“I guess growing food is in my blood,” says Ana Simeon. “One of my earliest memories is being chased by an enormous mama goose on my grandma’s farm when I was three or four. Despite these rocky beginnings I learned to weed beds and pluck chickens at an early age … and am still growing as much food as I can in my garden here in Victoria. Right now there is a riot of lettuce, chard and zucchini, and tomatoes are just coming along!”

Here on the coast it’s easy to eat a delicious nutritious diet because we’re blessed with an abundance of healthy local produce, eggs and meats. It’s a very different story in northern B.C. where people pay through the nose for produce trucked in or flown in halfway across the world.

This is why Ana is so passionate about saving the Peace Valley from the threat of Site C dam. It has taken thousands of years to create the rich alluvial soils that now produce amazingly high yields of fruits and vegetables. This farmland is a precious asset for our province and must not be washed away for a 1950-ies style megadam.

 Ana is a mediator in private practice in Victoria, and also works for Sierra Club BC, the province’s oldest environmental organization. You can sponsor her as a paddler in this year’s Paddle for the Peace on her  fundraising page, here: https://fundraise.raventrust.com/fundraise?fcid=473057