Well, it has been a busy winter on the Farm.
Angela and I just got back from one of our favourite conferences of the year - the NAFDMA Conference (held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania this year). NAFDMA is a place where we get together with farmers like us and share ideas, experiences and get rejuvenated for the coming year.
We also traveled to St. Catharine's, On. for the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention to take a day-long workshop with John Stanley - a RETAIL GURU from Perth, Australia. I made 30 pages of notes and got completely fired up to transform our Farm experience to greater heights.

So, we started planting new ideas, fertilized them with creativity and they have grown into new plans.

One on the first new ideas is that we are bringing back our summer day camp. 10 years ago we had a summer day camp on the farm for a couple of years but closed it when our Camp Director Jenn Duffy moved on to a full-time teaching career.

At the Play, Learn, Grow Farm Camp campers will explore different parts of Saunders Farm including our working farm, Mazes and Labyrinths, farm fresh food and cooking class, tree planting, performing and much more.
Campers will also get the chance to swim in our pool every day supervised by our qualified lifeguard.
The two One Week Camps will be July 5th - July 9th and August 9th - August 13th, 2010.
There will be two age groups: Seedlings- 6-8 years old
Saplings- 9-12 years old.
Camp registration includes a farm fresh lunch every day and a camp t-shirt.


Another exciting addition to our farm is that we are excited to offer a FULL YEAR unlimited pass to our Farm!
This Annual Pass includes UNLIMITED VISITS to Saunders Farm for the Summer and the Fall and it is being offered at a deep discount for a limited time.






We are also adding Farm Flicks- outdoor Walk-in movies shown on the side of our Barn. Watch here for more information soon....

See you in the Spring!Mark Saunders
Director of Fun

The Original "Haunted Hayride at Saunders Farm- 1974

The Original "Haunted Hayride" at Saunders Farm

We have lots of reasons to give THANKS this Thanksgiving. FAMILY is a big one of those reasons. With my sister and two brothers and myself always having kids over to our farm it was always busy and lively.

As I was rooting through old family photo albums with my mom, Anne, a few weeks ago we discovered this gem from 1974. I like to call it "the first haunted hayride". My father Bill is driving our Massey Ferguson tractor and the four Saunders kids and some friends are on the wagon.

My dad loved to tease us, as he loves to tease his 8 grandkids now, and I think he is about to pop the clutch and try and shake us off...
If my memory- triggered by this photo- is correct - it wasn't too long before one of us was quite scared and wanted to get off!

Now our real haunted hayride attracts thousands of kids and adults throughout our Haunting Season www.saundersfarm.com. It has become a family tradition for families across the Ottawa Region. Come and see what all the screaming is about!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mark