Why Cattail Wild?

People often ask where we came up with the name "Cattail Wild". My answer is usually 'if you saw our farm, you would get it'.

From our driveway towards Fleming Lake and the infamous Cattails

We didn't know much about Turtle Valley when we moved here. We both aren't originally from this area, so this little backroad community was totally new to us. When we saw the listing online, I drove past it and thought 'there isn't much to it'. The view from the road is very misleading.

When you round the corner on Skimikin Road (heading West) and enter Turtle Valley, you see Fleming Lake on your left, which, let's be honest, looks like little more than a swamp. There are cattails galore, and beavers who enjoy damning up the lake to help expand on the surrounding wetland. To your right would be the rocky face of Cougar Ridge and Black Mountain. Our little home is right in between.

The first few years we lived here, I could only think about how to reclaim the lake to make, what I felt, would be useable farm land. Pasture, at the very least. Neighbours told us stories of how that area was a neat and tidy hayfiled, and the beavers and their dams were 'dealt with' so the swamp didn't get out of hand. Then, the previous-to-us-owners came along and kind of ignored it completely. Honestly, I'm happy they did. After spending more time here, we've learned to love that wetland and appreciate the water that it holds, the animals and beneficial insects it brings. We have seen every type of creature since we moved here, including cougars, moose, bobcats, eagles, bears, beavers, muskrats, toads and weasels. It's a place where nature gets to do it's thing, and we are so thankful to share in it.

Adding 'farm' to our name didn't seem fitting, because it isn't just a farm. The word 'farm' invites images of monocultures and combines. We are a farm, but we are a little piece of wilderness. Our goal is to work with nature, not against it.

WILD

noun

1. 1.

   the environment in its natural state, without the influence of human activity; an uncultivated or undeveloped state or region. (as defined by Oxford Languages)

The view from Fleming Lake, looking towards Black Mountain (our house is in there!)