ABOUT RAKE & RADISH FARM
Rake and Radish Farm is a small-scale ecological veggie, flower and berry farm on unceded lÉkĢŹ·ÉÅÉn and WĢ±SĆNEÄ territories (Saanich, BC). Leasing farmer Ardeo Mann (they/them) was matched to this land through the B.C. Land Matching Program in 2020 and has been offering gorgeous produce, education and safe(r) spaces for their communities ever since.
Ardeo runs Rake and Radish Farm to serve human, plant and pollinator communities using ecological practices. Ardeoās mission at Rake and Radish is to āgrow vegetables in an environmentally, financially and emotionally sustainable manner and ensure they are reaching a diverse customer base, focusing on the intersection between folks in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and disabled folks.ā Rake and Radishās beautiful veggies reach their customers through weekly CSA boxes throughout the growing season.
HOW RAKE & RADISH CAME TO BE
Ardeo always knew they wanted to be a farmer. Growing up in a cooperative in Victoria, the seed of Rake & Radish was the urban garden plot Ardeo maintained throughout their adolescence. After finishing high school, Ardeo worked casually on friendsā farms before completing three seasons of full-production farming in Saanich, BC. Through these early experiences, Ardeo learned the basics of running a farm business and confirmed their passion for agriculture. Ardeo was lucky enough to connect with a diversity of women and 2SLGBTQIA+ farmers, who became a model of what Ardeo wanted for their future. After a few years on the land, Ardeo was ready to make that future vision a reality. Although many people told Ardeo that they were too young to farm, couldnāt farm without knowing how to drive, had never run their own business before and couldnāt get started without owning or having existing access to farmland, Ardeo knew exactly what they wanted and decided to prove all the naysayers wrong. Ardeo says now, with laughter, that their decision to start their own farm was partially āfueled by spite,ā wanting to prove definitively that a young, single queer person belonged in the rural farming community.Ā
So how did Ardeo go from dreaming and a little bit of spite to running the bountiful business that Rake & Radish is today? A lot of hard work, a touch of luck and support from their community and from the B.C. Land Matching Program carried them along the way. In the early days of Rake & Radish, Ardeo happened to be renting a basement suite from Young Agrarians Land Matcher, Azja Jones Martin. Between conversations with Azja, who was starting her own successful farm business, and showing up at Young Agrarians events on the island, Ardeo decided it was time to lease landā purchasing land was never on Ardeoās mind, in large part due to the prohibitive cost of farmland in B.C. Once Ardeo knew they were ready to lease and access land, they dove all in ā flyering up and down their neighbourhood, tapping at least 100 mailboxes. They got just one reply ā as it so happens, their back-door neighbour, with whom they shared a fenced gate!Ā
At 22 years old, Ardeo signed a lease with their neighbour to start Rake & Radish. Ardeo notes that having a Land Matcher sit down at the kitchen table with them and work through the details of leasing and of navigating legal and tax documents was invaluable. Not having had previous business experience or training, Ardeo was grateful that Azja was able to educate them about appropriate lease rates and stipulations, and notes that they could have easily been taken advantage of in a different scenario if it werenāt for the support of Young Agrarians. Ardeo has been leasing the land just beyond their backyard fence ever since, and from that land has grown the bounty of Rake & Radish.
GROWING FOOD, BUILDING FUTURES: WHY FARM?
Rake & Radish is more than just a food production operation – itās an offering to Ardeoās community and a manifestation of a constellation of dreams that Ardeo has been cultivating since childhood. Growing sustainable food, being outside all day, working in peaceful solitude, having autonomy over their work and time and being able to dabble in a smattering of side projects on the land along the way – these are all reasons why Ardeo loves running Rake & Radish Farm and why farming is a fulfilling lifestyle for Ardeo on an individual level. However, Rake & Radish has become more than just Ardeoās beloved job; the farm is also a nexus point for 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled, and BIPOC food education, in addition to advocacy and community-building. Ardeo reflects that they did not intend to market themselves as a queer farmer from the outset, but rather wanted to be open about who they were and why they farm. In particular, they wanted to carry on the legacy of queer farming from the elders who had inspired them.
