The Tea Farm & Ingredients Health Food

Left: Margit Nellemann co-creator of Teafarm. Right: Cindy Dreger and Deanna Danychuk of Ingredients Health Food and Apple Café

Having a variety of goods produced on Vancouver Island and in our province is important to our sustainable economic, social and cultural development. Local production creates vibrant, resilient communities, fosters creativity and innovation, and expands the diversity of opportunity for everyone. The main challenge around encouraging this kind of entrepreneurship is distribution. How does the producer get her high quality goods to the consumer?

By working together, that’s how. The type of synergy required is embodied in the relationship between Victor Vesely of Teafarm in the Cowichan Valley and Cindy Dreger and Deanna Danychuk of Ingredients Health Food and Apple Café in downtown Victoria.

Teafarm already blends a number of imported artisanal teas with herbs and flowers grown on the farm in North Cowichan. Each of the 11 Tea Farm blends and 12 Zodiac blends are original recipes. Additionally, Tea Farm recently developed 2 terraces on a 1/4 acre and planted tea for the first time in the spring of 2010. Within the next few years they hope to produce their very own Cowichan tea.

Ingredients Health Food and Apple Café opens this week and is ready to receive Teafarm’s island grown loose leaf teas in addition to the blends already available in bulk for customers in Victoria.

“We are a health food store first,” says Dreger. “But organic, local production and support of cottage industry is paramount to healthy eating. We’ll do what we can to offer healthy new local products to our customers.”

Teafarm is a small experiment in local production, but Cowichan tea is an exciting prospect for tea drinkers on Vancouver Island nonetheless. The new Ingredients market in downtown Victoria provides another point of distribution for quality local products like Tea Farm’s exquisite, organic, loose leaf teas. It’s a great example of people working together to bring us higher quality products/services and a sustainable future.

Teafarm

8350 Richards Trail

North Cowichan, BC

250-748-3811

Website

Ingredients Health Food and Apple Café

2031 Store Street

Victoria BC

250-590-6177

Website

– By Timothy Trebilcock