Talk to Jessica Piccinin for more than a minute or two and you might start to wonder why everyone doesn’t want to be a farmer.
To say that she is excited about her life is an understatement, so it has hardly been a surprise for people to see her this summer behind the counter of The Peppered Pig food truck.
Only three years ago, an article in the Advance talked about Piccinin’s partnership in Root and Vine Acres with her grandmother, Joy Tomlinson. The pair had teamed up to grow and sell produce from the five-acre farm in Erickson.
Ironically, the now well established farmer wanted nothing to do with farm life after graduating from high school. She couldn’t leave Creston fast enough, and ended up working in the Alberta oil patch in Grande Prairie.
“I got out (of Creston) and thought, ‘I’d better go back because I’ve made a bad choice,’” she told the Advance in 2014.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and one wonders how she ever thought about doing anything but farming. Standing outside her house on her new Root and Vine Acres farm, a 10- acre spot on Duck Creek Road, she sorts through unsold farmer’s market produce (some of which was destined to become pickles) and talks about recent events. (Every few minutes the conversation is interrupted by playful dogs or customers driving up to buy sausages and eggs.)
She has sold off her goat and sheep business and is in the process of doing the same with her duck operation. Both had grown and showed potential that needs the time and resources she just doesn’t have.
“I need to focus on my pigs and produce and the food truck,” she said. “The demand for goats is rising as families from India move into the area, and I know there is a strong market for ducks.”
A food truck seems like a natural expansion for a farmer. At least it does to hear Piccinin talk about it.
“I’ve been selling at the Creston Valley Farmers’ Market for 10 years now,” she said. “I’ve got to stick with what I’m good at.”
Well, she’s good at growing produce and raising animals. She’s really good with people, and finances (lessons learned from working at CIBC). And her friends agree that she is an awesome cook. So when she learned that Maria Aryan wanted to sell her Fork food truck, she heard opportunity knocking.
“A food truck is also a certified kitchen, so in addition to selling really good “fast” food, I can also use it to make jams and juices and other value-added products from what I grow here on the farm.”
She had only one concern to iron out before she agreed to buy the portable kitchen. That was resolved with a quick call to her younger brother Ron.
“’I can’t do this by myself, it isn’t a one person operation,’ I told him. “He said he was in, and here we are!”
Ron’s story is similar to his sister’s. He left home to work in the oil patch, but quickly learned that it offered a lifestyle that held no long-term appeal for him. So, while his buddies were using their earnings to buy recreational toys, and using their incomes to qualify for ever-increasing debt, Ron was salting away his money.
When he put the oil patch behind him he used his savings to buy a house in Erickson, which he now rents out because it’s easier to live on Jessica’s farm so that he’s close by when she needs help.
“He’s a farm boy,” Jessica smiles. “This is a way for him to stay here. You have to make your own job or career if you want to make it here.”
Since buying the truck, which Jessica describes as a great piece of equipment, thanks to Aryan’s meticulous standards, the sister-brother duo have become familiar faces at farmers’ markets and local entertainment events.
The Peppered Pig specializes in pork products, because that is one aspect of farming that Jessica has no intention of giving up. Sausages are made from Root and Vine Acres pork, either by Famous Fritz or a Kimberley butcher, buns are baked locally and, well, the source of the vegetables is obvious.
“It’s great to work with local butchers, because they give me ideas. Our conversations often start out with ‘What do you think…’ and they end with me thinking that they have come up with another great idea!”
When she spoke to the reporter for this story she told Ron about the jerky she had just had made.
“I’m going to make jerky jam for this Saturday’s farmer’s market,” she told him. “I’ll try a couple of different recipes.” He agreed that it sounded great (and it was, judging by the smiles around The Peppered Pig on that day).
“I love to cook, and a food truck really benefits the farmers’ market. People like to come to shop and socialize, and to have their breakfast or lunch right on the site. The food truck is completely consistent with having a farm.” In the end, it becomes obvious that Jessica Piccinin has found a way of life that suits her to a tee.
“I love it because I grew up here,” she said. “I love meeting everybody and chatting, feeling that sense of community. I really like it here and I’m not going anywhere else.”