The Farmers
Cali Olleck and Brendan Parsons
Neither of us come from a farming background. Cali graduated from Richmond Farm School, a 10-month, hands-on program at Kwantlen University, and completed the Community Futures Self-Employment program. Brendan completed an ecological gardening program at Linnaea Farm on Cortes Island, and interned at an apiary.
Farming has been a steep learning curve but we both enjoy the constant learning and dynamic work. We are grateful for the many resources available to us in the West Kootenays that have helped us along our way, including KBFA (the Kootenay and Boundary Farm Advisors) which provides us with valuable extension services, and for CBT (Columbia Basin Trust) which provides us and other small, agricultural businesses with financial support in the form of wage subsidies and infrastructure loans.
We feel so lucky to call Salmo home, and to raise a family in this beautiful little village.
Gabrielle Clement
Gab is the Assistant Farm Manager and brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience to her position. She has been working on mixed vegetable farms for 14 years, with much of that time being in management roles. A super hard worker in the field, Gab usually sets the benchmark pace for whichever task the crew is working on, whether it is transplanting or harvesting. Her keen awareness of weeds, pests and diseases makes management easier as she scouts for issues while completing other tasks. We are very grateful to have Gab back for another year of helping to manage our farm.
Devon McDonald
Devon has been working with us since 2022 and brings an incredible skillset to our farm operation. Devon has a wealth of career experience including being a professional electrician and managing several of her own companies. She also worked in a wide variety of roles in the Okanagan tourism, wine and agriculture industries. Now she is fully trained in our market farm operation and can often be found leading greenhouse management tasks such as lowering and leaning tomatoes and cucumbers, keeping the workplace organized and tidy to maintain the flow of the day, operating machinery - and in her spare time, creating beautiful and delicious plant-based dishes with our produce!
Atlin Parsons
Our son and resident taste tester, irrigation system apprentice and tractor enthusiast.
Thalia Parsons
Our daughter and farmer in training. Head strawberry taste-tester.