Jasmin and I (Felix) met in boarding school in Switzerland and became high school sweethearts. During the summer holidays of 1977 we hitchhiked through Canada, starting in Montreal, to get to know what ultimately was our choice of country to live and grow in. Vehicles readily stopped and gave us rides and we got to know many wonderful people that way. What a generous people these Canadians were and still are! Back in Montreal I stayed behind with a bleeding heart and hitched rides back to Alberta where I studied Agriculture and Farrier Science at Olds Agricultural Collage, while Jasmin finished her teachers training in Schiers, Switzerland. This was before cell phones and PCs and staying in touch for young love was a challenge to say the least.
In 1979 we got married and emigrated to Canada via the ship Stephan Batory to Montreal where we bought an old pickup truck, picked up our first Boarder Collie pup and on to Olds where my first, very own saddle horse was waiting for us. Then on to Redstone, BC, where we started to ranch with our then partner and long-time friend, David. After six years, he married Debbie and together they started their own place further out West. We raised and home-schooled our four daughters, Melanie, Barbara, Dominique and Fiona, who all have their own families.Over the years we attended seminars, conferences, symposiums and schools all over North America to learn about low stress animal handling, cell grazing, precise mineral supplementation, mineral-water-energy cycles, winter-grazing vs. winter-feeding of cattle, drought planning, diversification and direct marketing, economics and finance.
In 2000, Andrew Lorand taught a short course on Biodynamics here at the ranch and we started applying biodynamic preparations to our land and parts of our crown range. For a number of years we sold organic beef at different farmer’s markets in Vancouver. This was a great experience; we both enjoyed the interaction with city folks who were so much more educated in regards to nutrition and organic food than what we were used to. This also was the time when we fell in love with the Commercial Drive area of Vancouver and ideas and plans started to grow about opening a shop there some day.Over time, we acquired more land and increased our organic cattle herd. Then we added sheep, then pigs and poultry, to work into an organic diversification that ensures a steady and diverse organic meat supply for our growing customer base.
Our team is responsible and we are fully accountable for the integrity and quality of PASTURE TO PLATE Products.
Good food, produced with integrity, knowledge and hard work cannot be cheap, as cheap always comes with a very high, and usually well-hidden cost that somebody, or something else is paying for.
That is why we chose sustainability and not “as much as possible” to be the bottom line for PASTURE TO PLATE. And we all are working hard to get there.
Every time you buy from PASTURE TO PLATE, you vote YES for our common values.
1420 Commercial Drive Vancouver, BC V5L 3X9
Phone: 604-215-0050 | View Map
9391 Highway 20, Redstone BC, V0L 1S0
Phone: 250-394-4000 | View Map
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