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Backyard Farm
The culinary demonstration kitchen and private culinary school at Backyard Farm.
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Backyard Farm Aerial View
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Chef Chris Van Hooydonk
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Chef Chris Van Hooydonk and his wife Mikkel.
You own a manageable two-acre hobby farm in the Okanagan’s divine wine country, its property burgeoning in season with fruit, vegetables and herbs. You’re also an experienced, talented chef and you’ve turned this hobby farm into a home for your family, a culinary demonstration kitchen and private culinary school. You use all your own produce and that from local farms in the meals you serve and artisanal products you make. And this is because you believe passionately as a chef it is your job to showcase local food and the passion and commitment possessed by local producers and growers. Sound like a dream?
It’s a dream come true for Chef Chris Van Hooydonk. “I live at Backyard Farm with my beautiful, passionate, dedicated and supportive wife Mikkel, and our 14-month-old daughter, Ainsley. We also have an Akita breed farm dog.”
After 20 years working for restaurants, Chris yearned to get back to “the handshake relationship from farm to chef.” He also wanted to choose his own path on his own terms. “I wanted to spend more time with my wife, perhaps grow our family and remove unnecessary stress.” The result? Backyard Farm, located in Oliver.
Chris: Culinary from an Early Age
“Growing up I was taught the importance of family inspired meals, always prepared with loving hands and from scratch.” Enjoying the creative and limitless learning opportunities cooking provided, Chris enrolled in home economics and culinary classes, leading to the conclusion that this was the career he wanted to pursue.
After working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, Chris worked in Whistler for a few years with Chef Bernard Casavant at Chef Bernard’s Café. “We would have a weekly visit from a produce broker, his truck filled with beautiful, seasonal produce from the Okanagan Valley. I learned to respect the labor of love that is farming, through the people, stories and efforts behind the ingredients themselves.”
After a few years with the corporate world of The Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, Chris relocated to Oliver, BC. Chris rented a home for himself and wife Mikkel on an acre of hobby orchard land, expecting to stay a year. “One year turned into three, and was a fruit farm 'trial by fire',” says Chris.
While working at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery as Restaurant Chef, Chris learned on his own, “mostly the hard way” about irrigation, pruning, thinning, picking, and maintenance. “Much of the fruit from my farm made its way onto our menus in the restaurant. I discovered I had a passion for the process of growing food, and the pride in watching others enjoy your efforts in the garden. I felt it was my responsibility as a chef to represent agriculture and the dedication and passion quality growers and producers must possess.”
Time for The Change
“My wife has stood by my side, and champions my work ethic, vision and ambition,” says Chris. With this support, he left Burrowing Owl Winery where he was a “rock star” and started Artisan Culinary Concepts, a private chef, catering and consulting business in 2013. “Yet again, I was fortunate to have great mentorship in channeling my vision, developing my business plan, and successfully launching what has been the beginning of the most rewarding part of my career.”
Chris and his wife also had their eye on the adjoining acre with a house, which seemed perfect for their Back Yard Farm vision. “With some family help, the home was purchased when it came up for sale six months after the launch of my business.” The Van Hooydonks let the house sit idle for six months as Chris enjoyed the first season of owning his successful enterprise.
With the confidence of family investors, and out of pocket expenses, the Van Hooydoks started the demolition of the house on January 2, 2014. With the help of a retired customer-become-friend, Ton, they renovated the first phase of the house, getting health board approval the end of May, with an official launch of June 1, 2014. “In addition to Ton’s expertise, I had the help of many friends and family with the painting, yard work, set-up, especially in the eleventh hour, very humbling to feel such amazing support for what seemed like a distant dream in the beginning. It would not have happened without all of this support, and the continued support of our clients.”
A Working Day at Backyard
Working at a business like Backyard Farm is even more complex than running a restaurant. “I am the dog walker, daddy, farmer, picker, lawn mower, irrigation expert, pool guy, and maintenance man,” says Chris. “Then I move on to being a chef, mentor to my apprentice Kyle, dishwasher, prep cook, secretary, bookkeeper. I have learned a great deal of construction through building Backyard Farm, and enjoy woodworking, building raised beds and items for the farm and garden, and landscaping.”
The Back Yard Farm Guest Experience
Besides learning about and eating exquisite local food and superlative gourmet cuisine prepared by Chef Van Hooydonk, guests and clients at Back Yard Farm become aware of where their food is coming from and that they all have choices. “We choose where we get our food, and we need to support our independent and local food system. Farming is a labor of love like cooking,” says Chris. “Quality ingredients are important. They will cost more, but isn’t your health worth it? We can choose to eat locally grown and raised ingredients.”
“I also want to show people the value of sharing meals surrounded with people you care about, communicating around a handcrafted meal, enjoying a nice glass of wine. We should strive to make sure that at least once a day, a meal is a reason to sit and talk about the things that inspire you. It is magical to see a table of people immersed in it.”
The Future
“Mikkel and I are working on developing our property into a food forest,” says Chris. He would also like to harvest some Back Yard honey on the farm and keep their own pollinators on the property. “We will also be getting chickens this year, starting with six. Farm fresh eggs and orchard maintenance possibilities.”
Their overall goal is to evolve self-sustainability through permaculture and biodiversity and minimize water consumption while increasing available edible bounty on the farm.
Also in the plans are an outdoor dining area and wood-fire kitchen in the next few seasons. In the longer-term future, Chris and Mikkel aspire to build two “tiny” green accommodation suites so a few couples can enjoy staying on the farm.
“I enjoy every aspect of operating this business. I enjoy knowing that all of my efforts are to support my family first, and allow me to do what I love each and every day. I love watching my daughter grow, mentoring my guests and Kyle,” says Chris. “I love watching bud break turn to flowers, turn to two pound peaches, then winding up on a client’s plate that evening. I enjoy telling the story of the people behind the food, and sharing in the work and dedication it takes to be a farmer. I most of all enjoy watching our guests immerse themselves in food and wine culture, sitting at the chef’s table enjoying and talking about what is important to them at that very moment. I also enjoy having a choice of who I cook with and for, and always putting the quality of the experience first. I have never been so fulfilled in my career or life.
Weighing a peach
What Grows in the Orchard and the Garden
There are around 100 organic practice fruit trees on the Van Hooydonks’ two acre property. The majority are trees that are 35-50 years old, and varieties not necessarily common in the industry. “We prefer to let the trees live as long as possible, especially as they are all producing fruit. We have been practicing organic going on four years, transitioning the orchard from conventional practice. We only pick our tree fruits ripe, and aside from using it everywhere on my menus in season, we process and preserve our fruit to utilize year round, and in our retail preserves.”
Mikkel’s passion is gardening, and she grows all sorts of ingredients in the raised bed gardens around the property.
In the Orchard & Vines: Walnuts, hazelnuts, cherries (early and mid season varieties), plums (three varieties), apricots (three varieties), early, and mid season peaches, nectarines, mulberries, currants, table grapes, an apple tree, baby pear tree, a few lemon trees and kaffar lime.
In the Garden: Last year, a variety of edible herbs and flowers, herbal tea, lavender, laurel bay, heirloom squash and tomatoes, beets, edible greens, mushrooms, potatoes, garlic, rhubarb.