Scarecrow Festival

This is our fourth year with the maze and second year with a pumpkin festival, however, it is only the first year we have found time to enter a scarcrow into the Innisfail Scarecrow Festival. Fortunately one of the Mexican men working for me this fall has experience making unique creatures out of corn. I have a picture on my face book of a large cat he made a couple weeks ago.

So I asked him to make a Scarecrow man and a little dog. Sure enough he did some amazing work and our scarecrow one first place in two categories. 1st in the Visiting Category and 1st the Most Creative Category, which we are very proud of.

Epiphanio is the main artist, although Roberto and I put some work into the display as well.

Epiphanio is the man up on the truck and Roberto is holding the Scarecrow

Pumpkin Festival

Summer has passed us by and we are now in Pumpkin Mode on the farm. This will be a second season hosting a Pumpkin Festival on the farm which is themed around the Halloween season.

Surprisingly the Sunflower & Corn Mazes are quite resilient and remain open and navigable until the end of October. The sunflowers have finished their bloom and their seed have matured. You are more than welcome to nibble at the seeds when traveling the mazes.

One very unique aspect to our festival is the large potato storage shed we convert into three indoor event rooms. Our farm store which is open all summer long. A kids Craft and Face Painting Room. Then last is our Pumpkin and lunch room. So even if the weather is undesirable, come inside and enjoy a warm break from the mazes.

Of course it is a Pumpkin Festival and what would a pumpkin festival be without Pumpkins, Pumpkins & more Pumpkins? Not too worry our pumpkin crop this year was absolutely fantastic and we harvested nearly 1000 ranging from small 3lb pumpkins to a record size for us at 45lbs
The Pumpkin Festival will be running Every Saturday & Sunday from 11am - 5pm in October. We will be closed if it is a snow storm, so if in doubt please phone before hitting the road. 403 224-3995 or toll free 1877 224-3939.

Garlic Party

Well things are a go for Wednesday September 9th Garlic Party.. We have the shed all set up to break apart the garlic bulbs and the field is tilled and ready for planting.

So it will be a bit of an informal event this year, but we do have a little bit planned for the day. To start with we have to break the bulbs that we will be planting into each individual clove. Once this is done we can then take them to the field and push them into the ground one by one. Only about 50 000 to 80 000 to plant this year, so not too many. Don't worry we won't be getting it all done in one day. What isn't planted on wednesday we will be getting in the ground over the next week with the help of some local high school students.

I am going to be working from 7am till late in the evening, so feel free to stop by at any time during the day. Our farm is located at the Bowden SunMaze, www.sunmaze.ca/contact.htm. There is a map on the website and you can follow hiway signs from the QE2 out to the farm.

For any one will be coming out give yourself 3-6 hours or more. If you are able to help for a couple hours with the garlic I would be happy to let you test your navigational skills in the sunflower & Corn maze. Also our U-pick fields are still full of flowers and vegetables & at 12:00 and 6:00 we will be cooking up some bison burgers on the BBQ.

If you have any questions send me an e-mail at john@eaglecreekfarms.ca

Garlic Harvest

Last year we began to grow Garlic on the farm. Not just any garlic, this is a red skinned extremely strong garlic that blows that Chinese stuff out of the water.


Garlic is a fun crop which is grown a little differently than most vegetables on the farm. Instead of planting it in the spring, we must harvest, cure, clean and re-plant the whole crop in the fall before the ground freezes.

The picking does not take too long, four of us were able to pick 1/3rd of the crop in 3 hours Friday Morning.

We then take the garlic into our shed to prep for the next stage, Curing. We trim the garlic a little then place it on these drying racks that we blow air through. During this process we are preparing the garlic to be stored throughout the winter.

All of what I have just explained does take some time, but is no match to the work we have ahead. Once the garlic is cured we then have to go through bulb by bulb trimming roots and cleaning the dirt off to prepare the garlic for market. For the garlic that we will be re-planting we have to individually break each bulb apart into it's individual cloves so that in Mid September we can re-plant for next season crop.

If anyone would like to help us out please send me an e-mail at john@eaglecreekfarms.ca

Sunflower Maze Prime Time

It has been a challenging year for many crops on the farm. When this first pictures was taken only 2 weeks before we opened I wondered if there would even be a maze.



