{"id":8569,"date":"2026-06-23T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7712209"},"modified":"2026-06-23T04:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:00:21","slug":"kamloops-couple-turns-tiny-space-into-year-round-healthy-food-buffet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8569\/kamloops-couple-turns-tiny-space-into-year-round-healthy-food-buffet\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamloops couple turns tiny space into year round healthy food buffet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A couple living in a mobile home in Kamloops don\u2019t let the small space prevent them from growing and eating fresh produce all year round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crystal Roman and Karin Wilds use every last bit of space inside and outside to produce food, made possible by Wilds\u2019 education in permaculture design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe produce enough food to feed ourselves all year round,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cThere are many little things you can do as a permaculture designer to use small spaces to produce a lot of food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kamloops resident Karin Wilds picks salad greens in her home in December.
SUBMITTED\/Crystal Roman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inside the little home are rows of potted plants, a crawling vine, a makeshift greenhouse in the window and bundles of hanging herbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside, one little garden space rolls into another and another all the way around the house. There is a greenhouse, a rabbit hutch and a composter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While nothing is planted in neat, tidy rows, everything is designed with a purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe definition of permaculture is broad but in a nutshell it\u2019s a design system based on natural cycles and the idea that everything has multiple functions within a system,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cPeople mainly think of it in a food production sense, but the principles can be used in other models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about looking at the patterns around you in nature and finding the patterns that work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A greenhouse and composter are pictured in a yard in Kamloops. SUBMITTED\/Crystal Roman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The couple houses rabbits in a hutch that eat the weeds on the property. Their feces goes onto the gardens that in turn grow more weeds to feed the rabbits. Old straw and poop under the cages get layered into the compost bin along with yard waste to produce wheelbarrows full of rich soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little garden of broccoli and squash plants serves as an example of what Wilds calls companion plant stacking. The broccoli needs cool weather and is almost finished producing. As soon as its done, the squash will grow in to take over the space, grow up a trellis and provide shade for onions to grow underneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This rabbit lives on a property in Kamloops. SUBMITTED\/Crystal Roman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A pathway has tomato plants growing against a trellis along each side. As they grow, Wilds trims off the bottom branches to provide space and shade for growing salad crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn permaculture we talk about stacking layers, and you can stack in space and in time,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cThe broccoli is an example of stacking in time, it’s harvest is timed with the squash coming into the same space. The tomatoes are an example of space stacking, they provide shade for another crop to grow at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the corner is a long stretch of “food forest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a mix of perennials and annuals, with some plants placed to attract pollinators and others placed to deter pests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the plants in this section are edible and end up in flavourful salads including root beer hyssop that tastes and smells like root beer, Egyptian walking onion that tastes spicy, and the seedpods of a brussels sprout plant that taste like radish and are thrown into stirfries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rows of dried herbs hang in a home in Kamloops.
SUBMITTED\/Crystal Roman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most of the seeds the pair use for planting are from their own plants. Every year they keep the seeds from the best plants with the qualities they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun, in the fall when all the seed and produce is coming into our house it looks like a market,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cIt\u2019s so satisfying to have that abundance around you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilds spends every day growing food, following her passion for eating seasonally and locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have my routine, I go out and do garden maintenance and collect what\u2019s ready, put it on the table and figure out what’s for dinner that night, that\u2019s part of the fun of eating with the seasons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jars of dehydrated vegetables are ready for winter at a home in Kamloops. SUBMITTED\/Crystal Roman <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Much of the produce is dehydrated, canned or frozen for the colder months, however, some root vegetables are accessible all winter long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a believer in not stripping out the garden in the fall, even in the colder months we go out and pick dinner from the garden,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a lot, but things like potatoes and carrots can stay in the ground all year round.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple also owns a herd of goats on another small property in Kamloops for meat, but mostly for milk they make cheese out of, but in order to feed themselves locally all year round, they must keep away from a grain-based diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrain takes space. If you want a loaf of bread everyday you better have an acreage,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cI\u2019ve grown grains on a small scale, amaranth and quinoa, but it\u2019s not enough to meet daily calorie needs. For that you need to focus more on potato and squash, the stuff that gives massive amounts of calories in small spaces.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mostly, the lifestyle costs time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrying to break that down into how much it costs financially is impossible,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cYou can\u2019t put a value on that feeling of sitting down to a meal that came from your back yard and your family is saying it\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple enjoys exploring the surrounding areas and finding edible foods growing naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe eat from the garden as much as we can and we eat a lot of foraged food too from the forest,\u201d Wilds said. \u201cWe go out and nibble on the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I go out and do garden maintenance and collect what\u2019s ready, put it on the table and figure out what’s for dinner that night, that\u2019s part of the fun of eating with the seasons.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":8570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1680,541,543],"tags":[],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-8569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8569\/kamloops-couple-turns-tiny-space-into-year-round-healthy-food-buffet\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Kamloops couple turns tiny space into year round healthy food buffet","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8569\/kamloops-couple-turns-tiny-space-into-year-round-healthy-food-buffet\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8569\/kamloops-couple-turns-tiny-space-into-year-round-healthy-food-buffet\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-good-one.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-good-one.jpg"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shannon Ainslie"}],"creator":["Shannon Ainslie"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-06-23T11:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-06-23T11:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-06-23T11:00:21Z"},"rendered":"