Our path to farming in the Cowichan Valley was a long one. While Niki grew up with a love of food, veggies fresh from her dad's garden, and visits to her grandfather's Okanagan orchard, she did not realize she wanted to farm until well after she completed a degree in agriculture.  She chalks this up to the fact that farming wasn't really a career option that was mentioned at any point growing up, in school, or even while studying agriculture at UBC. But after many summers working on farms and faced with the post-graduation outlook of an office job, she finally came to her senses!

School was not a complete digression though. It was at university where Niki earned a BSc in Agro-ecology, as well as a Masters in Landscape Architecture, where she also connected with the UBC farm and completed an apprenticeship in organic agriculture… and it’s where she met Nick.

Nick was a worldly fellow, having grown up in New England and Europe. He completed his first degree in computer science and philosophy, but was eager to gain some experience in "real world" disciplines. He thought architecture was the answer and although he completed his master's in this field, by the end of it he was more interested in designing farm buildings than skyscrapers. Not only that, he was ready to get out from behind a computer and late nights in studio. So it did not take much for Niki to convince him that farming was the answer he was looking for.

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Shortly after graduation we left Vancouver to spend the next four years working on various organic vegetable farms throughout BC.  While we honed our craft, we were also keeping an eye out for a bit of land where we could put down roots. In 2012 we came upon this spot just outside of Crofton, in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. While it took some time to find our own place, we would not trade those years of gaining experience and learning from other farmers for anything! They were truly great mentors (and continue to be), and now when we look out at our fields we see a little bit of each farm in the various ways we do things here.

Ever since then we have been developing our farm and our markets. Starting as a one-woman show with about 1/2 an acre of vegetables in 2013, while Nick continued to work off-farm (although he put in countless hours on evenings and weekends). Nick's job allowed us to re-invest our profit back into the farm for the first three years, comfortably growing the business. In 2014 we doubled our area as Nick dropped down to a four-day work week at the office. In 2015, we doubled our area again with the help of two apprentices. All the while putting up deer fencing, installing field drainage and irrigation ponds, improving our soils, building the fleet of farm equipment, erecting greenhouses, constructing a cooler and wash area, and generally working our "balls off"!  In 2016 Nick was finally able to quit his job and come back to the farm full-time.

In terms of markets, in the beginning we did all the things a small farm does! We attended farmers markets, started a CSA, and reached out to chefs. Quickly we narrowed this down to the Duncan Farmers Market, which we attended for 8 years, building a loyal following. We also saw our CSA grow to over 80 members in 2020, as people’s buying habits shifted.

While this was exciting, and we were so grateful for all the local support, it was also a ton of work. By early 2020, we had also grown our family to include a 2-year old and a new born, and we were on the edge of burning out. For this reason, we made the big decision to give up the farmers market and our CSA in 2022, switching entirely to wholesale.

This adjustment gradually paid off, and we are immensely grateful to our local buyers (all our produce still stays on the Island), as well as the many customers who have switched to seeking out our produce through these other channels. Selling wholesale has allowed us to narrow our crop range and spend more time farming and less time marketing, giving us more time with our kids and generally a better work-life balance.

That said, over the years we’ve gradually started providing more opportunities for customers to buy from us directly here at the farm. Each spring we have two large plant sales for all your vegetable gardening needs, and in the fall we have two on-farm bulk sales where you can stock up on storage produce for the winter. These events have become so popular that this year we are planning to build a farm stand, so people can connect with us more easily and more often (we’ll still be offering the plant and bulk sales though, so have no fear). We’re looking forward to this new phase of selling directly to our community again, and we look forward to connecting with you more often!

Before I wrap this up, I cannot end without a huge shout out to our amazing farm crew, most of whom have been working with us for the past 3-4 seasons. We could not do what we do without them, not to mention each of them is simply an amazing human! Their hard work, dedication, and love of food make showing up each morning during the long farm season so much more enjoyable.

Finally, along the way both our families have been immensely helpful; from Niki's parents helping out in the field and packing shed in the early days, to now taking care of the kids regularly, to Nick's folks who have travelled all the way from Maine on numerous occasions only to find a list of jobs to do when they arrive. Although we don't come from farming families, farming is still proving to be a family endeavour.

While we feel like we've accomplished a lot in the first decade of this farm, all we see when we look out at the fields are the many projects yet to be done!  These include renovating our pack area, building a farm stand, installing more greenhouses, bringing chickens back into the mix, and more... All this work could seem daunting, but some things are for certain: we eat well, we sleep well, and we are never bored.