Keltie Craig

My name is Keltie. I sometimes wish I lived in the country, but would miss the excitement of living in a big city. So instead, my husband and I, our two roommates, and our 5 backyard hens have created a small urban farm in inner city Vancouver. We call it the Ironhorse Ranch. Our household encourages creativity and playfulness, two traits I value highly. I am proud of the skills I have learned connected to my garden – how to grow an alphabet of vegetables, fruit, and perennial plants. How to turn excess figs into jam. How to empty a chicken’s impacted crop (and what a crop is). I view making salads fresh from the garden as my art form, layering textures and colors and flavors. It’s nice to have moments in life when you recognize you have everything you need.   In my life and my career, I like to bring unusual suspects together to work on a common project. This relates to my work at the City of Vancouver, trying to create a healthy city for all via the City’s new Healthy City Strategy. Sustainability in life and work are important to me, and I feel fortunate to have worked in environmental sustainability for 8 years before recently switching to social planning to look at sustainability from the social justice and equity side. Lots of learning, and humble moments for sure.