Davison's: An Experience that is Good to the Core

"I love working here" says Dave, the guy who often greets me when I enter Davison Orchards Country Village.  He has a big grin on his face.  He doesn't tell me why he loves working here, he just points to the vista.  The mist in the valley is melting under the warm autumn sun.  The three humps of Blue Nose Mountain  define the eastern horizon with the tall rolling hills along the far side of Kalalmalka Lake, Middleton Mountain and the green fields of the Commonage providing the backdrop for the city of Vernon, nestled in the hub of three lush valleys.  Not a bad view to face during a day's work!

 

I ask Dave how many people work here.  "Hmmm about 80 during the peak of the season" he guesses, "there are pickers, packers, peelers, bakers, cashiers, the café and the market.  some with the animals, supervising the playground, directing parking..."
The animals?  I've been up here a lot, sitting the Aunt May's Deep Dish Café enjoying my morning coffee (usually with a piece of fresh fruit pie) and watching toddlers play in the grassed playground.

I've spent hours ambling through the Village Market, taste testing seasonal fruit and preserves, checking out the local produce and food products, the country décor gifts and kitchen gadgetry. But today, with my out-of -town guests, I wonder behind the village, past the picnic tables and into the Critter Corral. Here are the animals.

Two large turkeys, likely unaware of their good fortune of surviving Thanksgiving weekend, watch us with their pink eyes, their snoods and waddles shaking as they strut in a pen.

Children gingerly hold out their hands with food from the 25 cent dispensary for the miniature donkey and goats. Its calm and peaceful but squeals and laughter come from another corral,  the Crazy Cow Kid's Corral, where kids are climbing bales, playing on an old John Deere tractor that is immersed in a giant sand box, and riding bicycles.

 Just behind the corrals, the Johnny Popper Orchard Tour is returning from the pumpkin patch.

Little people and big people sit in carts made from large wooden picking boxes being towed by a chugging John Deere tractor, holding their freshly picked pumpkins.

Davison Orchards is a special place.  It started as a simple family orchard.  Purchased by English immigrants, Tom and May Davison in 1933 for $6000 (with financial help from the BC Fruit Shippers).  Davison's has withstood the test of time.  When Tom passed away in 1950 his nephew Bob, then only 17, continued to farm the orchard. In 1953 he and his new wife Dora moved onto the orchard and took the helm. Along with six children they produced  some of the best Macintosh apples in the valley which were sold to BC Fruit Shippers.
When their son Tom returned from Olds Agricultural College in Alberta in the early 80's, he came with fresh ideas and a new wife, Tamara, who had an eye for displays and a talent for marketing and sales.  In 1985 the two generations joined forces and began moving in a new direction. New varieties of apples were planted  and tomatoes added between the rows.  A market was started on the farm with a  "Honk for Service" sign to alert Bob, Dora, Tom or Tamara of customers while they were working on the orchard.  The next year they started growing and selling cucumbers, watermelons and pumpkins.  They attended fairs and farmers markets to promote their produce and the Davison logo was created from Tamara's "pumpkin man" display in 1989. 

Their own apple juice was introduced in 1994 and the Apple Crate Bakery was built in 1996.  Now a fourth  generation of the Davison family is involved in the farm.


The season opens at the beginning of May with the farm in full blossom and early produce for sale.

There are special events through the season: Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, Canada Day but October is still the most celebrated month. This year bins and displays of pumpkins and squash overflow onto the picnic area, a tribute to a bountiful harvest.

On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend the bakery sold about 700 pies, most were pumpkin or apple. The newsletter reports that  Grampa Bob says "its the best year ever for apples".  Boxes of a dozen varieties of apples line the shelves of the market, glowing  shades of green, red, yellow, and pink, so fresh you can smell them, and taste them too.

Dave slices a grapefruit sized Honey Crisp, currently the most popular variety along with the pink tinged Ambrosia and the yellowy orange Aurora.  Davison's is more than a farm or a market, bakery, café or gift shop. Its an experience but those apples remain at its core.

A Confession from a Fair Weather Cyclist

 

September and October are two of the best months for cycling in the North Okanagan.  With many sunny days, temperatures ranging from 15 to 25 degrees C, and back roads free of summer traffic, it’s a great time to explore on two wheels.  The weather tends to be so reliable that I rarely consider an alternative plan.  So when we ride our bikes up Bella Vista Road to Planet Bee Honey Farm and Meadery, even though the sky was dull and gray, there is no plan B. 

    

Observing the live hives we learn about the 6 to 8 week life cycle of the female worker bees, the drones who exist only for the purpose of fertilizing the queen bee, and the queen herself, who eats royal jelly produced by the workers, lays about 2000 eggs a day and lives to the ripe old age of 3 to 5 years.   We taste the variety of honeys but decline the mead (honey wine) tasting as we are heading back out onto the road.


It's now raining.  Determined to finish our tour, we ride the couple blocks to my house and abandon the bikes for the car.  Yes we love to cycle but the truth is, it’s the stops along the way that are the best part of the journey! 

With windshield wipers sweeping the rain off our view, we trace out what would have been our bike route: Down Bella Vista Road, continuing east on 30 Ave, a right turn onto 26 Ave and then a left turn on 25 Ave which continues east to a T intersection, then south on Francis Road.  A right and then left turn on to Pottery Road, which we follow to 476 Pottery Road.  Here, in a tidy clap board house, is South of Pine Street Fashions, our next destination.

 

 

We open the squeaky screen door and are greeted by owner Shella who asks if we would like a latte while we browse.   Being neither sweaty nor wet, there seems no barrier to trying on some of thenew fall fashions.

We leave, tossing our purchases into the car; no need to cram them into panier bags!  This justifies our car tour, even though the rain has stopped. 

 

We drive north on East Vernon Road, through the pastures of BX and acknowledge the steepness of the road up over Black Rock and how fast we would have coasted down 39 Avenue on our bikes.  Our final destination is the Vernon Museum (aka The Greater Vernon Museum and Archives), a place we have all intended to visit but have never quite made it.

Inside we walk along a wooden sidewalk, past the stories of fur traders, early cattle ranches and orchards, and the BC gold rush that pushed Vernon from a sleepy town to a transportation hub, the epicentre for stage coaches, paddle wheelers and the railroad.  We see the art of Allan Brooks, the namesake of the Nature Centre perched up on the commonage and the work of famous potter Axel Ebring and admire the vintage clock from the old Post Office.

 

An hour is not enough time and we promise ourselves that we will return. We leave the Museum under a sunny sky knowing that we could have biked the route, but we are not disappointed.  It was a great morning!