Words Cassidy Nunn
Photos Nunn Other Photography
Tasha Medve is one of those people who radiates warmth and enthusiasm.
She’s a self-described extrovert who’s now amassed an online following of over 800,000 people on her online platforms over the past seven years. It was while on maternity leave from her successful career in real estate, as a new mum, that she felt called to try to create a more sustainable and intentional environment to raise her son in. She started her blog, The Purposeful You, with the intention of inspiring others to lead a more sustainable life. It quickly turned into a focus on gardening and growing food as that is the area she found people were most engaged with and had questions about. She continued to expand her own garden, eventually moving to an acreage that provided a blank slate to continue her journey.
At the entrance to Tasha’s Peninsula garden is a beautiful archway covered in roses. She planted them in memory of her family’s beloved dog, Zoe, who used to spend hours alongside her in the garden and passed away a couple of years ago. “And now she greets us whenever we come into the garden,” says Tasha. There is a calmness and sense of peace in this serene garden setting that she and her garden helpers – her husband and two young children – have helped her to establish with a lot of hard work over the past several years. The garden is home to rows of raised beds; a stunning greenhouse by BC Greenhouses, installed locally by A. Davis Construction; several beds of flowers – edible and decorative – and bursting with colour, bees and sweet smells. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, various herbs, carrots, peas, lettuce, spinach, garlic, zucchini, squash and the beginnings of her famous pumpkin arch are all grown here using organic growing practices. She focuses
on companion planting to create harmony and a biodiverse garden.
The greenhouse is warm when you enter and overhead fans help to circulate the air. Peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil and citrus such as mandarin and even a lime tree (purchased locally from Fruit Trees and More in Deep Cove) are currently growing. The benefit of the greenhouse is that it allows the option for a year-round garden and harvest. While you don’t necessarily need heat in our climate, you do ideally want to keep the inside temperature from going below zero, says Tasha.
Tasha and her husband have continued to develop the acreage in three stages over the past three years. As she took followers along on her gardening journey, she was approached by a publisher about writing a book. She chose to focus on raised beds since it was what she had in her own garden, saying that they allow for greater accessibility (not having to crouch or bend down all the time when planting, weeding or harvesting!) and they are simpler in terms of time management. She also focused on vertical growing, which offers the ability to grow more in a small space, has fewer pests to deal with and is also easier on the body.
Her book, The Purposeful Gardener: Double Your Harvest & Create a Food Oasis with Raised Beds, Vertical Growing and Companion Planting, came out earlier this year and sold out in North America; a second print run has since been released. “The local support has been unreal,” says Tasha. She did several book events locally and has continued to partner with small businesses to host gardening events. Tasha loves to garden with her kids and a whole section of the book is devoted to encouraging youngsters to get outside and play in the dirt, to learn about food and how things grow. Tasha has created a family tradition around harvesting the first of the peas that her kids now look forward to each year.
And what if you haven’t started a garden this summer yet? “Focus on foods you actually want to eat!” says Tasha. “The Peninsula is a hot pocket; we can plant so much in August that will be ready for the fall and that’s unique to our Peninsula,” says Tasha. “Some great fall options that you can plant in August are broccoli starts, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce and beets.”
Find more information and Tasha’s e-books at www.thepurposefulyou.com.
