Aurora Mountain Farm is a small farm in the Yukon. The Rudge family (Tom, Simone, Claire and Graham) grow certified organic vegetables, grain for baking and cereal, and feed for the beef/milk cows, heritage pigs, cashmere goats, Belgian horses and laying hens.

It's amazing the power available from a willing and enthusiastic horse! Tutshi and Tat sure look gorgeous harnessed up and ready to work.

Why Should You Choose Organic Meat?

Besides our certified organic vegetable and grain crops, we also raise free-range chickens for meat. The demand for locally raised free-range birds is very high. We start in March taking orders with deposits of $15/chicken and are often sold out by the time the chicks arrive. In 2011, we've finally found chickens bred to be raised on pasture. These birds are a combination of several heritage meat breeds. The first chicks won't be available until June, so this year, we'll only be raising a single batch. We expect to have them ready for you by early September. To reserve yours, send us an email, or come visit at the Fireweed Community Market in Shipyards Park on Thursday between 3 and 8 pm.

The chicks will spend their first three and a half weeks in an inside enclosure with a propane brooder to keep them warm. When they start getting their true feathers, we move them to the outdoor pen. Chickens are naturally forest dwellers so they really enjoy a place with trees and bushes to provide shelter and shade. Netting over the top protects them from hawks.

Butchering day helps build a strong sense of community as neighbours and farming friends get together to share in the work. Since all our meat is sold "farm gate", customers come out to the farm to pick up their orders. Many of our customers participate in butchering day to share in that sense of community as well as become more connected with where their food comes from.

In the spring of 2009, three pigs joined the farm. Tasha and Boris are Tamworths and Fiona is a first generation cross: Large English Black & Tamworth. Offspring from these heritage breed pigs are available for breeding stock, raising yourself or we'll raise them for you.

There is nothing that compares to the taste of pork raised outside with a varied diet. Our pigs enjoy peaches, tomatoes and other fruits and veggies as well as grass, hay, and a grain mixture made up of locally grown barley with an organic protein concentrate.

Free-range, heritage breed pork is $5/pound by the side or whole. We're taking orders now for fall/winter 2011. A deposit of $250/side is requested. You can come and pick it up at the farm, or we'll deliver for you to Stacy's Butcher block in Porter Creek.

We're slowly building up our beef cow and calf herd after acquiring six young Hereford X heifers from Jim and Kate Buerge in 2008. Through the marvels of AI, Buttercup shown here with his mother Star is the offspring of Diablo, a polled red Dexter. Then we bought a couple of Dexter cows and Mario LeMoo, our Dexter/Angus bull. Calves born this spring, will be ready for butchering between November 2011 and January 2012. You can reserve yours with a deposit of $500/side. Price is $5/pound rail weight (usually about 200 lbs per side).

Our cows and their calves spend from June until late fall on the grazing lease where they enjoy a wide variety of browse along with fresh grass. During the winter, they're fed local hay from neighbouring farms as well as our own, occassionally supplemented with rolled oats for those cold winter nights.

Taste the difference - try locally raised grass-fed beef!

Tom writes a regular column "Real Food" for the How's Business quarterly.

You can tell a lot about a person's politics by the books they read. Here are some of our favourite books and videos with a short review of each. There's lots of good reading out there!

We make a wide selection of jam, jelly and marmalade from locally harvested herbs and berries: Yukon Cranberry, Rhubarb Saskatoon, and Mountain Blueberry Jam; Raspberry and Rhubarb Marmalade; Chokecherry, Yarrow, Dandelion, Highbush Cranberry, and our best seller - made with the Yukon's territorial flower - Fireweed Jelly.

Our preserves are available at the Kathleen Lake Lodge near Haines Junction, the Watson Lake General Store and in Whitehorse at Aroma Borealis, Lilli Pie, Paradise Alley, Midnight Sun Gallery and Gifts, the MacBride Museum gift shop and at the Yukon Made Store in Shipyards Park.

We make three types of goatmilk soap: Unscented Goatmilk Soap, Fireweed Goatmilk Soap scented with geranium oil and lavender, and Takhini Mud Goatmilk Soap containing mineral clay and scented with ylang-ylang, patchouli and clary sage. All our soaps are made with olive oil, vegetable oil, and coconut oil along with goat milk. Goat milk is rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals and very nourishing for your skin.

The soap is hand-cut into bars that each weigh over 100 grams which, after curing, are wrapped in a strip of brown paper and labelled. Cold-processed soaps like these retain the glycerin that is naturally produced by the soap making process which results in a soap that is very gentle on your skin, lathers well and lasts a long time.

You can buy our handmade soap at the Yukon Made Store or at the weekly Fireweed Community Market in Shipyards Park.

Spring is a busy time as each of the cashmere goats are combed for their underdown which is spun into beautiful, soft cashmere yarn.

This cute little guy on the left is Matthew. He's already had his thick winter coat combed out and is looking very svelte. Emma, munching on some oats, is much fluffier in her winter down coat.

Cashmere has the well-deserved reputation for being one of the softest and warmest fibres - as well as being exceptionally beautiful. Try it yourself! It is a real treat for hand spinning.

The 2010 combings have been blended with fine, white merino at the Twisted Sisters Mill in RollyView, Alberta. The yarn and roving is available at the Yukon Made Store in Shipyards Park along with some hand-dyed roving and yarn as well as a varied selection of hand-spun yarns.

New this winter are hand-knit cashmere scarves as well as warm winter mittens made from cashmere hide and leather from our beef cows.

Occassional meat goats are available in the fall. We're taking bookings now for the fall 2011 herd maintenance cull.

A large vegetable garden grows enough vegetables for our family as well as to sell at the local Fireweed Community Market each Thursday evening from 3 to 8 pm in Shipyards Park in Whitehorse.

We use many season extending tricks like the hoop covers (shown here with neighbouring farmers Susan and Brian) to allow us to produce vegetables from mid June until well into September. By covering the soil right after seeding, the seeds can germinate more quickly in the warm soil.

Carrot seeds can take as long as three weeks to germinate in cold soil although they can tolerate cooler temperatures once they're out of the ground. A cloth row cover under the hoops will help them germinate quickly so the plant can spend more time storing energy in sweet, juicy roots.