about us
Ruby’s Run is an Urban Farm right in the middle of downtown Sechelt, on BC’s beautiful Sunshine Coast.
Our philosophy is summed up in six words –“Real Food, Real Flowers, Real Close!”
Our farm is a bio-diverse, organically managed, inner city, land reclamation project that transformed an overgrown city utilities corridor, into a beautiful and abundant source of fresh local food
and specialty flowers.
NEWS + MEDIA
real food.
With all plants farmed by hand, following organic growing principles and paying close attention to multi-crop succession planting, we grow over 40 varieties of fruits and vegetables. Last year the farm produced more than four tonnes of mouth watering produce that was delivered to the community within hours of harvest!
real flowers.
Ruby’s Run grows over 60 varieties of beautiful flowers and is the largest supplier of fresh cut flowers on the Coast - where your flowers are grown not flown!
real close.
We strive to sell all our farm goods as locally as possible – our mandate is to “Feed the Neighbours”. We sell through;
Our farm-gate produce stand on Neptune St, where you can buy within 100 feet of where the food and flowers are grown and take in the view of our farm. Closed!
You can also find us at THE SECHELT FARMERS MARKET in downtown Sechelt on Saturday from 9 am - 2:30 pm. With our farm being just 5 minutes away from the market, we claim an (unofficial) world record for being the closest farm to a downtown farmer’s market! Finished for the 2024 Season.
HARVEST
BOXES
For those who wish to have a regular weekly harvest box of vegetables and fruits, we offer a 14-week subscription program where you receive the best that we have grown every week!
FLOWER
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Always popular with the locals is the Flower Subscription program where you can have a weekly fresh-cut bouquet of organic flowers to bring joy to your home.
And if you are feeling creative and want to learn more about the flowers, we would love you to join us at our flower arranging workshops on the farm.
how the farm
came to be.
Ruby’s Run Urban Farms began when Michelle and Paul Nash saw the potential in transforming a humble urban backyard and adjacent city utilities right-of-way into an urban farm, right in the middle of the cute seaside town of Sechelt BC. It seemed like a good idea to clear the weedy blackberry patch out back and get shovels in the ground. So Paul, an experienced environmental consultant who loves solving problems, and Michelle the grower of all things green, teamed up and dug in. Ruby, the redbone coonhound who takes her role very seriously, designated herself the farm’s guardian and oversees all farm operations – hence the name “Ruby’s Run”
michelle.
One of my earliest memories is the scent of my Grandmother’s lilacs and her old fashioned rose hedge. It reminds me of carefree days filled with play and Grandma’s warm cookies! Quite certainly today, the peace that I feel while working in the flower fields, can be attributed to the sensory memories of my childhood. My hope is that the flowers from our farm evoke these same warm feelings and bring joy to the hearts of our customers.
Growing up in northern B.C. I had no idea what a real vine-grown sun-kissed tomato was! Most produce was picked green and shipped a long way to get to us. These days on the farm we grow over 15 varieties of interesting heirloom tomatoes for Market. They are gorgeous, tasty, soil-grown beauties that are harvested at their peak of ripeness!
I remember something switched on in my brain the day I bought a bowl of fresh picked organic raspberries from a farm in Richmond. They were plump and sweet and the flavour was heavenly! I understood clearly that this was life–enhancing food. That people needed access to this quality of food in order to properly nourish their loved ones and that the time is “now” to get growing.
In my early years while care-taking a large commercial landscape project in Whistler, I had the idea to use only organic land-care practices. Here I would sneakily plant potatoes and herbs in out of the way nooks and crannies of the property and use alfalfa to build soil biodiversity.
Just imagine my joy when I realized that the growing conditions were amazing after moving to the Sunshine Coast. I planted everything everywhere ! The result was a green explosion of edibles that could be marketed nearby and Ruby’s Run Farms was born.
In my free time, I also love teaching people about organic gardening and urban farming. You can find out more about my work with Gaia College here.
paul.
I grew up on a farm in Australia where stewardship of the soil and water is a way of life. In my day job as an environmental consultant I deal with municipal wastewater –making dirty water clean. But I yearned to once again grow stuff in dirt itself. When I met Michelle I knew I had found my life partner, and when I saw what she was doing with edible landscaping, I knew I had also found a farming partner!
The farm has been a great challenge that started with transforming an empty backyard into a micro farm, and then expanding and doing battle with the blackberries on the utility right-of-way. Every problem is an opportunity for a creative solution, and we sure have had a lot of “opportunities”. But when I bite into the just picked strawberry, or (literally) wake up and smell the flowers, I know it’s all been worth it.
WHAT WE BELIEVE IN
1.
WE BELIEVE IN
a relationship between what you eat and the farmer who grows it.
5.
WE WANT TO
do our little part in transforming the health of the soil and the people in our community.
2.
WE WANT TO
get our food to you within within hours of harvest.
6.
WE FEEL GREAT
about our lifestyle choice to keep our carbon footprint and food miles to a minimum.
3.
WE BELIEVE THAT our community deserves to be nourished with the finest quality, nutrient-dense fresh food.
7.
WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT feeding our neighbours!
4.
WE MINDFULLY TEND a sustainable garden with nutritious bio-diverse soil and using best-practice land care.
8.
WE LOVE
we love getting our hands in the dirt, feeling the sun on our cheeks and using our bodies to transform the fields.
