Ryan Nassichuk is a handsome young horticulturist who lives on Quadra Island. Born and raised in North Vancouver, he fled the city to start a vegetable seed company with his sugarplum, Jessica, who is also a horticulturist (Ryan and Jessica met at plant school, and it is frequently remarked that they are a particularly cute couple). The seed company, Valdez Seed, exists, in the sense that Ryan and Jessica grow and save open-pollinated seed from a wide variety of food plants, though a catalogue, website, and garden centre seed racks won’t be available until early to mid 2021. Growing seed is easy, but growing and distributing vigorous, high-quality seed requires a tremendous amount of care, forethought and infrastructure. As the seed company germinates and grows, the two lovebird horticulturists run a small Community Supported Agriculture program and teach hands-on workshops at Valdez Farm, their home on Quadra’s South End. Ryan also gives talks and leads workshops off the farm concerning the areas of his expertise, and is always glad to present to anyone who will listen, particularly if he is paid to do so. He also works off the farm as a consultant and gardener-for-hire. He is interested in gardening and agricultural collaborations of all sorts, and loves to get e-mails from people he hasn’t met (and from most of the people he has).