Chilcotin Harvest, the abattoir and butchery component of Pasture to Plate, B.C.âs first vertically-integrated organic grass-fed meat operation. The pond and patio are frontage for Kinikinik, the general store and restaurant that will soon start selling and serving meat from Rafter 25 Ranch, which has been owned and operated by Felix and Jasmin Schellenberg since 1979.
Along with their eponymous butcher shop on Commercial Drive in Vancouver and a future motel next to the restaurant (thatâs what the cabins are for), Chilcotin Harvest is the real-world manifestation of the Schellenbergsâ deeply held belief that the food cycle shouldâand canâbe holistic. Their business model is based at least partly on idealism, but also on tradition. This is, after all, how food was grown and eaten before the age of the mega-farms: directly from the farm to the people.
The dream is for the ranch and all its operations to be a self-contained cycle, with the family running every aspect of the business. ring the season).
Chilcotin Harvestâs facilities are state-of-the-art, and sustainability is a priority. The management is especially proud of its composting facility, which returns animal waste from the slaughterhouse back to the land, instead of incinerating it or, worse, adding it to a landfill.
