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!”
|
Product
|
Description
|
| Apple Cider Vinegar |
|
| Organic Apple Cider Vinegar |
|
| Balsamic Apple Cider Vinegar |
|
| Apples |
|
| Cortland |
Very white crisp flesh. One of the best salad apples because it doesn't brown quickly.
|
| 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.
|
| Honey Crisp |
Color is red mottled over a yellow background. Has excellent eating and keeping qualities.
|
| 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.
|
| Liberty |
MacIntosh type apple. Large, red blush covering nearly all of yellow fruit. Flavor develops over one month of storage.
|
| Novamac |
Flattened
fruit with 70% red stripe on green background. Crisp, tender,
fine-textured flesh. Slight mcIntosh flavor. Good quality.
|
| Red Free |
Medium size, glossy fruit with 90% bright red color. Smooth, waxy, russet-free skin. Light flesh is crisp and juicy.
|
| Rhode Island Greens - cooking apple Heritage variety |
Large, yellow-green fruit. Firm, crisp, juicy, tart. Flavor develops in storage
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| Pears |
|
| Bartletts |
mid season, green with red blush
|
| Burre bosc |
French pear variety winter pear, russet skin
|
| ClapsFavourites |
early, green pear red blush, hard, tasty
|
| Clara Frigs |
Heritage Variety - green pear, very tasty
|
| Sweet Cider |
|
|
