looking for a good deal. They are young and full of energy. They are catering to many markets through the CSA, farmers markets, blogs and Facebook. I feel this farm has a bright future!