Ardeo passes these gifts on to their community through their unique CSA program. Ardeoās weekly CSA drop off is a social event, where friends and community members gather together to collect their vegetables and drop in with each other, creating a regular touch point for members of their community to build connections through food.
Ardeo notes that most of their CSA customers are queer, and emphasizes how meaningful it is to know who they are feeding and what their food means to those people. Knowing that 2SLGBTQIA+, BIPOC and disabled people disproportionately experience food insecurity, Ardeo understands the significance of having safe access to healthy foods and community networks. With that in mind, Ardeo offers a CSA option for financially comfortable folks to add on a weekās worth of veggies to their box in order to subsidize low- or no-cost boxes for queer, trans, disabled and BIPOC subscribers. Ardeo also offers two box sizes to provide a lower-cost option for financial accessibility.
Over time, Ardeo has built a broad network within their communities, particularly the queer community. Sometimes they learn that subscribers they have been serving for months or years electronically are people they already know, whether from other queer spaces or because their subscribers have changed their names in the course of their journeys as 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Ardeo notes that although these points of connection are generally bound to food provision and are relatively infrequent in nature, they create a sense of community longevity and security throughout the many transitions that speckle queer and trans lives.
One of the most touching observations that Ardeo shared was that they have started seeing more and more CSA subscribers who are parents of queer and trans children. These parents are looking for queer and trans role models in their childrenās lives, and Ardeo provides a space to show those queer and trans kids what a thriving future, rooted in land, food and community might look like.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR RAKE & RADISH FARM?
At just 26 years old, Ardeo has a lot to be proud of ā running a successful business, creating community networks and delivering beautifully-crafted produce to South Vancouver Island. But Ardeo is nowhere near finished! One of the dreams they hold for the future of Rake & Radish is facilitating skill-building workshops for urban queer folks. Currently, Ardeo runs a monthly āqueer crafternoonā, which they have been hosting for 5 years. Ardeo wants to transform these drop-in, free monthly craft gatherings to respond to community inquiries about farming – whether that be educating about the basics of sowing seed trays, transplanting or urban container gardening.Ā
As Ardeo continues to explore avenues to share their knowledge and expertise, they also want to build more knowledge about irrigation, seed-saving and soil health. They are also interested in taking a sabbatical year to cover crop, let the land rest for a bit and cultivate their vision for how to take their business to the next level – Ardeo wants Rake & Radish to be sustainable physically, financially and ecologically, so that they can continue to offer a unique and purposeful resource to their community.
On the production side of things, Ardeo notes that they āhave a crush on cornā, and are trying to figure out how to best utilize the 400 feet of corn that started as a personal corn patch until they realized that they ācanāt actually eat 800 cobs of cornā all on their own. Read more below to find out where to get your cob of Rake & Radish corn next season!
CONNECT WITH RAKE & RADISH:
Facebook: Rake and Radish Farm
Instagram: @rakeandradish
Website: https://rakeandradish.ca/
CSA signups are currently open for the season, so customize your veggie box today! Throughout the season, you can also enjoy the bounty of Rake and Radish Farm through visiting their farm stand or requesting flowers for your next event.
The best way to keep up to date with Rake and Radish and with Ardeoās many other community offerings is to sign up for their newsletter, where you can learn about upcoming workshops, see cute vegetable photos, and hear Ardeoās musings on the ins and outs of farming on Vancouver Island.
CONNECT WITH OTHER YOUNG AGRARIANS:
Stay in Touch
- Join our Young Agrarians Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands Facebook Group to stay up to date with all things farming in the region
- Sign up for our e-newsletter to get events and opportunities for your region delivered straight to your inbox
Got Land? Want Land?
Through the B.C. Land Matching Program, Young Agrarians offers support to farmers looking for land for their farm business, and landholders looking for farmers to farm their land. Weāve made more than 313 matches on over 12,130Ā acres to date! To learn about available land opportunities, and to learn about the B.C. Land Matching program on Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands, please visit youngagrarians.org/land or contact the Vancouver Island Land Matcher, Kiyomi Ito, at kiyomi@youngagrarians.org.