I am age nine and go to Miracle Beach Elementary. I have a younger brother who’s eight named Callum, and we have two dogs, a crazy cat, and a flock of chickens on our farm in Black Creek. Our farm is called Kehler Vegetable Company.
We spend a lot of time on the farm growing food to share with the people in our community, but living in the Comox Valley also means we get to hike, mountain bike, and explore. I like to do… well, almost everything!
My brother and I ride BMX at the Coal Hills track in Cumberland. We practice or race a couple times a week. This year we have been riding in the Vancouver Island Challenge, which is a series of races all over the Island. The final race will be held this fall in Victoria, and we are pretty excited about it. I really like it when I win, but I usually come in second or third.
We also like to ride our mountain bikes on the Cumberland and Snowden trails. Sometimes I do jumps and sometimes I crash. We spend a lot of time in our big old barn, playing basketball and building wooden boats and bike ramps in my dad’s workshop.
We try to do some big hikes every year. We have hiked into Bedwell Lake, Kwai Lake, and Lake Helen Mackenzie in Strathcona Park. This year we even climbed Mount Albert Edward, right to the top! I really like seeing the whiskey jacks up in the mountains.
These days, we are putting the farm to rest for the year. Onions and winter squash are filling up our barn, and Mom and Dad are busy pulling everything up and tucking it away for next year. My mom is always cooking up salsa, sauce, pickles, and jam for the winter. There are jars everywhere!
In the winter the farm is pretty quiet, but when the weather warms up the fun starts. I like to know how to grow food and where our food comes from. I also like to help my mom in the greenhouse seeding and collecting eggs in the chicken barn.
My favourite part about packing our eggs is the sticker gun. We label all the cartons with our farm stickers before they are sold, and sometimes I put the date stickers on sideways or even upside down! My mom always fixes them.
I think summer is the best time on the farm. I like to eat berries the most, and our strawberries are so delicious. And every year I can’t wait for tomato season. They are my favourite things in the world, and cherry tomatoes are my all-time favourite. I grow a few tomato plants in pots so I have my own to snack on.
On very warm days we go swimming in our pond. We built a floating dock with our dad so we can jump off and cool down in the deep water. We go in almost every day during the summer holidays.
No matter what season it is, I have a lot of fun living on our farm in the Comox Valley.
