Meet Pascia & Adam of SOILED:
Traveling abroad brings added perspective. Case and point: Pascia Birch and Adam Weaver. The couple took a trip to Laos in winter 2015 and came back with a new purpose for their lives.
The couple co-founded SOILED, a company “committed to providing people with the right tools to have a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables right on their doorstep as often as they like.”
During the summer of 2014, the couple started building raised gardening beds to encourage people to grow their own food at home. At the time, both Pascia and Adam were working full-time, which meant the raised beds were just a side project.
All that changed with their trip to Laos. While volunteering in rural communities, Pascia and Adam were exposed to a simpler way of life, where people lived off of their own land by growing and raising their own food. It was a watershed moment, as the two decided that they would return to Calgary, adopt this lifestyle and encourage others to do the same.
Of course, both Pascia and Adam had plenty of farming and gardening expertise in their back pocket. Pascia had been gardening since she was young, while Adam had professional experience as a gardener at SAIT’s culinary garden and for Charcut Restaurant. He also studied farming practices in Hawaii, Uganda and the UK, and his mother is a professional horticulturist who consults in green-roof design.
Using their existing knowledge, the couple formally launched SOILED this spring. The business offers an array of services and products related to food and gardening. Patrons of the Hillhurst Sunnyside Farmers Market have access to their fresh produce, which is grown on a piece of land in Springbank, as well as in private backyards across Calgary. However, this is only a fraction of SOILED’s business.
Underlying the fruits and vegetables that Pascia and Adam sell at market is their expertise in vermicomposting. The couple uses worms to produce a natural fertilizer full of beneficial properties that vegetables and plants thrive on. It’s a practice that they actively promote by offering classroom sessions at local schools and workshops that teach people how to develop their own vermicomposting systems. Their consulting work also extends to topics like urban foraging and garden design, which they have spoken about at conferences across the country.
On top of that, Pascia and Adam continue to build and install raised garden beds, and they create and sell Mason jar planters that are for sale at the weekly market and local garden centres.
While the scope of their business is broad, Pascia says that one unifying theme guides SOILED’s operations: “It’s about encouraging people to be more responsible about what they are eating by making them feel more connected to their food.”
SOILED vends every Wednesday at the Farmers' Market, come say hello.
