How It All Began...
Ballycanoe Naturals is a husband and wife team. My husband Darrell, and myself Christina, along with our four children, bought a small farm outside Mallorytown, Ontario in the spring of 2018. We all enjoy being outdoors and working with our hands, so we stepped into this lifestyle mindfully, knowing it was right for us. We wanted to be better connected to our food and into a rural life of growing vegetables and laying hens. Any kind of farming is a leap of faith, you know it will be hard and that there will be failures, but that’s true of the best things.
Upon seeing the many sugar maples surrounding the property, we very quickly started tapping the trees and collecting sap to boil. Around here, real maple syrup is easy to find. Despite it’s easy availability, we wanted to try making it ourselves. We tried. We succeeded (with lots of room for improvement)...and it tastes all the more delicious because we produced it ourselves. Maple syrup making, as a family, was such an enjoyable experience...the time and efforts, to us, are definitely worthy of making it an annual Connell Family tradition. We leaned a lot during our first year and are excited to start this, very quickly approaching, second season!
Upon viewing our home, before purchasing, we envisioned beehives. We had never even thought about beekeeping until seeing this property. The more we thought about and researched the subject, the more we became excited and passionate about pursuing this dream. We bought our first four hives in May 2018 and haven't looked back. The more we watch them, the more we fall in love with them...bees are extraordinary creatures! Beekeeping is an interesting hobby that has tons of benefits. I wasn’t even aware of the taste difference until my husband and I began keeping our own bees. Eating natural raw honey versus the store-bought stuff...there is no comparison! You become intrigued by nature...when you get out in your beehives, and you see the way they all work together to make this beautiful product, it is amazing! You can’t help but look around you more often. I can’t tell you how many times I was working out in our garden last summer and caught myself smiling because the bees were out there feasting away with me. You definitely become more aware of your natural surroundings and it makes you appreciate the simple beauty of how nature all fits together.
Our first garden here, despite the never ending battle with weeds...and raccoons (arrrgg), was (for the most part) a success! We planted surplus amounts to can, freeze, preserve, and share with our chickens and peacocks. It provided our family a source of inexpensive, fresh vegetables...and many hours of valuable family time, working and learning together. We have big plans to build and improve our gardening, in hopes of contributing to our community by providing another source of local food for our neighbors.
While we have been anxiously waiting for another gardening season to begin, we decided to learn how to grow microgreens! They may be tiny, but they punch well above their weight when it comes to nutrition. Working out the tweaks of growing indoors vs. outdoors has been very nutritiously tasty...and we're excited to share that these ‘superfoods’ will be available for order/purchase very shortly.
Our little farm brings so much joy to our lives and puts delicious food on our table...and we can't wait to share it with you!
Upon seeing the many sugar maples surrounding the property, we very quickly started tapping the trees and collecting sap to boil. Around here, real maple syrup is easy to find. Despite it’s easy availability, we wanted to try making it ourselves. We tried. We succeeded (with lots of room for improvement)...and it tastes all the more delicious because we produced it ourselves. Maple syrup making, as a family, was such an enjoyable experience...the time and efforts, to us, are definitely worthy of making it an annual Connell Family tradition. We leaned a lot during our first year and are excited to start this, very quickly approaching, second season!
Upon viewing our home, before purchasing, we envisioned beehives. We had never even thought about beekeeping until seeing this property. The more we thought about and researched the subject, the more we became excited and passionate about pursuing this dream. We bought our first four hives in May 2018 and haven't looked back. The more we watch them, the more we fall in love with them...bees are extraordinary creatures! Beekeeping is an interesting hobby that has tons of benefits. I wasn’t even aware of the taste difference until my husband and I began keeping our own bees. Eating natural raw honey versus the store-bought stuff...there is no comparison! You become intrigued by nature...when you get out in your beehives, and you see the way they all work together to make this beautiful product, it is amazing! You can’t help but look around you more often. I can’t tell you how many times I was working out in our garden last summer and caught myself smiling because the bees were out there feasting away with me. You definitely become more aware of your natural surroundings and it makes you appreciate the simple beauty of how nature all fits together.
Our first garden here, despite the never ending battle with weeds...and raccoons (arrrgg), was (for the most part) a success! We planted surplus amounts to can, freeze, preserve, and share with our chickens and peacocks. It provided our family a source of inexpensive, fresh vegetables...and many hours of valuable family time, working and learning together. We have big plans to build and improve our gardening, in hopes of contributing to our community by providing another source of local food for our neighbors.
While we have been anxiously waiting for another gardening season to begin, we decided to learn how to grow microgreens! They may be tiny, but they punch well above their weight when it comes to nutrition. Working out the tweaks of growing indoors vs. outdoors has been very nutritiously tasty...and we're excited to share that these ‘superfoods’ will be available for order/purchase very shortly.
Our little farm brings so much joy to our lives and puts delicious food on our table...and we can't wait to share it with you!