Author

Darcy Smith - page 26

Darcy Smith has 258 articles published.

Intentional Peasantry at Tipiland Organic Produce

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories

Marjorie Harris

The Way of the Past is Hope for the Future

What a magical adventure it was to visit Tipiland Organic Produce in Argenta, BC!

The ideals of the Aquarian Age generation are manifest in every aspect of Tipiland’s success, demonstrating how the dreams of social interconnectedness, collective action and co-operative systems can become a positive and sustainable reality.

Tipiland celebrated their 25th year of operation in 2014, another milestone in their success story which is rooted in the back-to-nature, counter culture movement of the 1970s. The journey has been a fulfilling one for lifelong gardeners Inanna Judd, Gary Diers, and Sarah Ross. Their collective commitment has been to provide the purest, freshest, most nutrient dense, and beautiful certified organic produce possible from their market garden.

To reach Tipiland I headed to to the northern head of Kootenay Lake and then turned south, driving along the base of Mount Willet’s evergreen covered slopes that rise up out of the steel blue waters of the lake and climb high into the sky to form a brilliant white peak. The gravel road only got me as far as Tipiland’s upper level garlic patch. From there I embarked on a 15-minute hike downhill through an enchanting forest, enjoying the aromatic scents and the springy soil underfoot that creates gentle earth music, like drum beats in your walking. As I lifted my eyes way, way up, 150 feet through the trees to the sky above, I was in awe of such a forest and such a location for this very special organic garden patch. I could sense the meditative pace of daily living here, even during the feverish work of the growing season: the forest calms the soul.

The ideals of the Aquarian Age generation are manifest in every aspect of Tipiland’s success, demonstrating how the dreams of social interconnectedness, collective action and co-operative systems can become a positive and sustainable reality.

In 1989, Tipiland’s founding farmer — the young and brave Sarah Ross, then in her mid-twenties — had a vision to start a market garden. She set about very carefully selecting a 2-acre garden plot near the middle of the 200-acre virgin forest held in common by the members of the Kootenay Co-operative Land Settlement Society. The land co-op was established in Argenta in 1972, emerging out of the back-to-the-land movement and locating itself next door to a Quaker Intentional Community. Both communities shared common goals to live more locally, consume less energy, and make positive changes while having fun.

One of Tipiland’s current farmers Gary Diers, explains how without Kootenay Co-op, Tipiland would simply not be Tipiland: “We have grown together hand-in-hand,” says Gary. “A farm on a land co-op, selling to a food co-op: what a great fit!”

Thus began their long relationship. “Kootenay Co-op clearly lead the way,” remembers Gary. ‘Local’ is natural for the Co-op, it is an organization embedded in the community. The members are the Co-op. So when Sarah approached the Co-op about selling them local organic produce they quite naturally said, “Yes!”

Gary continues, “the management of the Kootenay Co-op didn’t stop there. They decided to make what was then a radical commitment to sell only organic produce. They were listening to their members, and I think that they, like Sarah, sensed the blossoming of the organic movement.”

By the mid 1990’s Inanna and Gary took over operating Tipiland Produce fulltime, finally realizing their dreams of farming. This coincided with the time when Kootenay Co-op was instrumental in getting the Kootenay Organic Growers Society (KOGS) started. Gary recalls how every winter local organic farmers would meet with the produce team of the Kootenay Co-op to decide who would grow what in the following year. “They certainly didn’t enjoy the task of trying to filter out just who was really organic, or who wasn’t — a ridiculous task for a store. So KOGS was born.” Tipiland was one of the founding members of KOGS, which was kind enough to issue them with the certification number #00l, which remains with them to this day.

Gary enthusiastically remembers how Tipiland helped develop the market and has grown with the market. “Every single year Tipiland has sold more vegetables than the year before. We now sell 15 times more produce than when Inanna and I first took over the reins of Tipiland and we still have more capacity.”

When Inanna first suggested growing kale, the Co-op manager was skeptical, since kale had never been seen in local stores before — but was willing to give it a try. The rest is history. Kale is now Tipiland’s second largest crop, with 10 varieties planted this year. They still sell their kale to the Co-op, and to eight other businesses.

Tipiland also has a flourishing business in certified organic flowers. Again, the Kootenay Co-op was their first buyer, and continues to retail their bouquets. Inanna has trialed hundreds of varieties of vegetables and flowers and saves seeds of over a hundred varieties. Gary says with a smile, “ Inanna can run circles around anyone with a wheel hoe!”

In Gary’s estimation, in order for a farm to truly be sustainable it must employ farm workers from its local community. And for farm work to be viewed as an honourable occupation in our society, the workers must receive all the same rights and pay as other workers in Canada. Early every Wednesday and Thursday morning a crew of locals, ranging in age from 18 to 72 years old, from Argenta to the Lardeau Valley, assembles to fill farm orders. Gary proudly notes that Tipiland has not missed one delivery from May to November in all these years.

In Gary’s estimation, in order for a farm to truly be sustainable it must employ farm workers from its local community.

Farming at Tipiland is mostly unmechanized. As Gary says, “We have always enjoyed working with our hands and believe it is not only the way of the past, but the hope for the future. One might call us intentional peasants. The beauty of all this for us at Tipiland is that this model works. With our low capitalization we have never needed to secure a loan. We pay our farm workers above average agricultural wages, providing jobs in our community. The bottom line is definitely working.”

Tipiland uses almost no electricity in its operation. Their home and farm are completely off the grid. They do not need a cooler as all produce is picked, then hydrocooled and delivered to stores within 24 hours. Tipiland is labour intensive, not energy or capital intensive. Everyone walks or bicycles to work.

But as Gary is quick to point out, “We’re not purists. We do have an Italian rototiller and a truck. Our rototiller has a diesel engine and last year we used almost 40 litres of fuel for our entire operation. Our Japanese import delivery truck is also diesel with a 4 cylinder engine and we can deliver almost one and half tons of produce all the way to Nelson and back for about $40 in fuel.”

Gary’s final take home message is a quote from Wendell Berry, “Never farm more than you can garden!

