Small Potatoes

A farm near Smithers, British Columbia is a stopping place for all the round pegs that don’t fit in the square hole in a town dominated by the Dutch Canadian reform church. Homophobic, anti-abortion with archaic reformation era ideals. Yet an influx of transient tree planters, pickers and free spirits roam the same area, standing in stark contrast. Small potatoes farm is place for those who don’t fit in. As a small scale organic farm, it sells eggs, pea shoots and various vegetable offerings and barely stays afloat. Yet it opens its doors to anyone in need, for this charity it receives the ire and disgust of much of the community, police and conservation officers, bylaw enforcement by the boatload.

Illegal campground they say, squatters they say. Instead of being respected for his big heart the owner receives derision from many. 

Although there are many in Smithers who are liberal minded supportive people, many folks do not approve of the farm's existence. What is it in a stopping place for transients that is so unsettling for some? There is a crisis of housing everywhere, in Kelowna where I currently live, people are camping in the hills because inexpensive rentals are impossible. This also goes for most major hubs. Places that accept individuals and allow them to live for room and board should be lauded not derided. Yet here we are with passive aggressive calls to bylaw officers because people camp in farm fields. So it goes.