Father's Day - Celebrate Family

Enjoy the best farms have to offer – good food, fresh air and time spent with family and friends.  Father’s Day is a great time to celebrate not only Dads but families.  Come walk our forest trail and be enchanted with our Fairy Tale Lane.  Our farm animals love visitors and are happy to show off their babies.

Our market will be open.  Fresh picked Ontario strawberries will be available along with home preserves, apple cider, honey, our own fresh eggs and more.  Our pies will be ready soon but sorry not this weekend,.  We're still working on our kitchen.

Family Day Admission $3.95 ages 2 years plus.  All parents have free admission when accompanied by their children.   Farm is open Sunday June 15th 9:30 till 5

Our pick your strawberry season will be starting soon.  Keep in touch for details.  Call 905-887-1087

Our new spring lineup is complete!

They've all arrived; our farm babies are here.  School tours have started and the children are having a great time visiting the farm and animals.

The pigs arrived Wednesday and one has already acquired it's name, Scooter.  The last to get off the trailer, he just couldn't wait and he was off and running out the barn and around the fields.  Somewhat stressfull but funny to as we followed this wee little pig running around the fields. His foray into freedom ended succesfully for us anyway as we caught him.  He was glad to be reunited with his siblings.

So much for the pigs; in contrast, all the other animals seem sedate.  We have 2- week old Brown Swiss calves and bottle feeding will soon progress to bucket feeding as they learn to drink without the nipple.  The difference in size between them and the 3 calves, now steers as they are now a year old, is awesome.

Come on out for a visit to our open house and auction sale on Monday the 19th.  Check out what we've done and find out what is in the works.

Mothers Day Tradition

When we think of mothers we think of memories and traditions; big and small, happy and sad.  To have memories you need time to make them.  A tradition on our farm is to give moms of all ages free admission to our farm on Mothers Day when accompanied by their kids.

Mother's Day is this Sunday.

Take some time to enjoy your family and relax for a few hours.  The trilliums are blooming in the woods, the heron can often be seen at our pond, the lambs are hiding behind their mom who is more than eager to eat any green you have to offer her.

We wish all moms a great day making memories, making traditions.

Kids and strawberries

Is it hot enough for you. This heatwave can be stifling but it actually is cooler in the country. I was amazed yesterday at the temperature difference between our Markham and Greenbank farm. It felt at least 5 degrees cooler here in Greenbank with the nice breeze we had. This heat is ripening the berries fast so don't delay in getting yours. We're open at 8:30am in Greenbank till 7:30pm weekdays and 9:00 to 5:00 weekends for picking. Have your kids come meet our kids. Piper and Joy are week old twin goats that we have had to bottle feed. They love all the attention they can get. The pictures are from a recent night when they needed babysitting. Zena was very motherly and the kids being young look to all sources for food. You can visit them in Greenbank.

Fathers are special on the farm

A lot of attention is paid to moms and babies on the farm each spring but lets not forget about dads. We're celebrating dads on the farm this Fathers Day with free admission to our Markham farm'n fun for Dads of all ages when they bring their kids. So come on out to the farm Dad and have your kids meet our kids.

Open Victoria Day Monday

WOW!!!! What a weekend for weather. It seems summer is here. Jim is out in the fields here in Greenbank planting our tomatoes today. Our zucchinis, onions, garlic and cabbage are doing well. We've planted berry bushes this year - gooseberries, black currents, haskaps and chokeberries. Great for jam making in the years to come. We could use a bit of rain tonight, as I'm sure everyone gardening hopes for. Come for a visit It's been a relaxing weekend here in Markham with families enjoying the farm. All our spring babies are thriving and loving all the attention. Come and meet Timothy Peter, our newborn kid, just 5 days hold. He's capturing everyone's hearts as he greets them at the farm. Strawberries are here soon Time to think about clearing your freezers of last years fruit. Our berries are in blossom. This means it will be approx. 3 weeks till we can start harvesting. Berries from southwestern Ontario are starting to appear in the food terminal but currently they are everbearing varieties, we find them tart so we're waiting till the June bearing varieties are ready. Everything seems early this year. Sunday we had jam making demos; it is so easy and pectin supplies for jamming are in the stores now. Time to make room for this years crop. We're open today with lots of fun activities. Come on out and enjoy the great day ahead.