Marjorie Harris, BSc, IOIA V.O., P. Ag. Email: marjorieharris@telus.net 

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – attributed to Hippocrates

You might be interested in

Wild & Woolly at Robson Valley Sheep Farm

in Farmer Focus/Livestock/Organic Stories
Hani Grasser looks out over his sheep at Robson Valley Sheep Farm

Marjorie Harris

Raising Sheep Demands Constant Vigilance

Not far from McBride, BC, nestled in the beautiful Robson Valley bottom land that frames the Fraser River, is a wilderness paradise known as the Robson Valley Sheep Farm. Owned and operated by Theres and Hani Gasser, the certified organic farm is dedicated to raising high quality meat sheep, who share the land with a few dozen Angus beef cows, a few riding horses and some poultry for home use. Like most paradises, the Robson Valley Sheep Farm’s idyllic appearance is the result of careful planning, good management, and lots of hard work.

The Swiss Family Robson

Hani and Theres, along with their three little children, came to BC from Switzerland in 1988. Hani was fresh out of a four-year training program from a Swiss agricultural college, which included two years of hands–on apprenticeship and two years of classroom study. Hani had taken extra courses in organic farming, and was eager to put his knowledge to work in his new country.

After spending their first four years in Canada managing a biodynamic beef operation near Chase, BC, in 1992 the Gassers were ready to take the leap into farming for themselves. They bought land in Chase and for the next 14 years they very successfully ran the well known certified organic Mountain Meadow Sheep Dairy, producing sheep milk cheeses and yogurt.

Then, in the fall of 2006, the Gasser took an even bigger leap: they moved north to McBride, onto 535 acres of beautifully forested wilderness in the Robson Valley. Situated on a big bend of the Fraser River, their new domain came complete with an oxbow lake, a full mile of river frontage and a large acreage of fertile wetland full of local and migrating birds, which the Gassers now maintain as a bird sanctuary.

What the property did not include was livable space for the Gassers. The farm hadn’t been occupied for over a quarter of a century, and Hani and Theres’ first project was to change the large equipment shop into a dual service timberframe home and shop. Using their own pine beetle killed timber, the couple spent several years doing all of the renovations themselves.

A Hardy Herd for a Northern Climate

The sheep on the Robson Valley farm are a variety of mixed breeds, resulting in a robust and healthy herd that can tolerate the cold winters and thrive in the wilderness environment. The Gassers brought their original dairy herd north with them, and since then have crossed the sheep with breeds that can lamb out at one year old, successfully mother the first time with a single lamb and then mature into an ewe that gives twins, while living on grass and hay alone. The Robson Valley sheep do not receive any grain. The size of the flock each year varies from about 100 to 300 mother sheep depending on the amount of hay produced by the start of winterfeeding. The sheep live outdoors all year round except during lambing, when the ewes are moved close to the house into the lambing barns where they can be checked every three hours.

Lamb at Robson Valley Sheep Farm

Since sheep and parasites love each other, parasite prevention dictates the rotational grazing schedule for the Robson Valley flock. The Gassers are careful to rotate their sheep out of a pasture ahead of the parasites’ maturation cycle. This means moving the sheep every week, or at the very longest, before 14 days. Thanks to electric fencing, the paddocks are kept small enough so that the sheep can be moved easily.

This rotational grazing pattern mimics natural ruminant behaviour of grazing the valley bottoms in the spring and winter and moving up to fresh mountain pastures during summer and autumn.

This rotational grazing pattern mimics natural ruminant behaviour of grazing the valley bottoms in the spring and winter and moving up to fresh mountain pastures during summer and autumn. The Gassers also practice multi-species grazing, keeping cows and horses in the pasture along with the sheep. Combined with regular haying, the practices help to prevent the sheep from grazing in the same paddock more than once a year.

Inevitably though, occasionally a parasite appears. Whenever the Gassers detect evidence of parasites in one of the sheep, they are quick to administer their custom-order herbal de-wormer. The de-wormer, developed by the Gassers themselves with assistance from the staff at Urban Spice in Vancouver, contains wormwood, fennel seed and gentian. The Gassers’ have now started growing their own wormwood to ensure a ready supply of this key ingredient.

A Machine-Free Farming Lifestyle

Since neither Hani nor Theres enjoy doing mechanical repairs, they have reduced their reliance on farming equipment down to haying and fencing machines. When the pastures are in need of reseeding with red and white clover, timothy and orchard grasses, the Gassers simply hand broadcast the seed into a pasture just before the sheep flock is moved in, and rely on the sheep to trample the seed into the earth.

Alternatively, in the summer they add seeds to the cattle salts and let the cows do the work of spreading them — with organic fertilizer included for free! While these methods are slower than working the soil with equipment, the Gassers find them simpler, much less expensive, and less work-intensive. Currently their biggest problem in pasture maintenance is the encroaching advance of hawkweed and foxtail barley. Hani and Theres would love to hear from other farmers with suggestions for combating these weeds.

Because sheep require a diet much higher in protein than beef cattle do, growing, growing high-quality hay is crucial to sheep herd health, Hani explains. This is partly due to the fact that a cow weans a calf when it only about half the weight of its mother and a ewe weaning twin lambs has to raise nearly double her own weight.

That need for protein can make sheep fussy eaters, and very talented at nibbling off all the leaves and discarding the rough stems of the hay. And that can lead to a lot of wastage, so the Gassers have solved the problem with winterfeed by allowing only their sheep into a pasture to feed on a new hay bale first. When the sheep have finished picking over the bale, the following day the cows are brought in to clean up the leftovers. This method leaves very little waste and helps keep the Gassers’ collies busy herding all winter long too.

Doggy Defenders

Because of intense predator pressures in this neck of the woods, very good livestock guard dogs are required to be on duty at all times. Two or three Akbash or Akbash-crossed dogs (preferably Comondor) live with the flock all year long. The dogs are with the flock 24/7 — except when a female is in a ‘standing heat’ and needs to be temporarily kenneled.

The critical trick to developing a excellent sheep guard is that between its 6th and 10th week of age, the puppy must bond with livestock.

