Our family has operated the farm since 1978. The farm started as five acres of land used to produced food for the Carr family. Eventually, the farm grew onto a new 150-acre property primarily used for raising and processing livestock. In the early 2000s, new meat regulations and policies severely limited the productivity of the farm and pushing us out of the local niche, leading to many tough years. Around 2010, grandson Matthew became seriously interested in horticulture, growing a garden and propagating ornamental plants at the farm. This interest soon became a passion, leading to a land lease agreement with his grandparents as a high school graduation gift in 2012. The gift included two acres of land, along with access to water, utilities and equipment to pursue his love of horticulture and create a family business producing nursery stock and food for the community again.

Family-oriented has been long ingrained into our farm. As the farm has grown, our family dynamics have grown closer as well. Both Matthew and Lynnea work alongside each other as the team’s leaders, providing an amazing summer job between university semesters. Their parents and grandparents assist in all aspects of tractor work, repairs, deliveries, bookkeeping, harvesting and markets. Aunts, uncles and cousins also contribute in their own ways, volunteering their time and knowledge to help the farm succeed. The farm still raises livestock for our family’s sustenance and the creation of manure/compost.

Organic Certification Number: 16-786

Matthew is the owner of Linden Lane Farms. Starting in high school and through his junior hockey career, Matthew was able to accomplish two Prairie Horticulture Certificates in Greenhouse Management and Field Crop Production. Most recently, he has worked hard to obtain a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan while running the farm back in BC. Matt has developed a network of connections within the agricultural industry between students, growers, suppliers and researchers through his travels across BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. He soon will be a professional member of the British Columbia Institute of Agrologists specializing in horticultural agronomy. Matthew manages the daily operations of the farm as well as the weekly farmer’s markets.

Emily, Matthew’s girlfriend, decided to move back with him from Saskatchewan to the Kootenays. She is an apprenticing welder which is an invaluable skill for the farm. She helped lead the charge in 2019 working all aspects of the farm from planting, harvesting and attending practically every market! Check out Emily’s new flower business Aemilia Gardens!

Lynnea, Matthew’s younger sister has been a huge help to the farm in recent years. As of late, her pursuit for education has landed her at UBC pursuing a masters degree in CMMB in preparation for her homeopathic medicine studies. She can often be found sling-ing veggies at market and helping out behind the scenes now that she is home from school for a bit!

Our parents, Andrew and Kari, both work full-time off the farm but have volunteered countless hours to helping to get the farm on its feet. In recent years they have managed to start the spring seedlings and run the fall markets while we have been away at university. Both sets of Grandparents, Larrie and Willow, and Jeff and Carolyne, have also been influential in the farm’s success contributing their knowledge and time into many aspects of the farm and to ourselves as grandchildren.

With the recent expansions of the farm, we also wouldn’t be able to manage all the tasks of farming without employing seasonal staff. We greatly appreciated the hard work from our 2023 crew, Thomas, Aubrey, Kaden, Kaitlin, Brendon, Sophie, Heidi, Leah, Gabe, Alex, Emmott, Colby and others who assisted throughout the season including Pumpkin Fest. With the farm’s continued growth, we are always looking to add skilled and dedicated members to our crew. Check out our employment page if you are interested in contributing to our mission to make eating healthy easier!

Since the initial start of the farm, we have been focused on providing high quality and safe products that we would be proud to serve to our family. We are committed to soil health, sustainability and our organic practices. One of our biggest goals is to be able to feed our family for an entire year and although it has not been possible due to recent university commitments, we look forward to striving to reach this goal in the near future.