We are a family business that integrates our commercial fishing and seafood sales, Natural Gift Seafoods, with our farm, Natural Gift Orchards.  We produce broiler chickens in the spring, hazelnuts in the fall, and cut holly in early winter.  Our orchard is located between Stewart and Claude Roads in Nanoose Bay.

Work on our orchard began back in 1996 when we bought rooted holly cuttings in 4 inch pots from Teufel's in Oregon.  These sprigs were re-potted, and grown out for a year while we pulled stumps and prepared the orchard site.  Our little trees were planted out in the orchard in 1997, then nurtured through dry summers, hungry grasshoppers, and deer pruning and raking.  We conducted our first commercial harvest in 2005 and have been increasing our harvest as the trees grow.

Hazelnut trees were added to the orchard in 2008, replacing hollies that did not thrive in the wetter spots of the orchard.  Five cultivars were planted to ensure pollination and have been producing beautiful hazelnuts since 2012.

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The Holly Story

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Since ancient times, holly has played a part in medicine and magic, science and superstition, and legend and lore, all around the world.  Many of our Christmas customs originate from the practices and beliefs of the Druids, an order of priests, teachers, philosophers, and astronomers of ancient Britain and Gaul.  The Druids believed that the sun never deserted the holly tree and therefore the holly was a sacred plant.  It was their custom to decorate the inside of their dwelling places with evergreens in which the woodland spirits would take refuge from the rigors of winter.  Holly has long been symbolic of Christmas.  The Romans used holly to decorate their houses, temples, and deities for Saturnalia, the mid-winter feast.  They exchanged holly boughs as symbols of goodwill and friendship.  This practice is considered the forerunner of holly's use in Christmas celebrations.