Thanks to the watchfulness of their guard dogs the Gassers lose very few animals. In fact, in the last nine years they report they have lost only 5 ewes — to an attack by a pack of wolves. The secret to their success? According to the Gassers, the critical trick to developing a excellent sheep guard is that between its 6th and 10th week of age, the puppy must bond with livestock. And they’re careful not to make pets of the dogs. As Hani says, “A livestock guard dog has no business in your yard, in a kennel, or on your porch. And it should only be fed and receive affectionate petting when by the flock. We are the Alpha dog to our guard dog pack and they come when called.”

Where the Akbash specialize in guarding the sheep flock, the Gassers use Border Collies and one New Zealand Huntaway to herd the sheep from pasture to pasture. Theres and Hani love to train and work with their guard and herding dogs and occasionally sell puppies.

If you would like more information on sheep farming, Hani and Theres are happy to share their ideas, opinions, and their years of experience and wisdom on shepherding. You can reach them through their website: www.sheephappens.ca

Marjorie Harris, BSc, IOIA V.O., P. Ag. Email: marjorieharris@telus.net 

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – attributed to Hippocrates

You might be interested in

Fresh Starts at Shalefield Organic Gardens

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories
Veggie crops at Shalefield Organic Gardens

Hannah Roessler

You don’t need to be young to succeed as a new farmer, as this intrepid pair from the Columbia Valley are proving.“There is just so much shale in the field, we’re always picking up rocks – so there you have it: “Shalefield Farm” was born!” explains Yolanda Versterre when I ask her about the name of the farm in Lindell Beach, BC she owns with her partner Brian Patterson.

The story of Yolanda and Brian’s entry into farming puts a fresh twist on the new farmer tale: as Yolanda puts it, “we are old young farmers.” While discussions of the aging farmer base and the challenges faced by young entrants into farming are a frequent theme in farming news, its not often we hear about people embarking on farming careers later in life.

“There is just so much shale in the field, we’re always picking up rocks – so there you have it: “Shalefield Farm” was born!”

Brian has owned the 10-acre property south of Chilliwack, near Cultus Lake, for many years, but Shalefield Organic Gardens only started taking off in 2005, when Brian began his professional life as a farmer — at the ripe young age of 55! He had been laid off from his job as a printer, as new mechanization and technology made his job of 35 years obsolete. It was an opportunity for a new start, and Brian began growing blueberries, raspberries and garlic — no longer as a hobby, but with an eye towards making money.

Inevitably, there were challenges in the transition from hobby farmer to professional grower. As Yolanda describes it, “Brian had been growing one row, so then he just started growing 10 rows! But of course, everything changes with scale, doesn’t it?”

Yolanda and Brian of Shalefield Organic GardensWhile Brian had years of experience growing vegetables for family and friends, Yolanda was completely new to farming. She had moved to BC after working as an operating room nurse in Holland, and met Brian while they were both enjoying their other hobby – trail running. Did this athletic training prepare them to be the successful farmers they are now? Certainly farming requires stamina: “It’s a LOT of work,” Yolanda sighs, noting that they’ve given up trail running, along with tennis, since farming provides all the exercise they have time or energy for!

 

Today, Yolanda and Brian and their dedicated staff have nine acres in production, growing strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and a variety of field crops. They have a few experimental crops, such as ginger, which they source certified organic from Hawaii; it’s done very well this year, and it’s a hit with market customers. Sprouts are another Shalefield specialty crop, one they started to develop a source of farm income throughout the winter months. Their sprout blends, which they create using over 10 types of sprouts, are a customer favourite at the market.

Using Technology to Build Customer Loyalty

Yolanda explains that they mostly sell at farmers markets, and have started using a market share program to help retain customers. Customers can purchase a market share for either $500 or $250 and then receive a gift card for the amount, which they bring to the market with them. Yolanda scans the card with an iphone app, which subtracts the amount of their purchase and sends an email to the customer to let them know how much credit they have left on their card.

This year they are expanding into a CSA program and they are determined to provide a veggie box to a family in need. They’ll need to attract 50 CSA box customers to attain this goal, and are well on the way there. As Yolanda notes, “how many times do you just have the one bunch of carrots left that didn’t sell, just because it’s that last bunch of carrots? I’ve asked for a lot of help from other people to get to this stage of farming and I am so, so very grateful for what I get to do in my life, because farming allows me to eat so healthy and live well. And I really want to help someone else access that.”

Yolanda and Brian’s experiences starting their farming business at Shalefield Organic Gardens makes it clear that, whatever age you begin farming, a willingness to learn new things and take chances is the first requirement.

A Biodynamic Commitment

Growing up in Holland, Yolanda became familiar early on with the use of homeopathics for healing. Today, she and Brian practice biodynamic agriculture at Shalefield, and Yolanda feels the philosophy behind biodynamics fits with the ethic of healing holistically. Following biodynamic cycles can be challenging given the tight rotations of market growing, but the pair are committed to making it work for their operation. Yolanda and Brian’s experiences starting their farming business at Shalefield Organic Gardens makes it clear that, whatever age you begin farming, a willingness to learn new things and take chances is the first requirement. Add a big measure of love and commitment to the job and you’ve got a recipe for success: “We just love what we are doing. We are so excited about the fact that we are still here. We made it! It’s do-able. You can do it. You can make it happen.”

Hannah Roessler has farmed in Nicaragua, Washington, and BC, on permaculture farms, polyculture cafetals, organic market farms and a biodynamic vineyard. She has an MA in Environmental Studies and her research is focused on climate change and small-scale organic farming. She currently farms on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.

You might be interested in

Sea Cider Farm: Hard Pressed for Sweet Success

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories

Hannah Roessler

As Kristen Jordan of Sea Cider Farm can attest, building a farm business is never simple. Planning, preparation and plain hard work are the main ingredients in her recipe for success.

“Cider is a humble beverage,” says Kristen Jordan, the owner of Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse. We’re sitting in the cidery’s grand tasting room, gazing out over acres of orchard apples reaching to the Salish Sea. The rows of glorious apples in deeply blushing reds and warm yellows, bathed in sparkling dew, invite you to frolic barefoot in the grass, sampling sweetness in luscious appleform as you skip along.

It’s a gorgeous setting for this “humble beverage.” And for Kristen Jordan it’s been a long journey.

