I am excited to say that Mother's Day pre-orders for arrangements and mixed bouquets are now open. These items will be available for pick up from the farm. I will also be offering delivery to Comox/Courtenay on Wednesday May 10, and Campbell River on Thursday May 11. I won't be able to offer delivery on Mother's Day weekend, as it is such a busy time for us for flowers. If you would like to order a larger arrangement than what you see on the website, please send me an email with your order request.
You can find all of our Mother's Day offerings here.
Our Summer Bouquet Subscriptions are 10% off until May 15, or sell out! This is our only annual sale. Our summer subscriptions are available monthly, or for a duration of 4, 8, and 12 weeks. This makes such a unique gift for celebrating mom.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or message me on instagram.
-Farmer Ashlea
]]>It’s hard to believe that it’s already mid February. Our first plantings of 2023 went into the ground a few weeks ago. Several hundred healthy ranunculus corms were presprouted and planted out under a layer of compost, leaf mulch and frost cloth. These delicate beauties will bloom in the chilly weather of spring, shortly after our tulip crop finishes.
image: Eden Brothers
Speaking of tulips, we are beginning to see the first tulips start to break the surface. We have so many beautiful varieties to come! Our fabulous customers asked for more of the double “peony” look tulips, and we listened! There will be a beautiful assortment of ruffle blooms for our spring subscribers to enjoy in their homes.
We are also looking forward to the many new varieties of heirloom narcissus that were planted around the new peony field last fall. They too are beginning to break through the surface. We were thrilled to use our spent chicken bedding as mulch over our narcissus bulbs- just another way we can work in partnership with our wonderful animals to supply the soil with the nutrients needed to grow beautiful flowers.
Speaking of animals- we are very excited to introduce Beatrice and Buckley. They are a Jersey cow and calf pair, which means we officially have a family milk cow. We were happy to pick them up from Fermented Future Farms near Qualicum. We look forward to seeing all that they do at their new property. Give them a follow on Instagram if you enjoy farm life and tasty sauerkraut.
The middle of February meant it was time to dust off the soil blocker, hook up the grow lights, and sow the first of the cold hardy annuals. These are crops that don’t mind some light frost, which include fragrant stock, feverfew, pastel yarrow, foxglove, snapdragons and craspedia. The seeding trickle will continue now for months, but this first batch of seedlings will get planted out in the next 4-6 weeks.
Along with focusing on our community flower subscriptions, we are also looking to expand into working with more local florists! We are so excited about this shift in our business. We had such a great experience selling our blooms wholesale last year. It was such a natural and good fit for our farm- we can’t wait to build more relationships with some of the wonderful florists on the island who have a passion for using local flowers as much as possible for events and design work.
While late winter continues to linger, we are taking care of some of those less exciting jobs like pruning, seeding and building new no till beds. I recently forced a few forsythia branches to hold me over until spring, and their bright yellow blooms were a welcome sight!
-Ashlea
With the wonderful weather the flowers are bountiful! We have the farm stand stocked every Sunday at the corner of 931 Williams Beach Rd. We’ve got eggs, mixed bouquets and freshly roasted coffee. Due to popular demand Matt has also added a Dark Roast to the coffee line up.
Visit the stand Sunday’s from 9-5. (Or sell out!)
We also take special orders throughout the week for pick up at the farm (email us) and ask for 24 hrs notice. Delivery for an additional fee when available.
]]>Celebrate the special women in your life with beautiful local blooms grown right here in the Comox Valley. Pick up is available from our farm in Merville. We will also have a selection of flowers available on Friday and Sunday at our farm stand, first come first serve. We do recommend pre-ordering to guarantee your order.
We also have spots remaining in our summer bouquet subscriptions, which also make for a lovely gift. They are available for either pick up or delivery throughout the summer.
We hope you have a lovely day celebrating with your moms. We will be soaking up time with our own mothers and our 5 children this weekend.
-Matt and Ashlea
]]>Many of you signed up for the full season special, with weekly bouquets for 12 weeks to celebrate the season. Our monthly deluxe trio was new this year, and a big hit! We will definitely be offering that again next year.
A special thanks to The Island Grind in Campbell River and The Mill Coffee Co in Comox for hosting our weekly pick up spots. We are so thankful for the community support.
We will be releasing a limited number of dried wreaths and floral arrangements this fall, as well as fresh holiday wreaths and centrepieces this winter. Follow us on facebook and instagram for updates, or sign up for our newsletter to keep in the loop. Our farm stand in Merville will continue to be open every Sunday from 9 am-6pm or sellout, until frost closes down the fields for the season. You can find it stocked with fresh flowers, coffee and eggs ( though those tend to sellout early!) and seasonal fruit.
Thank you for a wonderful summer, and happy FALL from our family to yours.
-Matt and Ashlea
]]>The first baby was born at noon- and it went incredibly smooth. The second mama gave birth a few hours later after her labour stalled out when she thought the first baby was hers... I suppose a side affect of them going into labour at the exact same time. Thankfully all lambs pulled through, fed well and are growing rapidly.
It's been an adventure so far, and we are thankful for the mentorship of an experienced shepherd who has been alongside us to answer all of our questions and assist us when needed. What a gift!
We are looking forward to both meat in the fall and plenty of manure for the flower beds as needed.
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This May we are happy to have a limited number of Coffee & Flowers Mother's Day Bundles, and specialty spring arrangements. Our summer bouquet subscriptions also make for an incredibly unique gift.
We hope you are able to take some time to share your appreciation with your mom and the special women who may fill that role. Happy Mother's Day!
]]>We purchased them from a lovely local farmer, who has been such a wealth of knowledge.
It took a very good amount of elbow grease for us to get the old sheep barn cleaned out, but it was well worth it. It's a lovely little barn with water and power, and lends itself to keeping a few sheep. This is one step closer to our goal of raising and growing our own food for our family.
The added bonus is that we can create beautiful compost for our gardens to feed the soil. What an exciting week here at Coastal Island Farm!
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