Darcy Smith The Shifting Paradigm of Land Access in Southern BC At Blue Heron Organic Farm on Vancouver Island, Kris Chand and his wife Maria had been farming organically for several decades. The couple was starting to think about retiring; at the same time, they saw a rising demand for organic food. Happy with the… Keep Reading
Bob McCoubrey A Succession Planning Story After more than 35 years of growing tree fruits and vegetables on our small farm in Lake Country, it was time to think about retirement. Our joints were telling us to ease up on the physical work and our son and daughter had moved on to other towns and… Keep Reading
Jonathan Knight If you walk out the back door of the little blue farmhouse at WoodGrain Farm, past the acre of market gardens and the old log outbuildings and barns, and back through the forest high along the banks of the Skeena River, there is wilderness. This is real wilderness, where one could follow ancient… Keep Reading
Shauna MacKinnon Scaling Up Ecological Seed Production British Columbia is home to a vegetable industry worth $2.8 billion annually, but nearly every seed planted to grow those veggies is produced outside of Canada. While local, organic vegetable production is on the upswing, seed production is lagging. That may not appear to be a problem when… Keep Reading
Michelle Tsutsumi Community members who visit local farmers’ markets are increasingly asking food growers very pointed questions such as, “Are you organic?” We hear that at least once every market – and it’s so much simpler to be able to answer with a clear “yes!” Once we decided to engage in the organic certification process,… Keep Reading
Nicholas Peterson I feel a deep connection to the land, a feeling that spans more than just a couple generations, but a feeling of millennia. Having a First Nations heritage from the Nicola Valley it’s impossible not to recognize that I am at the very place where my ancestors gathered, living on the same land… Keep Reading
Sage Birley Three years ago I returned to my family’s organic farm to help my father. I had just completed three years of schooling in Vancouver and as a young activist I was dealing with my first severe cycle of burnout. Oddly enough, it was that burnout that led me back to the farm. After… Keep Reading
Pauline Terbasket We have, like the salmon, remained resilient, persistent and determined to be leaders in this work by feeding our peoples and lands.” In January 2016, I had the opportunity to present to the Young Agrarians 3rd Okanagan Winter Mixer conference. I presented on our Syilx Salmon Recovery efforts and shared our successes and… Keep Reading
Moss Dance Get Your Produce in a Pile! I was lucky to witness the flourishing of the Saanich Organics farming (and marketing!) co-operative when I lived and farmed on southern Vancouver Island. In their book All the Dirt: Reflections on Organic Farming, Saanich Organics farmers Robin Tunnicliffe, Heather Stretch, and Rachel Fisher describe an amusing… Keep Reading
By Marjorie Harris BSc, IOIA VO, P.Ag. CAN/CGSB 32.310-2015 5.2.1 Measures shall be taken to minimize the phsyical movement of prohibited substances onto organic land and crops from: a) adjacent areas If unintended contact with prohibited substances is possible, distinct buffer zones or other features suf cient to prevent contamination are required: Clause 5.2 Environmental Factors… Keep Reading