Finding Her Way to the Garden

In the early 70’s Kristen’s parents bought a waterfront orchard property at Eagle Bay on Shuswap Lake. They spent summers enjoying the land and eating apples, but managing the orchard wasn’t a priority. When Kristen’s father passed away, the orchard was left to her. Away at university in Wales, Kristen would sometimes think of her orchard as she drank cider at a pub, but meanwhile the forest grew over the property.

In the 1990s, married and with children of her own, Kristen moved back to BC with her family to run the orchard, intending to build a legacy she could leave for her children, just as her father had for her.

We had the idea, oh yeah, I’ll just start a cidery with this orchard, how hard can that be?”

“We had the idea, oh yeah, I’ll just start a cidery with this orchard, how hard can that be?” laughs Kristen, “My ex-husband and I thought, okay, he can make the cider and I’ll sell the cider, and that’s all we’ll need.” Not everything went according to plan. The old orchard on Shuswap Lake eventually had to be abandoned as a growing site. “It was this beautiful hidden orchard dream, but it didn’t work out for us,” says Kristen.

In 2003, Kristen and her husband bought the site of the Sea Cider Farm on the Saanich Peninsula. It had been a sheep pasture, and prior to that a loganberry farm producing berries for the first commercial winery in BC. Kristen planted 1000 trees over 4 acres of the 10 acre property, leaving the rest as forest.

Putting the Pieces Together

Though she took chances, Kristen did not jump into the cider-making business blindly. She went to “cider school” at Washington State University, which ran a cider-making course through their extension office in Mt. Vernon. Her teacher was Peter Mitchell, an English cider guru. “He had a big influence on me in my early years of cider making,” Kristen remembers. “His course was very extensive, and it took us through everything from organoleptics, [taste, smell, etc.] to industrial design, to biochemistry.”

Sea Cider opened its doors to the public in 2007 after 3 years of learning and development. Initially, 90% of the business was from walk-in customers. “I remember when someone would drive up to do a tasting, and we’d all be down working in the orchard, so someone would have to run up the hill, wash their hands, and do the tasting,” Kristen laughs.

The initial 1000 trees were mostly English bittersweets and bittersharps. As luck would have it, Kristen found a hobby grower in Langley with 1000 whips of English cider varieties. Because of all she had learned from Peter Mitchell, Kristen was convinced that BC would fall in love with English cider.

“English cider is very tannic and very phenolic, which means it’s got a lot of minerality, a lot of appleyness on the nose. Compared to Growers Cider – it’s night and day,” notes Kristen. “I also wanted to grow varietals that I wouldn’t have access to on the market. No one is selling yarlington mills, dabinetts, or brown snouts, so that’s what I wanted to grow.” Today the orchard has nearly 1500 trees, and over 60 varieties of apples.

Success Through Experimentation

“You make the cider that you like and you just do lots of experiments. We made a lot of funny ciders by accident… for example the Rumrunner cider,” recalls Kristen with a smile.

For Rumrunner, Kristen sourced Winter Bananas and Stayman’s Winesaps from the Similkameen valley, and aged the cider in a rum barrel. She called the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation and asked them to send used screech barrels, where she let the cider sit for 1.5 years. It came out a beautiful colour, with a lot of flavourful depth; Rumrunner is now a staple Sea Cider product.

You make the cider that you like and you just do lots of experiments. We made a lot of funny ciders by accident… for example the Rumrunner cider,” recalls Kristen with a smile.

Another lucky accident happened when a member of the BC Fruit Tasters Association called to say they had found a Perry orchard in North Stanch.

“Perry pears are very tannic, inedible, really astringent,” explains Kristen. “But if you grind and ferment them, those tannins drop out, and you are left with this softly tannic, slightly off-dry pear drink which is called Perry.” Kristen began experimenting with different yeasts, fermenting the brew in oak barrels, and soon produced a beautiful Perry cider.

Even before she planted her first trees, Kristen was experimenting with brewing cider. She kept 30 carboys of cider on the go, using different yeasts with different apples, and she took notes religiously. She learned a lot about different varietals: which were good growers, which were good fermenters, which worked well with particular yeasts. She envisioned the final product she wanted to create, the taste and mouth-feel of the cider, and worked towards this idea. Kristen admits it hasn’t all been easy: “We made a lot of mistakes. It came down to these big three: how to grow apples, how to make cider, and how to sell cider – that last one is huge.”

Navigating the regulatory world of cider sales involved a daunting learning curve, but Sea Cider is now selling in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Yukon, as well as Washington, Oregon, Chicago, Northern California and New York.

“In the beginning, liquor stores would be excited about our product, but also a little confused.

“They would say things like: ‘there’s Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Growers, do we put you between the two of these? And you’re in a champagne bottle, not a big plastic bottle?’ It was like trying to introduce a whole new concept into the cider category.”

The Cider World Today

In the last few years much has changed in the cider industry. Today, the market for cider is exploding, and big companies are getting into cider production. While craft-beers have long been holding court for foodies and connoisseurs, cider is squeezing its way into the picture, and being accepted with open arms as more people become aware of the differences wild yeasts and bittersharps can make in ciders. Cider is taking the world by storm.

But there are some downsides to this popularity. Cideries are now forced to compete for the best apples for cider making. This makes Kristen especially grateful that Sea Cider, a BC pioneer in cider-making, grows old English varieties that always make a good cider.

Sea Cider is also pioneering community-building initiatives. The farm partners with the Lifecycles Project Society, a non-profit that promotes food security and urban agriculture, working on the Victoria Fruit Tree Project – an initiative to harvest apples that would otherwise go to waste in urban back yards to brew a cider created from a blend of local King apples and Sea Cider’s English Spies. The farm has also launched a “Canadian Invasion” series of ciders: proceeds from sales of the cider support efforts to combat invasive species in sensitive ecological areas.

We built this space as a place for community and a place for gathering. It was meant as a place where you could raise a glass of cider together. And you know cider is a humble drink.

Although much has changed for Sea Cider over the years, they’ve remained true to their original vision. As Kristen says, “We built this space as a place for community and a place for gathering. It was meant as a place where you could raise a glass of cider together. And you know cider is a humble drink. You don’t ask people to pay attention to it if they don’t want to, they just want to sip on it and enjoy the company that they are in.”

