Claude Catlett grew up in Dundee, a small coal mining town in a South African valley with ample activities, such as fishing, hiking, bird watching. After getting his professional accounting designation, Claude worked in a big city for a few years, where he met his future wife, Carien. Together, they decided to return to Claude’s hometown to settle and raise their family.
Back in Dundee, Claude joined his family’s grain milling business and became the third generation of stone grain millers. Claude’s grandfather was a farmer and a grain miller, and his father took grain milling to a commercial level.
When their daughter Lily was born, Carien and Claude began researching opportunities to immigrate to a safer and more stable country.
“I love my home country, shares Claude, but the socio-economic and political environments have been challenging," admits Claude.
Moving to Canada
In addition, positive stories from Claude’s sister about her move to Calgary six years ago helped to narrow down the search. Through vigorous research, Claude discovered that Penticton is one of the communities participating in the BC Regional Provincial Nominee Pilot Program that offers smaller urban-rural communities an opportunity to bring in businesses to help develop priority areas economic sectors. Food manufacturing was one of these areas for Penticton.
The Catlett family were happy to find out that the city is very similar to Dundee – a smaller valley town with beautiful nature, recreation activities, and a great place to raise children.
Pursuing a Passion
It was a lengthy and, at times, a challenging process, but in the summer of 2023 the Catletts moved to Penticton and began their new journey in Canada. Today, their children, six-year-old Lily and four-year-old Liam, are going to school, Carien works at a local medical laboratory and Claude is pursuing his passion – artisanal style grain milling.
“Our company, Valley Stoneground, uses only the best quality organic grains to produce healthier, fresher and tastier flours. We focus on whole grain flours and alternative grains – ancient and heritage, such as spelt, Khorasan wheat, Red Fife and rye. Grain like spelt can be traced thousands of years without cross-breeding or hybridization, so the protein structure is simpler and leads to easier digestion. People who struggle with gluten should give it a try. These flours will take your baking to the whole other level," shares Claude.
"A stone mill moves slowly, and does not overheat the grain. This allows for keeping bran, endosperm and germ together. With the germ blended in, the stoneground flour contains all the vitamins, oils and minerals, making the flours much healthier."
It wasn’t easy to find a suitable space for Claude’s stone mill – it had to have the right ceiling height, floorspace, as well as access to a forklift. While his equipment was en route to Canada, Claude found the right spot at the Penticton Feedway (116 Green Mountain Rd). Currently, he has two part-time employees and hopes that they will come onboard full-time once the business develops further.
“People have been wonderful, we’ve made a lot of friends. They helped to navigate our way in setting up the business. People are the biggest asset in setting up a business here," adds Claude.
Notwithstanding the busy schedule, Claude and Carien are volunteering in various ways with the South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services (SOICS) that helps newcomers build professional connections and language skills in the community. Claude greatly enjoys hiking at Skaha Bluffs and the whole family looks forward to summer days at the beaches.
“We’ve been here for a little while now and we really feel so blessed to have ended up right where we are. It is perfect for our family - it checks all the boxes. We had a wonderful summer and our first winter wasn’t that bad. The community has been wonderful too. We want to become embedded in the community, want our business to be known as the flour producer of the Okanagan Valley. So far, the feedback has been really, really good," adds Claude with a wide smile.
At the first farmers’ market, in addition to his regular products, Claude introduced some pre-mixes for cookies and muffins to make it easier for people to try new flours. Claude is a vendor at the Penticton Farmers' Market. Valley Stoneground flours are also available at several healthy food stores in Penticton, such as Local Motive and several of his products are listed on an online farmers market called Modern Farmgate.
“We don’t for a moment regret our move to Penticton. My advice to others who are thinking of moving here is to find a way to make it happen. It’s not easy, but, once you are here, get involved in the community, meet people. You will find lots of resources, opportunities and support structures," concludes Claude.
------------------
Are you new to Canada? Find out more about SOICS.
This profile is a part of the Community Champions campaign of the South Okanagan-Similkameen Local Immigration Partnership (SOSLIP). The Partnership project is led by the South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services (SOICS), which provides a range of services for newcomers to the region. This article, written by Elmira Galiyeva, was previously published on Castanet. Updates have been made since original publishing.
@start.here.penticton