Picked in Chilliwack: Crops, Community, and Memory

For this year’s BC Heritage Week theme, “Stir the Pot,” We’ve been thinking about the crops that quietly shaped Chilliwack’s everyday food culture—what grew well here, who grew it, and how those seasons still show up in our memories.

Chilliwack’s crop history is, in many ways, a story of soil and water. As the Sumas Lake was drained and the resulting land cultivated, parts of the valley became famously productive—supporting vegetables and small fruits that still feel like local staples: peas, raspberries, cauliflower, corn, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, among many others.

Members of the Kipp family and others packing plums with the former Isaac Kipp house and farm visible in background, ca. 1880s. Photo courtesy of Chilliwack Museum & Archives 2002.101.019

But crops aren’t just economics or acreage—they’re rhythms. They’re the way the year turns in a farming community: spring planting, summer growth, and the harvest that comes with its own kind of urgency. Some crops became local icons. Chilliwack corn, for instance, has a reputation that goes beyond taste. Chilliwack farmers were early adopters of growing corn on a large scale and selling directly to the public, which helped shape the late-summer tradition of roadside stands and “let’s grab a dozen cobs” dinners.

"Well, that's what I call a nice piece of corn," E. E. Thompson (right) tells E. E. Brundidge as he helps harvest an unusually late corn crop on the farm of N. LeRoy Chapman, Nov. 1960. Chilliwack Progress Press photo courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum & Archives, 1999.029.003.013

Other crops connected Chilliwack to much wider stories. One early crop that shaped the valley’s seasons was hops. Hop yards were established in the Chilliwack area by the late 1800s (especially around Sardis/Greendale/Yarrow), and hop picking became a major harvest-time rhythm—work that drew not only families but Indigenous, Chinese, Japanese, and South Asian workers into long days in the fields. That’s part of our crop history too: not only what grew here, but whose labour powered those harvests, and how seasonal work shaped communities.

Photograph of Mr. Hulbert owner of the hop yard, on left. Joe Banks is the gentleman in the centre in the white shirt seeming to organize the spraying of the hops. Chinese hop workers are spraying the hops, 1912. Photo courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum & Archives, 1997.111.003

Over time, several early operators (like the Ord and Hulbert hop interests) helped build the industry long before later consolidation under John I. Haas Hop Co.

Photograph of an overhead view of a farm worker sitting high atop a horse drawn wagon loaded with bales of hops at the Hulbert hop yards at Sardis. Large wooden hop kilns are visible on right in background. Ca.191-?. Photo courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum & Archives, 1978.013.074

And then there’s the part of crop history that lives in the body—the personal retrospective so many locals share, even across generations. Maybe it’s the memory of berry stains on your hands, sun-warmed fruit straight from the plant, and the very specific ache of “picking muscles” you didn’t know you had. Maybe it’s riding in the back seat with paper baskets on your lap, the smell of fresh-picked berries filling the car, and knowing—without anyone saying it—that some of what you picked would become jam, pie, or dessert for company. Or maybe it’s the quiet pride of helping, even in small ways, and feeling like you were part of something real.

Image Credit: Chilliwack Progress Archives, July 19,1967

So when we “stir the pot” this week—whether it’s soup, jam on toast, or corn on the cob—maybe we can also stir up a few memories:

Did you pick berries as a kid? Did your family grow anything in the backyard? Is there a “Chilliwack season” food that instantly takes you back?

If you’ve got a story (or a photo!) share it in the comments. Let’s build a little living archive together.