InFocus Magazine

Several hours of wet snow have just fallen, and a soft stillness surrounds Innisfree Farm in Royston.  On this winter day it is difficult to imagine the activities of spring—but that is what Thierry Vrain and Chanchal Cabrera are already planning for, because under the blanket of snow, seeds rest dormant waiting for the gardening season.

Chanchal Cabrera in her greenhouse at Innisfree Farm, which this summer will be the first Community Supported Agriculture inititaive in the Comox Valley.

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

Vrain and Cabrera have a vision for Innisfree Farm—to make it a destination farm, offering a variety of produce as well as value-added community services, and more.  Over cups of herbal tea, a conversation with the couple uncovers the many facets of their plan, revealed as if melting away layers of snow.

“We bought this place two years ago, and started the garden,” says Vrain.  “It was seven acres of pasture, all fenced and cross-fenced; a dozen paddocks for horses. We came here with different ideas about what to do, but really we have known for many years that I want a garden.  So when I retired five years ago, I said I’m going to have a garden, and it’s happening.”

The farm will be more than a garden, however—one of the main aspects of the seven-acre property will be as the first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative in the Comox Valley, starting in July 2009.  The concept is simple: create a partnership between a local farmer and nearby consumers, who become members or subscribers in support of the farm.

“It’s exactly like a magazine subscription,” says Vrain.  “Once a week you get your ‘magazine’—except it’s veggies, food.  So you pay up front.  You say, ‘Yes I want the ‘magazine’ for a certain number of weeks.’  It’s a surprise every week—you don’t know what you are going to get.”  He pauses and smiles.  “But obviously we are not going to annoy our customer—if it’s all broccoli or all potatoes, that’s a bit boring!  I want to do exactly the opposite of that.  I want to grow a whole variety of vegetables, especially greens; really nutritious food.”

In exchange for paying in advance at the beginning of the growing season, when the farm needs financing, CSA members receive fresh, healthy produce throughout the season. Money and employment remains in the community.  To many people, a CSA is the answer to the globalization of our food supply.

“The whole north field is going to be a vegetable garden, with small fruits, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, medicinal plants and every vegetable you can name,” Vrain says.  “I’m planning 50 different kinds of vegetables!”

Adds Cabrera:  “We have a 20 week season that we are going to be supplying food—July through November.  Thierry has to plan for each of those 20 weeks what vegetables he expects to be ready each week, and then he works backwards to when they need to be planted—so he’s planting lettuces every couple of weeks!”

“Fruit trees, and nut trees—all kinds,” continues Vrain.  “All the regular apples, pears and plums, and then everything I can lay my hands on that is a little bit different—hazelnuts and English walnuts, Chinese plum, Japanese heartnut, loquat and medlar…”

This broad array of goods, adds Cabrera, is what will keep it interesting for people.  “

“Basically it’s like a neighborhood farm,” says Vrain.  “We have several people interested in the CSA. I have absolutely no anxiety about marketing—right now I am happy to start slow. I was planning on three to four families, and we have that, so I am happy. Next year we will expand to a bigger number.  Maybe by July I will know already that I can handle more.”