About:

We are a family business & our story is a simple one:

We wanted to get out of the city. We looked for a piece of land we could build a home on, SOMEWHERE RURAL. We saw wooded lots, rocky lots, lots with creeks, and waterfront. Our last look came upon 5.7 acres of mostly cleared HAY land. It also had SOLAR income, AND a driveway.

We decided to purchase it!

Now what to do with 4 acres? We subtracted 1.7 for house, driveway, front yard AND some trees that will need to be removed down one side of the property, (I did say MOSTLY cleared). We didn't want to have to sow seeds every year and then harvest what was sown. So another style of agricultural project took form. I surfed the web for different things that would be UNIQUE and very NICHE so IT wouldn't be readily available except from maybe a NEW source :).

I found a shrub type that was ancient in origin, but fairly new to North America. SEABUCKTHORN. A SUPER 'HOLY' FRUIT as the natives of it’s origin called it.

We used to get herbs from a nursery north of Toronto (I won't mention names), and they had 3 different varieties of the species. There are MANY more varieties I have found. This nursery also had a large consumer of the fruit giving a seminar about IT, in the near future. 

Plans were underway.

We started talking about what we should name our plantation. Firstly, that THORN had to go! Another name for the berries were Seaberries. This is where we started. Napanee Seaberries, just seemed like a unknowing location. Lennox & Addington is the County, but L&A Seaberries didn’t hit any vibes with us either. Canada Seaberries! Well… a little presumptuous. When I made the comment that I would buy a personal plate with it saying SEABERRY, my Dad pointed out that it would end up saying ONTARIO SEABERRY, Yours to Discover. We had the name… 

Ontario Seaberries! 

What? You expected Sea-B Orchard? That’s later in this story.

With all the knowledge I had, we decided to order/purchase a couple dozen of each type online and get started. After going to their website, it turned out that only 2 of the 3 types were available.

SHUCKS.

With a minor setback as far as selection was concerned, we waited for the seminar to come. The day came to venture to the nursery and find out about our new future. With parents accompanying (the main reason the fruit will be used for, besides a retirement business), I entered their greenhouse. We were early still and looked among the plants for where they kept SEABUCKTHORN. Karma was on our side. 

The THIRD SPECIES! 

“AWESOME!” Those are going to be coming home with us, as few as there were.

"SEABUCKTHORN" was heard, so we made our way back to where they had all their chairs. Before sitting down we were each given a little ticket. After everyone settled in we were greeted by a gentleman who combines the honey from his Apiary with the healing properties of SEABUCKTHORN. He gave us many insightful ideas of it’s uses, but I'm sure he didn't know ALL that I would discover over time. At the end of the seminar, the informative gentleman announced that he was drawing one lucky ticket for a prize pack of their products using SEABUCKTHORN.OMG, my number was the one called out! 

If destiny wasn't saying "HELLO!", I don't know what was.

We rushed to get those last SEABUCKTHORN plants, of that elusive (and we would later learn less hardy) variety! We brought them home, and waited for their sisters (and brothers), to arrive. We cared for them for a few days, and low & behold they arrived. We put a bunch of tools that would allow us to carve out a little corner of the 4 acres into our truck and in the morning, along with our new babies, did our 2 hour drive.

We managed to clear a section, with a lawn mower, and delineated some rows for the three varieties. The plants ended up getting in the ground, and looked pretty good. (Pics to follow in a Gallery if possible!)

We also decided to purchase a trailer so that we could visit the plants and enjoy some time away from the city. It turns out that summer was going to be one of the hottest and DRIEST!! Long story, short. We lost ALL those plants!

During that winter, we decided to order more plants, and nurse them to be strong enough in a bunch of 1 gallon pots. We also decided that the 2hr drive was taking its toll on the ability to maintain that property, so with no help from the bank to simply build on the new property and transition there, we were left with no other choice and just buy something close to the property. That process took one season, but the plants survived that winter and that summer we decided to sell. Fall came and we were in our new house. 2018!

Needless to say we just kept upgrading the pots the SEABUCKTHORN were living in, making sure they would be strong enough but also wondering when we were going to be able to take another shot at the other property. We decided that the ½ acre backyard here would become our R&D plantation/orchard and put them into the ground. We also knew that we weren't going to use the nursery, (with the inability to provide approximately 3-4000 plants at one-time, plus their high costs per plant), if we were going to able to fill the 4 acres again.

A greenhouse was going to be needed for propagation.

A couple of years later and the plants, now bushes, have finally matured enough to bear a considerable amount of fruit, and handle the intense cutting it takes to propagate approximately 4000 plants.

Here is where we decided that the other property needed it’s own identity. Nothing fancy, my Dad liked the Sea-B part, and I think if you add ERRIES going down under the B, it will look good on a road side banner, and since there is going to be a lot of shrubs, it was time to give the other property the recognition it deserved. ORCHARD!

Now you're up to date, except for the part that we still want to build and transition to the other property so we can become one of the largest orchards of this AMAZING SUPER FRUIT! We are on a mission to revolutionize the way people live, work, and play. Our vision is to create a world where everyone has access to innovative products and services that enhance their lives.