It’s getting close to Halloween, and for trick or treaters (and adults), Eagle Acres is a spectacular treat for spooky season. Make the trip out to the farm and you’ll find an inviting family pumpkin patch, and cute farm animals like sheep and goats who just love getting a little attention and are looking to be pet.
Eagle Acres’ Erin Anderson, the main family farmhand, talked to us about sustainable farming and adding fall fun to the fields with a pumpkin patch.
By Avneet Takhar
It’s a family affair at Eagle Acres. Could you tell us more about the farm and its history?
Brian (my partner) and I started our farm nearly 25 years ago. We were a small dairy farm with the goal to educate children about where their milk comes from. We quickly learned that we needed to educate people of all ages—not just the youth. The internet was just coming into its own, and when we started out in 1999 we realized we were fighting a new world of misinformation. It made our purpose that much more important.
I grew up on a dairy farm in South Surrey and Brian grew up on a mixed farm in Langley. While growing our business, we also raised 4 amazing farm kids! After 18 years at a rental farm we built barns, a house, and moved to our current permanent farm location in 2017.
We named the farm Eagle Acres in honour of our son Jared, who passed away in 2015. We see eagles here regularly! We have added to our menagerie of animals over the years to include most common farm animal species, as well as the main dairy herd of 60 milking cows. We soon after added our pumpkin patch and summer corn maze.
What a beautiful tribute, Erin. And with Halloween around the corner, what’s “pumpkin” at Eagle Acres?
We added a pumpkin patch for our visitors in 2018! Growing pumpkins is pure fun and a lot of weeding! We grow over 20 varieties, including some funky warty and coloured ones, and some great baking pumpkins.
Our pumpkin patch guests all have access to visit our animals while they are here, and tractor- pulled hayrides take guests to and from the patch.
As a sustainable dairy farm with animals and produce in abundance, what do your practices consist of?
We practice crop rotation, nutrient management and we always plant cover crops on our corn fields. We are experimenting with reduced tillage (the preparation of soil for planting and the cultivation of soil after planting) in our corn and pumpkin fields too.
Can you tell us how you’re contributing to combating cow hunger and the agricultural labour shortage?
Drought and other environmental changes have made growing enough feed super challenging in the last several years. We have irrigation on our home farm but not at our larger rental acreage. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and change things around to adapt, like moving a crop to where it grows best based on soil type and environmental conditions.
We have added drain tiles on several fields to be able to have earlier access to get on them in the spring. Growing more on the same space and being efficient, allows us to produce enough feed to last the year. Some years we produce enough to sell extra feed.
As for the agricultural labour shortage, we are actually feeling it too. Our kids are grown up and have their own careers, but they always pitch in when they can. They’ve been raised learning how to farm.
What can people see and do from a visit to the farm?
We are available for farm visits March to October. We offer many school and group programs. We also host birthday parties and corporate events. During the spring months we offer our Spring Safarmi Stroll to the public. The Safarmi Stroll is a visit with all of our animals and their spring babies.
The milking robot R2D2, and Catwall (created in 2023) are always a hit, and included in every tour we guide.
In 2021 we started an annual summer corn maze. Available to check out in August/September, it is a “real” maze where people have to think their way out! The design changes every year and is proving to be a fun/challenging addition to the farm! We are already dreaming up next year’s design.
Fall, of course, brings pumpkin time and we welcome people to come, especially for the photo opportunities, pumpkins and farm animal visits on weekends and holidays all of October.
Eagle Acres is located at 8796 240 St, Langley Township, and is open Fridays 2 – 5pm, and Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays 10 am – 5pm.
You can request a tour here.
There are many ways to get here by transit. Visit TransLink’s Trip Planner to find your way.
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