A Day in the Orchard at Bloom Castle

In an orchard stretching down toward the ocean, branches are heavy with apples and the air sweet with fruit and salt spray.

Welcome to the Salt Spring Island Apple Festival. On this September day, neighbors and friends gathered, not just for the harvest, but for the joy of being outside together, surrounded by trees, laughter, and the hum of community.

The kids wasted no time turning the orchard into an adventure zone. Armed with a Nerf gun and foam arrows, they aimed for jars of applesauce tucked high in the branches. Kids walked away with armfuls of applesauce, grinning like champions.

Families wandered with maps in hand, following the “name the trees” trail. Each tree in the orchard waited for someone to claim it. A crooked old one became Miss Infinity. Another, tall and dignified, was dubbed Ruby. A sprightly sapling? Twiggy, of course. By the end of the day, the orchard was full of new names and stories, like a neighbourhood where you get to learn everyone’s quirks.

Down Beddis Road at the Root Food Hub, a crew pressed 600 pounds of apples into juice using fruit gleaned through the Food Share program. Misty and her Ox Eats Grass Vegan food truck crew brewed up hot apple cider to add to their other delicious offerings. We raised $1,300 through sales of juice, apples, and hot apple cider to support the Salt Spring Island Farmland Trust’s work of keeping farmland healthy and productive for generations to come.

We also gave away our special blend of juice to our Friends of the Farmland Trust — sustaining donors who provide backbone support as monthly contributors. Friends received juice from a very special pressing made from all 500+ varieties of apples grown on Salt Spring. Become a Friend here: https://give-can.keela.co/friends-of-the-farmland-trust

Meanwhile, on the edge of the sea, the gates to the storybook Bloom Castle were thrown open for a special tour of the creatively landscaped grounds. Bequeathed by owner Susan Bloom, the estate has been gifted to Royal Roads University — the largest gift in the university’s history. Together with SSI Farmland Trust and our Root to Bloom Centre for Regenerative Foodways, Royal Roads is shaping Bloom Castle into a hub for learning, where community education and research-focussed programs can exist side-by-side.

After the games (and wasps!) had quieted, people lingered anyway — sitting at picnic tables, sipping cider, and basking in the afterglow of a beautiful day. The orchard seemed to ask us to stay a little longer, to remember that these special moments are what root us to place.

SSI Farmland Trust is building on the legacy of generations of apple farmers and growers, who made this island what was once Canada’s biggest apple producer. With a resurgence of farmers, foodies and backyard homesteaders, we are seeing local food systems be revitalized and reimagined.

Thanks to the volunteers, festival founder Harry Burton, and everyone who attended, the Apple Fest was a brilliant success. It’s also an invitation — to keep showing up for each other, and for the land that feeds us.