I just got back from an amazing road trip to Chase, BC where I picked up hundred of cobs of sweet corn and brought it back to give out to people in Vancouver.
No strings attached.
It all went down after I was approached by young brothers, Lewis and Vincent Burkholder, who run a corn farm there called Burkholder Bros. They offered to pay me to go up there and feature them in a video, but I told them in lieu of payment I’d just take as much corn as they could fit into my electric Toyota bZ SUV, so I could give it away to people who love corn as much as I do.
I spent a couple days on the farm learning about what they do, and why a 20-something and a 30-something would get into this business.
They don't come from a farming family, nor do they have a trust fund to pull money from, but they spent their teenage years picking corn as a summer job in this small town where they grew up.
When the farmer who employed them announced his retirement in 2020, he mentored them as they started their own operation, which they've been running with a small team for the past few years.
They lease their land, own some transport trucks and fairly minimal farming equipment, and the knowledge passed on from the guy who did it for decades before them.
And speaking of passing things on, the last day I was there we packed up my vehicle with more than 700 cobs and I drove it down to Vancouver.
We unloaded into the store Fun Häus at Venables and Commercial Drive, put the word out on social media, and those cobs were gone within an hour!
With a strict limit of 4 cobs per person, enforced by Fun Häus employee Shay (pictured in farmer gear below!) more than a hundred people visited and got to bring some home to enjoy.
And I got to go home with a smile on my face.
