Farm history
Farming on the Fraser
Watermelons, market-garden crops and harvest boxes from the silty banks of the Fraser.
Watermelons
The great watermelon harvests
Hundreds of watermelons, red, orange and yellow, grown on the warm river flats and sold in 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel and Prince George.
"Sweet, succulent, crispy, and delicious, you will be happy not to miss these watermelons. Reds and yellows, big and small… come and celebrate our sweetest harvest yet."Our harvest notice, September 2019
Grown with organic practices in mind, with biological fertilizers and no sprays.
Watermelon harvests →Harvest scale
Tonnes of melons
Watermelons have been grown here since about 2011–2012. From 2021 to 2024, the years of commercial growing, the farm averaged roughly 15,000 to 20,000 lb of watermelon a year, sold in 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel and Prince George, where our Big Fire Farm melons became locally famous (the family’s estimate).
Growing up on the farm
Growing up with the watermelons
- c. 2011–2012The first beds, and the first watermelons, go in on the western banks of the Fraser at Marguerite.
- 2012Market-garden rows of sweet corn, greens and mulched beds, sold at local farmers' markets.
- 2019"Our sweetest harvest yet": reds and yellows at the Quesnel market.
- 2020Cariboo enRoot harvest boxes: potatoes, squash, carrots, beets, cabbage and onions.
- 2021–2024Commercial watermelon growing, averaging roughly 15,000 to 20,000 lb a year by the family’s estimate.
- 2024Watermelons and vegetables at farmers' markets around the Cariboo.
2020 · Cariboo enRoot
The Harvest Box
Cariboo enRoot was the farm's fall harvest box: storage vegetables delivered to the door in Quesnel and Williams Lake, with potatoes, mixed squash, orange and purple carrots, purple and gold beets, cabbage and onions. That autumn it grew into a biweekly winter subscription.
"For all the foodies at heart, we are happy to bring you a blend of heirlooms and hybrid vegetables that burst with flavour ripened here under a Cariboo sun."Cariboo enRoot, 2020Harvest boxes →
From our old website
caribooharvestbox.ca, 2020
The Cariboo enRoot site is no longer online. These are saved screens from it.
A bin of acorn squash at harvest
Rainbow carrots and beets
The market garden in June
"We believe that the health of our food derives from a healthy soil brought on by proper stewardship of the land."Cariboo enRoot, 2020