Soil

Agriculture & soil

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Community projects

Planting seeds of awareness

I seed over 10,000 plants each year, distribute seedlings to neighbours and farmers, and lead community growing workshops.

2026

From Seed to Plate

A free, grant-funded six-week series. Each week, we started a new plant family from seed in my family’s backyard in Kitsilano. It became a kind of demonstration garden. At the beginning of each session, I focused on a soil science topic and how it related to food, things like hydrology and nutrient retention, with a hands-on component in the second half so people could really connect what we were learning to something practical.

“Soil is a living system. Even though we might not see all the processes happening at a microscopic level, it is alive, and it’s a beautiful system. I wanted to plant seeds of awareness about the things happening around us.”
  • Free and open to anybody, no prior experience needed
  • A core group of eight to ten people most weeks, and forty at the last session
  • Over two hundred plants transplanted together in one week
  • Closed with a seed saving workshop led by David Catzel, BC Seed Security Program Manager

Supported by Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, Neighbourhood Small Grants, Food for Thought, the Pacific Regional Soil Science Society, UBC Soil Labs and FarmFolk CityFolk.

Featured in FarmFolk CityFolk

What happens when we take the time to understand how food grows

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Hands-on workshop moment with people working together on the grass
Nathan showing soil to a small group sitting on the lawn
A large, joyful group photo of workshop participants with arms raised in a garden

2025

Pollinator Haven & Kale Initiative

Grew and distributed free kale and flower seedlings, and educated the public on growing their own food and pollinator awareness, with Neighbourhood Small Grants funding.

A small shelf of kale seedlings on the grass with a hand-drawn Free Seedlings sign and a growing guide
A bumblebee foraging on the centre of a bright sunflower
Looking down on rows of young kale seedlings in square pots
Tall sunflowers towering over a backyard garden under a clear blue sky
A smiling neighbour holding two kale seedlings in a backyard garden
A hand reaching up toward a sunflower taller than the trees around it

2024, 2026

Tomatoes for Tomorrow

Grew and distributed free tomato seedlings to the public, in partnership with Neighbourhood Small Grants and LMNHS. Secured the grant funding and managed budgeting, logistics, partnerships and volunteers.

Nathan smiling under a red tent behind tables of free tomato seedlings
Trays of potted tomato seedlings above a hand-painted Tomatoes for Tomorrow sign
Nathan and a volunteer standing behind the Tomatoes for Tomorrow free seedling table
Nathan and a volunteer at the Tomatoes for Tomorrow stand in a park

Workshops

Learning together, hands in the soil

“Being able to bond over similar interests and create community and friendships was the most satisfying part for me. Just seeing the excitement and amazement on their faces when they said, ‘This is the first seed I’ve ever planted,’ was beautiful.”

A crowd gathered in a backyard for a community growing workshop
Nathan holding up a beet seedling while teaching in a backyard garden
Workshop participants sitting in a circle on blankets with seed trays and seedlings
Participants sitting on the grass transplanting seedlings into trays
Overhead view of Nathan talking with a group gathered around a garden bed
Nathan lying on a blanket in the grass, explaining something with his hands beside a seedling
Wide view of a garden workshop with people seated on blankets across the lawn
A group touring a narrow backyard garden bed in the evening sun
Two workshop participants sharing a warm embrace on the lawn

How I work

I tend to the garden. I collect leaves and mulch the earth. I feed my food scraps to the worms so they can alchemize them into black gold for the plants.

I act as a mirror for people to be in deeper relationship with the life that nourishes them.

I also want to honor the seed keepers who have stewarded these living relatives since time immemorial. My work seeks to uphold and elevate Indigenous knowledge, to recognize that every seed carries ancestral wisdom, stories, and sacred heritage that guide us forward.

Soil health

I teach about the importance of soil health. I support regenerative and reciprocal growing methods.

Growing your own food

I inspire people to grow their own food. I grow plants for myself, for my neighbours and for the larger community.

Local food & community

I advocate for buying more locally, and for more respect and understanding for farmers and the challenges and variables they face. I build community around reconnecting producers and consumers.

An open palm holding a clump of soil above a blanket

Work with me

I’ve gone deep into learning as much as I can from people, plants, and soil. I’ve worked on small-scale organic farms, and more recently I’ve taken on growing space of my own.

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