'We feel a lot healthier': Pender Island couple experiments with living off land for full year

Victoria -

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we can adapt when we have to.

An island couple decided to up the ante last summer when they moved to Pender Island, B.C. to take on the least convenient challenge you can imagine – and they're almost at the finish line.

In August 2020, Chris Hall and Stef Lowey decided to move to Pender Island to challenge themselves by only eating what they catch, grow, harvest or raise for an entire year.

The pair are proof that the answer to feeling healthier, doesn't come off of a store shelf.

"We feel a lot healthier," Hall said on Tuesday. "(Our) energy levels have balanced out, weird things like that, but it makes a difference. Clearer skin I think for both of us too."

Six months ago, CTV News checked up on them to see if they were doing OK. It turns out, they were thriving, and the same seems to be true now.

The pair has been sharing their journey with more than 30,000 YouTube subscribers, and have been showing what creative foods can be made in B.C., like coffee made from dandelion roots.

"I like sea asparagus more than normal asparagus," said Hall.

The couple has also been making dehydrated bladderwrack chips.

"They're not bad," said Lowey.

But, plenty of experiments also went sideways.

"Chris almost set fire to our deck trying to smoke some bacon," Lowey said.

The pair says their greenhouse was also destroyed during the winter.

"So that was a fail," said Lowey.

It's all part of the charm of living on the southern Gulf Island.

The pair's one-year challenge will finish on Aug. 2. The couple has a bottle of champagne ready that they've been saving for the occasion.

Lowey and Hall may also dip into some old favourite foods for a cheat meal a year in the making.

"I definitely still want pizza and hot wings. Maybe some tacos too," said Lowey.

As for getting back on the grid, the pair says they're still not sure what the future will look like.

"I don't think we'll ever go back to the way we were living," Hall said.