“We don’t need to go into the phenolic character and the minerality, you know, we just enjoy the drink. The fun thing about cider is that it is a very approachable drink, you don’t have to be a wine snob, you don’t have to know anything to enjoy cider.” Kristen pauses, then adds “ …I wanted to create a space where the experience was not just about the specifics of the cider, but an experience that you are sharing with friends and family, where you are enjoying a beautiful setting at the same time.”

Hannah Roessler has farmed in Nicaragua, Washington, and BC on permaculture farms, polyculture cafetals, organic market farms and a biodynamic vineyard. She has an MA in Environmental Studies and her research is focused on climate change and small-scale organic farming. She currently farms on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.

Kenta Farm: for the Love of Weeds

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories
Kenta Family Organic Farm

Hannah Roessler

The No-Weed Philosophy of Pender Island’s Kikuchi Family

Boarding the ferry early one summer morning en route to a unique family farm on Pender Island, I am reminded how lucky we are to live in beautiful, diverse British Columbia. I am on my way to meet Arthur Kikuchi, to see if the rumors are true – a farmer who doesn’t weed.I meet up with Arthur at the Pender Island school garden rather than his farm because it is Sunday, which means soccer day for the kids. When I arrive, kids are dancing around the schoolyard with a soccer ball while their parents are gathered next to the garden plot in the shade.

A cob-building workshop is underway, keeping these parents and other community volunteers hard at work. Soon the kids jump in to help do what they do best: play in the mud. Cob walls rise rapidly from the ground, forming a combined garden shed, teaching space, and gathering space with a cob bench and oven included.

“Soon we will cook the veggies from the garden in the oven,” says Arthur with a smile. “It is all so that we can teach the children.”

Farming, connecting with the plants and the earth, was the path to a better life for him and his family.

It is evident that growing food is Arthur’s second love: his first is sharing his knowledge and skills with children and youth. One of the first things he says to me, as I greet him and his eldest son, is that he feels it is very important to teach the next generation about growing food because “they are the future. My generation is past. This learning is very important.”

Farming as Healing

Arthur and his wife Sanae (whose name means “newly germinated sprout of a grain of rice”) don’t come from an agricultural background. “Not at all!” laughs Sanae. Their journey towards growing food started when Arthur was living in Paris as a spiritual healer, working with energetic medicine in the Shumei tradition. Unfortunately, he fell ill and was forced to return to Japan to seek healing himself. But no doctors were able to cure him, or even identify what was ailing him.

While Arthur and his healers searched for answers, he began working on a farm on Kishima Island, located in the south-western part of Japan. Within a month he began to see signs of his health returning. This was when he realized that farming, connecting with the plants and the earth, was the path to a better life for him and his family.

Kenta Family Organic Farm

A Natural Farming Philosophy

Eventually, Arthur and his family came to Pender Island, where they quickly fell in love with the hills and trees that reminded them strongly of Japan. Arthur also felt a connection to the landscape where fellow Japanese farmers had previously farmed, and this tie to the past inspired Arthur and Sanae to settle and farm on Pender Island, bringing with them their unique brand of Natural Farming techniques. In 2000, they founded Kenta Farm on the island.

Arthur bases his practice of Natural Farming on the techniques prescribed by Masanobu Fukuoka, a famed Japanese agriculturalist and the author of “The One-Straw Revolution,” as well as the philosophy of Shumei. The basic tenet of this philosophy of farming involves modeling the agricultural system after natural systems.

An example is modeling the garden after the forest, allowing for a canopy layer, shrub layer, herbaceous layer, etc. This might mean leaving the weeds to grow. Yes. Leaving the weeds. To grow.

Weedy Pioneers

Arthur laughed as I asked him, several times, about his philosophy on weeds. Dealing with my own “weed explosion” on the farm is like dealing with a niggling, guilty conscience. Bunches of weeds about to go to seed stand upright in my field, proudly displaying their amazing ability to grow taller (overnight?!) than my crops.

“The weeds are just like the pioneer species in a forest ecosystem,” says Arthur, explaining, “I let them be. I just cut them down with my kana (a Japanese garden tool similar to a sickle), and leave their root structure intact. I believe that this helps maintain the soil structure, and overall, helps my garden grow.”

The weeds are just like the pioneer species in a forest ecosystem,” says Arthur, explaining, “I let them be.”

If weeds interfere too aggressively with a specific crop, Arthur will pull them, but mostly he lets the whole system of plants thrive, believing that nature knows best when understanding the role of each element of the system.

On This Farm, Everything Comes Full Circle

In keeping with this holistic approach, Arthur also doesn’t reach for outside inputs. He gathers a thin layer of soil from the forest floor to build his raised beds, as he finds this to be the best soil for growing. When I ask about potential issues with acidity, as forest soils in this region are known for their acidic qualities, he nods and agrees, but then gestures graciously to his garden beds where all sorts of crops are flourishing.

Lettuces, brassicas, chard, curcubits and corn all grow in a happy jumble, a testimony to the success of Arthur’s practice of intercropping. While he groups crops roughly by plant family, if a volunteer kale pops up in the lettuce patch, he will leave it to thrive.

His children have adopted this mixed method of growing and they’re clearly very knowledgeable about plants, though I have to pry it out of them because of their generous humility. Arthur’s children lead their school’s garden club, where groups of children from the school and around the island meet regularly to learn about seeds and work in the garden, learning and having fun all the while.

Standing in the shade next to the thriving school garden his children have created and the brand new cob gathering space he is helping to build, I’m impressed by the family’s commitment to growing community. With a family so passionate about sharing their knowledge and holistic vision, Pender Island is lucky to have the Kikuchi family.

Hannah Roessler has farmed in Nicaragua, Washington, and BC on permaculture famers, polyculture cafetals, organic market farms and a biodynamic vineyard. She has an MA in Environmental Studies, and her research is focused on climate change and small-scale organic farming. She currently farms on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.

You might be interested in

Ag Tech Breaking Down Barriers

By Crystal Arsenault Innovative technology for agriculture is all the buzz these days and farmers appear receptive to trying new

Woolly Bear Farm

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories
Liz at Woolly Bear Farm

Hannah Roessler

A New Farmer Struggles to Go From Caterpillar to Butterfly

I have been pretty amazed by every farmer I’ve ever met — their competence, determination and impressive suite of skills.

