Young city slickers pursue zero-waste lifestyle on a farm near Kamloops
A young couple from Vancouver is chasing their dreams of a zero waste lifestyle on a farm in McClure after purchasing their very first home there earlier this year.
Nestled on eight acres bordered by farmer’s fields and Crown land, the farm is uniquely quiet, except for the sounds of chickens, ducks and sheep. This is because machinery is not used on the farm; everything is done by hand.
Liam Waller has been on the farm practising and learning about permaculture, creating agricultural ecosystems that are sustainable and self-sufficient. His partner, Rebecca Sigrist, works at the hospital in Kamloops.
“This is the culmination of sixteen years of reading about permaculture and hoping for a home and acreage,” Waller said. “It happened at a younger age than I was expecting. We just celebrated our six month anniversary of living here.”
The farm has 25 chickens and 30 ducks that roam freely on the property, and three sheep housed in a small barn and pen.
Waller said the couple left a 600-square-foot apartment in the city to try their hands at living in a more remote and natural setting while maintaining a low waste lifestyle.
“We are very frugal and everything on the property gets used for something,” he said. “We are trying to create a closed and sustainable system and hope we can inspire others to as well.”
The pair composts, reduces and reuses, knitting items out of sheep’s wool and collecting feathers to be used for stuffing pillows, blankets and jackets. They eat their home grown eggs and will harvest a chicken once per month.
“I really struggle with sending my birds to the freezer,” Liam said. “We are not big meat eaters. After harvesting a bird for the first time it really made me realize how hard it is and how important it is to value meat. One bird per month is enough for us.”
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Waller said he has been observing his flock of ducks and said they are able to fertilize and aerate the soil on a grassy field the pair intend to use to grow fruit and nut trees on in the future.
“The ducks will poke their beaks into the wet soil, then open them and suck the moisture up,” he said. “They filter out the food and let go of the water. This behaviour results in little holes everywhere. As they do this they poop, and duck poop is very high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.”
Waller has a small sprinkler system he moves across the field and the ducks follow, poking and pooping. He said he is studying the effects of this on soil health by observing two pastures across a year, one with ducks on it five days per week and one without. He hopes it will be a natural method to use in broader aeration and fertilizing applications in the near future.
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For mowing the long grasses, Waller uses a scythe.
“This is a simple tool that doesn’t require fuel, has a low environmental impact and is easy to repair,” he said. “We say it is egg powered, powered by the eggs I eat.”
Waller is a landscaper by trade who grew up in Pitt Meadows while partner Sigrist grew up in Coquitlam. He said she has always been environmentally-conscious, while he took a little longer. He said he will continue to study and practise permaculture as they learn how to support a zero waste lifestyle.
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