Salt Spring Island Chpt. 2

The highly anticipated sequel to chapter one has arrived. So as I've said before, this island rules. I'm gonna re-cap the cheese place with fresh photos and fun stuff here, so brace yourself. Salt spring island cheese does mainly goat's milk cheese, and dominate that niche in BC. They sell all across Canada, and make some really delicious product. David Wood is the owner, and used to farm the goats and sheep he used for cheese himself. Since the cheesemaking exploded, he has since dropped the farming aspect and concentrated on the brand.



He now phones in all the milk, but only from the mainland and Vancouver Island, so that's okay. Goat, on a rock, savouring cedar.

We also visited AppleLuscious farms. The name is really silly, but the type of farming they are doing here is amazing. It's just one gentleman and his wife, but they are rocking out the most hilarious chaos in the world. They just have shit EVERYWHERE, but somehow keep track of it. Most of the farm is impassable, and there is plenty of wild growth, which they actually encourage. They only cut back the most voracious of weeds, preferring to let their own plants toughen up by themselves. The orchard has a single winding path through it, with plants towering over both sides. Fennel 7 feet tall, blossoming roses, thistles and heart-stopping digitalis are all common sights. He does have more controlled areas for potatoes, tomatoes, and apple tree seedlings. His wife also keeps the front year of their house under a tight rein, though the variety is still astonishing. There was cilantro, wasabi, about 12 different sages, thyme, kale, chard, lemon balm and about a thousand other interesting and edible plants there. Getting back to the orchard, Harry can navigate and name almost every plant in there. The orchard trees are almost all of a different species from one another, and there is a duck who lives in their chicken coop because it thinks its a chicken. Really cool place, going in a totally different direction than I was expecting.

After those excursions, we decided to go visit the lovely folks at Foxglove for a couple days. I kid you not when I say they welcomed us like a family. This is sort of ironic because it turned out one of them was a member of my family. Not my direct family of course, but the story remains a strange one. So on the second day we were there, the weekly drive to town shopping excursion was taking place. Basically everyone goes into town and gets what they need for lunch and dinner, and hangs for a while at the internet cafe. Whilst exchanging names for facebook, I found out I shared my last name with one of the apprentices. There are only like a dozen people in Canada with my last name, so after a little question session we discovered we were second cousins. We've actually been to each other's houses and had family visits and such. Another great irony is that she is from the small family of my two parents. It seems quite likely I'll meet on of my 50 cousins of a bazillion second cousins from my mom's side, but much less likely that my father's dozen would have someone hiding up in Salt spring just hanging out and waiting for a relative to come along. Odd thing to have happen


Anyways, basically we had a blast at this farm, the crew was super eclectic, but everyone was cool in their own right and seemed to get along fine so all was groovy. Everyone was so welcoming and helpful and tolerant of our terrible farm work it was pretty terrific. We got to weed fields, thin beets, pick strawberries, thrown strawberries at each other, chase deer around in a Japanese micro-van, and generally raise a ruckus. I haven't laughed as much as I did up here for a long while. Michael himself is a really knowledgeable and interesting guy. He has lots of stories, a couple books, and a massive library in his head of different farming methods. I don't think he's doing everything he'd like to be right now, but he's clearly working towards a goal at a pace that is comfortable but progressive. He's been farming for around 30 years, the vast majority in California, and has slowly progressed into a bit of an icon for organic, ethical and positive foods. Quite a character as well, good sense of humour, if a little offbeat, but that's what it's all about.

Back to the crew who I can't say enough good shit about. They were awesome, and I hope to meet a lot more people like them on the trip. If not then I guess I'll just move to the Island and set up shop. Could be a plan. So we spent two and half days with them, cooked a bunch, learned the smallest modicum of a percent about what goes on in farms, and then left happy. It was a really fun and invigorating experience and so far I think my favorite part of the trip, though the competition is stiff. I really could write a lot more, but I think I'll stop there and take pity on anyone who didn't happen to go there, re-unite some extended family and get along really well with everyone.

Oh yeah, another bonus is that because I met my 2nd cuz again, I get to go Salmon fishing tomorrow with her dad(my dad's cousin), who runs a little salmon enterprise in Victoria. This just gets better and better.