Wild Valley Farm
Our Story
Wild Valley Farm is a market garden farm located in Passmore, in the Slocan Valley, British Columbia. It is the collaborative project of two like-minded women agriculturalists passionate about providing food for their growing community, and families in an ecological way. Over the past few years the farm has evolved from a local project providing food to the farmers’ families and some supplementary income to Heather and Chris, to now providing weekly produce to over three dozen households weekly through a subscription based service, an onsite farm stand and wholesale accounts with local retailers. It provides one full time and two part time seasonal jobs. The two partners bring complementary skills sets their joint venture.
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While Heather farms in the spring, summer and fall, she takes university courses in the colder months and works as an Education Assistant. She likes going on adventures with her son Otis and loves a good project.
Chris has a degree in environmental land use planning and has worked in the not for profit sector for environmental groups and currently also works in administration for a local small business. Chris volunteers as the treasurer for her daughters horse riding club. And is an avid outdoor enthusiast!
Both Heather and Chris have school aged kiddos so they balance parenthood with farming.
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Heather and Chris feel that the prospects for local food are bright. With food prices rising, local food is more competitive in the global market than ever before. For the past several years Chris and Heather growing sustainably means that they have increased our income not through expansion of growing area but by refining our planting plan, increasing our soil health, increasing our efficiency and building a stronger community network among our customers. They have been able to farm using regenerative practices that have increased their soil organic matter, reduced pest and disease pressure and conserved water.
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Their goals on the farm have always been to limit the amount of plastic used, create meaningful, living wage employment and foster soil health through regenerative agriculture practices. Still today the farm is mostly people-powered, with only a small rototiller used infrequently in the garden. The two farmers use plenty of non-plastic mulch and cover cropping, and careful crop rotation.
Our Farm: Growing for the Future
Over the past 4 years the farm has seen a 20% year over year increase in sales accompanied by many infrastructure additions such as an 1800 square foot greenhouse, a walk-in cooler and improved irrigation capacity. The farm is poised to continue its growth. In the past year the two farmers added a farm store so local community members are able to stock up on fresh produce directly at the farm.
Our History
When they started farming together, having previously lived on a shared property, the demand was driven by curious neighbours asking if their veggies were for sale. Seeing that there was interest in local food, they scaled up. The land has a long history of being farmed with the original farm structures dating back to the late 1800s stills standing.
