Your land can feed you and water itself.

Capture. Store. Recharge.

Every property on Vancouver Island has water moving through it. We design systems that slow it down, store it, and put it to work — so your land stays hydrated through the driest months. We also handle water licence applications through FrontCounter BC, so you get the paperwork and the construction from the same crew.

• Water Licence Applications & Consulting
• Pond Construction & Dam Builds
• Rainwater Capture Systems
• Swale Systems & Surface Water Management
• Aquifer Recharge & Land Shaping
• Drainage & Overflow Design
• Natural Water Treatment & Bio Filters
• Natural Swimming Ponds

Want a pond? We can help with the process.

Building a pond or water system in BC starts with a water licence application. The process is straightforward once you know what to submit and where. We help property owners put together their applications, figure out what approvals are needed, and work with FrontCounter BC to keep things moving.

Whether it is a simple rain-fed pond or something that touches a stream or riparian area, we can walk you through the steps and handle the paperwork so you can focus on the build.

• Water Licence Application Prep
• Volume & Catchment Calculations
• FrontCounter BC Coordination
• Riparian & Stream Work Approvals
• Water Security Consulting

A greenhouse for every space.

Passive solar greenhouses heat and cool themselves without external energy. We build them at every scale, from compact deck units to full backyard production houses.

Our builds use 8mm twin-wall polycarbonate glazing, south-facing orientation, and thermal mass to hold heat overnight. Climate batteries buried under the floor increase growing degree days by a third. On Vancouver Island's mild coast, that means near year-round production with no hydro bill for heating.

• Mini Greenhouses for Decks & Small Spaces
• Front Door & Patio Growing Units
• Backyard Passive Solar Greenhouses
• Climate Battery Builds
• Greenhouse Site Prep & Foundation
• Food Forest Design
• Biochar & Soil Amendment

Hyper-local food. Grown by neighbours.

Industrial food travels thousands of kilometres, burns 10 calories of energy for every calorie it delivers, and strips nutrients from the land it leaves behind. Your neighbourhood can do better. A productive polyculture of plants on a single residential lot will outproduce a grain field the same size, while building soil instead of depleting it.

We help households, strata councils, and community groups set up growing systems that actually produce. Mini greenhouses on a block. A shared passive solar build. A community food forest on unused land. Local food grown in local soil, fed by local rain.

• Household Food Production Setup
• Community Greenhouse Projects
• Neighbourhood Growing Networks
• Food Forest & Perennial Systems
• Soil Health Assessment

The foundation work.

Before any water system or greenhouse goes in, the ground needs to be right. We handle site clearing, grading, drainage, and all the heavy machine work so everything built on top performs as designed.

• Site Clearing & Access
• Septic Systems
• Building Pads & Driveways
• Grading & Drainage
• General Excavation

10 years of earthworks. Now building the local food system.

I'm Reid. I've spent the last ten years running machines, reading land, and building water systems across the North Island. Now the focus is shifting to what all that water and land work was always building toward: local food production.

Swell Farms is about putting growing infrastructure where people actually live. Mini greenhouses on decks. Passive solar builds in backyards. Water systems that keep it all running. Community-scale food production that does not depend on a supply chain.