Close to Home Organics is a family farm business, operating at Glen Valley Organic Farm. Chris Bodnar and Paige Dampier manage the business, overseeing crop planning, growing, harvesting and sales. We grow an array of certified organic, seasonal vegetables and fruit, selling through a Community Shared Agriculture program, and some wholesale through Discovery Organics.

We have lived and worked at Glen Valley Organic Farm since 2007. We started Close to Home Organics in the fall of 2011, building off of five years of farming experience at Glen Valley Organic Farm. Our guiding philosophy is that the healthiest, most flavourful and environmentally sustainable food is grown close to home.

Prior to farming, Chris was figuring out whether he wanted to continue with an academic career path while Paige was working in community planning and development work. As we planned our future together, we asked some tough questions: Do we want careers that require us to compromise our values around sustainability and social justice? What is "enough" is the sense of economic and personal fulfillment? How do we want to raise our family? Fourteen years later, we are raising three daughters and running a viable farm business while taking active roles in the organic sector and the local community.

Chris has a PhD in Communication from Carleton University. Although he now farms full-time, he still enjoys time in the classroom. Chris developed and taught the Business of Agriculture course in Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Sustainable Agriculture program. He currently sits on the board of the Mount Lehman Credit Union. In the past he has served on the boards of the BC Association for Regenerative Agriculture, the Certified Organic Associations of BC and the Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-operative. Chris is a Mentor to new farmers through the Young Agrarians' BC Business Mentorship Network program. In the off-season, he facilitates workshops and speaks on the topics of business planning for small farms and co-operatives in agriculture. In 2017 Chris was awarded the Brad Reid Memorial Award from the Certified Organic Associations of BC, which "honours an innovative leader who has strengthened the organic community by moving the sector forward."

Paige holds an MA in Community Planning from the University of British Columbia. She manages the farm's seedling propagation and is the master of maintaining focus and reducing chaos on the farm.

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