HISTORY OF THE FARM
Family history thrives on this property! The Young family have farmed in Kelowna since the early 1920's ( Dairy farm) on Young road in the Lower Mission and this current property for over 50 years. We ( Chris and Emily) are the third generation of farmers in the Young Family. The farming life style comes with its challenges but it is not in the Young's nature to turn away from adversities. This farm has been a place of celebration, fellowship and hardship yet has stayed a constant symbol of peace and serenity to those who come here. This farm, like many other farms, has seen different crops. In 1970 the first crop to be on this land were grapes. As many farms see the change of seasons from year to year, there are also change of crops, and with vineyards and orchard, this is a little more of a drastic undertaking than the seasonal ground crop bed turn over. When the time for growing grapes came to a close, Chris' Parents replaced the grapes with heritage apple varieties such as; Red delicious, Golden Delicious, MacIntosh and Spartan. ( Photo above is Chris' Dad in the apple orchard). It was in 1995 when the apples were taken out and replaced with what we have today, Asian pears and Chestnuts. Although we still have these two seperate orchards we have added others to the mix, such as apricots, peaches, apples, plums, berry crops ( raspberries, saskatoon berries and haskaps) and various of other nut trees, to not only help us eventually add more to the table for market but more importantly help the biodiversity of the farm and support the health of the farm environment. In 2018, chickens were integrated on the property and as many chicken owners have learned the N+1 rule applies, N= the number of chickens you currently have and you always have room for one more ( says the crazy chicken lady Emily). With that being said, our small flock of chickens live a happy and free range life, eating bugs, scratching in gardens where they shouldn't be and laying beautiful coloured eggs.
The name for this farm was created with the intention to keep the hisory of the property and its location in mind. "Deeper Creek" rushes through the illustrious Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park and before entering the waters of Okanagan Lake it passes through our farm. This creek has seen its share of dry spells as well as floods throughout the years and we believe it is a perfect representation of the farming lifestyle. The Word "Haven" has connection to not only our description of the lush orchard trees and Vibrant colored birds that make themselves at home here, but also a description of what this property became to others during the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire. With the devestation that happened around the fence line of this farm, animals from the park were witnessed gathering together, in our safe haven.
And with those memories and feelings collected, Deeper Creek Haven Family Farm was created.
Chris and Emily are excited to share their passion for farming, friendly smiles, conversation and Emily's love of terrible jokes with everyone in the community of Kelowna. Thank you for following and supporting us on this journey.
Thank you for Supporting a Local Family Farm!
If you want to follow us and keep up to date with Emily's obsession with chickens and her garlic plants :)
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