Our History of Farming
Early Pioneers
We can trace our farming decendents back to 1864 where Mathew Jensen was born in Norfjord, a small fishing and farming community in Norway. In 1885 he met and married Marie Pedersen from Raelingen, Norway and they immigrated to a farm in Manitoba and changed their name to Johnson.
Living in a sod shanty, Mathew started a small herd of cattle and to work the section. Hi son, Jens Johnson was born on the farm on Nov 4th, 1902 and later married Mary Bach. Jens like his father was a cattle farmer, also concentrating on grain farming and hunting. Mary Bach’s father was Anton Bach who came from Mary would keep busy helping on the farm, plucking geese and making big beautiful quilts to keep warm in the winter.
Jens and Mary Johnson would later have two children Matthew, and Marie. In 1957, Marie married Harry Holland who came from a family of farmers originally from Germany who settled in the Westlock area.
Harry Holland was a former ambulance driver for Smith Ambulance in Edmonton, Alberta before moving back to the farm. Marie worked in healthcare and retirement homes to make extra money for their four children (Kelly was the youngest and only son), while Harry Holland (Kelly’s dad) was also a very succssful chuck wagon racer winning the Calgary Stampede with his team in 1970.
Kelly Holland, a natural greenthumb and animal lover is the youngest of four children. He is a fourth generation farmer of the family and works full-time as a farmer managing cattle, hemp, and all greenhouses. He also looks after his aging parents who are in their 80’s and still reside on the farm.
View Profile https://richvalleyhemp.com/team/kelly-holland/
Rachel has over 25 years working in technology and global healthcare. Kelly joined Kelly on the farm in 2011 and together they promote everything healthy and positive about hemp. Rachel does the marketing, communications, and promotions for the farm.
