Contact: Pat and Dianne Zannicelli Address: 9028 East Saanich Road North Saanich V8L 1H5 Phone: (250) 655-3276 Email: gourmetgarlic@shaw.ca

More Information:
While the farm’s lower 5 acres are open field, the top 2 acres are wooded with a growth of cedar, alder and cottonwood. Within the wooded area there is a spring which provides approximately 7500 gallons of water per day, and is used to irrigate the main crops of garlic and dahlias. Pat drains water from the spring into a holding pond from which he irrigates the fields and garden areas. The pond is allowed to flow over its lower edge and create its own marshland area. There is steady visitation by mallards, mergansers, herons, eagles (who for periods wash in the pond each day), copper’s hawkes and turkey vultures.

Along the south border of the farm is a well-developed hedgerow which provides habitat for a multitude of songbirds and nesting for Quail. Owls, eagles and herons move back and forth between the forest and pond on the farm to the remnant forest on the adjacent school board property.

The crops are rotated on a 3 year cycle using cover crops of winter wheat and peas followed by a spring planting of austrian peas and a summer planting of buckwheat, with each cover crop being disc-ed and ploughed providing the soil with a bountiful supply of organic matter and essential nutrients.

Residential development pressures upslope from the farm have necessitated the Zanicellis’ close involvement with the municipality, the developer, and the TLC to apply covenants to protect their certified organic farm status from pesticides, herbicides, and potential negative impacts on the spring.