the week

open hours this week are 10am-4pm for the 29+30+31. we will be closed friday january 1.

we will reopen saturday and sunday.

yes

yes we are open this holiday weekend saturday dec 26 + sunday dec 27 from 10am to 4pm.

happy times to all.

holiday schedule

we are open this week tuesday dec 22 + wednesday dec 23 + thursday dec 24 from 10am to 5pm. we are down in the barn teagallery. here is a map if you need it and call for directions.

http://www.artfarm.ca/contact/index.html

nice+cozy

its nice and cozy in the studio. gus and sigi think so.

you will find several wonderful pieces by glass artists peggy brackett and jo ludwig.

we have many tasty teas available as gifts for others or yourself.

ten to four all weekend.

snowy+wet

its a little snowy and wet. well alot wet. so much so that we will have to be closed tomorrow thursday 17th just for safety and slippery tires. friday and the rest of the weekend should be fine to drop by.

we have a wonderful selection of gift teas and yummys for the holidays. we look forward to seeing you!

the show

we had a wonderful turnout to the clay+glass exhibit open studio. the weather dazzled and it was fun to meet and remeet folks at the farm. we got so caught up in the moment we did not take very many pics. this one captures at least the feel we shared...

we will be open dec 10-13 thursday through the weekend 10-4pm. you can still find some of jo and peggy's work as well as margit's creations. its supposed to snow so call ahead or have fun with the adventure.

clay+glass

4^th annual Artfarm open studio

CLAY + GLASS

exhibit and sale

Margit Nellemann HANDBUILT CERAMICS

decorative and functional clay pieces ranging from distinctive lamps

to vases to exceptional teapots & tea ware

KilnArt Glass Studio

Jo Ludwig's palm-of-the-hand sized glittering glass vessels and

Peggy Brackett's finely crafted colourful glass jewelry

+enjoy luscious farm teas and local decadent sweets+

SATURDAY + SUNDAY

DECEMBER 5 + 6

10am – 5pm

margitnellemann.com

artfarm.ca

WIN A TEAPOT 2009

december 15th is international tea day. a celebration of all things tea and the plight of tea pickers for better working conditions is brought to awareness. a good cause... a great day.

and every year margit gives away a teapot to honour the day. the teapot pictured is similar to the happy teapot that will be given away. you can be part of the draw by visiting the studio from now to the 15th. a great opportunity to sign up will be our annual open studio dec 5+6 featuring margits work and the lovely glass work of jo ludwig and peggy brackett of kilnart glass studio. more info to come...

heavy rains

due to the heavy rains and flooding the studio is not comfortably accessible and we will be closed this saturday and sunday. we will open on thursday the 26th and will be happy to serve you then.

we do have a booth at the out of hand show in victoria and have a wonderful selection of teas and margit's new work.

http://www.outofhand.ca/

enjoy

keepin it simple

There Are Those Who Love To Get Dirty

There are those who love to get dirty

and fix things.

They drink coffee at dawn,

beer after work,

And those who stay clean,

just appreciate things,

At breakfast they have milk

and juice at night.

There are those who do both,

they drink tea.

Gary Snyder (1930-)

quietly creating

margit has been firing away to create work for some upcoming shows. the pic captures a late night quiet moment in the kiln room. here is her schedule for the next little while adn as a result the studio gallery will be a little barren if you come by. call before you do. there is always tea.

Circle Craft Christmas Fair in Vancouver, Nov 11-15, 2009, Out-of-Hand in Victoria, Nov 20-22, our Open House here at the Artfarm, Dec 5-6.

See the following links for more information -

www.circlecraft.net/page129.htm

www.outofhand.ca

tasting tea

with the farmers market season now over for us we are turning our energy in new directions. saturday the 7th we will be at the duncan garage and we will be featuring some of the teas that are already being sold packaged and in bulk at the community farm store.

http://www.communityfarmstore.ca/

11am to 3pmish

we always have tea available at the farm. well thursdays through sunday 10am-4pm. and these days call ahead so we can best accommodate you.
i like this picture. i like what it has to say...

nuff said...

not so sweet

in our first year of farming we have had some successes and some unsucesses. the sweets were nice but we suffered a big frost followed by several days of rain. bruised and split sweet potatoes aint a pretty sight. crying farmers aint a pretty sight either. oh well.

enough survived for us to determine what the best varieties will be for next year and oh boy are we gonna have fun doing a better job of soil preparation and getting them in way earlier.

so if ya take the good with the bad... the good has certainly been the potatoes. our fingerlings are simply exquisite and the best potatoes in the westholme valley!

how sweet it is

it is harvest season and farming sort of took priorities. so here we are a month since our last blog and we are so excited to be showing you our sweet potato happiness. this has been an amazing summer for growing and we have had fun experimenting with melons as well. we are digging up the sweets today and will have them at the markets soon. fingerling potatoes are coming out daily so look for them or let us know if you want some. we will post more pictures soon too.

growin'

so this is what has been growin' on lately.
carrots in the shape of teapots have been popping up as the result of margit's intense focus on creating teapots for her show in qualicum.

http://www.theoldschoolhouse.org/exhibitions/current2.htm

we have artichokes that will be at the saturday duncan farmers market in the square downtown duncan 9am-3pm. when trimmed they look like green roses!


we grew a seven pound broccoli and continue to have them at both makaria farm market on tuesdays. thats just off the trans canada on bench road south of duncan 4-630 pm.

and check out the sun flowers. definetly a sunny summer!

august tea tastings

join us for sunday tea tastings...

