Apple Barn is a venture of the Taves family farm located at 333 Gladwin Road, Abbotsford, BC, Canada. This family farm is the third generation family tradition being continued to secure their heritage of farming.
They want to carry forward their culture and background of farming as an act of honouring their land and preserving the future of their children and the community.
History of Taves Family Farm
The Taves family farm was started by the Taves family’s great-grandfather John, who bought their first plot of land in the 1930s. Now, it is operated by the grandson of John, Loren Taves, with his wife Corinne and their kids. They are the generation of farmers building and continuing their tradition of sustainable agriculture.
The farm is located on the southern banks of the Fraser Valley in the lower mainland area, farming a variety of produce. It is a 30-year-old establishment in Abbotsford, BC, as an apple barn pumpkins farm started by the Taves family.
The Apple Barn has its official website with up-to-date information regarding the activities and events organized as per the seasons. The people have direct access to the site with all the necessary information, announcements, or any bookings to be made.
About Apple Barn, AbbotsfordÂ
The family farm was initially started as a pumpkin house, to which an apple barn was introduced 30 years ago. Introducing the apple barn to the family farms is to enjoy the produce growing in the late summer and fall seasons.
The Apple Barn, Abbotsford, is accustomed to enjoying the fall season with the family. It is the place where you get to pick apples, Goji berries, strawberries, and plums as per the season. To enjoy the summertime, the Fraser Valley offers the beauty of a sunflower patch.
The valley has a trail of beautiful flowers in full bloom to walk through in this sunflower patch season. This is seen during the mid-August month. Over 1/4 acre of sunflowers and trails bloom to be witnessed by the visitors.
Especially during the fall month, you can enjoy hay rides, pony rides, puzzling through the corn quest maze, petting zoo animals, jouncing on jumping pillows, and swing rides on tires. It is the perfect season when you get to choose your pumpkin and the time you pick apples.
The Apple Barn is an agritourism attraction for people to enjoy nature’s sweet gifts and for family fun together.
The Tave family’s apple barn in Abbotsford accompanies an apple cider mill that produces one of the best and sweetest harvests of the season.
It started with a cider press placed in the backyard of the farm using the large barrels of Jonagold apples. The mill produces two varieties: pasteurized apple cider and cold-pressed apple cider.
The apple barn has one of the healthiest and juiciest harvests of apples blended into juice and made into apple cider. The mill offers a window for the people to witness the making of the cider right before their eyes.
4 Fun Activities of Apple Barn
1. Farmville Area
The Taves family farms offer Farmville fun over the weekends to its people. Some amazing activities offered at this time are pedal karts, riding a swing, and jumping pillows.
The weekend gateway offers petting zoo animals like the Goat named Billy and his counterparts like Jelly, the Donkey named Jelly Bean, bunnies, the Alpaca named Marley, and some chickens.
The bookings for the passes can be made online. There are three types of passes that are available on the website: individual fun pass, individual super fun pass, and family super fun pass.
2. Pumpkin Patch
A pumpkin patch is a popular event of the Taves family, mostly seen during the October months till the time of Halloween each year.
This is an excellent time of the year when people visit this place with friends and families, picking up the large orange-coloured pumpkins and gourds to set up the place for Halloween.
The largest harvest of the pumpkin cannon is done around this year for the pumpkin patch to be made for the event.
The pumpkin patch is a great attraction for tourists, people, and kids visiting the farm. During Halloween, the farm is just not ready with a pumpkin house, but the orchard is full of beautiful apples, trees, corn mazes, and activities like hay rides, pony rides, bustling animals, and a children’s play area.
Entry to the Taves family pumpkin patch is free of cost on all working days. The admission on the weekends in October is made at an extra cost of 7$+ taxes and fees. There is also a concession stand at the Taves farm. Whatever purchase is made on the farm has to be paid.
3. Releasing Butterflies
The butterfly-releasing activity at the Taves farms is a wonderful opportunity during the summertime. This is performed as an act of remembrance and love for your special somebody who is no more. The celebration parties for anniversaries, birthdays, or graduation also do the butterfly-releasing ritual.
It is generally done during the summer months of July on Saturdays and Sundays. It is also done as a playful summertime activity where you can choose and buy your butterfly. The other activities include jumping pillows and petting zoo animals.
4. Special Events at the Farms Apple Barn
4.1. Goats and Wheel Event
There is a Goats and Wheel event organized by the Taves farms, where there is a showcase of classic, collector, and vintage cars. The people who want to participate must purchase a ticket to be showcased.
One hundred cars can be displayed at the event and the entry time is before the guest’s arrival time.
The major share of the money collected from this event goes to The Pacific Autism Family Network (PAFN), which supports the people and their families suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder in the province.
This event is organized at a good scale with specific parking spaces for the participants and sufficient for the attending guests. A local artist, Ryan McAllister, is hired to sing at the event. He plays music near the petting barn.
The food and snacks in the form of doughnuts, ice creams, and slushies are all available on the pass. The pedal karts, jumping pillows, Farmville area, and petting barn are open to the people.
The Cidery estate of the Taves family is open to the country’s people.
The event is held on Sundays.
4.2. Easter Celebrations
The Taves farms also organize an Easter event during the spring season. The event includes a lot of amazing activities like an Easter egg hunt, a hay ride, other activities on the farm, and some live entertainment arranged for the event.
As it is an Easter event, the farm looks no less than a bunny town that is full of cute little bunnies all around the farm. The cost of visiting the Easter event is around 75$.
There is also the harvest of apples seen in the orchards of the apple barn, Abbotsford, where you pick apples, enjoy the sunflower trails, admire the beauty of the farm, and enjoy some cider.
4.3. Group Events
The Taves farm apple barn is a great place to organize and host parties and get together with friends and family.
The farm also offers spaces for kids in elementary school. It is a fun place that offers activities for children to educate. The farm tour includes educating the school child about the life cycles of pumpkins and apples, the bee pollination process, and making cider at the cider mill.
The kid’s activities like pony rides and hay rides are usually available at the weekends and hold an additional cost to them.
Apple Barn Country Store
The Taves family farm has a unique country store supplying its products and self-manufactured eatables. Plenty of fruits and vegetables are grown on the Family Farms.
They are known for their fresh apples and apple-picking activities in the season. They have farming fresh vegetables, which are sold at wholesale rates in the market.
Some of the fresh produce grown at the Taves farms are: The fruits grown are strawberries, apples, Goji berries, plums, pears, black, red, white, and pink currants, and red and green gooseberries. The fall season is generally known for the harvest of apples at the apple barn in Abbotsford.
Pretzel twists and caramelized apples are some of the sumptuous delicacies to be tasted on the farm. Various squashes like Butternut, Acorn, and Delicata are all made from these sweet harvests. Candied corn from the corn mazes grown from a corn gun is available to be tasted.
The vegetables are eggplants, corn maze, pumpkins, gourd, and mini sweet peppers. Pickles and preservatives are made on the farm to be sold in the markets. There are also pumpkin cannons, corn guns, and potato and corn maze roasters at the Taves family farm.
The Taves family barn is known for making and providing one of the best varieties of ciders like fresh cider, sparkling cider, spiced cider, and pasteurized cider. The apple barn is known for its pumpkin butter, apple butter, apple BBQ sauces, and fillings of apple pies.
It offers great taste and flavours straight into the bottles. The store only opens its gates during the Summer/Spring from September to October and is a must-visit.
The apple barn, Abbotsford, is a great place to visit for fun, frolic, and adventure. The place is just a one-hour drive from downtown Vancouver and near the Abbotsford airport. Within the radius of Taves family farms, there is also a castle fun park in Abbotsford for some great activities to do with children.
The Taves family, carrying on with their farming tradition, feels pride in growing and making their products. With the decline in North American food culture, they feel happy to uplift the lost culture and produce again at minimal fares in the markets.
They believe in keeping their tradition alive with their trendy and upbeat skills and products. They love connecting to the people and catering to the market in the best possible ways.
All the necessary social distancing precautions are being followed as and when required during the pandemic.
Last Updated on by Namrata
