Between the Labour Day long weekend and the Saanich Fair, local growers are winding up for a busy end to summer.
Clayton Fox, manager of Silver Rill Corn, said the Saanichton farm will be bringing burlap sacks, each filled with up to 3,000 cobs of corn, to the Saanich Fair each day.
“If we need more we rush it in last minute,” he said.
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What is now known as Silver Rill Corn started as a dairy farm in the early 1900s and over time expanded its produce operations, now growing more than 20 different corn varieties across 70 acres of land.
Each year Silver Rill harvests about 1.5 million cobs, sometimes picking up to 20,000 cobs per day – including peaches and cream, yellow and white corn – all sold for retail at Silver Rill Corn’s farm stand or at Greater Victoria farmers’ markets.
“We get up early and pick as much as we need for the day,” Fox said. “We pick it that day and sell it that day. For us it’s about really, really high quality.”
This year, Silver Rill had its second earliest harvest ever, thanks to a hot march and mild early summer.
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But summer isn’t the only time for corn-eating, noted Fox. In spring, the farm does staggered planting, about five acres at a time, so there’s enough corn produced throughout the year.
“Some people think summer is over and the corn season has come to an end, but we keep selling into the fall,” Fox added. “We do carry on selling optimally ripe corn all the way until Halloween.”
