The Farm
The Farm
UpBack Farms is a 3rd generation family farm of roughly 50 acres. It is located in Rocky Point along the West River, kitty corner to Victoria Park in historic Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The land was farmed by my father for years producing hay and grain for the cows, horses and pigs we raised. When he retired, the land was rented to other farmers who produced much of the same crops using conventional methods. Over the last couple of years that has changed and a new crop has been introduced to the land... and that’s garlic.
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Our goal is to produce premium seed and culinary garlic, and garlic products for Canadians while committing to use farming techniques that are non-conventional. This means, no herbicides, no pesticides and no chemical fertilizers. To replace these conventional methods, we amend the soil with various components such as; aged horse manure, red and white clover, buckwheat and mustard plants. All of these components help mother nature strengthen and balance the soil by adding organic material and nutrients allowing us to grow our crops in an all natural way. We are left with soil that garlic loves and any other produce we may grow in the future. Year by year we learn more about the soil and its characteristics, becoming better stewards and that's something we want to share with you. See "Our Story" for more about our journey to garlic farming.
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Our garlic is fresh from the field, so you can be sure you are buying the best quality produce. The majority of our garlic is sold as seed garlic, those who wish to plant, harvest and consume their own garlic year after year. The rest of our garlic is sold as culinary or table garlic, we grow it so you can enjoy consuming it.
Additionally, there are the garlic scapes and green garlic that are also garden fresh just like our bulbs. You can use them in many different ways such as to make pesto use in stir-fries or simply use like a green onion. Processed garlic products such as garlic powder, salt or spreads are all additional products. Check out our Shop for more as we continue to add garlic items.
In addition to growing garlic, we raise honey bees and Standardbred race horses. Our bee yard is only just taking off, pardon the pun, and we'll expand it by a few hives over the next few years, adding a nuc this July, but we will give it more focus once we retire and move to PEI. Regardless of its size, we still expect to see a honey flow this summer.
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Our broodmare, Sendmeasign, who is due at the end of April 2023, was born on the farm and was raised until she was 16 months old. Then she was trained and started racing as a 2 year old had a competitive racing career for eight years. In retirement, she found her way back to our homestead. Now, she will produce foals that we’ll raise with the hopes they will go off and compete in the local racing circuit, too. There are a lot of exciting pieces of our farm life taking shape over the coming months and years, and we hope you tag along. Please follow us on our social media, Facebook and Instagram.