A month-long experience working on an organic farm in Hagensborg inspired Brianna van de Wijngaard to become a market gardener.
Today the 38-year-old operates Puddle Produce Farm on a leased property near the historic Soda Creek townsite about 40 kilometres north of Williams Lake.
“I had never gardened,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about growing vegetables, but I always knew that I liked physical work. I just didn’t know what kind I could do or should get into.”
Originally from Vancouver Island, she finished a degree in geography at the University of Victoria in 2013 then went to the Bella Coola Valley for the farm experience.
A month later she landed a job with the Cariboo Regional District in Williams Lake.
When the job ended, she decided she liked living in a smaller city and started Puddle Produce, growing vegetables on various urban properties to sell.
“I started reading about market gardening and the income potential of a small farm, especially as local food was becoming more popular, that is when I started thinking that it’s not all together unrealistic to make a living at it,” she recalled.
In October 2016, Brianna embarked on developing the Puddle Produce Farm at Soda Creek.
She signed a 10-year lease and moved to the property which is owned by Ric and Liz Durfeld.
Brianna and her late father, Karel Van de Wijngaard, began transforming a grassed area on the upper portion of the property into a half-acre garden.
They plowed it before winter and did two or three successive tillings in the spring to get rid of pasture grass.
“It’s really the only way you can do it if you aren’t going to spray,” she said. “We did that and basically I was able to grow at least a little bit the first year.”
There is a second garden plot that had already been developed on the property below and closer to the Fraser River that provided her with another acre.
Recalling how her dad liked tinkering, Brianna said he enjoyed helping her and it gave him some purpose.
“I was really lucky to have his help. Back in the day he worked as a road superintendent and then later in life he had easier jobs as he approached retirement. He worked for St. Vincent de Paul for many years on Vancouver Island.”
Brianna was on the Williams Lake Farmers Market board until recently and Karel was the manager for a couple of years.
READ MORE: Final Williams Lake Farmers’ Market of the season Friday, Oct. 8
He died suddenly on April 22, 2018 in a vehicle accident on Springfield Road.
In 2019, the farm obtained organic certification and expanded its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program which is a direct customer/farmer relationship similar to a shareholder agreement. Instead of using chemicals to deter bugs, she uses large net coverings for items such as salad mixes and arugula.
In August, she was the recipient of the 2021 the Women With Heart award, presented by the Women’s Contact Society award at the Williams Lake Farmers’ Market.
WCS executive director Irene Willsie presented the award and said the society was honoured to acknowledge Brianna’s many achievements.
“We believe she is a woman with a big heart that benefits the entire community of Williams Lake,” Willsie said.
Eileen Alberton, WCS community liaison said the society regularly receives donations of fresh produce from Brianna that is shared with women in need.
Organic farming means all plants are started from seed and transferred from the house to greenhouse to garden by hand.
Brianna mentors young people through the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program, which was what brought her to Hagensborg in 2013.
Her farmhands receive three months free room and board on the farm in exchange for three months of labour. She will have anywhere between two and four people working for her at one time.
“I do use some wage subsidies and that way I can provide a job, which I really like, and train young people doing this.”
Aside from farming she works for the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society as the communications co-ordinator and writes columns for the Williams Lake Tribune.
Before it closed in 2018, she was part of the Cariboo Growers Farmers Co-op and managed the store on Oliver Street for a stint.
Brianna was born in Ontario and moved with her family to the Victoria area when she was 10 years old.
She has a brother and sister living in Squamish and her mom lives in Sidney.
“They often come up here to visit because I have the room,” she said.
While becoming involved with the Williams Lake Farmers Market, she met Chris Hornby, who introduced her to many local people.
“Chris really was my first friend here,” Brianna recalled.
Summer is Brianna’s busiest time of year and on weekends when she is not managing a farm crew, she still spends time gardening.
“I putter and catch up on things and I like doing that.”
READ MORE: Cariboo vegetable farmer swamped by Fraser River flooding
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