Climate-Friendly Mixed Farming Systems

Animals and plants are both crucial components of a healthy ecosystem. The combination of plant production and animal grazing is hugely beneficial for the environment. Mixed farming operations offer harvests throughout the season as well as additional financial income from animals. Farmers in BC recognize the multi-beneficial outcome of farming both animals and crops. In this webinar, you will hear from Vicky of Thimbleberry Farm, and Jolene of WoodGrain Farm and Land Matcher, Central & Northern BC for Young Agrarians.

About Thimbleberry Farm and Vicky Serafini

Vicky is the owner and operator of Thimbleberry Farm, located in Terrace, BC. The farm is managed by Vicky, along with her husband Chris. The farm operations include a market garden, pastured poultry, rabbit meat, and laying hens. Vicky has received a Certificate in Specialization in Organic Agriculture from Dalhousie University, and building on this educational foundation has learned farming through continual self-teaching and hands-on experience.

Thimbleberry Farm is a small-scale, no-till farm, where just under 30 varieties of crops are grown without the use of a tractor. Fertility is built on the farm through mulching, composting, and raising animals in conjunction with growing vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Thimbleberry Farm does not employ the use of chemicals to protect crops but rather attempts to create a balanced agro-ecological system that encourages both plants and animals to thrive. She takes great pride in proving her community with nutritious, locally produced food.

About WoodGrain Farm and Jolene Swain

Jolene Swain farms at WoodGrain Farm, a wilderness farmstead in the Kispiox Valley north of Hazelton in the unceded lands of the Gitxsan First Nation. She has spent the last five seasons growing organic vegetables for two local farmers’ markets and an increasing array of seed crops available through the BC Eco Seed Co-op, as well as helping get the hay in for the milk cow and small flock of sheep. Jolene works off-farm as an organic verification officer and consultant and is the Central & Northern BC Land Matcher for the BC Land Matching Program delivered by Young Agrarians.

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