AUGUST 2009 TASTING SCHEDULE

~


August 2, 2009 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Teas of India
Black, Green and White

August 9, 2009 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Surprise
Something Black, Something Green, Something Herbal

August 16, 2009 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Flavoured Black Teas
Rose, Mango, Lavender

August 23, 2009 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Oolong Teas

August 30, 2009 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Flavoured Green Teas


~

Sample three different fair trade and organic teas with an assortment of light sweets.

Price per person is $ 5.00

hay, hows it goin' ?

this is one of our favourite times of the year. the good hot weather has made haying season fun hard work. our larger field produces wonderful hay that we share with our neighbours and use for mulch throughout the year. fred got a little workout and the barn smells amazing... and yes that is a disco ball in the barn!

we will be at the duncan farmers market this saturday from 9am-3pm. come and see our new idea we call the salad bouquet.

Sunday we will be having our tea tastings from 2-5pm at the farm. it is supposed to be hot so come for an interesting surprise.

no market+new market

we will not be at this saturdays farmers market in duncan.

you are invited to join us at makaria farms who are hosting a friday evening market between 4-7pm. there will be produce, baked goods, cheese, organic meats, our artfarm teas... and more.

so friday july 17 4-7pm at makaria farms...

Directions: coming south from Duncan, turn right onto Bench Road at the lighted intersection. Makaria Farm is 300m down the road, on the left side.
Click here for a map: http://makariafarm.com/map.pdf

250-597-3276
info@makariafarm.com
4715 Bench Road, Duncan, B.C., V9L 6L7
www.makariafarm.com
www.islandgrains.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

we have been having fun with our lavender field the abundance of fresh lavender that we are drying for the lavender blended teas. calendula and other flowers and herbs are drying too. the garlic scapes are great for pesto, salad dressings and are crunchy fantastic on the barby.

enjoy the sunny days and come see us on the weekend too!

summer hours at the artfarm are...

wednesday to sunday 10am to 4pm

meaning of vision

the next five days, from today thursday through monday, we will be part of and hosting the annual cowichan valley visions studio art tour.

http://www.visionsarttour.ca/

for the past three years now we have had the fun of having several hundred people come to the farm and experience margit's ceramic art and the the natural surroundings.

this time means there are many firings in the kilns happening, the farm gets a little gussied up and have the great anticipation of meeting new people and welcoming back many friends/artfarmers.



we will not be at the duncan farmer's market this saturday so come and see us on the farm.
the studio is open from 10am to 5pm. look for the red arrow visions signs to guide your way.

sweet woops

woops! forgot the pics of the sweet potatoes. this will all make sense if you read the next blog entry.

the sizzle and the steak

there is a saying in advertising that 'you dont sell the steak ... you sell the sizzle'. margit commented the other day that she thought the blog seemed a bit 'ladida' and that we were not telling the whole story of what goes on on the farm. missing was how the work gets done. so... here is some of the steak that get things done around here.

most everything else gets done by hand. the days have been long, tiring adn yet very satisfying. we have planted four varieties of potatoes including fingerlings which are small lovely potatoes. pictured here are the sweet potatoes we are excited about growing. we are planting them with black poly mulch to keep the heat in and weeds out. we have six northern varieties that still require 90 days of good heat units.







this is fred.
fred is a 1967 ford pick up that helps us with work on the farm. fencing, haying, manure and much more happens with fred.




so thats part of the story adn of course there will be more to come.

tasty sunday

join us for a colourful tea tasting this sunday...



June 14, 2009 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
The Colours of Tea
Black, Green, White

dreaming+doing

the past week or so has brought dreaming and doing together in the hot weather of this early summer. here are several pictures telling the story of sandy walker our neighbour on his 1955 ford 600 tractor, who turned the lower field into the field of our dreams... and the work of planting 400lbs of seed potatoes, sweet potatoes, melons and cukes. new tea infusions are being created and the growing conditions are great for all the other yummies going on.

(if you click on the pics they will enlarge... check out the artichokes!)

TeaGuide

We have just listed our tea bar with Teaguide. Have a look at www.teaguide.net and come see us at the Artfarm for tea and goodies.

Teas of Japan

it is a beautiful morning on the farm today.

looking forward to serving you...

May 31, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm             

Green Teas from Japan

       Genmaicha, Hojicha, Sencha

ah, spinach

The garden is growing along very nicely these days. The spinach is just spectacular, the arugula is nice and nutty, the salad greens fresh and crunchy. Radishes and potatoes are just around the corner. And then there is freshly harvested herbs for tea.
You gotta love spring...

a taste of tea

What a great day we had this past Sunday with our weekly tea tastings. The weather was gorgeous, the teas were delicious and the company delightful. This coming Sunday we are tasting our home grown herbal infusions. The forecast says sunny and warm so we may serve one of them on ice. Come on out to the farm and enjoy with us. The tastings are on-going every Sunday throughout the summer and include three different teas, light sweets and great views. Sunday 2 - 5 pm. Price per person $ 5.00. Please call 250.748.3811 for more info or to reserve your spot.

Mr.Morel

Last year, we had a myriad of morel mushroom appear on our property. Aside from being a true delicacy they are also incredibly beautiful and sculptural to look at. This year, we kept looking for them and they kept away. Until, finally, there he was - Mr. Morel....