ABOUT US

Plenty Wild Farms is a small-scale, certified organic family farm committed to providing excellent quality veggies for our local communities through an online store, our farm stand in Pemberton and the Squamish farmers' market. 

​We grow over 50 different types of vegetables on ~3.5 acres using a compact tractor, small hand tools & equipment and systems that focus on efficiency, productivity & soil health. All of our produce is certified organic with NOOA (#04-371).

Owned & operated by Alyssa Belter & David Tanner, we are partners in farming, life and love. With backgrounds in Environmental Studies, cooking and cheese-making, we were originally drawn to farming by a passion for good food, concern for environmental sustainability and desire for meaningful, tangible work.

Now, nine years later, we work alongside part-time & full-time seasonal staff to produce delicious, healthy food with a positive environmental and social impact. Our awesome 2021 crew are: Emma, Etienne, Mariana & Sarah.
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We are also inspired & supported by the farming community in Pemberton & beyond, our families, friends and loyal customers. 

Our Story

Alyssa was born & raised in a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta although she spent many happy & memorable weekends on her grandparents' farm in Bluffton, Alberta. David grew up in Coquitlam, B.C. but always enjoyed reading James Herriot's stories about country life in Yorkshire, England. 

After high school, both Alyssa & David moved to Victoria, B.C. where they met one fortuitous day in 2008 when Alyssa wandered into the produce store where David was working. She figured out his schedule and (as she admits) stalked him until he asked her out for coffee.

During her university days, Alyssa cultivated a keen interest in food & cooking that led to work at Fol Epi bakery in Victoria, B.C, school at the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver and a cheese-making internship with Farm House Natural Cheeses in Agassiz, B.C.
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Meanwhile, during his university days, David developed a fascination with farming. He did an apprenticeship at Cropthorne Farm, a certified organic veggie operation in Ladner, B.C., and became totally hooked.

Next, Alyssa & David spent a season on a pastured-based dairy & livestock farm in Kitscoty, Alberta where Alyssa made sheep's milk cheese and David worked with the animals. David also planted an enormous garden and Alyssa pickled & preserved the overabundance it provided.

After being presented with an opportunity for employment & land they moved to Agassiz, B.C. where Alyssa worked as a cheese-maker for Farm House Natural Cheeses while David took the leap and started Plenty Wild Farms in 2012. 

That first year was an intense trial by fire for David but he emerged more confident than ever that farming was the career for him. It also cemented his desire to find a permanent location for the farm so Alyssa & David began to search for a place to call home in Pemberton, B.C. 

With the generous help of their parents, they ended up purchasing the first property they looked at - 10 acres of land with a charming but uninsulated farm house built in the early 1930s. Since there was no cheese-making work, Alyssa agreed to help David on the farm for one season.

In 2014 Alyssa & David worked together to establish Plenty Wild Farms at its new location. They designed & set up the field layout, built a hoop house, installed a well and laid down permanent irrigation lines. They also became proud puppy parents to a sweet border collie named Sky. By the end of the season, Alyssa realized her plan to start running a B&B had been foiled because she was completely in love with farming. 

In 2015 Alyssa & David began raising heritage pigs, started their flock of Clun Forest sheep and introduced a livestock guardian dog named Bean into the mix. They also fenced the perimeter of the veggie field to keep out bears.

In 2016 Alyssa & David built an equipment shed, two hoop houses, a greenhouse and hired their first full-time employee. It was a year of highs & lows as they got married and both David's dad Simon & their beloved dog Sky passed away unexpectedly. 

In 2017 their son Felix was born in June, right in the thick of farm season. As a result, Alyssa & David made the difficult decision to stop raising pigs and sold their flock of sheep. They planted a 1.5 acre apple orchard in the former pig paddock. 

In 2018 & 2019 they juggled the demands of both their babies - Felix and the farm. They were happy to not tackle any major infrastructure projects for a change!

In 2020 a global pandemic tested their mettle but with the support of their dedicated customers, awesome crew & helpful families they made it through the year in one piece (and even managed to start growing on a bit more land).

Stay tuned for what 2021 will bring...

Meet The Family

Alyssa Belter

Felix Belter-Tanner

David Tanner

Alyssa is a writer, trained cheese-maker, certified Red Seal cook, and one-half of Plenty Wild Farms. She holds a B.A. in English & Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria.

She likes hiking in the mountains, playing board games, and making spreadsheets. 

​Previously, she wrote about life on farm for the Whistler Question.

David is a lover of plants & animals, food & farming and was the impetus behind the creation of Plenty Wild Farms. He holds a Diploma in the Restoration of Natural Systems as well as a B.A. in Anthropology & Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria. 

He is currently a volunteer board member for the Pemberton Farmers' Institute.

​He likes chocolate beet cakes, reading nordic noir novels in the winter and watching Felix learn new things.

Our Philosophy

We consider ourselves pragmatic idealists. Our approach to farming is rooted in our values for environmental stewardship, personal integrity & health, community connection and good food. We believe that food has the power to connect people and that farming has the potential to transform the world. 

We also truly love what we do! 

Farming engages our brains, bodies & spirits. It brings purpose to our lives and gives us an opportunity to practice what we preach. We enjoy working outside and getting our hands dirty. Farming offers endless variety, from day to day and season to season. It is infinitely challenging and immensely rewarding. We can't help but be hopelessly addicted to the possibility of Spring and its irresistible allure that maybe, just maybe, this'll be the season that everything goes right. 

"[Eating] is inescapably an agricultural act, and how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used...
A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which the food comes...
Eating with the fullest pleasure - pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance - is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend."

- Wendell Berry in "The Pleasures of Eating"