There will always be people who discourage you because you don’t arrive fully formed, folks who don’t notice that we are less about human beings and more about humans becoming.

Where to start?

We came to farming via a circuitous route. We arrived late in life with a gardening base. The learning curve was high and hard to climb, not because anyone step was particularly challenging, but because there are so many steps and dealing with the complexity of living systems is simply that: complex.

Certainly there were and are detractors.  There will always be people who discourage you because you don’t arrive fully formed, folks who don’t notice that we are less about human beings and more about humans becoming.

Despite that we persevered & we are in the process of becoming every day. Some days that is exhausting and some days exhilarating.

We started our venture with this goal in mind: to feed ourselves, our community and the soil as ethical stewards for the future.

We knew we wanted some guiding principles to draw on. We developed our code of conduct as we developed our capacities. This document is one I come back to often and reflect on how far we have come and how far we have to go.

One of our primary goals have always been  growing soil and food in order to nurture the community of the Comox Valley and ultimately, the planet.

That meant learning and committing to organic certification: organic eggs, berries and organic vegetables.

When we first signed up to be part of organic certification, I thought I was doing it all right already.  Turns out there is so much to certification I had not considered.  Core issues around infrastructure for example.  That is the value we see in the cost, it ensures we are doing the best for our piece of the planet that we can steward.

Certification was and is right for us because it offers an outside perspective on our compliance to the best, always changing, certification standards we have in Canada.

As I write my yearly renewal I consider where I can be doing better, where I fall short and what I would like to see change.

And isn’t that what this journey is?  The constant striving to do better for ourselves, our community and the planet.

Thank you for supporting the farm and this journey, we are glad to be part of your community.

Mariette