VARALAYA FARM and Ron Pither

The farm's name (sometimes spelled VaRaLaYa) is the meld of four very ancient Sanskrit words of perhaps the 1st elemental words humans spoke: Water, Fire, Earth, Air. The lore & iconology of its naming is a story of Love, Environmental and Social Justice during community & international development work by Ron in the 1980's. His 40 years of local & international food system initiatives as a fair trade export developer and importer as well as a locally controlled place based producer, processor, pioneering storefront & mobile market retailer and wholesaler, proved to him the virtue of radical simplicities & sustainable "smart" growth, and all this is exemplified in the farm's permaculture & natural law designs.

Every Varalaya building from the original Mayne Island lighthouse to the architect designed, mega windowed, now venerable farmhouse, saved from slaughter & recycled, along with the outhouse, honeyhouse, bunkhouse, sauna, gazebo, workshops etc, were skidded to Varalaya farm sanctuary & a new organic life. Some of these 'free' buildings actually created enough formal 'equity' to borrow upon which then funded purchase of large conservation lands elsewhere that are now publicly held in trust forever. More conservatively, Ron was a founding incorporator in 1975 of the CCEC (Community Congress for Economic Change) Credit Union in Vancouver. It has helped Chenge the world some would say.

The 4 acre market garden area in a cool Mediterranean climate can be year round cropped, mostly with easy to ship light weight premium price salad mixes or seasonal field produce, augmented by tree & bush fruits, to several Gulf Islands farmers market and wholesale accounts. This farmscape has domesticated the Wild since 1982 from the surrounding 24 acre bio-diverse forest lands from which furniture & dimension timber, floral & medicinal & cultural products are sustainably harvested.

Seasonal farm & forestry activities protect & enhance wildlife activities. Winged life abounds with many raptors on valley updrafts, waterfowl visiting the 2 dug irrigation ponds, nesting foresters, and other flyers.Weather can be forcast often from the bird sounds and their activities or other place based observations. Developments are often as much intuitive at the farm as it may be ordained otherwise from "logic". For civilization to survive Ron passionately believes we must protect much more of the Wild and as such stewards Varalaya as a diverse agro-silvicultural operation which is certified organic and a Conservation Partner Program (CPP) member of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia. Look for the blue butterfly CPP logo when buying BC product.

The farm landscape & its environment will soon have a "voice", ie legal "standing", with conservation covenants and stewardship agreements. A founding director of the BC Land Trust Alliance, Ron brings more than 25 years hands of activism in research & community education for citizens to see publicly beneficial opportunities of land protection and popular land stewardship organizational experience elsewhere, that is transferrable to our home communities. Networking with conservation interests in BC has shown him that for most problems, sustainable community solutions exist, and like farming there is often not only one right way.

Ron's work since the mid 80's initiating international, interactive, inter-island community twinning projects for healthy cultural and business relations, broke new ground in fairtrading, notably with organic shade grown coffee producers in Central America. Since the late 90's his focus switched to building sustaining relations with Cuban farmers and educators, strategizing for collective Earth stewardship. The farm believes we're all distant cousins to every life form that exists (except for those bio-engineered!). Ron confesses to being an associate member of the Mad Farmer Liberation Front.

Check out the write up in the BC Organic Farming Calendar about us.