Tim and Linda Ewert will begin hosting people this summer
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com.
A B.C. farming couple has entered the next phase of their unique residency program.
Tim and Linda Ewert, who own Wildwood Farm near Pouce Coupe, B.C., are sorting through applications from interested people wanting to live on their 160-acre farm beginning this summer.
Several interested people, including some international applicants, completed a survey, phone interview or corresponded by email before a Jan. 31 deadline, Tim said. Each successful applicant will pay $1,500 to help purchase food and supplies.
“We have six definite applicants and some that are still undecided,” he told Farms.com. “They’re all quite enthusiastic and eager to give it a try. Most of the applicants are Canadian but we did have one application from a family in Europe. They’re originally from the Ukraine but are working in Denmark on a dairy farm. They seem interested but would have to figure out their own (paperwork) before we could really talk to them seriously about it.”
The applicants also have different interests, Tim said.
One family from Edmonton participates in medieval re-enactments. They make their own clothes and try to live off the land. Another interested person grew up on a farm in Alberta but has been living in Toronto for the past decade and is looking to move back to Western Canada, Tim said.
Wildwood Farm has pigs, dairy cows, chickens, barn, greenhouses, as well as grain and vegetable fields.
Once chosen, the residents will be expected to be ready by 7:00 a.m. daily to help milk cows, feed livestock and operate machinery. Aside from a tractor and combine, other farm duties are done with horses.
Farmhands will also help prepare supper, which is served at 7:00 p.m.
The Ewerts view the residency program as contributing to their succession plan.
The couple hope whomever they select will stay with them to form a co-op.
“The farm visits will determine if we’re philosophically and personally aligned,” Tim said. “We hope that we’ll have a core group to form a co-op and for them to eventually take over the farm.”
Wildwood Farm photo