But now that I am a new farmer myself, I find myself in awe of Liz Perkins of Woolly Bear Farm, a one-acre market garden in Cordova Bay, near Victoria. While I have dabbled seriously in farming for years, exploring various permutations, styles, and types, I only really jumped in with both boots once I had an established, relatively low-risk scenario within which I could safely start farming “on my own.”

Liz, on the other hand, found a raw piece of land and just went for it — and her efforts and risk-taking have really paid off.

Challenges Aplenty

We all know how difficult it can be as a new farmer just starting out. It’s always the same things that get in the way — infrastructure costs are overwhelming, mistakes are plentiful, and land is hard to come by.

Most people don’t get into farming because they love business and marketing; they do it because they love to grow things. Starting up your farm is fun and exciting, but like any new small business it can also be a financial quagmire, layered with intense knowledge requirements and drastically shifting parameters. Not for the faint of heart.

But uncertainty is something that you just have to be comfortable with in order to be a good farmer. And Liz is a darn good farmer. She spent a year in Vancouver working with food through a social justice lens, an entry point to farming that is common among many of the younger farming generation.

She then spent a couple of years working on urban agriculture initiatives, but soon realized that she was not as passionate about educating people about farming as she had originally thought. What she really wanted was to just do it herself — to farm and produce an abundance of food.

Weeding at Woolly Bear Farm

A Farmer’s Education

She applied to the UBC Farm Program and to the Linnaea Ecological Gardening Program, ultimately settling on Linnaea, a farm school located on Cortes Island, BC, where she attended their holistic, full-immersion permaculture program.

“Being at Linnaea changed my life. It was incredible,” says Liz with a smile. The in-depth training offered through Linnaea along with the community-building aspect left a deep impression on her, and she knew she was on the road to farming forever.

While Linnaea Farm School set the course, an apprenticeship with Rachel Fisher and Saanich Organics helped Liz put the structure in place for a successful business.

Says Liz, “I learned an incredible amount during my time with Saanich Organics. Rachel taught me how to grow an abundance of vegetables, and I learned so much about the business aspect of farming.”

After her apprenticeship, she optimistically stuck an ad in a couple of local papers asking to rent an acre of land for farming in exchange for $500 per year, a box of veggies a week, and of course, farm tax status. She had several replies from interested land-owners and says that overall, it was not too difficult to find someone willing to rent to a start-up farmer.

Fast Track to Certification

Despite the perception that organic certification can be difficult for leasing farmers, according to Liz, it’s not as hard as new growers may think. “There had been nothing growing in that field for the six years that my landlord had lived there prior to 2011, so he signed an affidavit guaranteeing that no prohibited substances were applied to the land in the last three years. This meant I could fast-track to organic certification after one year on the land,” says Liz.

She adds, “The fact that I might get kicked off the land at any point is a bummer of a risk, but I don’t think I would have been able to farm without being able to sell at Moss Street Market and Saanich Organics. Both institutions have been a big marketing and moral support network for me. So far, no regrets!”

Weeding at Woolly Bear Farm

However, acquiring the land and the certification were only the first steps, and Liz went on to encounter more challenges. Her original business plan underestimated her initial set-up costs, and she is ever-grateful to her parents for helping out financially until the business gets on its feet. The first year, her farm’s humble sales of $10,000 were not enough to cover expenses, and in year two she just broke even – doubling sales to $20,000. She is now in her third year of farming and can smell financial freedom with a prediction of $30,000 in sales and of course much-reduced expenses.

Hard Won Advice

Says Liz, “Some of the things I had to do to start out, I just didn’t consider. I had to spend so much time preparing and setting up the farm, I had no income to live on.

“I feel like I wasted a lot of money on failed experiments. I got the wrong tiller, tried to use solely pond water for my irrigation (which didn’t work), bought huge coolers to act as my cold room, I had to learn how to build because everything I built kept getting blown down….

There’s a lot to consider when starting out, and I think that if I knew what I know now, I’d start out differently, and save a lot of money!”

The best part of this conversation is that Liz is laughing. She is taking it all in stride. Even while she’s on leased land, she’s just planted a section of blueberries on her rented acre. When I comment on her impressive ability to take chances, her bravery, she jokes that maybe she’s really just a bit crazy. But there is no denying that her farm looks really good. Liz Perkins is the picture of success for a new farmer, and she’s doing a great job at Woolly Bear Farms. I think she’s got the right recipe to make it work. Maybe we all need a dash of “a little bit of crazy” to be successful farmers.

Learn more about Liz’s path to farming independence:

Linnaea Farm

Saanich Organics

Hannah Roessler has farmed in Nicaragua, Washington, and BC on permaculture farms, polyculture cafetals, organic market farms and a biodynamic vineyard. She has an MA in Environmental Studies, and her research is focused on climate change and small-scale organic farming. She currently farms on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island. 

You might be interested in

Nanoose Edibles

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories
Barb and Lorne Ebell, Nanoose Edibles

Hannah Roessler

It Takes Dedication, Devotion, and a Community to Raise a Farm

I had been trying for weeks to make it to Nanoose Edibles Farm to visit Barbara and Lorne Ebell, but bad weather on the Malahat Highway turned me back each time. The day I finally made it was sunny and warm, and I could barely contain my excitement.

I’d recently read an interview with Barbara Ebell in a local paper, explaining the hardships encountered by farmers on Vancouver Island; it was a deliciously blunt article, and she caused quite a few ripples. I had heard great things about this remarkable woman, but nothing quite prepared me for the amazingly accomplished yet humble person I met. “I’m a farmer and I really like to farm,” says Barbara, “but I’m always under pressure to do more. People have been phoning me since that article saying ‘now what are we going to do?’”

It’s understandable that folks are approaching the Ebells for solutions. Barbara and her husband Lorne Ebell have a successful farm business…which they started only after successful careers in forestry and agriculture. Over tea and cookies, we discussed their fascinating farm backgrounds, and it’s clear that agriculture has always run deep for them; it’s in their blood.

