Pay $500 in June and get all the locally grown fruits and vegetables you need until October.
You can pick them up weekly at the Red Barn Plants and Produce farm on north 224th Street, where Ken and Elke Knechtel will put together a basket of whatever’s in season that week.
Depending on the time of year, and the weather, that could mean tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers and cucumbers, squash and beans, grown within greenhouses or in the fertile soil of the Alouette River Valley.
To balance out the veggies, apples, nectarines and peaches from the family farm near Keremeos are also trucked down.
It’s the latest venture for the family farm, which has been growing produce for farmers’ markets in New Westminster, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam since 2006.
“We’re shipping all our stuff to Coquitlam, all these areas … you know what? Maple Ridge is a good place.”
Because of the vagaries of Mother Nature and the time of year, members may still have to buy their own, possibly imported, veggies to fill in the gaps.
The weekly box is usually enough for a vegetarian couple for a week or for a family of four who use vegetables as a side dish.
The strategy is part of Community Sustained Agriculture program and aims to support small farms while cutting out the distributors and retailers, thus allowing small-scale farms to compete with agri-business.
In return, those who buy shares know from where their food comes and who grows it.
Food can be grown profitably in the Lower Mainland despite claims that soil is poor or it’s impossible to compete with imports from sunnier, warmer parts of the world.
“I’m so disappointed to hear that every time,” Ken says, adding he is making money producing local food.
“We’re not a big farm, we’re a family farm and we’re making a living doing it.”
Sales are expected to increase 20 per cent this year, doubling last year’s increase.
That growth allowed them to buy the eight acres in Keremeos.
He actually wanted to expand his farm, located in the Agricultural Land Reserve, but couldn’t afford the local land prices because of all the speculation in the area. “It was just so expensive.”
That’s not entirely a bad thing, however, when it comes time to move on, he says.
“Don’t get me wrong – one day I’m going to sell.”
The viability of local farming has Knechtel questioning the concept, often raised by Maple Ridge Coun. Al Hogarth, of growing crops on roof tops, as a way of mitigating the loss of farmland to development.
Why not just grow food in the soil? Knechtel asks.
“This land here, the soil, is to die for – there are no rocks.”
The only thing it needs is compost or mushroom manure, he says, noting he can dig down two to three metres before hitting gravel.
The high water table in the area makes the soil perfect for greens and cabbages.
Knechtel is excited about the Community Sustained Agriculture program, saying only a few other farms in the Lower Mainland are doing it. It’s just a way of providing fresh, local food to people who appreciate such fare.
“It’s building in popularity,” he said.
“It’s just now starting to become an option.”
While the farm isn’t certified organic, it uses only growing products that are on the Organic Materials Review Institute list, that is, products that are approved for use on organic farms.
“We follow the organic principles and enjoy the surprised look when someone tastes our amazing watermelons or juicy tomatoes,” he says.
Knechtel says he hopes people understand that agricultural land needs to be supported and says he’s “proudly” within the land reserve.
Why is it possible for growers in Washington to sell their fruit more cheaply in the Lower Mainland than B.C. growers in the Okanagan?
“There are big questions to be asked about that.”