Did We Celebrate!

Our Celebration of Spring was a busy one. We had beautiful weather Saturday and a good number of families enjoyed the bubbles, the animals, Dairy Farmers of Canada cow Moonica, walks in our Enchanted Forest and more.

• The animals had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and eating lots of treats. Our sheep were sheared and both the sheep and the goats had pedicures, now they're prancing.



• New baby goats born last Tuesday are doing well. One who just liked its mom's armpit has finally found her udder and bottle feeding is not as important for it's survival.



• Sunday and Monday with the unsettled weather offered challenges to our visitors. They were rewarded with seeing the birth of 2 sets of twin goats. One pair was born on Sunday and the other Monday. Thanks to Adam who took the pictures today, you can see some of the action.



• Lisa at Things to do York Region came Saturday and took pictures. Check out her site for lots of info on activities happening in York Region.

Strawberries will be in about 3 weeks. We have blossoms on our plants now in Greenbank. So far it looks like it will be a good berry season.

Can someone turn off this rain?

Celebrate Spring Victoria Day Weekend

We just may see some sun, the forecast sounds better for Saturday than it will all week. We've been getting lots of rain so wear your boots even if it is sunny.

We've got lots of fun planned for this weekend.
This will be our first ever Celebrate Spring event and we've been planning for weeks.

• Dairy Farmers of Canada will be visiting with Moonica for Saturday and Sunday. They've got some fun activities and you can even milk Moonica. Very realistic without the hazard of getting kicked.


• Start thinking about clearing out your freezer to make way for the new harvest. We'll be have jam making demos throughout the weekend. Asparagus is now here, the rhubarb is coming on strong and before you know it strawberries will be here. So much to do, so little time.


• The wind is wonderful at our farm in the spring, just great for kite flying. Our Barnyard Adventure area has no trees or overhead wires, perfect for kites.


• Be creative and make your own bugs.


• Celebrate the sun and plant a sunflower


• Visit our new babies

These activities and more are available at our regular weekend admission price of $6.50+HST/person 2 yrs +.

Don't forget to sign up for our Pumpkin's Journey (details in the market)

Hope to see you this weekend.

Season opening Saturday April 30th

The date is quickly approaching and we're busy getting ready. The animal pens are cleaned out, the playareas are getting freshened up and Lynda and Eileen are busy getting the market ready. The last few days of sunshine have been a help. Myrna has been busy booking the school tours. We've still got some openings but they're filling up fast. England Trip James, Dan and I have just returned from a week long farm market tour in England. We explored the countryside with fellow Ontario Farm Fresh Marketers visiting farm shops from York south to London. Spring is about a month ahead there; the daffodils, cherry and apple trees along with the spring flowers were all in bloom. The weather was warmer than usual and we had lot's of sun. Denure Tours from Lindsay Ontario organised the logistics of the tour and Cathy, our fearless executive director of Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association researched and chose our stops. We enjoyed lots of sausage, some mushy peas, fish and chips and cornish pastries. With a morning tour of the city of York we were steeped in the history of the land. So many stone fences and hedgerows, lots of sheep and cattle grazing. The Yorkshire landscape was my favorite. We'll have pictures posted on facebook for you to see. What can we apply to our farm? First off you'll see more colour and more gardens. We'll add a few more activities through the season. It will take time to absorb and put into effect all we saw and want to do. One of the best things was getting to know our fellow Ontario marketers better. 4 New Kids in the Pens We've had 2 sets of twins born this week. Mom's and babies are doing well. They'll be in Markham for you to see them. Try to catch the babies springing about their pen. The energy of youth is very evident in the kids. Mother's Day Celebrate Mom's and bring her to the farm for a relaxing outing. Come visit our moms. Remember on her special day we give free admission to Moms when they come with their kids, old and young. Victoria Day Weekend James is organizing special activities this weekend for us to Celebrate Spring. Bring your kites, our barnyard adventure area is great for kite flying with no trees or overhead wires. We usually have a great breeze blowing especially in the spring. See you all soon.