ELK POINT, Alta. – Two northern Alberta producers are trying to convince consumers that organic food is more than fresh produce and eggs.
They want them to realize it can be fresh, frozen, in jars and in bottles.
“Organics is about fruit. It’s about pies,” said Walter De Silva, one of the organizers of northeastern Alberta’s Organic Food and Wine Experience.
De Silva, his wife Cecilia and neigh-bours Victor and Elizabeth Chrapko of Brosseau, Alta., recently organized an organic tour to press that point to consumers.
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“Who usually thinks of northeast Alberta for these things?” said De
Silva, who operates a 380 acre organic farm near Elk Point.
Last year the De Silvas, who operate JVM Farms, chopped, juiced and cooked about 550 kilograms of organic rhubarb. Some of it was turned into wine, some into juice and others into pies.
They also picked strawberries, raspberries, saskatoons and cherries and sold eggs from their chickens. In between, Cecilia created dozens of pieces of raku pottery that she sells in galleries across the province.
The goal is to establish the raku and organic farm business to allow De
Silva to move from his job as an economic development adviser to the organic farm in retirement.
“It’s a lifestyle. I never wanted to farm to get an income, but what it could give back to me. It was never about money,” said De Silva, who believes his good health comes from his organic diet.
“I believe if you eat healthy, you will be healthy.”
In 1996 Victor Chrapko thought about retiring from his organic grain and hog farm.
Instead of buying a motor home and heading south for the winter, he planted 1,500 apple trees and started an organic U-pick orchard, which has since grown into the En Sante organic winery, the first organic fruit winery in Alberta.
“In retirement you do the things you enjoy or might enjoy. We’ve always tried new things and here is one of them,” said Chrapko, who wants consumers to look outside the usual retail stores for food and wine.
For the past 10 years, Chrapko has experimented with wine recipes using apples, rhubarb and saskatoons to find the kind of wine people want.
“As time goes on we’ll figure out what the market wants and we’ll try to hone our operation in that direction,” he said. “I don’t know what people will want and like.”
Chrapko has to be flexible with his wine. Last year a late spring frost ended any thoughts of a good apple harvest. Instead, this winter he bottled rhubarb and wild cherry wine.
If offered a choice, many consumers will opt for an Alberta grown organic wine, he said.
“Why should we bring all our wine from out of province?”
