“There is one rule in the garden that is above all others. You must give to nature more than you take. Obey it, and the Earth will provide you in glorious abundance.”
Demonstration Garden
The Future Heirlooms garden is primarily a GROW BIOINTENSIVE Research, Education & Demonstration site for sustainable mini-farming. Located near Kimberley British Columbia, we are nestled in the Columbia Valley between the Purcell and Rocky Mountain ranges.
Education
A large part of our efforts at Future Heirlooms is the teaching of Grow Biointensive mini-farming principles, demonstrating techniques and empowering people through education and hands on learning.
Visitors can join us for scheduled guided tours where we’ll cover the basics of Grow Biointensive principles while we explore the garden beds and answer questions.
We also host a variety of workshops; from shorter specific topics to full day expansive seminars, always allowing for demonstration of techniques and an opportunity for participants to start building those skills by practicing hands-on, or rather hands-in, our garden!
Research
We're dedicated to further developing the GROW BIOINTENSIVE method for the Canadian climate.
We rely on detailed record keeping of environmental data and weather patterns, plant performance and yields, and laboratory soil analysis to plan our garden.
We are always striving to reduce resource requirements and to maximize soil health. Through selective breeding of open-pollinated plants, we will be adapting these varieties to our local climate, increasing yields, and decreasing the amount of land, water, fertilizer, energy and time required to grow a complete diet.
A Working Example
Future Heirlooms serves as a working example of sustainable, closed loop farming.
We hope to bring about positive change through inspiration, then empowerment through education and demonstration.
We believe that true change can only come from within, so we focus on reaching the hearts of individuals to inspire the creation of new gardens and an appreciation for things that grow!
Part of a Global Shift
Future Heirlooms is one of many Grow Biointensive Research and Education sites around the world. Ecology Action has been educating and training farmers for over 48 years, including ourselves! GROW BIOINTENSIVE Mini-Farming being practiced in over 150 Countries world-wide.
Our project is the first to bring this truly sustainable farming system to Canada, and our hope is that we will inspire others to not only practice sustainable mini-farming for themselves, but also to help educate and train others as well - creating a local community of farmers supporting each other.
Impact
We’re not only working to increase the availability of local organic food. A major goal of our work is to protect and preserve natural resources.
Because Grow Biointensive farming allows us to achieve 4 to 6 times greater yields, we can encourage farmers to dedicate 50% or more of their land to conservation and reforestation and at the same time sequester more carbon, reduce water needs up to 88% and greatly reduce fertilizer and fossil fuel requirements.
Moving towards agriculture that no longer relies on the importation of fertility and that uses a fraction of the water, fertilizer and fossil fuels is a wise investment. We can replace our dependence on mechanized agriculture with people power, creating jobs and focusing on low tech farming on a local and regional scale.
We believe localization is the key to a vibrant and bountiful future, and by localizing our sources of nutrition we're taking matters in to our own hands and becoming responsible for our health, and the health of the planet.
We CAN grow healthy communities, healthy ecosystems, and healthy people. We can grow hope, everywhere we are.