Beryle's Organic Paradise

Location:

Oliver, BC

Certification(s):

SOOPA Organic

Farming organically since 1998, Beryle Oravec is a 'hands on' kind of lady. Each week during harvest time, she makes the trek from her farm in Oliver BC to Discovery Organics herself. “Everytime I let someone else drive my van, they smash it.” She says if Johnny Wray, her farm’s manager and her own special sweetheart, ever left Beryle’s Organic Paradise, she’d be “hooped”.

When asked why she chooses to farm organically, Beryle quips “Well, I don’t like poison and because I have kids who will walk right out into the field, pick something and eat it, dirt and all.” Beryle has dedicated over 5 years to SOOPA, a BC organic certifying body, and she now sits on their board of directors. She believes that organic is the right way to go, especially for small farms. She’s expanding on her crop mix, this year trialing baby eggplants, sweet peppers, and lemon cucumbers.

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PDF:

Beryle's Organic Paradise.pdf

Crops:

Peppers, Tomatoes - Cherry

Our Growers Are Our Heroes

We got into this business because we wanted to help small scale organic farmers here at home gain access to the larger commercial marketplace, and to ensure their families and communities thrive. Over the past decade or so, we have endeavored to do this, step by step, with over ninety B.C. farms.

Our hearts still belong to the small scale growers. We have visited dozens of farms in B.C., working with growers to see them move to larger and more financially sustainable operations.

We feel encouraged by the impressive increase in consumer demand for organics and local. We also acknowledge that we might not be able to grow all our own food year round. Even more so now, as our climate changes, no harvest is a safe bet.

So over the years, we have extended our relationships with small scale farmers to include farms down the Pacific Coast, through Washington, Oregon and California, then on to Mexico and South America. Together, this network of growers keep us all fed year round. And for this we are grateful.