Agriculture, restoration and conservation are integrated on this family farm, where energy, enthusiasm and hard work produce an enormous variety of fruits and vegetables.
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Contact: Nathalie and David Chambers Address: Email: |
| Produce grown: | When it’s Available: | Where to buy our product: | ||
| Vegetables (beets, lettuces, carrots, artichokes, garlic, scallions, broad beans, peas, leaks, zucchini, radishes, turnips, Arugula, cilantro, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, corn, potatoes, Swiss chard, kale, Brussels sprouts) Fruits (peaches, apricots, plums, apples, watermelons, cantaloupe) Mixed grains Chickens (eggs and meat) Flowers |
Year round | At the farm gate (opens at 11am, Wednesday to Saturday) |
More Information:
On a diverse 27 acres in Saanich, Natalie and David Chambers maintain a mix of cultivated fields, open fields, wooded areas – namely Douglas fir and Garry oak ecosystems – and four natural ponds. In 2004, they began planting a wooded corridor of Douglas fir, Garry oak, arbutus, red alder and several other native tree species. Over 130 fruit trees have been planted to stabilize the farm’s expansive, southwest facing slope. Madrona farm is the happy home of many species of birds, including great horned and screech owls, eagles and herons. Natalie and David have also created a wildlife corridor from their farm to Mount Douglas Park.
Sage is the authority for their 80 egg-laying chickens, whose feeding area and mobile house is shifted around the farm every three-weeks. The mobile coop was built with a rain barrel to capture rainwater for the thirsty chickens. The chicken manure is one component of the special mixture of organic fertilizer that is used to produce an astonishing variety of delicious fruits and vegetables for the local community.
David Chambers’ grandparents, Lawrence and Ruth, and their three sons bought Madrona Farm in 1952. For thirty years, Lawrence raised animals and produced vegetables and hay. After Lawrence’s death in 1982, the farm was leased out for hay production. When David moved to the farm in 1999 to take care of his grandmother, he decided to dedicate himself to restoring his family’s farmland.
Farming on Madrona is guided by the memory of Lawrence and Ruth, a noted naturalist who passed away in 2002, and by a commitment to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Natalie explains that “the farm operates as close as possible to a natural ecosystem” and that everything on the farm respects the memory of Ruth and Lawrence and the values that guided their agricultural practice.
