OUR STORY
Bringing you local fruit and flowers for wholesome living
Willow & Plum Orchard is located 15 kilometers east of Winnipeg on Treaty 1 Territory.
Meet your farmers
Hello! We are Robin and Zachary. Currently Robin is running the farm business full time with Zachary making it all possible. We have four active children who love to read, swim and build forts. After 13 years of living and working in Mali, West Africa we moved back to Canada. Zachary and I have always had a shared passion for trees. (I learned to identify more trees in Mali than I can in Canada!) It did not take long before we began our new dream of growing a diversified orchard full of fruits, flowers and herbs out here in Oakbank, just 30 minutes from downtown Winnipeg.
Why we started our orchard
Climate anxiety is real for many of us.
We strive to live healthy lives and make sustainable choices for ourselves and the planet, but it is hard. Too often it is easier to grab the processed, packaged school treats than make them ourselves. It is often easier to buy the imported, out of season raspberries, rather than grow and freeze our own. Convenience often trumps our good intentions. In Manitoba, our fruit and flowers are mostly flown in from thousands of miles away.
And that’s a problem.
I knew I could take action and make a difference in my family by growing our own food and learning how to enjoy it in the winter months. I knew I could take action and plant native flowers and trees and practice sustainable gardening principles to support our local biodiversity.
It soon became clear that what I could do for my family, I could extend to my community. By growing local fruit, herbs, veggies and flowers, I hope to inspire others to be eco-conscious of their consumption habits and shop locally.
We are thrilled to be building a resilient local food system for you.
How is regenerative agriculture “saving the world”?
“Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains.” - Paul Harvey
“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
The production of food is dependent on the health of the soil.
Regenerative agriculture is farming and grazing practices that reverse climate change by rebuilding organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity. The goal is improving soil health. Regenerative practices include reduced tillage, use of cover crops, crop rotation, and applying compost. In our orchard and flower patch we put all these into practice. Soil is not inert, dead clods of dirt, rather it is a living network called the soil food web. Our farming practices must contribute to a thriving soil food web in order for agriculture to be sustainable.
Make an impact together
At our orchard, we know that food and flowers are valuable and powerful.
Our mission is to partner with our community to be a part of a sustainable, healthy, and thriving planet earth.
We do this by protecting soil food web health and improving biodiversity through regenerative farming practices to provide our local community with premium fruit and flowers.
Whether you buy from our online store, connect with us at the farmers market or buy a flower subscription, we promise to ease your climate anxiety with each piece of delicious fruit and charming bouquet you experience.
Want to hear more about the weekly offerings and what’s growing in the orchard?
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