Barbara’s mother was born on a large estate farm in England, and her Swedish father emigrated to Golden, BC, where the family sold farmed vegetables and fruit, fish from the Columbia River, and wild game to the CPR. Lorne, an agriculturalist through and through, attended school in Manitoba and Alberta before taking a job in the Ministry of Forestry. After several years of working in the Canadian government, Barbara and Lorne moved to Liberia, Africa where Lorne was Head of Botanical Research for the Firestone Rubber Company. They spent seven years in Liberia, working on a huge plantation housing 13,000 residents.

As Barbara recalls, “The women were excellent farmers and wonderful marketers. My collards were only regular size and theirs were the size of small bushes!” I find myself thinking that Barbara could probably grow collards the size of trees if she wanted to, but I don’t say that.

After a brief stint working in Guatemala, and then several years in the state of Bahia in Brazil, they returned to Canada where Lorne went back to working in Forestry Research and Barbara took a position with the Ministry of Agriculture in the Policy Branch. After the adoption of Canada’s Employment Equity Act in 1986, provincial governments followed suit and Barbara became the first Manager of Women’s Programs for the Ministry of Agriculture to help “push the envelope” of women’s advancement in the government.

I find myself thinking that Barbara could probably grow collards the size of trees if she wanted to, but I don’t say that.

As they crept closer to retirement age they began to contemplate what their next steps would be, “We thought…hmmm, what should we do now? Well, we’ve got farming in our blood, so we should farm!” says Barbara with a laugh. Walking around their beautiful farm, I’m having trouble resolving my image of “retirement” with the dug pond, drained land, tool wizardry shop, seed saving shed, greenhouses, seedling carousel, orchard, blueberries, and more. Lorne describes how they started farming on weekends and holidays, driving up from work in Victoria to clear 12 arable acres of blackberries and roses… and I am firmly set in my feeling of awe.

Nanoose Edibles

Everyone on the Farm Needs to Farm

Early on they focused on strawberries, which their daughter advised them to price at five dollars a pound because “if we don’t start that high people will never pay more… and we can’t really go up from that even today!” says Barbara with a smile. “But we can sell every strawberry we produce. We started with the assumption that we would grow high-end organic food, because otherwise you’re just producing cheap food for people and working your head off! And you’re not really getting anywhere.”

Barbara and Lorne were among the first island farmers to sell direct to local restaurants. They were ahead of the game in the early days, but sales have started to drop as big box stores mushroom up all along the highway headed up island. They have a beautiful and successful on-farm market — people come from far and wide to buy their produce, and customers are encouraged to walk around the farm and have a look at what’s growing. They sell their vegetables, plants, and eggs, as well as grain, flours, homemade soups, honey, fish, salad mix, and cookies (that I ate several of), and much more, and they are open every day during the summer time. Profits from their off-farm sales (CSA and farmers markets), farm sales, and restaurants are roughly equal.

If you have your fingernails painted gold, well, that might make you think twice about farming.”

When I asked if they hire retail help, Barbara firmly stated, “Everyone on the farm, needs to farm. Can’t be a bookkeeper or a vendor or answer the phone without knowing how to farm, otherwise you can’t possibly answer a question intelligently about the produce or do your job properly. If you have your fingernails painted gold, well, that might make you think twice about farming.”

She says this with a hearty laugh and her blue eyes twinkle something fierce, and I glance down and take comfort from my own dirty fingernails and calloused hands.

Building the Future: A Farmers’ Co-operative

“You get these really wonderful people working for you, and you can’t pay them minimum wage! You have to honor what they are doing. This year we are setting the foundation for a farmers’ cooperative so that by next year they [the workers] will be running the farm, not us. We will stay on as members so we can help them make decisions. We might come have a peek to make sure they are getting things right and sticking to the program. The idea is to put the farm itself into a partnership,” explains Barbara.

Succession planning is tough for many farmers, and though it is clear that the Ebell family is an environmentalist gang, and everyone loves the farm, each family member is out doing other things in the world. Putting the farm into a partnership promises to be an exciting way forward to keep this land producing food for a very long time.

Although partnerships can also be difficult to navigate, the Ebells are clearly grateful for their farm workers. Barbara is generous with praise, pointing out things on the farm that different workers have done or made. As she says, “You can have all the education in the world, but if you’re not practical on the ground you can’t be paid for the fact you went to university — not on a farm. You have to be paid for what you actually produce.” This honoring of practical skill sets is echoed in the meticulous attention to detail in their well-designed farming systems. Lorne’s mechanical and technical acumen is astonishing; walking into his workshop is like walking into a wizard’s den.

Nurturing the Land is Everyone’s Responsibility

Barbara believes that while farmers are here to grow food for people in the community, it’s the community’s responsibility to ensure that continues. As she says, “That is the missing piece of the equation if you really think about it. Farmers have to keep producing, set proper prices for themselves, make sure there is enough supply for people to buy – but the rest is not the farmer’s responsibility, it’s a social responsibility. Public participation and advocacy doesn’t really happen. And if you don’t push it or fight for it, it just won’t happen.”

Barbara has many great ideas for the future of farming — more education, apprenticeships, more support from the public— but it’s hard to take all these things on while farming at the same time. “If you go anywhere else in the world, you’ll see it happen — the farmer farms! You don’t have to get all gussied up and see the premier, and tell them they should be buying your vegetables!” But their example is inspiring — talking with Barbara has the distinct effect of making me want to visit the Premier immediately to demand better agricultural policies. While wearing my farming clothes. No gussying.

Their example is inspiring — talking with Barbara has the distinct effect of making me want to visit the Premier immediately to demand better agricultural policies.

On the drive back to Victoria I’m thinking about many things, mainly about how great it has been to hang out with such an amazing woman in agriculture. She ended our visit with this wonderful piece of advice, “Farming just gobbles up your life and your time, so you need to have other loves in your life. If you run into a really long tedious spell and you are frozen in for 3 or 4 months, you start to really think ‘I don’t like this.’ It’s not because you don’t like farming – it’s because you don’t like your life! Ha! And in the summertime you are working like hell, but you need to socialize. You know that what you do is crazy, but you don’t feel as crazy when there are others there with you; you need to make fun of it.”

And with that she gives a little nod, and as I share a smile with this twinkling-eyed wise woman, I think about all we can learn from her.

