As he toured me around his five greenhouses, Dan Ferguson of Dragonfly Farms, kept handing me kale leaves to munch on. "This is the first cut," he added. "It's so crisp and flavourful." As if I needed any encouragement. I was already so excited just to take a moment out of my day to tour his farm firsthand and to understand the intensive labour and skill it takes to grow and harvest his beautiful salad mix.

Despite the cool start to summer, I was amazed to see how well his tomatoes were doing in the greenhouse, tucked neatly under black plastic and slowly working their way up string supports. There were pepper seedlings and more kale in raised beds outside.

What struck me the most perhaps was Dan's excitement to show off his farm. Though he has been in the business for many, many years, it seemed to me his joy in growing food had not waned one bit. Like a proud father, Dan even showed me his new flock of guinea fowl chicks, tucked into a corner of the barn.

Dan's non-certified organic kale, salad mix and spring onions were served up at Cowichan Green Community's AGM on Tuesday evening. The kale was sauteed and served in a warm pasta salad with currents, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The mesclun mix was tossed with peppers, cucs, nuts and cheese for a delicious, fresh salad. The spring onions went into our egg salad.

We are grateful to Dan for donating his produce to our event. The food was thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended.

Find Dragonfly Farm's beautiful greens at the Community Farm Store in downtown Duncan.