Boates Farm
The Boates Farm is a father and son team operation: Kevin Boates (father) and Brian Boates (son) of Boates Farm are very knowledgeable about apples – “It’s all I’ve ever done,” says son Brian Boates, “and I love it.” Credited with popularizing the first “apple U-Pick” in the area in response to the market decline of export apples during the 1960’s, they began a tradition that we now take for granted in the Maritimes.
Demand for organic apple cider vinegar began the Boates new venture – they started collecting wild apples from the old trees in the surrounding forest to make the apple cider vinegar. These were unsprayed, in fact completely unmanaged, wild apple trees. With the popularity of the cider and the support of the organic and health food industry, the Boates Family Farm decided to try organic apple farming. They started with a heritage organic apple orchard, and continued to expand their organic orchard with new plantings. They now produce tonnes of organic apple cider, apple cider vinegar, sweet apple cider and fresh apples and pears!! Both father and son of Boates Farm have decided that organic is the way they want to proceed – and they have since been working on transitioning all of the 25 acres of apple production into organics – with currently 16 acres that are either in transition (a three-year period) or already certified.
One of the biggest benefits of switching to a different customer base (from exporting to organics) was the switch in marketing techniques. The Boates are proud of their direct marketing – this way they can keep in touch with their customers and directly in touch with the consumer demand – hearing it directly from their customers at either the Halifax Farmer’s Market or the Bayer’s Road Shopping Centre during the winter. “We’re connected to our customers’ demands and desires, and we feel this is extremely important in our business”.
The Boates revel in the challenges of producing a better quality product: “our experience with direct marketing shows that ultimately, consumers want a better quality product (and it doesn’t necessarily need to be cosmetically better) and we are proud to be producing it for them!”
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Product
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Description
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| Apple Cider Vinegar |
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| Organic Apple Cider Vinegar |
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| Balsamic Apple Cider Vinegar |
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| Apples |
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| Cortland |
Very white crisp flesh. One of the best salad apples because it doesn't brown quickly.
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| Gala |
Excellent for fresh eating. A very pretty, medium size, conical to round fruit with yellow skin patterned with bright orange-red. Firm, juicy, fine textured, yellow white flesh. Sweet slightly tart flavor. Hangs well on tree.
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| Honey Crisp |
Color is red mottled over a yellow background. Has excellent eating and keeping qualities.
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| Jona Gold |
Large fruit striped red over bright yellow. Firm, crackling, juicy, slightly tart, flesh. Superb, rich, full flavor. Finest dessert and eating quality. Good cooking properties. Will store in common refrigerator for 3 months.
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| Liberty |
MacIntosh type apple. Large, red blush covering nearly all of yellow fruit. Flavor develops over one month of storage.
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| Novamac |
Flattened fruit with 70% red stripe on green background. Crisp, tender, fine-textured flesh. Slight mcIntosh flavor. Good quality.
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| Red Free |
Medium size, glossy fruit with 90% bright red color. Smooth, waxy, russet-free skin. Light flesh is crisp and juicy.
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| Rhode Island Greens - cooking apple Heritage variety |
Large, yellow-green fruit. Firm, crisp, juicy, tart. Flavor develops in storage
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| Russets |
Excellent cider apple. The fruit is medium-sized, russeted skin, varying from grey-green to bronze with a copper-orange cheek. The flesh is fine grained and crisp, with sugary juices.
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| Spartans |
Beautiful medium size dark red almost mahogany dessert quality apple. Pure white flesh, crisp sweet with some acidity. Firmer than McIntosh. Highly aromatic fine flavor.
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| Pears |
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| Bartletts |
mid season, green with red blush
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| Burre bosc |
French pear variety winter pear, russet skin
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| ClapsFavourites |
early, green pear red blush, hard, tasty
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| Clara Frigs |
Heritage Variety - green pear, very tasty
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| Sweet Cider |
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