Rooted in Community: Where the Food Journey Begins

It Takes a Village

Behind every delivery is a network of people, planning, partnerships and care. From the farmers that grow and harvest the produce to people that ensure the families have access to it, bringing fresh food to children and their families undergoing treatment takes a village. At the beginning of one of those journeys is Naty King, owner of Hazelmere Organic Farm in Surrey, British Columbia.

The Roots of Hazelmere

Farming was not Naty King’s first career. Before starting Hazelmere Organic Farm, she earned an MBA and spent years running foreign exchange offices in San Francisco and Vancouver. She and her husband were brought together, in part, by a shared appreciation for fresh, healthy food.

Originally from the Philippines, Naty learned the importance of nutrition early in her life from her family, telling Eminence Organics, “Basically the exposure of eating beautiful food from the farmers, from my uncles and aunts, fresh fish, fresh everything. And so that's stuck in my mind.” Her husband lived with his family on a hobby farm in Chilliwack complete with chickens, a cow, and even a cellar, learning early the importance of fresh food and community. 

After marrying, Naty and her husband moved with their daughters to San Francisco, where she continued her work in foreign exchange. While there, Naty’s husband was diagnosed with skin cancer. Following his diagnosis, the family decided to return to British Columbia and fulfil their dream to have a farm and grow their own food. 

For Naty, knowing where food comes from and how it is grown is an important part of choosing fresh food. That connection to the growers behind it has shaped her own approach to food and farming. When they started, “we didn’t know anything about farming,” Naty King says. “But if your heart and soul is in something, you will make it work and you will learn.”

From left to right: Naty King, owner of Hazelmere Organic Farm, with Stephanie Ritchie, Communications Manager at Eminence Organics

Rooted in Community

Over four decades, Hazelmere Organic Farm has become part of a wider local food network, supplying Vancouver chefs and restaurants and working with other growers across British Columbia. 

Of everything grown at Hazelmere, Naty has a soft spot for squash, particularly the different varieties and colours. And some of the farm’s produce has found its way into decidedly sweeter territory, too, including seasonal ice cream flavours at local favourite Rain or Shine.

Looking back, Naty King points not only to the food she and her husband supplied, but also to the conversations they helped create around local farming and fresh ingredients.

“You know you can rely on each other,” Naty King says of the farming community. “You can't do everything.”

A Partnership with Purpose

The partnership began more than a decade ago through a connection in British Columbia’s organic farming community. A fellow grower had been approached about supporting the produce delivery to Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver but believed Naty King could better provide the variety needed. That introduction brought Hazelmere Organic Farm and Eminence Kids Foundation together. As Naty tells us, “things don’t happen by accident, they happen by design.”

For Naty King, the relationship was rooted in a shared sense of purpose. “I support the kinds of people who have meaning in what they do in life,” she says. 

Over the years, that relationship has also been built on trust. “I love the trust that they give me,” she says. That trust gives Naty King and her team room to consider seasonality, availability and what was included in the previous week’s delivery.

The Journey Behind Each Delivery

Each week’s delivery begins with a look at seasonality, availability and what families received the week before. Working within the program budget, Naty King and her team aim to offer variety rather than sending the same fruit week after week. 

Not everything in the delivery is grown at Hazelmere Organic Farm. Naty also works with growers elsewhere in British Columbia, drawing on those relationships to provide products such as apples and pears when available and helping ensure families receive a variety of fresh produce each week. It is a practical example of the farming community she describes, different growers contributing what their regions and seasons can support.

Frozen blueberries, blackberries and raspberries have also been included, giving families another way to use the fruit, including in smoothies. For Naty, providing that variety is about more than what goes into each delivery. It’s also about how the food can be used once it arrives.

More Than a Delivery

Naty’s relationship with fresh food began in childhood and has remained central throughout her life. For her, providing ingredients is just the beginning. People also need practical knowledge to use what they have, plan meals and reduce waste. 

As she explains, it is not simply about feeding someone but helping them make full use of what they receive. Her ideas extend beyond a single delivery toward simple recipes and food education, opportunities that could help fresh ingredients become part of everyday life.

When asked what motivates her to keep going, Naty tells us, “I'm just very thankful that … I'm still healthy and able to do things … I'll just keep doing what I can until I can't anymore.” 

We couldn’t leave the farm without asking Naty one last important question: her favourite Eminence Organics products. Among her picks? The Clear Skin Willow Bark Exfoliating Peel and the new Vitamin C⁺ Serum.

Always Looking to Next Year

After four decades of farming, Naty remembers something her husband used to say: “farmers are the most positive and hopeful people in the world.” Farming offers few guarantees. Crops can be lost, weather can change and a growing season may not unfold as planned. Still, farmers look ahead. As she puts it, “Never mind. Next year will be better.”

After 40 years of farming, Naty King is still looking toward what comes next. But looking back, she is also proud of what she and her husband built, from supplying fresh food to creating conversations around local farming and fresh ingredients. “I think my husband and I made a difference,” she says. Through her continued partnership with the Eminence Kids Foundation, Naty brings that same spirit to helping fresh food make its way from the farm into the community.