Check out the many videos on the Nanoose Edibles Youtube channel!

Hannah Roessler has farmed in Nicaragua, Washington, and BC on permaculture farms, polyculture cafetals, organic market farms and a biodynamic vineyard. She has an MA in Environmental Studies, and her research is focused on climate change and small-scale organic farming. She currently farms on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.

You might be interested in

Wise and Winsome at Wind Whipped Farm

in Farmer Focus/Organic Stories
Alex and Virginie at Wind Whipped Farm

Hannah Roessler

Stepping Up to the Challenge

The wind was quiet and the sun was shining as I headed down William Head Road towards Wind Whipped Farm in Metchosin on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. I was on my way to meet Alex Fletcher and Virginie Lavallee-Picard, the two dynamic and incredibly sweet young farmers who are the proud owners and founders of Wind Whipped Farm.

Alex and Virginie met and became friends at Victoria’s Pearson College where they were both students. Soon afterwards, they attended the College of the Atlantic in Maine, a small alternative school that focuses on Human Ecology, and is home to a 7-acre organic farm.

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]

“I’m not from a farming background. I’m more of an opportunist,” laughs Virginie. “I was more interested in free veggies than the actual idea of farming.” However, one year working on the farm led to another. In her third year, she moved on to the farm and, it became clear that Virginie was hooked.

Finding His Way Back to the Farm

Alex didn’t consider farming a realistic career path. “I never really considered it as an option. My parents had come from farming families in Saskatchewan and they sort of saw it as a dead-end with the increasing expansion of industrial agriculture, along with a heavy workload and low income.” But despite his family history, Alex got involved in farming at the College, feeling it would give him more clout in his interests in Environmental Policy to have experience working on an organic farm. Something tells me that having the chance to work with Virginie out in the fields wasn’t too bad either.

With a strong love for food systems, the environment, and each other, they moved back to Metchosin to Alex’s parents’ property, trying to decide their next steps. They secured a contract with Pearson College to research the viability of incorporating more locally grown produce into the cafeteria at the school. It proved to be a crucial turning point for these two farm-dabblers, as a result of a conversation with Tom Henry, the editor of Small Farm Canada Magazine. As Virginie remembers, “He said that if we want the college to have more local produce, we should grow it ourselves.”

Tomatoes at Wind Whipped FarmSquash at Wind Whipped Farm

 

 

 

 

“He outright challenged us. If you want it, then do it!” Alex laughs at the memory. “He even said that he would come by to give us advice on a good location and till up my parents’ land so we could get started.”

Reflecting on this conversation spurred these two thoughtful environmentalists to consider their options. They realized that one of the largest barriers to accessing local food in their community was the lack of people growing it. They had access to land, an existing cabin on the land that they could fix up, cheap rent and a deep love for working outside. And they already had some farming experience under their belt from their time at College of the Atlantic. It seemed as though it couldn’t be easier to make the transition to farming!

Farming: A Five Year Plan

They broke ground in 2008, and through to 2009 engaged in what they call “part-time, super-low-budget farming.” “It’s hard to know just what we were doing back then,” says Alex as they both laugh. Certainly there was a lot of trial-and-error, but they did manage to produce a yield and delivered their produce by bike trailer to their local market.

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]

In 2010 they took to the road on their bikes to tour farms of eastern Canada, learning how other farmers were “making it work.” They eagerly absorbed all the farming tips they could, from different ways to clean salad mix to how to build a whizbang garden cart. They found the opportunity to learn from others invaluable, and returned home eager to continue working on Wind Whipped and implement some of their new-found knowledge. They started out with a 5-year plan and began investing in infrastructure—greenhouses, fencing, rototiller, a truck—all the pieces that they needed to be successful in their venture.

In 2011 they began The Local Food Box Program. Members pay $425 for a 16-week veggie box program. The boxes are delivered to two dropoff locations in Victoria or available for pick up on the farm. Wind Whipped also works with partners from Parry Bay Sheep Farm, Stillmeadow Farm, Winter Creek Farm, Ridgeview Farms and SRS Farms to offer a meat box option containing pork, chicken and lamb, and/or an egg option. They feel that this type of collaboration really adds value to their operation, and as Alex explains, “We access a larger group of customers, and create another local marketing opportunity for a few Metchosin producers. It’s great to be able to partner with other farmers in this way.”

In Search of Community

The land of Wind Whipped Farm is a gorgeous and peaceful 10-acre parcel on the ocean, worth far more today than when it was purchased in the early 80s. For new young farmers starting out, it might seem as though Alex and Virginie have everything they need to be successful—but it’s still not easy. As Viriginie explains, “we are so very lucky compared to others, but we still have land and housing barriers. We can’t have housing for workers, and our cabin is more of a seasonal dwelling than a home. Farm-worker housing is really needed.”

And more than that, they are lacking in what they really need: a strong agricultural community. Alex explains that, “We just don’t feel as though we are quite part of a thriving agricultural community. There are a few really big pieces missing. There are some great farmers around, but not a lot of young farmers who can continue the farming tradition in this area, because prices are so high. Also, there is no Agricultural Community Plan, something that we sorely need.” Virginie agrees. “How do we have conversations around keeping new farmers in Metchosin? As far as I know, this conversation isn’t happening at the municipal level. If we value the agricultural landscape, we need to actively support new growers to live here.”

If we value the agricultural landscape, we need to actively support new growers to live here.”

After a wonderful morning full of interesting conversation, I stroll up the hill from their cabin and leave the farm, loaded with squash, garlic and tomatoes. It’s clear to me how the problems these two have outlined can spell trouble for a future generation of farmers in this community. But it’s also clear how lucky Metchosin is lucky to have these articulate and motivated young farmers to help point things in the right direction.

Hannah Roessler has farmed in Nicaragua, Washington, and BC on permaculture famers, polyculture cafetals, organic market farms and a biodynamic vineyard. She has an MA in Environmental Studies, and her research is focused on climate change and small-scale organic farming. She currently farms on the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.

You might be interested in

Building Bridges

2023 BC Organic Conference Recap By Stacey Santos Mentorship. Perseverance. Kindness. Relationships. More than words, these ideas were penned and

1 … 24 25 26
Go to Top