Hughes Hill Family Farms

Flavour First…Nutrition Naturally

Gary and Kelly Hughes and their family are realizing a dream that many believe is unattainable.  They are a 1^st generation dairy farm.  While the road has certainly had its share of bumps, Gary and Kelly have found plenty of rewards in their dairy farm and their market garden.

In terms of transitioning their farm to certified organic, Gary and Kelly had four great reasons to give it serious consideration:  “Grace, Jamie, Katie, and their older brother Mathew”. The children all play a part in the farm too – helping Gary and Kelly plant, weed, and harvest in the garden and care for the animals.  They seem to enjoy the farm life – “One of our things that we stress is that we’re a family farm and everybody has a little part in the farm.”

Although their dairy is not yet certified organic, their strawberry u-pick and mixed vegetable gardens are all certified. 

It was a big challenge to make the transition, but Gary doesn’t seem to be the type to shy away from challenges. A good challenge strengthens his resolve to overcome an obstacle. “Organics is challenging. It’s a different way of thinking, but it keeps me involved and interested in everything that’s happening on the farm.”

Gary studied agriculture at the University of Guelph and immediately started working for a vegetable farmer in Ontario.  After a few intense years of learning the ropes of running a vegetable farm, Gary was presented with the opportunity to purchase a part of his family’s original Prince Edward Island homestead.  He didn’t hesitate.  In 1986 he purchased 25 acres of land that used to belong to his great, great grandparents. Ten years later, he was able to buy another 50 acres beside the home farm.  In 2006, Gary and Kelly purchased a neighbouring farm of 53 acres – bringing their total organic land to 128 acres.

Hughes Hill Farms' specialties include strawberries, free-range eggs, homemade pickles and jams, pastured poultry (available in the fall), ground beef (from animals fed a minimum of 80% organically), and a wide variety of certified organic veggies – all of which can be found at the Hughes Hill Farms stall at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market.

Gary and Kelly hope to erect a greenhouse on their land for the expanding vegetable business and also hope to build their own farm market stand on their property in order to encourage farm visits. 

With a farm motto of “Flavour First…Nutrition Naturally”, Gary and Kelly surely have developed the true farming dream where they have both been able to make their living from being full-time farmers!  It’s clear that whatever challenges and adventures in farming the future holds for Gary and Kelly, we can be certain they will make it work!

 

HUGHES HILL FAMILY FARM - SELL SHEET
PRODUCT	DESCRIPTION	AVAILABILITY
Beets	Standard varieties available as well as Golden Beets, Chioggias (red beets with white/pink swirl), and Cyndor (long obong shape like a carrot)	Mid-July through until January/February
Beet Greens	Dark red Bull's Blood beet greens and regular green tops	End of June until Mid-November
Beans	Green, Yellow and Purple - all extremely flavourful	Late July until end of September
Broccoli	Hughes Hill Farm's heavier soils seem to give their broccoli a burst of flavour - a customer favourite!	First of August until November
Cabbage	Red, Green, Early varieties and Storage varieties	August until Christmas
Carrots	An extremely popular item at the market stall, Hughes Hill Farm has a variety of different Orange-hued carrots as well as Purple, Red, White and Yellow carrots available.	Mid-July until January
Baby Carrots	Hughes Hill Farm picks their carrots in the early stages of growth for an especially flavourful and sweet tasting mini-carrot!	July - December
Cauliflour	White, Orange, Purple and Veronica	Late August to November
Swiss Chard	Rainbow Chard, Red Chard and regular white varieties	End of June - November
Cucumbers	Slicing and Pickling varieties available	Last week of July  - October
Leeks		Late August until November
Lettuce (leaf)	Spicy and Mild Mixes (Mesclun) and Frilly Leaf lettuce.  Hughes Hill Farm grows lettuces for colour and texture varietes and they are careful to harvest the leaf lettuce as baby lettuce.  Blends are their specialty - ask them for your own personal blend!	June - November
Lettuce (head)	Romaine is the main lettuce grown, but they also have Leafy Head Lettuces, Lola Rosa, and Boston Butter lettuce varieties	End of July until October
Cilantro		July - November
Dill	Fern and seed available	July - November
Parsley	Curly and Italian flat leaf	July - November
Herbs	Sage, Chives (late May, June till July), Summer Savoury (August until September), Thyme	June to end of September
Basil	Standard Sweet Basil	July - Frost
Onions	Green bunching onions (red and white) as well as Cooking onions:  Spanish, Red and Yellow cooking onions	End of July until December
Sweet Corn		End of June and through July
Garlic	Music (large cloves), Kiev (Rocambole varitey), Porcelain type (small cloves with lots of cloves per bulb) and Persian Star Purple Stripe	August
Melons	Limited availability	Late August & September
Parsnips		September until storage lasts and occaisonally available for Spring picking
Peppers	Limited availability of green, red, yellow and hot peppers depending on the season	August until late September or early October
Potatoes	Norland Red, Irish Cobblers, Superior, Fabula, Russet and Yukon Gold	Early to mid-July until storage lasts.
Radish	Several different varieties including French breakfast, Easter Egg varieties and White Icicles	June - October (availability depends on conditions)
Rhubarb	Old fashioned farmstead rhubarb standard	May & June
Spinach/Baby Spinach	Sinfully delicious spinach! Kelly's absolute favourite on the farm! They are very particular about picking the baby spinach leaves for the best texture and taste	June to October/November (bulk Spinach available in early summer)
Strawberries	3 or 4 different varieties available.  Hughes Hill Farm is famous for their extremely flavourful varieties - all of them are very sweet	July
Tomatoes	Assorted cherry varieties including Orange Cherry Tomatoes (Golden Cherry), and assorted varieties of large tomatoes, mostly red varieties	August - October
Summer Squash	Zucchinni, Patty Pan, Yellow Zucchini, Papya (a pear shape tear-drop yellow)	Mid-July until October
Winter Squash	Buttercup, Butternut, Acorn, Delicata, Heart of Gold, Hubbard, Ambercup (a buttercup type), and Spaghetti	September - Christmas
Peas	Snow Peas, Snap peas and shelling peas, pea shoots	Mid-July until September
Fennel	Full Bulbs & Baby Bulbs	August and September
Summer Turnip	Creamy flesh with a radish flavour	July & August
Winter Turnip (Rutabage)	Yellowy flesh	October - January
Kohlrabi	Green and Purple Kohlrabi	August until October
Pumpkins	Pie pumpkins, Jack O'Lanters, and Mini-Pumpkins	September/October
Gourds	Decorative Gourdes (mostly mini-gourds with some birdhouse gourds available as well)	September/October