A Family Garden in Campbell River

gilakas’la čɛčɛ haθɛč. We respectfully acknowledge that land on which we garden is the Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, the traditional keepers of the land. This Garden Matters article features a garden in Campbell River, the Unceeded Traditional Territory of the Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ peoples: the We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum, and Kwikiah Nations⁠.

In Campbell River, Jon, Ella, and their three children grow a garden that answers many questions: how can one busy family grow their own produce, cultivate a neighbourhood community, and nurture the next generation of stewards of planet Earth? This garden plot started off as a blank canvas in 2020, and is now an oasis of edible crops intermingled with cut-flowers, bee boxes, laying hens, and ample play-space for the children.

At the heart of this family garden is the idea of “grocery shopping in your own backyard,” Ella explains. The family aims to use something from the garden when preparing their meals each day. Every year the family extends their gardening journey with a new experiment. This year, they invested in grow-lights for the garage so they could start more plants from seed and purchased a small six-by-eight foot unheated greenhouse to harden-off garden-bound starts.

Part of the impetus of the garden is to reduce their family’s footprint on the planet. While they grow their own food and flowers, they do so in ways that minimize plastic use. Jon and Ella have recently invested in multiple sizes of soil blockers. These are used to compress a special mix of soil into freestanding blocks with a small divot for a seed. When a seedling’s roots reach the edge of the soil block, they are air-pruned rather than circling the container. Starting seeds this way not only reduces plastic in the propagation process, but arguably produces a healthier plant. Ella notices that seedlings “take off” with more vigour once planted, as they experiencing less transplant shock than their container-grown counterparts. Ella also points out that using soil blocks allows for higher density sowing, which allowed her to grow even more flowers for her cutting garden this year.

Having once worked in a flower shop, Ella finds joy in creating floral arrangements that that neighours can take for free from the ‘Little Hive’ stand at the end of their driveway (hand-built by Jon with scrap materials).

The ‘Little Hive’ Garden Goods stand features homemade sourdough and free bouquets lovingly created with flowers from Ella’s cutting garden to share the harvest with neighbours.

Most of all, the garden’s role in everyday family life was clear when Jon and Ella’s children proudly gave a tour of the garden that they cherish, where hand-built raised garden beds and improvised containers burst with produce, hens peck the ground in their run, and bees buzz around their hive while the family dog wanders contentedly. There was no shortage of child-friendly features: a dedicated sand pit for construction vehicle toys, a playhouse and mud-kitchen to inspire the imagination, and a stretch of grass to run and drive the play-tractor. The children were most drawn to the plants and animals, though, and munched on pickings from the garden while they shared their space.

Sweet peas climb arches and mingle with vegetables and flowers in hand-built raised garden beds.

The family dog, Tolmie, wanders the garden.

A play house and mud kitchen border the chicken run.

A sand pit perfect for excavation!

Each of the children have their own roles in the garden that match their interests. Seven-year-old Evelyn enjoys caring for the chickens and choosing where flowers and vegetables ought to be placed. Evelyn has an eye for wildlife and shared a few memorable sightings in the garden: dragonflies, ladybugs, moths, robins, and Song Sparrows. She loves the taste of a garden strawberry.

Evelyn (7) showed some eggs she had gathered.

Five-year-old Lewis likes to get his hands dirty. Lewis has big dreams for the garden and volunteered to give up some lawn space for more cultivation. He lists garden items on his birthday and Christmas wishlists. His favourite garden visitor is the Red-Winged Blackbird: “I love those,” he explained. “They make a beautiful song.” It was Lewis’ idea to put a little pond in their garden.

Lewis’s (5) pond, which was created for one special garden visitor: a frog called ‘Lime’.

Two-year-old Elise is a burgeoning story-teller and harvester-extraordinaire. She loves to graze in the garden and knows how to spot a pea pod that is harvest-ready! She likes to cook up “chicken pies” in her mud-kitchen.

Elise (2) holds garden peas.

Lewis explained that the family uses the garden “to feed us and to feed the animals”. Their honeybees offer pollinator services while producing honey and beeswax; the chickens lay enough eggs for the family plus more to share, and the hens eat garden food scraps, like carrot tops, pea pods, and strawberry tops.

The family also creates household goods from the garden. Evelyn was proud to show swatches of colourful fabric, an experiment in botanical printing with flowers and fruits from the garden, which were destined to be sewed into bags. Ella has also made what Lewis calls “magic cream” with homemade calendula oil and a small batch of salve from their own beeswax. Ella is amazed by how much work the bees put into creating the products of honey and beeswax, which spurs the family to think even more closely about how they use these products, and to be grateful for it.

Calendula will be enjoyed as a cutflower, and in Ella’s homemade calendula oil.

Bee boxes are in a prime situation by the cutting garden.

When the June rain started to pour and the children took cover inside, the patio shelter built by Jon’s own hands offered a dry outdoor retreat. Wind chimes rang gently over the quiet symphony of raindrops on foliage while Jon and Ella described what they hope to get out of their garden each day: Hygge (both Jon and Ella are half Danish), peace, appreciation, and gratitude.

Jon shared that the goal of all of it is “to be conscious of how we use what we are given”. They want their children to see that Home is a space that provides for you. Through the process of keeping bees, chickens, and gardening, Jon and Ella want their children to love what they have and care about it.

This garden bounty gives much to be grateful for.

They hope that these ideas take root in the safe space of the garden, and permeate other areas of the children’s’ lives. Jon acknowledges that while as individuals or families we cannot fix the major issues of the world, we can make “micro-changes”. He sees his children’s generation as the next caretakers of this Earth.

In all respects Jon and Ella aim for their garden to reflect the values they want their children to live by. Jon gives new life to waste materials by building them into something functional. Like their bread and flower stand, the chicken coop too was built from scrap materials.

The garden is a place for the children to learn about the seasonality of food in real time. The family appreciates fresh food when it is available and processes the surplus by freezing, canning, and dehydrating. When tomatoes aren’t in season, for example, they make their pasta sauce from frozen whole tomatoes. A special family favourite is dehydrated cherry tomatoes, which “taste like candy”, Jon says.

Peas ready for little hands to pick.

The children are witness to all kinds of cycles and systems within their garden. They see their hens eat scraps and lay eggs; they see honey bees visiting flowers that develop into fruit, and how seeds harvested from the flesh of fruits (like their favourite ‘Black Krim’ tomato) can be grown into next year’s seedlings. Equally they see how their garden fits within the broader space of the community. While the family shares the bounty with neighbours, the neighbours support them in return, such as looking after the chickens when they are away and offering scrap materials for building. The children have picked up on this, and have started to initiate their own deliveries of eggs (as well as baking) to their neighbours.

How does a family of five have the time? Both John and Ella work full time jobs. “We don’t stop,” Jon acknowledges. They spend their spare time in the garden. “This is just life. It feeds your soul.” Ella describes that something incredible happens when the family is together in the garden: “We take comfort in it”.

Ella’s advice for gardening with children:

Start small;
Let children play alongside the work that is done in the garden;
And let them feel like they are a part of it.

Posted: 12 August 2024