Cover Story


Caring for a variety of crops is a new experience for Bob McCoubrey of Lake


Country, but he’s got a lot of basic knowledge to share with people who are new to farming.


JUDIE STEEVES Incubating beginners


Retired orchardist Bob McCoubrey lends his skills to help expand community farmidea. By Judie Steeves


F


or an orchardist, accustomed to growing a crop that is harvested all at once, Bob McCoubrey of Lake Country says it’s completely different to try and keep track of a mixed farm with 20 different vegetables ripening at different times. He sold his organic orchard four years ago and ‘retired,’ but he continued his volunteer activities, including attending meetings of the Central Okanagan Food Policy Council, where the idea came up for a community farm, on which volunteers would raise produce for local food banks. “I could see they needed some input from a farmer,” he comments — and that’s why he’s bent over the chard on a


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sunny summer day, picking it into a basket to load into his truck and deliver to the food bank.


This half-acre plot was made available by Paul and Judy Shoemaker, who also donated the adjacent plot for a community garden, where residents who have no space to grow can come and raise some of their own food in a small bed.


The next step is finding the irrigated farmland for an incubator farm, where new farmers can receive guidance from a farmer/mentor to begin farming on the rented land, sharing equipment with other like-minded ‘new farmers.’ Already they have people interested in trying their hand at farming, and they’re looking for a plot of land to begin a first incubator farm. As well mentors are needed, whether they are working farmers or retired, or people with knowledge about farm equipment they’d like to share.


McCoubrey envisions people who are innovators, thinkers and people who like to share their knowledge. The time commitment could vary, from an answer to a question on the phone, to


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Fall 2015


showing someone how to do something on the farm.


In terms of land requirements, it must have water and be good soil, suitable for farming; perhaps five acres that could be divided into smaller plots. Ideally, there would be some farm equipment available, like a tractor and a disc. The mentor would help a new farmer plan so he could plant, harvest and sell his produce.


After a few years, he would make a decision whether to continue on his own land, or throw in the towel. There are some other incubator farms in B.C., so the concept is not entirely new.


Interested food council members formed the Central Okanagan Community Farm Society with five founding board members and eight who normally attend meetings. Some work on the community farm, volunteering to till the soil, plant seeds, weed and harvest.


Although they began by planting the first section by hand, they then used a precision seeder to plant the rest, which McCoubrey says, “made it much easier.”


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