by Jo Barnes | photos by Janis Jean Photography –
To the casual observer, farming seems to be all about routine: feed the livestock, water the crops, fertilize the soil and repeat each season. However, successful farmers embrace the reality that there is no such thing as routine.
Bryce Rashleigh, of Saanichton Farm situated off Stelly’s Cross Road, is a third-generation farmer who has learned the value of adapting to whatever conditions come your way.
“The only thing constant is change,” shares Bryce. “I got to live my dream in agriculture, and I enjoy the challenge of adapting to change.”
As someone who comes from a long line of farmers, Bryce is well versed in caring for crops, livestock and the land. “Farming, it’s always been in me,” he says.
As well as growing hard red spring wheat, malting barley and haylage, milling grain, and raising chickens and turkeys, Saanichton Farm manages and provides assistance to numerous other farms.
“We are a hub,” says Bryce. “We help and work 90 properties, a total of 1,000 acres, from Deep Cove to Blenkinsop Valley.”
With such a large number of farms to serve, there is always plenty of work to be done. Bryce has a number of workers and strives to both support the Canadian market and individual employees working for him. “We have always done it with Canadian labour and paid a living wage,” he notes.
Like many farmers, Bryce faced some real challenges with the arrival of the pandemic. There was a sharp decline in local markets. It hit two of his prime customers especially hard: the horse-drawn carriage tourist industry and the Island dairy and beef producers. This resulted in Bryce having a surplus of hay and no customers.
“During Covid, we had 5,600 round hay bales here,” he says. “We needed to sell this hay. We almost came to the end of it all.”
The solution had its roots in the fact that Saanichton Farm has always been firmly integrated into the farming community. Adding to the pandemic situation, summer brought drought and fires to western Canadian farmers. In response, Bryce has been transporting haylage to impacted farms so that they can feed their livestock and maintain their operations.
“We shipped 29 semi-truck loads throughout B.C. and to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border,” says Bryce.
Media stories through CBC, CTV and Times Colonist began to prompt action from others. A local company, FAS Fuels, provided fuel, and Penta Transport Ltd. assisted with freight costs. Customers and Vancouver Island residents also extended a hand in the form of personal donations.
“People from all over donated money for freight costs,” remarks Bryce. “One lady came to buy eggs. She donated money, saying ‘it’s for the cows.'”
More recently, the record flooding in B.C. prompted new challenges to this outreach.
Bryce and his team travelled up through the B.C. Interior and made their way to Alberta where they delivered hay bales to stricken farms. The return trip brought a variety of road hazards including snow and eventually impassable road conditions due to flooding.
“We eventually made it back to Kelowna. We had to leave our trucks there due to flooding on the highway,” shares Bryce. “We locked them in a friend’s compound. We knew we needed to get home.”
While stressful and challenging, Bryce did the trip because, for him, it is all about connecting with fellow farmers, meeting needs, and strengthening the farming community.
“We need to be Canadians helping Canadians,” he says. “We are in this together.”
Recently, the farm was recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and awarded the Century Farm Award. It represents over 100 years of continuous farming at four farm locations. His grandfather John Stanley Rashleigh farmed 16 acres in the Coombs-Hillier area in 1919 and, with his wife Elizabeth, operated the farm there until 1928. They bought a larger property near Qualicum Beach and operated a mixed farm including dairy. Subsequently in 1936 they moved the farm to a new location at the corner of East Saanich and Mount Newton Cross Road. It was home to three generations of the family until 2006 when it was purchased by the Thomson family. From the proceeds, Bryce and his wife Jill bought their current farm which now stands only a mile from the original farm.
“We are living in a beautiful part of the world and in the land of plenty,” shares Bryce. “It is a privilege to farm land, and it keeps us going.”
For over 100 years, the Rashleigh family have been stewards of the land. Bryce’s grandfather; his father; and now Bryce, his wife Jill, and his family have taken on the challenges of cultivation, crop marketing, and now, more than ever, climate change. A love of agriculture and a commitment to community; these will always be routine for these farmers.
