Salt Spring Coffee

The Real Story Behind Salt Spring Coffee I came to Salt Spring Island in 1981 to visit my brother, Ross. I never left, at least not by choice. What started as a visit turned into a life. Ross was farming out at Mansell Farm, and something about the island grabbed hold of me. The pace, the community, the sense that you could build something real here. Salt Spring Island in those days had a population of around 5,000. It wasn't the tourist destination it's become, it was a working island, full of long-time families, farmers, artists, and people who'd come looking for an alternative way of living. Robbyn and I rekindled our lives around that time (a whole other story), and together we started an organic market garden at Mansell Farm. This was before "organic" was a marketing term. It was just how we grew food; carefully, attentively, with respect for the land. In 1985, our daughter Metta was born at the farm. That same year I started my sawmill business The mill be…