Ever since I started preparing for last week’s tea, tea has been much on my mind. I have more to say about it than can be reasonably contained in a single blog so I’ve decided to write a series on the subject. Tonight I’m writing about Tea Farm, here in the valley.
Tea Farm is an eleven acre organic farm that grows a variety of tea-centric crops including lavender, hops, and calendula. They blend their crops with fair trade and organic teas and offer their blends both in their own tea room and around Vancouver Island.
Although most tea is grown in tropical and sub-tropical climates, there are some hardier varieties. In 2010, Tea Farm planted a trial crop of 200 plants of one of these varieties, to see if tea is a viable crop in this area. The tea has made it through the winter and Tea Farm is now hopeful that they will be able to offer valley-grown tea within just a few years.
Margit Nellemann, one of Tea Farm’s owners says “We specialize in organic and fair-trade teas from around the world and we’ll continue to do that, honouring what people have been doing for centuries and what they do well,”[1] but it’s exciting to think that the valley could soon be home to the northernmost trading tea farm in the western hemisphere.
I’m looking forward to Tea Farm’s first offering of their own tea crop. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy their teas at home and to visit their tea room, where I can also admire Margit’s pottery. The rural setting is as calming and delightful as the teas themselves.
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