But as the days grew closer, the sun began to shine and the sunflowers started growing at 2-3 inches each day. In the last days of July less than a week before the Lily festival on August Long, the sunflowers began to bloom. It has turned out to be one of the best years for yellow sunflowers in the maze due to the slow germination of half the crop at the beginning of the season. Typically all the seeds germinate at the same time and flower at the same time. This year there will be great colour throughout the field until the end of August.


With views and photo opps like these I have completely forgotten the slow start we had to the season. It is absolutely stunning in the maze & our U-pick gardens are full of flowers and vegetables as well.

Lily Festival 2009

Our second Annual lily festival was a success, over 1300 people visited the farm over the weekend during 30+ degree temps on saturday and sunday, then a high of 15 degrees on monday. Thank you to everyone who venture out to the farm to celebrate the beauty of our rural setting.

Nearly 200 vases of flowers were picked over the three days of the festival and over 600 people ventured into, and found their way through our mazes. We are still looking for the Anderson Family, but hope they are feeding off the sunflower seeds at the moment.

For those who were not able to make it out, the farm will be open 6 days a week in August, Closed on Tuesdays, 11-7 every other day of the week except Sundays when we close at 5pm
Every day that we are open there is a concession, play area, farm animals, picnic area and a large collection of sunflower, corn, rope, bale, patio, arrow & finger mazes to challenge your navigation skills





The Lily Festival would not have been a success without all the help from the volunteers and staff helping me out for the weekend.

Don't worry if you were unable to make it to the festival, there are still over 10,000 stems of lilies left to bloom on the farm this summer.

Thank you to everyone who helped visited the farm for the weekend and Thank you very much to all who helped make the festival a success. We hope to see you on the farm this year in our u-pick or next August Long Weekend for the 3rd Annual Lily Festival.



Farmer John

I had many comments saying that I do not look like a farmer, but I assure you that I am. Just look
I am on a tractor, isn't that proof??

2 days to Lily Festival

Lots of things have been happening on the farm these past few weeks. The Lilies are now in full production, the Sunflower Maze has begun to bloom & we have started a few markets on our own.

Here is a picture of the sunflower maze taken on tuesday, I am expecting it to be about 30-40% in bloom for the Lily Festival on Sat.



In the past we have only sold our flowers on the farm or with Innisfial Growers, however this year we are trying a few markets on our own. Airdrie on Wednesdays 3:30 - 7:00 Sundre on Friday 5:30 - 8:00 and Bentley on Saturdays from 1:00 - 3:00. This week our selection of flowers has really taken off. Come visit myself or on of the friendly ladies I have helping me out at markets.

We now have around 25 different lilies on the farm, this is one of my favorite new varieties this season which will be ready for picking for the lily festival Aug 1st - 3rd. You may have noticed the weed in the picture. I left that in there so you know I am not telling the truth when I say we do not use any chemicals in our u-pick gardens.



Finally I have a picture from the Bowden Days Parade Last weekend. We always dress up in corn suits and run around in the streets handing out lilies. We will be in the Olds Parade doing the same thing August 7th, hope to see you there.


Oh and one more thing, Lily Festival August 1st - 3rd. Lots on info on the website click here

Vegetable Update

We started the season back 4 months ago, in our basement, while there was still snow on the ground. Many of the crops have such a long growing season that in order for them to mature here in Alberta we need to start them inside and then transplant them into the field after the risk of frost in May.

And now after 4 months of work we are just now starting to harvest. The radishes only take about 30 days to grow from seed to maturity and is the first crop we harvest on the farm. You can find them right now at an Innisfail Growers booth at on of your local farmers markets.

In the picture Roberto is pulling back a white fabric that we use to prevent the bugs from getting at the radish.

Generally any plant in the Brassica family requires insecticides to prevent the root maggot from damaging the radishes. We hope that we can eliminate the use of chemical by using this row cover.

All our cabbage, cauliflower & broccoli are grown this way to meet our goal of not using any chemicals this year in our Gardens.

For a full update of the Vegetable Garden visit our webiste. www.eagelcreekfarms.ca/vegetables.htm

Hail Season = Construction Season

I remember 3 years ago when I moved back to the farm, someone asked me if it was a good idea growing to grow flowers with all the hail we get here. As my memory served me at the time I could only remember hail 1 out of 4 years. As it turns out for the 3 years we have been growing flowers those numbers have been switched with 4 hail storms each year.


