There was a familiar face behind the Wild Things Seafood booth at Manson’s Friday Market last week. In addition to being our former Regional Director, Noba Anderson’s family has a connection to Cortes Island that stretches back to 1978. So Cortes Currents asked Noba about the new business she is undertaking with Peter Schmidt.

“It’s Peter’s passion, there’s no doubt about that. Peter owned his first fishing boat when he was a teenager off Saturna Island and has been fishing on and off with his own boat in younger years, and then on other people’s boats more recently. So last year he was out on a tuna boat and took his payment in fish rather than money and had it processed. You can’t just sell tuna, so then he bought some other things and went on the road last winter,” she explained.  

“Then I started  getting a few things from his supplier and went to Denman and Hornby islands last winter, just once a month kind of thing.  We teamed up more considerably this spring and summer season.” 

Cortes Currents: How did you come up with a name for your enterprise?

Noba Anderson: “Wild Things Seafood? –  Peter came up with it. It speaks to the fact we only carry wild products, only BC products and that great old book ‘Where The Wild Things Are,’ just a little bit of play.”  

“We set up in the Comox Valley for May and June, but we either didn’t do enough marketing or whatever. It didn’t really pan out as fast as we needed it to.”

“So we pivoted and we’ve been  selling on six Gulf Islands every week all summer. Hornby,  Denman, Gabriola, Salt Spring, Pender and Maine, and then the odd little place in between and then having one day to  recharge and regroup and restock. So we direct source as cash flow and storage allows.”

Cortes Currents: So you sleep on the road?

Noba Anderson: “When we’re on the road, we sleep in the fish truck.  We carry four big freezers full of product, generators, and rope to the front bumper. It’s a traveling fun show a la Pete for sure.” 

“We’re building relationships with fisher folks here on the coast and then infilling from the processing plants in Vancouver when we need to. That’s just one step away from direct sourcing.  Everything we carry is the best quality, most ethical, direct source, BC wild stuff we can get.”

“We’re on a huge learning curve and it’s a lot of fun and a lot of chaos. And there’s a lot of cash flow, but no accumulation so far.  It was a startup phase of business. I’ve never owned a business that had inventory. I’ve had businesses  that were skill based, not thing based. It’s a whole other thing, tracking this level of inventory and receipts.” 

“It’s been a learning curve and it’s been a lot of fun, but I’m dialling back. I’m going to be here now mostly for the fall and winter.  Peter is going to do a reduced schedule on the road. We’ve been switching off week on week, one off on the road and the other being home with Zila. We’ve been dragging her around a little bit more than she needed to be dragged around this summer. 

Cortes Currents: Did she enjoy it? 

Noba Anderson: “Yes, for the first few weeks. Everything gets boring after a while, when you’re seven , but she was one of the main motivators,  because she loves being in front of the public and selling stuff.”

“So she’d do nails, hair and make cards and little female things. Her attention’s an hour at best,  but it’s been fun. Sometimes the three of us have gone to an island for a few days and she’ll go swimming with one of us while the other’s at the truck. Three of using a small truck can be a bit of a challenge, especially given that we’re separated, but we’re committed to co-parenting and doing a business and being good with each other and modelling to her that we can still be a team and  cooperate well. So it’s been another chapter in the memoir for sure.” 

Cortes Currents: Did you say separated? 

Noba Anderson: “We’ve been separated for four years or so. The reason I’m really putting my attention and love into this business right now is to focus on family. Even though Peter and I aren’t a couple, we are in raising a child, doing a business and being in life together in the best possible way. This is his passion and I’m wanting to support our family to be a really good solid team in every way we can figure out how to be.” 

Cortes Currents: Is this the first time Wild Things Seafood has sold on Cortes.

Noba Anderson: “We did a little bit in the winter, pre-Christmas and then actually a little bit after Christmas, but the markets were so slow.  This is the second Friday I’ve been able to make it here since we have been on our full summer schedule because it’s actually been remarkably hard to coordinate bringing fish, a freezer and a truck heading north from Comox, which is our base when everything else is geared to heading south. We’ve been wanting to be here for the last couple of months, but haven’t figured it out.  I’ll be here, I expect, most Friday markets now through Christmas.” 

All photos courtesy Noba Anderson

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