36 SMALL farms


farm in Langley, is fully aware of the challenges faced in agriculture. MacInnes’ parents ran a


feedlot, then switched to dairy until the free trade agreement came in. Then they turned to boarding horses and agroforestry, planting cottonwood trees for Scott Paper. The trees were to become toilet paper when they reached maturity at 10 years. Unfortunately, the paper mill shut down in year nine. “It was a weekly family


conversation: ‘How are we going to save the farm?’” she said.


Now, MacInnes Farms


grows a mix of barley, blight- resistant hazelnuts, apple trees, bees and hops. The cottonwoods are used for filming. “My reason for [farming] is


my love for the land,” she said. “It would be so much easier for me to just not do it, but I


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can’t get rid of that desire.” MacInnes wants to create


value-added products on- farm so that products get directly into the hands of consumers. A brewery is in the works, honey products are sold on-site and at farmers’ markets and she plans to plant vegetables in between the apple trees.


Creative thinking


This kind of creativity is what led Ableman to found Sole Food Street Farms in Vancouver. “I’ve lived a very privileged


life,” he said. “Like most of us, there’s a point when we have a reckoning.” After a couple of years at


120-acre Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring, he knew he needed to give back, so he began farming in containers on a half-acre parking lot in Vancouver.


“No bleeding-heart attempt to save anyone,” he notes. “After growing food for the privileged, I decided to [try to help the other side].” Over the last eight years, the social enterprise has employed 75 people at four sites. It produces 25 tons of food annually. Employees


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • JANUARY 2020


Potential farmers Dave Iten and Ashley Gejdos are considering farming in Squamish. They came to Small is Beautiful to find out more about the occupation. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO


receive training that reflects their individual abilities. They have a range of backgrounds such as addiction and chronic mental health problems and are empowered to improve their lives one seed at a time. “These are paid jobs on


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production farms that provide food to Vancouver,” he said. “These farms are on parking lots, under bridges.” Attendees of the Langley- based event had various


reasons for coming. Galen Bellman owns On the Go Farms and wants to expand from blueberries into vegetables. “We learn every single day,”


she said. Dave Iten and Ashley


Gejdos are looking at farmland in Squamish. “I’ve always been attracted to that lifestyle,” said Iten. “Growing food for other people – it’s back to the


basics.”


Ableman is aware of the issue of land affordability in BC. He believes long-term leases for a minimum of 25 years are the answer. He also touched on food affordability, which is a conversation separate from farming. “The fact that we have people that can’t afford our food is a different conversation,” he said. “It’s not an agricultural conversation.”


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