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only in the cariboo
CASUAL COUNTRY 2015 - 81
Sheppard family home grown in the Cariboo Monica Lamb-Yorski Casual Country 2015 Nestled in the Cariboo, 25 minutes northeast of Williams Lake, is the home of a young family dedicated to growing and producing as much of their own food as they can. With 10 acres to work with, Katja and Dave Sheppard and their three children have chickens, cows, pigs, a greenhouse, the beginnings of an orchard and a garden that gets bigger each year. “You can do a lot with this many acres,” Katja says while sitting in her living room as the aroma of baking banana bread fills the air. “It helps if you rotate the animals – we’re learning.” Sitting on one of the couches, nine-year-old Kaydin is building something with lego while his seven-year-old sister Lena waits for Dave to drive her to a birthday party. The siblings also play soccer with the Williams Lake Minor Soccer Association, and love to practice while at home. Their little brother Finley, with a sweet round face and who will be one in the summer, crawls happily on the carpeted floor. Katja is expecting a fourth child mid-August, and seems to take it all in stride. Kaydin and Lena have always been home schooled and are enrolled in the distance education program offered through School District 27, along with a support teacher. “We do a few hours of school work in the mornings,” Katja says. “Especially between October and April is all the book work, outside of that it’s hands-on.” The children cook and bake as learning life skills is really important, she adds. In fact, during our conversation, it’s Kaydin’s job to check on the banana bread, which he does. Once he returns and says the bread’s not quite done yet, Kaydin points to the coffee table in the
centre of the living room, and discloses that he and his sister made it for a school project. “We made that too,” he says of a large wooden frame on the wall where several family photographs are displayed. The children ride horses, do chores, and pretty much raise the calves, chickens and pigs. “They know right away that animals are raised as meat and they are pets too,” Katja nods. In one of the grazing areas, the children show off their newest calf, Star, named for the markings on his head. Star wanders in and out of us all and when Dave arrives she beelines for him. “I’m the cow whisperer,” Dave chuckles. Across the yard, a very pregnant jersey cow is laying against the chicken coop in the shade. “She’s due any day,” the family tells me. Growing up Katja didn’t live on a farm but says her parents instilled a healthy lifestyle. “We moved to Horsefly in 1995 from a little town in southwest Germany near Munich, my parents, my sister and I,” Katja says. “I think my parents were attracted to the Cariboo because of all the space.” While the parents had an entry amount of English, necessary for moving to Canada, their daughter couldn’t speak English when they arrived. However, with help from some local Swiss children, they learned it pretty quickly. After graduating from high school, Katja worked on the cleanup crew and eventually production at Tolko’s Creekside Mill. Dave is a self-employed millwright originally from Newfoundland. They met 10 years ago. Next to a shop, Dave has built the greenhouse where they are growing cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, things that need more time. Kaydin shows off a
Monica Lamb-Yorski photos
Katja Sheppard with her children Kaydin, 9, Lena, 7, and Finley, 11 months, at the family home enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon in May. cherry tree in the green house that he and his sister will transplant in a couple of weeks to a protected area where the family is just starting to make an orchard. They’ve trenched some of the ground and are hoping to grow apples, cherries and hazel nuts to augment the red currants, goose berries, black currants, raspberries and strawberries already growing on the property. “Berries grow very nicely here and we can count on them every year,” Katja says. “As for the fruit trees we’ll see how they go.” From their cow’s milk they make butter, yogurt, sour cream and many kinds of cheeses. “We make lots of feta because it’s easy to store, gouda and cheddar. The hard cheeses take more work because of storage and waxing, but it’s not that hard once you’ve done it.” Grains are purchased for grinding into flour and oats. Freshly ground oats taste so much better and any ground grains should ideally be eaten within a few weeks, Katja insists. They also can peach-
Kaydin Sheppard, 9, and his sisters Lena, 7, with the cherry tree they’ve been growing and will transplant into their orchard. es, pickles, and cherries so they don’t have to buy any cans from the store. And they have three freezers and two fridges all full at the moment. The neat thing about growing their own food and raising animals is nothing goes to waste. With a big garden they can feed the animals and any leftovers can go to the chickens and pigs. They do buy honey, green tea, salt and some
sugar, but they make their own shampoo and soap, even laundry and dish soap. If all that doesn’t sound ambitious, I then learn Katja has a tent rental business for special events and six years ago she began breeding German Shepherds for sale. She brought in one female from Germany that came from a working blood line bred for shep-
herd work. “They used to be sheep herders and are used for personal protection, airport and border work,” Katja says. “I still have that female and one of her daughters. Their puppies have gone all over B.C. and a couple to Alberta.” One dog went to be a service dog for a woman who has multiple sclerosis because it can be trained to fetch a remote
control and things like that, another one is in security work. “Our life keeps us busy,” Katja smiles as her children and I walk across the yard to meet some of the chickens. When they return, each with a chicken in their arms and pose for a photo, I think it would be neat to meet these kids again in 20 years to see what they are like as adults.