Many flowers are very durable and will stand up to a bit of abuse, but when it comes to the lily, one piece of hail is too much hail. Here are some pics of what a 2 minute hail storm did to our lilies back in 2007. There are small brown spots on the lily buds where the hail stones hit the plants. These spots cause the buds to deform when they finally open




So to combat mother nature our most delicate flowers, the lilies are grown under plastic tunnels. This year we are currently putting up our second set of tunnels. The first step is to order and receive delivery of the metal early enough in the season to construct the tunnels before hail season. Although we started planning back in January it was just 10 days ago that we picked up the metal. The pictures above were from a hail storm on June 25th, so we are already running on lost time.


One really nice feature about the tunnels are that they are designed to be temporary and will be moved when when it is time for the lilies to be divided in 4-5 years. This is a pic of my dad and our worker Roberto screwing the posts into the ground.

The next step is to put the hoops on the posts. You may notice the plastic is wet from a rain storm that came through. We were a little worried the clouds might drop hail, but we were lucky this time.


Finally the plastic will be pulled over the hoops and left on until September. Each winter we will pull the plastic off the tunnels and where it will be wrapped in black plastic to protect it from the UV rays and winter snow storms.

The lilies are a little behind this year with our cool spring, but should be ready for picking by July 7th. You may come out to the farm or find our bouquets at an Innisfail Growers at one of your local Farmers Markets. We will also be attending two markets on our own this year. Friday evenings at the Sundre Farmers Market and Saturday Afternoon at the Bentley Farmers Market. Hope to see you there.

Farmers Market Season

I attended my first market of the season today. Unfortunately none of my products were ready just yet, although the radishes are only a week to ten days away. I work with a neighbouring co-operative of vegetables growers called Innisfail Growers. Each Grower specializes in a different product. We grow the Cut Flowers, Radishes, Garlic & Sweet Corn.

So although I do not have anything ready yet there was plenty to sell. hanging baskets from the Jungle Farm, Asparagus from Edgar Farms, last seasons potatoes from Upper Green Farms and Tomatoes from C & J Greenhouses.

I will be sending product to about 12 markets a week with Innisfail Growers for a complete list visit the website and you will find me at Northlands Market every Tuesday from 3:30 - 7:00pm and most Sundays at the Calgary farmers market at the Currie Barracks . Just look for the really tall guy, that will be me.. Farmer John.

In the Midst of Planting

There may not be enough to see on the farm but there is plenty to do. For the next two months we are working hard to get the farm ready for our first weekend for the maze August 1st - 3rd. Visit us this weekend for our Annual Lily Festival

Here is a short list of what is keeping us busy at the moment.

1)The Sunflower & Corn Mazes are just poking out of the ground, so in the next two weeks we will be planning out and cutting in this years pattern.

2) All our Seed Potatoes and U-pick potatoes are in the ground and will soon need to be weeded.. Anyone want to help??

3) This year we are expanding our U-pick vegetable Fields. A variety of carrots, potatoes, peas, tomatoes, beans, radishes, garlic & more will be available throughout the summer

4) The lilies are growing like mad, the first of which should be ready for picking early July

5) In addition to the lilies we plant approximately 10, 000 annual flowers & have expanded our perennial beds for visitors to pic and create beautiful bouquets.

6) Earlier this week we received our first shipment of Christmas Trees. We planted the trees yesterday and they should be ready for picking in 2016... It's only a few years away. That's a "soon to be" christmas tree in the white circles

Summer is Comming

We are already planning for this coming seasons mazes & u-pick fields. Because the sunflowers and corn are an annual crop, each year we completely replant and redesign the maze. Last year the design was themed around our fall pumpkin festival. There is an image on our website if you would like to see Bowden SunMaze.

New this season is going to be a comprehensive U-pick vegetable garden. Our plans are to have enough vegetables that you will be able to visit the u-pick vegetable patch and pick everything you need to create a meal. U-pick Dinner is what we will be calling it. By the end of June we will have a complete menu of recipes for salads, soups, main courses and deserts, all of which can be picked from our gardens. You will be able to find this information on our Eagle Creek Farms website.

Enjoy the last few months of winter, summer is just around the corner.

Spring is on its way!

At Eagle Creek Farms we have many different operations to keep our selves busy throughout the season. One of these is our specialty seed potato business, Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes.

The idea behind this is that we produce, package and ship seed potatoes to gardeners across Canada so they can grow potatoes in their own gardens. We all know that there is nothing fresher than what you can pick out of your own back yard.

If you would like to learn more about our seed potato varieties and how to order your own potatoes please visit our seed potato website
www.seedpotatoes.ca