Harvesting Hope: The Growth of SilverStar Veggies’ Success

Located on a plot of land at the bottom of the Foothills in Vernon, BC, SilverStar Veggies has become a popular farmstand—offering residents a bounty of seasonal produce twice a week. After six years of growing on rented land and working out of tents and trailers, the young farmers behind SilverStar Veggies were ready to put down roots of their own.

SilverStar Veggies grows a number of crops, including lettuce mix, carrots, and beets.

“It’s grown leaps and bounds since we started and we are just going to keep moving forward,” says Eric Feehely, co-owner.

Back in 2021, when he and his partner, Miho, started their farming business, Eric had been growing vegetables for Okanagan winery restaurants and Miho was a chef out of work during the pandemic. Eric grew up on a farm in Ireland, and he’d gained heaps of experience building restaurant gardens and greenhouses in the Okanagan climate.

“I was really blown away by the high standard of vegetable farming here,” says Eric, who was originally drawn to the region by work at wineries.

He and his partner realized it might be the ideal time to start a farm of their own. An acquaintance introduced them to someone who owned farmland along Silver Star Road, and had an acre to rent. With help from the Young Agrarians, a network that supports emerging farmers, the couple started SilverStar Veggies by opening up one acre. It was the year that a heat dome saw a third of their crops perish.

“We kind of wondered, what are we doing? But by the end of the year, things were better, and every year afterward we’ve grown in space and grown our earnings by about 20 per cent.”

These days, their summer carrots, beets, lettuce mix and more can be found at the Farmer’s Market, in veggie boxes for pick-up and delivery and their popular farmstand, which operates out of a 20-foot trailer that replaced a canvas vehicle shelter. Some days, nearly 700 cars pass by.

With strong, consistent growth, embarking on their sixth year, Eric and Miho began plans to build their own wash and pack house with space for retail sales.

“Having this building will take care of a lot of our challenges,” says Eric. “It’s going to be a game changer.”

Currently, they have to drive from one end of the property to the other to bring their harvest in for washing and packing, and operating a farmstand out of the trailer means they can only offer that service twice a week in the warm months.

SilverStar Veggies is constructing a farmstand out of four shipping containers.

They set out to have an engineer design a modular 2,250 square foot building made from four shipping containers, two of which are already freezer insulated. The building is mobile so it can easily move with them if the arrangement on the rented land ever changes.

Some of those elements—the mobility of the structure, the rented land, the need to bring in water, sewer and power—presented challenges when Eric and Miho sought financing.

“We had all of these challenges ahead of us, but we were determined.”

When they were passed over by a major agricultural lender with a cap on what could be financed for non-land ventures, the representative mentioned Community Futures North Okanagan. This was in the fall of 2025, and the couple was already planning the growing season ahead counting on the additional acreage and revenue, and the building construction being underway.

“Community Futures really came through for us,” says Eric.

After demonstrating their projections and a solid plan for growth, their loan application was underway. Engineers, meanwhile, had the plans ready and excavators were nearly at the gate ready to go. When their loan was approved by Community Futures, Eric remembers feeling “tremendous relief.”

“We’re big believers in investing in our future and doing things properly and that’s what we feel we’ve done here, and Community Futures made it possible.”

SilverStar Veggies is expecting to open their new wash/pack/retail farmstand in early July, and they’re looking forward to year-round operations and opportunities to expand what they offer, including the produce of other small family farms.

“I haven’t got enough thumbs up for Community Futures and our dealings with people there.”

Are you thinking about starting your own business? Explore how Community Futures North Okanagan offers flexible lending options and business advising services.

Community Futures North Okanagan recognizes the ongoing support of Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan).