Agricultural Innovation Clearview

C L E A RV I EW
CONTENTS
2
AGRICULTURAL DIVERSITY IN CLEARVIEW
4
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL AT THE NEW FARM
6
CLEARVIEW NURSERY TAKES ROOT
10
MILLER’S DAIRY LOOKS TO THE PAST FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
14
HOP TO IT
20
FARMING PHARMACEUTICALS
26
FOUR WHEEL FARM TAKES THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
36
A MATCH MADE IN CLEARVIEW
40
WHERE FARM MEETS FORK
50
HAPPY HARVEST
58
GETTING GOING WITH GARLIC
59
MEET ME AT THE MARKET
60
3
AGRICULTURAL DIVERSITY
IN CLEARVIEW
Clearview is fortunate to have a
diverse agricultural community
that benefits from innovative and
enterprising farmers. Agricultural and agriculturally related industries are a major employer in
our community and will continue
to be fundamental to Clearview’s
economy and identity. The stories included in this publication
are just a few examples of what is
happening on Clearview’s farms
and other businesses that both
rely on and support those farms.
In 2012, Agriculture was second only to the construction industry in terms of total jobs in
Clearview Township, with over
600 jobs in the sector, according
to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
(OMAFRA). Agriculture may
soon be the largest job creator
in Clearview, as it is generating
employment faster than nearly
any other industry. The growth of
farm jobs in Clearview is outpacing that of the rest of the province
and the country, with an impressive 27.6% increase in jobs in the
farming sector in Clearview from
2011 to 2012. Agriculture also
helps support many other types
of businesses in Clearview, such
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as retail, tourism, construction,
and manufacturing. It will be
important to support farming to
maintain our economic growth,
especially as trends in Canada
over the past 10 years point to an
aging demographic of farmers,
and a shrinking overall number
of farms.
Lands zoned Agricultural and
Rural are where the vast majority
of farming activity takes place in
Clearview. These lands allow for
uses such as produce and livestock farming, market gardens,
greenhouses and associated retail and wholesale outlets, passive recreation, accommodation,
and a number of other related
uses. Other zoning designations
also allow for gardens and some
limited agricultural activities.
The Clearview planning department has worked to add uses to
agricultural and other zoning
categories, giving people in the
community opportunities for
new and varied farm operations
and businesses on their land.
Farmers also have the option of
applying for expanded zoning
designations that allow them to
expand their operations, produce
additional value-added products,
and provide flexibility to ensure
their farm continues to remain
economically viable over the
long-term.
 Clearview will continue to look
at new ways to encourage value
added production and sustainable farming, while protecting
agricultural lands from inappropriate forms of development and
fragmentation, and promoting
ecologically sound management
practices.  Efforts currently underway include exploring the
feasibility of agricultural condominiums to encourage and assist
new farmers as well as allowing
them benefit from mentorship by
the previous generation.  Urban
farming, permaculture and other
ways of increasing access to local
foods are also being explored.
Sustainability and resiliency are
key concepts to ensuring a prosperous and healthy future for
our residents.  A diverse and innovative agricultural community
is critical to achieving that prosperity. Clearview is committed to
continue to work with our farmers and businesses to respond to
changes and new challenges and
ensure that we remain leaders in
agriculture.
5
SMALL IS
BEAUTIFUL AT
THE NEW FARM
Sustainability and food justice is key to the philosophy
of farming for Brent Preston and Gillian Flies
A decade ago, Brent Preston and Gillian Flies left their lives in
Toronto and settled on a 100 acre farm along the Niagara Escarpment, west of Creemore. They started modestly with a one
acre vegetable garden near the entrance to their home. Today,
their farm, dubbed “The New Farm,” is home to 20 acres of certified organic vegetables that they sell to high-end restaurants
and specialty food shops throughout the local region and the
Greater Toronto Area. Brent, once a journalist at the CBC, now
spends his summer days harvesting cucumbers, planting crops,
and corralling chickens, along with Gillian and as many as six
employees every growing season.
Despite their successful growth thus far, Brent’s vision is to keep
things small and sustainable on the New Farm. “This is the first
year where we’re not adding any new land to production. We’ve
reached somewhere around the size we want to be,” says Brent.
He and Gillian are committed to organic farming for a multitude of social and economic reasons, despite how labour-intensive their operations are. “Part of the reason that we started
this farm is because we were concerned about the environment
generally and wanted to have a sustainable business. For the
kind of high value [vegetables] that we’re doing, there’s not a
huge market for conventional. The restaurants that are willing
to pay premium dollars for really fresh local produce, they’re
primarily looking for organic. From a marketing position and
from our own philosophical position it didn’t make sense to do
anything else.”
The farm features six greenhouses, home to Japanese cucumber plants that will reach heights of nine feet by midsummer,
and produce 30,000 cucumbers by the time the days get cooler
in the fall. Mustard greens grow under cozy blankets that keep
them safe from pests, but allow sun and water to pass through.
These greens will soon be harvested as part of the New Farm’s
salad mix. Potatoes and other vegetables come later in the sea-
Brent Preston; Owner of The New Farm
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son. To make growing easier this year, an irrigation pond
and underground system was just installed that will pipe
water to all of the fields.
going to be a commercial kitchen, and a meeting place - a
place for people to come to the farm to learn about what
we’re doing and to talk about food issues generally.”
revenue stream. Brent points out that having the flexibility
of the zoning in Clearview allows them to look at starting
these kinds of operations.
No less important than the vegetables are the cover crops
such as rye grass that feed and protect the soil, while also
helping control weeds. “The key in organic farming is the
soil. Build a healthy, living fertile soil, and plants can resist
most of the plants that go after them,” Brent says. After one
year of growing vegetables on a patch of land, they rotate to
a year of feeding the soil with cover crops, which builds up
organic matter and fertility over time.
Gillian has started making and selling a salad dressing called
New Farm Gold, which is currently produced off-site, but
they’d like to be able to make it right on the farm itself. A year-round, value-added product such as
salad dressing allows the farm to cushion
the pressure of the highly seasonal
nature of their vegetable
growing operations
with a more
steady
The idea for an educational space is an extension of Brent
and Gillian’s commitment to giving back to the community,
and building awareness around food issues. Along
with the Stop Community Food Centre, a food
security organization based out of Toronto, they are coordinating a program that sources food from
local farmers for local
food banks.
Although Brent has no plans to use more land for crops, he
does intend to expand the farm in some new and innovative directions, in keeping with his involvement in the wider food movement. “What we’re planning to do in the
next year or two is to take advantage of Clearview’s zoning around accessory buildings
to put another building here that’s
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This gives low-income people access to high-quality food,
for which the food banks pay market prices, which in turn
supports local agriculture. The New Farm also hosts regular
fundraisers for The Stop and other food justice organizations.
With only 20 acres of their 100 acre property in use for
their current farming operations, Brent is also thinking
about opening up some of their spare land for an incubator farm where young farmers could get started in agriculture while they gain the knowledge and the capital to buy
their own property.
Although the New Farm promises to keep its operations
small, its impact in the local community and larger local
food movement is substantial. By feeding their soil, fostering new farmers, and providing a model for a more sustainable form of agriculture, they’re helping to ensure that farming in the community remains
strong and healthy well into the future.
M
9
CLEARVIEW NURSERY TAKES ROOT
Kevin Elwood grows his business and his trees with a view to future generations
When Kevin and Gail Elwood first
bought the 100 acre property just
west of Stayner that is now Clearview
Nursery, the thousands of trees that
grow there today were only a dream.
At that time, in 1996, the land was
used as a cattle farm, with a beat up
old house and barn, and no trees
on the property except for a line
of spruce along the edge. Kevin is
blunt about the state of the property
at the time. “It was a dump. That’s
how we got it. But I saw nothing
but opportunity.”
The property was far enough north of
the GTA to be affordable, but unlike
other properties in central Ontario
that were too cold, Clearview’s climate
is moderated by its proximity to
Georgian Bay. “It’s a good area to grow
trees,” says Kevin.
more people and purchase more land
in the coming years.
While Clearview Nursery is a tree
nursery first and foremost, they
haven’t limited themselves to that
role. “Landscapers want to be able to come to a one-stop
shop,” says Kevin. With that in mind, Clearview Nursery
sells not only trees, but also smaller shrubs and perennials,
along with soil, mulches, stones, and drainage products.
They also provide a wide range of landscaping services,
including landscape design, along with pretty much every
service a transplanted tree could need from planting to
watering to fertilizing.
Today, dozens of varieties of trees
fill 80 acres of Clearview Nursery’s
100 acre property, with over 700
trees spread across each acre. They
employ 22 people, eight of whom are
permanent, full-time employees with
benefits. Elwood plans to hire even
Owner of Clearview Nursery Kevin Elwood
Clearview Nursery’s reputation has now spread beyond
the landscape trade to the general public. This was never
Kevin’s plan but that hasn’t stopped people from coming by
anyway. “People drive in and say, ‘do you sell to the public?’
and I never say no.”
The nursery is able to provide this wide variety of services
while remaining under Agricultural zoning in Clearview,
due to the flexibility of the township’s zoning by-laws.
However, Elwood pays commercial taxes on half of his
buildings, and foresees needing to expand their zoning
designation in the future as they grow.
“PEOPLE DRIVE IN AND SAY, ‘DO YOU SELL
TO THE PUBLIC?’ AND I NEVER SAY NO.”
10
One of the things that sets Clearview Nursery apart is their
focus on trees that grow well in the local climate, including
a commitment to growing and selling native trees. One of
the most popular are their native sugar maples, which are
grown from seed using local seed stock.
“Up here, we can get more for our product, because people
want a real, true sugar maple that mother nature has
grown in the woodlot here,” says Kevin. “I can sell ‘Green
Mountain’ sugars that we can buy from Oregon, and they
grow faster, and I can get them out to market sooner. But it’s
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not really the right thing. From a commerce and business
perspective, I can make more money. But it’s not always
about the money.”
Clearview Nursery also sells less common species, such
as Yellow Birch & Ironwood, trees that Kevin describes as
“under-valued and overlooked.”
Another approach that makes Clearview Nursery different
than other tree nurseries is how they grow and transport
their trees. Other nurseries increasingly grow trees in a pot,
which trains the roots to conform to the pot’s shape. Trees
grown in Clearview Nursery’s fields have roots that grow
outwards, making them sturdier and less likely to blow over
after they’re planted. “We’ll grow it in a field until it’s big
and more mature, then dig it in a wire basket,” says Kevin.
“You plant that in someone’s yard, it’s instant landscape.”
Kevin refuses to grow potted trees, and believes this trend
in the industry is only temporary. “Eventually the consumer
will become educated,” he says. “The average tree lifespan
should be 200 years. So when you’re buying a tree, you need
to think long-term.”
Tree farming is necessarily a slow process, as it takes five to
seven years for a tree to be ready to sell. After Kevin started
the farm, not long after completing a degree in Forestry,
he spent many years continuing to work as a landscape
contractor, and using the money he made to subsidize the
tree farm.
Now that Clearview Nursery is more established, Kevin
is looking to the future, in keeping with the long-term
philosophy that growing trees seems to engender. “It will
be the second and third generation that will probably
benefit the most [from the nursery],” he observes.
Kevin and Gail are now looking to their sons to continue the
business with one about to graduate with an Environmental
Science degree, and the youngest off to University in
September. But he also thinks of his staff as part of the
team that will continue the multi-generational work he has
begun. “When people ask where they work, I don’t want
them to say they work for Kevin Elwood. They work at
Clearview Nursery.”
“To me, the nursery has got it right when people come to
buy a tree here and never see a need to know the owner,”
continues Kevin. “It is about profit, and I’m a capitalist at
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heart. But it won’t happen if you don’t have good staff. If
they stay there for a career, they have to grow as well. Raise
a family, put food on the table, buy a new car, get a boat,
maybe have a cottage. They have to do well too.” He is quick
to note that his eight full-time, year-round staff support 11
children.
This long-term, multi-generational vision is what sets
Clearview Nursery apart. The trees grown there are not
only making money for the local economy today, but will be
spreading their branches and burrowing their roots across
southern Ontario for years and generations to come. M
13
MILLER’S DAIRY LOOKS
TO THE PAST FOR
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
A new milk processing plant continues a family
tradition in the dairy industry
A visit to Jalon Farms & Miller’s Dairy is a tour not just
through a combined dairy operation and milk processing
plant, but a trip that leads both back into the past and forward
into the future.
The driveway lined with 100 year-old sugar maples leads to an
old barn, where only a decade ago cows would have been tied
up as workers stooped to milk them. Beyond this weathered
building is a modern 20,000 square foot barn that is the current
home to over 100 Jersey cows and a state of the art, digital
milking system. This is the modern incarnation of Jalon Farms,
a dairy operation that has been part of the Miller family for
generations, dating back to the mid-19th century.
The past and future also intermingle in the newest addition to
the farm, the milk processing business known as Miller’s Dairy.
In the processing plant, built in 2012, shiny stainless steel
pipes and cutting-edge technology work seamlessly along with
equipment that was built to last over 50 years ago.
John Miller and his family are continuing a tradition in the
dairy business that began on the property with John’s great
grandmother. Establishing a modern dairy processing plant,
in particular, was part of a lifelong ambition for John. “My
mother’s family were in it when I was a kid, and I always thought
I wanted to get the family back into the processing business.”
The entire operation begins with and relies on “the girls,” as John
refers to them. Approximately 100 Jersey cows live together in a
free-stall barn in which they are able to walk around, socialize,
and choose their stalls, which are lined with comfortable rubber
mats. “They have total freedom,” says John. Scrapers run every
hour very slowly along the length of the barn to keep it clean
– and occasionally provide bovine entertainment. “We used to
have a cow that would get her front feet up on [the scraper] and
ride it,” he recalls.
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“They’re very inquisitive. They’re great cows to deal
with,” says John of his Jersey cows, which were first
brought to the farm by John’s father in 1959, and
have many advantages: they have the smallest carbon
footprint of any other dairy breed, and produce milk
with a high fat and protein content.
Next to the cows’ living quarters is the milking
parlour, where the cows are milked regularly
through a digital milking system that keeps track of
each cow’s production.
Once a week, the milk produced in the barn is sent
through an underground piping system to the milk
processing plant. Along the way, it is sold from Jalon
Farms to the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, then sold
again to Miller’s Dairy, in keeping with the rules
of the dairy industry.
Processing milk so it can be sold to the public begins
with taking raw milk and running it through the
separator. The separator makes either skim milk or
35% cream, which are then mixed with each other
in the proper ratio to create 1%, 2%, whole milk
or 10% cream.
Many years ago John Miller’s father would have
used a large vat to pasteurize milk, wasting much
of the heat produced in the process. But today,
using an energy efficient process, the milk is
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pasteurized by moving through stainless steel
tubes and heated at precisely 73 degrees Celsius for
16 seconds, then immediately cooled back down
using an ice bath.
The next step is to send the milk through the
homogenizer, which exerts pressure on the milk
that bursts the fat globulets into smaller particles,
and prevents the milk from separating. John points
out that all milk is homogenized, not just the 3.25%
milk you see labelled as such at the supermarket.
Miller’s Dairy labels their 3.25% milk with the more
accurate term “whole milk.”
The milk then moves into the bottling room, where the
distinctive glass bottles that Miller’s Dairy uses are filled
and capped. This is also the point in the process where
Miller’s Dairy’s renowned chocolate milk is created –
a concoction which is mysteriously more delicious
than chocolate milk sold by the larger dairies, despite
having less sugar.
The glass bottles used by Miller’s Dairy are not just
a nostalgic throwback to another time, but are a
manifestation of the Miller family’s commitment to
long term environmental sustainability. “We believe
that [glass bottles] are better for the environment,
they’re better for the milk, they’re better for the people
drinking the milk, and the milk tastes better. It’s our
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way of doing the right thing,” says John, who emphasizes
that the bottles are reusable. “Our truck is out delivering the
milk, and we bring the empty bottles back on the same trip.
These bottles could make 20, 30, 40, 100 trips.”
Reusable bottles, however, require a machine to wash them.
Since bottle washers are not manufactured any more, the
Millers had to turn to an old dairy in South Carolina that
had gone out of business for an old washer to keep their
bottles in circulation.
Currently, Miller’s Dairy gets about half of their milk onsite from Jalon Farms, but John’s goal is to get to the point
where 100% of their milk comes from right on the farm.
While the dairy is operating smoothly now, it was a
long road to get to this point. While they received some
assistance from the Dairy Farmers of Ontario to get
their project started, the approval process was slowed
down by what John calls a “sticky bureaucrat” at the
province. Support from local MPP Jim Wilson got John a
meeting with the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, which
helped the Ministry get an understanding of what John
was trying to do.
“I always say: there’s pylons in every project, and you should
work your way around the pylons,” says John. “There should
never be roadblocks.”
Comparatively, the process working with Clearview
Township went much more smoothly. “When we did
the dairy, they were very cooperative, and very open
to what we were doing,” says John of the Township.
“I would say we had a very good experience working
with Clearview on that.”
Milk from Miller’s Dairy can now be bought at stores
throughout Simcoe County and beyond, including many
Foodland and Sobeys locations. John is thrilled with the
support they’ve received from the community, especially
in nearby communities. Talking about Creemore,
located right next to the dairy, John says, “they just feel
that this is their farm. They feel really close to us, and
Stayner is the same way.” M
18
“I WOULD SAY WE
HAD A VERY GOOD EXPERIENCE
WORKING WITH CLEARVIEW”
19
HOP TO IT
Clear Valley Hops leads the Ontario resurgence of
farming a key ingredient in brewing beer
Imagine a crop that used to cover thousands of acres
across Ontario, a crop that is a key ingredient in the
third most popular drink in the world (after water and
tea). Now imagine that crop being nearly completely
wiped out of the region.
That is the story of the hop plant, whose flower is used
in brewing to clarify and enhance the flavour and aroma
of beer. “Ontario and upstate New York at one time
were the leading suppliers of hops to the brewers of
Milwaukee,” Laurie Thatcher-Craig explains, pointing
out that prior to 1940, there were 40,000 acres of hops
in New York State, with evidence of a similarly active
hop growing industry in Ontario as well.
Laurie and her husband John Craig are leading a
resurgence of hop farming in Ontario. In 2011, they
purchased their property in Nottawa at the foot of the
Blue Mountains and started Clear Valley Hops.
The road to re-establishing hop farming in Ontario,
however, hasn’t been easy. The two threats that
decimated hop growing in the early part of the 20th
century, downy mildew and aphids, can now be treated,
but both can wreak havoc quickly if the plants are not
continuously monitored.
“[Hops] are one of the most labour intensive crops in
the world,” explains Laurie. “A lot of hands-on work
goes into hop farming.”
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A lot of work is required even before planting hop crops,
as the plants need an expansive trellis system to help them
grow to their impressive height of 18 feet. Over Clear Valley
Hops’ 13 acres of hop fields, 800 recycled hydro poles have
been installed, connected by a grid pattern of heavy aircraft
cabling along the top. The tendrils of the hop plants climb
coconut fibre string attached to these upper cables, quickly
reaching their full height in a short six weeks. “Most of
your yields are at that top two feet,” explains John. “So if
you don’t have that 18 feet you’re not going to get the yield
from your plant.”
But setting up the trellis system was the least of the
challenges that would face John and Laurie in their hop
growing efforts. When they began farming in 2012, they
immediately had to contend with the drought that year.
Add to this the sandy conditions on the farm that, while
perfect for growing hops, are demanding for the farmer.
“The sand conditions, they love it, but we have to feed them
continuously,” explains Laurie. “Everything filters through
the sand very very quickly. Nutrients, water, you name it. So
we’re constantly having to feed with irrigation.”
Clear Valley Hops is located in a unique microclimate along
the escarpment. “As everybody’s getting hammered with
rain, we’re usually baking with dryness here,” says Laurie.
This is usually ideal for hops, as they don’t like to be wet.
The farm currently has two separate hop fields. The fourand-a-half acre field at the front of the property is very
sandy, which has the advantage of preventing weed growth.
A bridge that spans the Pretty River leads to eight-and-ahalf acres of hops at the back of the farm, growing in a richer
soil that is a mix of sandy, gravelly loam – which weeds
love as much as the hops do. During their first growing
season, Laurie and John needed to hire 10 people to pick
weeds by hand at the height of summer. Now, they borrow
sheep to do the same job, with a herd of 50 Romanov and
Ile de France sheep roaming the back field and keeping
the weeds and the lower leaves of the hop plants under
control. “Sheep and hops are the perfect combination
in farming,” says Laurie.
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The hard work and attention to detail Laurie, John and their
staff put into the farm doesn’t just stave off problems, but also
pays dividends in producing a high quality product, largely
measured by the essential oils found in the hops. “Because
we’re a smaller farm… we have the time to keep our eyes on
the hops, to keep our noses to the hops, until we know that
they’re in absolute maturity to grab as much essential oil as we
possibly can,” says Laurie.
Despite the challenges, as they enter their third growing
season, Clear Valley Hops has already blazed a trail for a
resurgence of hop growing in Ontario. They have established
18 varieties of hops that they sell to craft brewers, including
well-known Ontario breweries such as Amsterdam, Mill
Street, and Flying Monkeys. John and Laurie employ two
full-time employees during for their growing season, along
with additional staff during the intense harvest period.
Once hops are ready to be harvested, time is of the essence,
as the quality of the hops quickly degrades. “So what we do
here is we harvest, we dry at very low temperature, pelletize,
vacuum seal, nitrogen flush, and flash freeze within 24
hours of harvest,” explains Laurie.
While their location in Clearview Township has a lot to do
with the climate and soil conditions, Laurie also feels their
highly visible location on the way to Collingwood and the
Blue Mountains is important to promoting the industry,
and making a connection to the local food movement.
“People want to feel good about what they buy. They feel
good about buying what’s grown in Ontario,” says Laurie,
who adds, “they’re going to remember seeing crops that are
22 feet high.”
This process is being facilitated by some new equipment
on the farm, including a hop harvester that they recently
had delivered from Germany, and a traditional Kent
Oast they are building in order to dry the hops. After
drying, Clear Valley Hops uses a ‘whole-leaf ’ process
in order to turn their hops into convenient pellets for
brewers. Many other hop producers grind the hops
into a powder before pelletizing, which degrades
its quality, Laurie says.
Their new equipment will allow the farm to process up to
30 acres of hops, but Laurie and John want to stay small
to ensure a high quality product, and will not expand until
they have buyers ready for new crops.
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With the craft brewing industry growing, and a current
hop shortage throughout North America, there is lots of
potential for not only Clear Valley Hops, but for more and
more hop farming operations throughout Ontario. Perhaps
soon, more of these towering plants will be sprouting
up throughout the province, and Clearview Township
and Clear Valley Hops will be a major centre of a hop
farming resurgence that transforms local craft brewing
for years to come. M
25
“IT REALLY WAS A CHALLENGING EXPERIENCE,
BUT WE HAD A LOT
OF GREAT LUCK BEING IN A COMMUNITY
THAT SUPPORTED US”
FARMING PHARMACEUTICALS
Medicinal marijuana producers are providing some strong medicine to Clearview’s economy
Two new businesses in Clearview Township are
breaking new ground in agriculture, producing a high
value product and providing substantial employment,
with rapid growth planned in the coming years. Their
crop is used as a medicine that can help manage pain
and nausea, and to treat chronic diseases, among other
health benefits. But this medicine is known more for its
recreational than its therapeutic use, and was illegal in
Canada up until recently.
Marijuana for medical purposes has been legal in Canada
since 2001, and research is piling up about its medicinal
benefits for a number of diseases and ailments. The
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recent passing of the Marijuana for Medical Purposes
Act is an attempt to improve regulation and control
quality by opening up the market to a limited number
of commercial growers. Peace Naturals, located in
northern Clearview Township, was one of the first
growers in Canada to obtain a license, and a new grower
in Clearview, Agripharm Corp, has built a new facility
and hopes to follow suit with a license later this year.
Mark Gobuty, the CEO of Peace Naturals, started out by
helping his parents grow cannabis under the previous
legislation, which allowed individuals to possess a
limited number of plants. His mother developed a rare
Owner of Agripharm; Peter Miller
blood disease after elective surgery, and his father was also
suffering a number of ailments. When Mark saw his parents
continuing to suffer, despite all the concoctions they had in
their medicine cabinet from various doctors, he suggested
they try cannabis.
Further research into the drug only strengthened Mark’s
belief that marijuana can help people who are suffering.
A trip to a nursing home in Israel that uses cannabis for
treatment showed him some of the potential for the drug to
reduce suffering and improve the quality of life for people
who are ill. “Personally, my grandfather, I wish I could go
back 25 years and change history, because if there’s anybody
who deserved to live pain-free, it was him,” says Mark.
Mark’s early efforts growing marijuana were hit and miss. “I
wasn’t able to produce properly. I tried, but I knew nothing,
and watching YouTube videos is not the way to go,” says
Mark. “Looking back, what I know now, it was silly, but I
was learning.”
Peace Naturals was quick off the mark when the federal
government announced changes to the regulatory system
for medicinal marijuana last year. But being one of the
first to apply for a growing license meant writing their
application from scratch. “The regulatory process was very
difficult because, being a new industry, there wasn’t the
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framework to show you what to do,” says Mark. “There was
only what you can’t do, and the minimum requirements.
So we literally were blazing a trail, creating a road map,
essentially.”
“It really was a challenging experience, but we had a lot
of great luck being in a community that supported us,”
adds Mark. Right from the start, Mark went to local law
enforcement and fire officials to establish a relationship and
to “get this right.” Since then, he’s amazed at the continued
support he’s received from Clearview council and staff,
as well as residents and farmers who have recognized the
benefits that Peace Naturals brings to the community as
essentially a high-value agricultural business.
As a new business that blurs the lines between agriculture
and industry, many municipalities have been struggling
with how to zone medicinal marijuana operations, often
deciding that it is an industrial use. Certainly, with the
security requirements and high-tech equipment involved,
there is an industrial component to large scale cannabis
production. But Clearview Township has allowed medicinal
marijuana operations to proceed as a permitted use under
current agricultural zoning, with no additional by-law
amendments required.
˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙
28
At the other side of Clearview Township from Peace
Naturals, Peter Miller is in the final stages of getting his
medicinal marijuana operation, Agripharm, up and running
just outside of Creemore. He certainly sees Agripharm
as an agricultural business, one that has the potential to
change the way we think about farming. This agricultural
perspective is perhaps not surprising, given that the Miller
family has been farming in Clearview since the 1850’s. In
fact, Peter leases the land for Agripharm’s operations from
his uncle John’s farm, the home of Miller’s Dairy.
“Everything about this is agricultural,” Peter says of
Agripharm. “We’re not processing anything other than the
fact that we’re drying. It’s really just a high-tech, controlled
environment agricultural set up.”
“I think that’s where more traditional food production is
going to go. Cannabis is a high margin product, so you
can really go to town on the technology,” says Peter, but he
suggests it could “make economic sense to have this high
tech a lettuce facility.”
“This is a really exciting way to prototype or R&D a lot of
technological stuff with one product that I think will have
far broader implications than just cannabis,” Peter adds.
There are a number of advantages, as well, to being located
on agricultural land. One is the local expertise found in
29
Clearview. “There’s a lot of people here that understand the
gardening side of things and the agricultural side of things,”
says Peter.
Being on agricultural land also offers additional
opportunities for making the operation more sustainable.
“We can experiment with on-farm biogass, and do some
things that might make us more efficient,” says Peter at
Agripharm, who adds, “we’re going to be installing solar
on the roof later in the year.” Peace Naturals, meanwhile,
already has solar panels installed, and is using permaculture,
including bees and wild oats, to balance the industrial
impact of their operations on their land.
Perhaps most importantly, agricultural land also offers
more potential to expand. Peter’s father Alex notes, “if you
went to an industrial area of a city, you’ve got an industrial
lot, you’re stuck with that lot. Here… you can expand. This
is on a hundred acre property.”
Mark at Peace Naturals has already calculated his potential
to grow on their 95 acres. “We have the ability on this
property… to have up to 3 million square feet, using 70%
of our land. That’s extraordinary. We’re building on 60,000
feet now, another 120,000 feet in the fall, and our plan in the
first 3 years is 1.1 million square feet.”
30
Both Mark and Peter have been mindful to remain on
the right side of the law throughout the process of getting
started. “I’d never even seen a live plant until I started going
to Colorado to research all of this, because that was the only
large scale commercial market that was legally operating,”
says Peter.
“Everything gets tagged, everything gets traced from seed
to sale,” explains Peter about the tightly controlled growing
process being put in place at Agripharm. This way, if any
patient has an adverse reaction, the company can trace the
product back to the plant it came from. This increases safety
for patients by maintaining quality control and helps avoid
contamination.
To help maintain control of the environmental conditions
for their product, Agripharm has several modular rooms,
or “pods,” stacked on top of each other and connected to
cooling, water, and electricity systems. There are separate
pods for young plants, mature plants, and for drying and
curing the harvested buds.
While in nature, a plant such as cannabis might produce
only one crop each year, but by growing it indoors using
this tightly controlled system, three or four crops can be
produced by adjusting the light cycles and nutrients the
plants receive.
31
In addition to investments in growing equipment,
security regulations mean that every medicinal
marijuana facility needs at least hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth of security features, including a razorwire fence, numerous cameras, locks on every door,
and a vault for the final product. Staff also need to go
through extensive background checks.
Agripharm, for instance, features a vault that has 8 inch
thick walls reinforced with 6 inch rebar, and sealed with
a 2700 pound door. Outside of the vault are concrete
bollards that prevent anyone from ramming the wall
near the vault with a truck.
Both Agripharm and Peace Naturals have exceeded
their security requirements. “We have a level 9, and
we’re only required for level 6,” says Mark at Peace
Naturals. “The next generation of the buildings that go
up have double fencing. So I have a moat in between.
I have the sensors there. I have at least three times the
amount of cameras that I need to.”
Mark and Peter have both worked hard to communicate
openly with community members, to address any
concerns people have.
“I just tell them what they want to know,” says Peter at
Agripharm. “We’re totally transparent, building under
the framework of Health Canada. The police have been
in and out of here. Maintaining a good relationship with
the community is as important as anything. It doesn’t
matter whether your business is medical marijuana
or furniture making, you’re not going to get very far
without community support.”
“THE WHOLE THING ABOUT GROWING
A PLANT INDOORS IS YOU’RE TRICKING
IT INTO THINKING IT’S OUTSIDE.”
32
It helps that both operations are providing substantial
employment to people in the area. To get things set
up, three people are working full-time at Agripharm,
and once they’re operational they plan to add another
dozen full-time workers.
33
Peace Naturals already employs 34 people full-time, yearround, in a variety of roles, not only for their growing
operation, but also for a customer care team to handle
their over 2,400 clients. They are quickly becoming one
of the largest employers in the area, intending to have
over 60 employees by the end of the year, once they have
expanded their production space. “We represent 45%
of the Canadian marketplace right now in medicinal
cannabis. We’re the leader by far,” says Mark. “It’s just
unbelievably rewarding to have what we said would
happen in the community happen so quickly.”
In addition to direct employment, there are also indirect
benefits. Both Peace Naturals and Agripharm use mostly
local labour and goods, and have injected millions of
dollars into Clearview’s economy.
34
Large-scale medical cannabis growing is an industry that
is quickly establishing itself throughout the country, and
Clearview Township is at the epicentre of this burgeoning
new field. Clearview has already reaped the benefits of jobs
and money coming into the community, which promises
to increase substantially in the coming years. More
impressively, perhaps, is just how seamlessly medicinal
marijuana is meshing with the local community, and
drawing strength from Clearview’s agricultural expertise
and heritage. As Mark at Peace Naturals says, “People
understand this is a medicine. The people of our
community are extraordinarily supportive.” J
35
FOUR WHEEL FARM TAKES
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Chuck Magwood’s new life as a farmer lets him experiment with a variety of agricultural practices
When Chuck Magwood first bought the property that is
now Four Wheel Farm, it had three trees on it. Today, after
twenty years of hard work, the land is teeming with diverse
vegetation, including fruit orchards and a sugar bush, along
with a market garden, and over five acres of grape vines.
Chuck had noticed the property on his trips up to
Collingwood years before, and wondered how it was
possible to get to the old barn he saw way up on a hill. He
knew he wanted to live in the area, and when he saw a real
estate listing, he sent an agent to check it out. “She drove in
and she just got to the end of the road, turned around and
phoned me and said, ‘forget it, you can’t even get in there.’
At that point the road wasn’t built like this, and you had to
drive through the river to get to it,” explains Chuck, who
thought to himself, “nobody wants to go in there? Perfect!”
The long driveway is now much improved, and brings
visitors past the woods and ponds that have all been
put in since then.
36
What is unique about Four Wheel Farm is not only their
commitment to growing organically, but the sheer variety
of different types of farming and processing happening on
the farm. Even within just the vineyards that Chuck started
planting nine years ago, there is a diverse array of grape
varieties. These include table grapes meant for eating such
as Concord, Coronation, and Niagara, to wine grapes, such
as Vidal for ice wine, Baco Noir, Maréchal Foch, and even
varieties that are pushing the limits of the climate, like Pinot
Noir, Pinot Gris, and Cabernet Franc.
“The industry has rules of thumb… and I’m proving a
bunch of them to be wrong,” says Chuck. “Part of it might be
where we are here. This is kind of a microclimate.” However,
growing these riskier grape varieties is far from an easy
task; this will be the second season that cold weather will
have killed the fruit on these vines, and when they do fruit,
they need to be protected from birds using miles of netting.
“There was never a master plan,” says Chuck of his vineyards,
who got started when he noticed that wild grapes on the
property were doing well. He then slowly grew by buying a
few plants at a time. He now has 4000 plants, “and every one
of them requires some tender care,” he says.
When the grapes are harvested, they are taken to the lovingly
restored old barn at the centre of the property which is also
home to a winery. Chuck has also begun to produce apple
cider from his orchards, including hard and sparkling cider.
The orchards, again, contain a dizzying variety of apples,
pears and cherries. Four Wheel Farm’s apple orchards
include not only a variety of common eating apples, such as
Macintosh, Ida Red, as well as Red and Golden Delicious,
but also a heritage orchard featuring one-off apple trees,
each producing a rare variety of apple with poetic names
such as Cranberry Pippen and Fallwater.
Visitors to local farmers’ markets over the years will be
familiar with the organic vegetables from Four Wheel
Owner of Four Wheel Farm; Chuck Magwood
Farm’s market garden. “We were one of the bigger sellers of
organic vegetables in the Collingwood market for the last
three years,” says Chuck. This year, however, they are scaling
back a bit, and taking a break from the market. While cover
crops are replenishing the soil in many of their gardens,
37
...THIS IS WHAT GIVES THE
TEXTURE TO YOUR LIFE.”
tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, swiss chard, and
other vegetables are still growing in the greenhouse and in
neat, meticulously arranged garden plots nearby.
In addition to everything else going on at Four Wheel Farm,
they also have a sugar bush – although you won’t find their
maple syrup available for sale. Chuck goes into the bush
and uses hardwood cut from off the property to light a
fire too cook the sap. Anyone who wants to buy his maple
syrup “couldn’t pay me enough,” says Chuck. The process of
making maple syrup, for him, is a fun, social process, where
all his family and friends come out to watch and participate.
Chuck has already had a successful career in business,
including a stint with Stadium Corporation, the crown
corporation originally in charge of the SkyDome, now
known as the Rogers Centre. Since he is already financially
secure, Chuck has the luxury to experiment and try different
things.
“The commercial side is one of the pieces, it makes it fun, it
gives me a reason to do it, but it’s not really the driver,” says
Chuck. “I do it because I want to do it… this is what gives
the texture to your life.”
Chuck sees opening up the farm to more visitors as one
way that could make his farm or a similar operation more
viable. “I could have a lunch in the barn, I could have some
entertainment, I could do it on a regular basis. I could make
money that way. That way I could show off the variety of
what I’m doing,” says Chuck. “I’m not going to do that, but
that would be the way to monetize it.”
“I’ve decided to not have an ambition with it,” he says.
“What it is now was kind of my ambition.”
No matter what the future may bring for Four Wheel
Farm, the vineyards and orchards will always be there for
any future generations who want to tend to them. Part
of Chuck’s legacy may also be showing the potential and
variety available to farmers who want to try new things.
For now, Chuck is happy with the way the farm is, and is
content to enjoy the beauty that surrounds Four Wheel
Farm with its stunning vistas of the nearby escarpment and
surround hillsides. “I want to smell stuff and see it and enjoy
it,” says Chuck. “People from the old county they probably
came here and they felt they were home… that’s why they
came here.”
“This is a pretty small, special few square miles.” M
38
39
A MATCH MADE
IN CLEARVIEW
For local shops and restaurants, offering food from
nearby farms is a recipe for success
With increasing interest in where our food comes from and
how it is grown, there is more demand than ever from people
who want to eat local food. While it’s great to frequent local
farmers’ markets, or even visit farms individually, consumers
are demanding more frequent and convenient access to
food that is produced locally. A number of restaurants and
other commercial food businesses in Clearview are making
it easier than ever to eat locally and support farmers
in the community.
The 100 Mile Store in Creemore, as its name suggests, is
devoted to selling a variety of produce and other food
products from the surrounding region. Meanwhile, local
restaurants are increasingly using produce from local
farmers in their dishes. Creemore Kitchen and Chez Michel
are two such restaurants making a special effort to work
with nearby farmers and prioritize local and seasonal foods.
˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙
Jackie Durnford and Sandra Lackie started the 100 Mile
Store six years ago, and ever since, they’ve been attracting
local residents in Creemore, along with visitors from miles
around, who are looking for a wide variety of local, organic
and health foods for their kitchen at home.
Co-owners of the 100 Mile Store; Jackie Durnford and Sandra Lackie
40
41
For Sandra, who helped start the farmers’ market in
Creemore, the store is a logical extension of local,
seasonal farmers’ markets. “A lot of people who
are vendors at the market can have a year-round
presence at something like a local food store.”
Jackie explains that their mission at the 100 Mile
Store is to give farmers wider market access, while
making it easier for consumers to purchase local
food from and local farmers. “Instead of running
farm gate to farm gate, which most people don’t
have the time to do,” says Jackie, consumers get the
convenience of a grocery store at their shop.
The 100 Mile Store emphasizes local food, but
also stocks a wide variety of products to serve
the demands of different customers, including
gluten-free products, organics and various health
food items.
Keeping their food as local as possible also means
focusing on what’s seasonal. This means that not
everything is available all the time. “When it’s
gone it’s gone, and then the next thing comes in,”
explains Jackie, who says this approach helps to
educate their customers about eating locally.
Ensuring they provide a wide range of foods
year-round can be a challenge. With a decreasing
number of processors in Ontario, some kinds of
processed foods are difficult to find locally, such
as frozen organic vegetables. With many abattoirs
closing, it can also be difficult to source local meat.
“We’re finding with farmers that want to get that
added value, they either have to do it
themselves, or they’re really stuck trying
to find somebody who can do
that for them,” says Jackie.
Recently, the 100 Mile
Store has gotten involved
in adding value to local
produce by producing
their own juices and
smoothies under the name
The Creemore Power Co.
42
43
A
lso in Creemore, Michel and Elinor
Masselin both live and work in the
building that has been the home of their
restaurant Chez Michel for the past decade. For
15 years before that, the restaurant was located in
Craigleith, where they built up a loyal customer
base in the region.
Michel, who came to Canada from France, is hardly a
newcomer to local food. “To me [local food is] nothing
new…. In France, I go to the market every Wednesday
and Saturday,” explains Michel, who now often buys
produce or discovers new suppliers at the Creemore
farmers’ market. Michel has noticed happily that it’s
gotten easier over the past couple of decades to get food
from local farmers.
Serving local food also exposes people to new foods,
and allows them to rediscover foods they may have
dismissed in the past, says Michel. “Baby bok choy ten
years ago, fifteen years ago, people didn’t know what it
was,” he says. While many people say they hate brussels
sprouts, Michel says this is because this is because they’re
often prepared by only boiling them. After you boil them,
he says one should “sautee [them] in a bit of olive oil and
butter, salt and pepper… [until they’re] nicely browned.
You can’t beat it.”
A few years ago Chez Michel expanded. But instead of
adding more dining room space, or opening a new location,
Michel and Elinor bought new land behind their restaurant
that connects to a side street and turned most of the space
into a vegetable garden. They now use the space to grow
produce that is used in the restaurant, taking Michel’s
commitment to fresh, local food to the next step. Not only
that, Michel derives a lot of pleasure from the garden, and
wants to share that with visitors.
“It’s a pleasure for the people to come in, and get the
experience and giving an incentive to people, ‘oh, gosh, he
can do it, I can do it.’ That’s the idea,” says Michel. “That’s
the best promotion you can get.”
44
45
M
eanwhile, down the street, the Creemore
Kitchen is a new restaurant that is working
hard to ensure that their food comes
from local farmers and features the best flavours
of each season.
Sam Holwell and chef Caesar Guinto, the owners of
Creemore Kitchen, previously worked in restaurants
and the food business in Toronto and Barrie. They
chose their location in Clearview because it is right
in the centre of so many farms in Simcoe County, and
in their travels throughout the region, quickly fell in
love with Creemore.
Early in his career as a chef, Caesar admits he didn’t
pay as much attention to where the food he prepared
came from. Like Michel Masselin at Chez Michel,
Caesar learned much about the importance of local
food and farming in Europe, in his case while staying
in Ireland. “When I was there,” Caesar recounts, “I used
a lot of the vegetables that were grown in the garden
that was behind the restaurant, because I was working
in a country house. That was when I was introduced to,
basically, farm to table. I was meeting the egg farmer
that came into the back and brought me the eggs that
literally just came out of the chicken, because they
were still warm.”
When Sam and Caesar decided to open a restaurant,
they knew from the start that they were going to use
produce from neighbouring farms. “That’s when I
started to build the relationships with the farmers,”
says Caesar. This close relationship between Creemore
Kitchen and its farmers is often very apparent to their
customers. “A customer will say, ‘oh, where do you get
your greens from?’ And many nights we’re able to say,
‘See that table over there? They picked them for you this
morning,” says Sam.
“We’ve made some really great friendships that started
out as a business transaction. It’s marvellous,” Sam
adds. “That’s something you probably can’t get in the
city, because they’re not on your doorstep.”
Creemore Kitchen part co-owner/chef; Caesar Guinto
46
47
There are a number of similarities between these food
focused businesses. The owners of the 100 Mile Store,
Creemore Kitchen and Chez Michel often spend their “days
off ” picking up produce from local farmers. Each of them,
inevitably, use food from many of the same local farmers
in Clearview Township and beyond. They also share a
similar philosophy of putting local first, often while offering
organic options as well.
48
“Local is the first choice, and local organic that we really
focus on,” says Sandra about the priorities of the 100 Mile
Store. “Not everything is organic, not everything is certified
organic. In most cases we know how the animal is raised…
so we’ll know the farmer, and be able to answer questions.”
Sam at Creemore Kitchen echoes the importance of
knowing where their food comes from. “With local food,
you know where it’s been grown, you know how it’s been
grown… It’s something we’re pretty passionate about,” says
Sam, who adds, “we just really believe that the more fresh
the food is, the better it is.”
For Michel Masselin, the importance of local food is even
simpler. “For me it [is] a natural thing. It makes sense. The
fresher the better.”
people’s connection to local food is especially strong. But
farmers cannot succeed without help, and it’s good to know
that not only are consumers waking up to the benefits of
eating locally, but local commercial enterprises of all stripes
are working hard to build up the network that supports
local food in meaningful and lasting ways. M
While the local food movement is spreading throughout
North America, in a rural municipality like Clearview,
49
Owner of Haisai Restaurant; Michael Stadtlander
WHERE FARM
MEETS FORK
At the Stadtlanders’ Haisai restaurant and Eigensinn
farm, growing, preparing and eating food is all part
of one seamless and creative process.
Haisai restaurant and Eigensinn farm are unlike any other
restaurant or farm for miles around, and possibly like
no other places on earth. This is in part because the two
properties, owned by renowned chef Michael Stadtlander
and his wife Nobuyo, are places where food is grown,
cooked, and served with minimal separation between
each step in the process. But what really makes Haisai
and Eigensinn stand out is how the creativity found in
the kitchen bursts out into the fields of the farm and the
design of the restaurant in a multitude of different ways.
When Michael Stadtlander came to Canada in 1980, he
soon made a name for himself as a chef in the Toronto
restaurant scene. But that was not where he wanted to
stay. “I always came to Canada with the idea of being
50
51
somewhere up north. Not in the city,” he says. “I
wanted to go back and farm and cook. That’s it.
I like the idea of not just cooking, like, standing
behind a stove 7 days a week in the big city.”
Michael grew up on a farm in Germany, and while
working as a chef, rarely found that vegetables
tasted as good as they did when he grew up. Now,
he focuses on quality and tastvve on his farm, as
well as his cooking. “I see things from the point of
a chef. I like the best quality meat and product in
general,” he says.
52
For the past two decades, Michael has been
able to bring his vision of farming and cooking
to life, preparing meals using food produced
nearly entirely at his farm. Up until recently,
hungry visitors were limited to reserving well in
advance to join small groups of about a dozen
people for dinner in the Stadtlanders’ farmhouse,
or attending one of a limited number of special
events on the farm. But a few years ago, the
Stadtlanders openened Haisai, a restaurant in the
village of Singhampton in Clearview Township
that allows more people to taste their unique
culinary creations.
53
At Haisai, Michael and Nobuyo’s son Hermann oversees the team of apprentices that travel back and forth between working
in the kitchens at Haisai and the fields of the Stadtlanders’ farm Eigensinn, getting a thorough education in all aspects of
food. All the apprentices do everything, “from bottom to top,” says Hermann, who also explains that each of the apprentices
receive nicknames. On cue, an apprentice named Rumplestiltskin appears.
Although in the past, Haisai has had one head chef, currently the staff work collaboratively to create the menu and do the
cooking. “It all depends on what’s available,” explains Hermann of Haisai’s food first philosophy.
The creativity in the kitchen, and its connection with where the food comes from, is apparent throughout Haisai. The dining
room walls are decorated with rocks and clay, and the furniture is made from scavenged wood, all from the Stadtlanders’
farm. Outside, a custom made wood-fired bake oven cooks pizzas during the day, and slow roasts meat overnight. Herbs
and vegetables are also grown right on the premises.
A visit to Eigensinn, the Stadtlanders’ farm, just outside of Clearview Township in Grey Highlands, and a short 10 minute
drive away from Haisai, further demonstrates both the connection the Stadtlanders have fostered between cooking
and farming, as well as the creativity that they bring to everything they do.
Chickens roam freely throughout the property, greeting visitors upon their arrival. These
birds are emblematic of Michael’s farming philosophy. “It becomes like a totally different
product,” Michael says of his chickens. “They’re hunting insects right now, and eating
grasses… It’s almost getting to a wild chicken.” Elsewhere on the farm roam different
varieties of ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs, and sheep. “I like to give the animals as much
room as possible,” explains Michael. “They forage and root, stuff like that. It becomes
a totally different thing than anything conventional.”
54
55
Michael grows his vegetables organically, without
GMOs, and has been involved in various environmental
and farming movements. “Putting chemicals on my
farm would be the last thing I’d do,” he says.
Like Haisai, Eigensinn Farm is also filled with creative,
decorative structures. Most of these creations are
functional as well as fanciful, such as a barbecue
shaped like a pig, or a bake oven shaped like a woman
giving birth. Many were created for particular events,
in which meals are served among the fields where the
food was grown.
“From a tourism point of view, this is what people
want,” says Michael of these unique dinners. “The
56
experience with nature and dining, and… the food
that’s been grown right on the farm. It’s the ultimate.”
While the combination of farming, cooking, and art
may seem experimental, after over two decades at
Eigensinn, and the emergence of Haisai, clearly the food
alchemy created by the Stadtlanders is working, and
they are here to stay. They are also providing a model for
a new type of business that blurs the lines between farm
and restaurant, and fosters new connections between
people and the land.
Clearly, Michael is strongly connected to his farming,
cooking, and the land he now calls home. “I love it. For
me it’s the best place on earth, really… it’s like your own
kingdom.” M
57
HAPPY HARVEST
GETTING GOING WITH GARLIC
ter, and is easy to cook. We only have to plant one time, and
then we can harvest five, six times.”
While many farmers struggle to find a market for their
produce, Kevin’s problem is the opposite – he can’t grow
enough to fill the demand. He sends a truck with over two
thousand pounds of vegetables each day, mostly water spinach, to stores in Toronto. “It’s easy to sell. [I] never worry
about selling,” says Kevin, who says if he had more than the
six seasonal workers he currently has on staff, he could easily sell another thousand pounds a day.
Kevin Lim is a new farmer, but he knows a good business
opportunity when he finds one. Born in China, Kevin previously had a career in Real Estate and Finance, moving to
Toronto in 2008. Despite not having a history of farming, he
knew there was a market for certain varieties of vegetables
at Asian grocery stores in the Toronto area. “Everybody has
to try something new,” says Kevin, and with this in mind
this past year he started The Happy Farm on a
100 acre plot of land with a view of the Niagara
Escarpment, including over 40 greenhouses.
You won’t find the tomatoes and peppers
that you might expect in Kevin’s greenhouses. Instead, there are two greenhouses for
seeding, and three for sweet potato plants,
grown only for their leaves, which are edible and used in different types of Asian
cooking. All the rest of the Happy Farm’s
greenhouses are devoted to growing one
crop, water spinach.
Water spinach has a number of advantages
over regular spinach, says Kevin. “It tastes bet-
58
While Kevin has had trouble with farming other vegetables
on the soil outside of the greenhouses, and says he has a
lot to learn in order to farm more effectively, he has clearly
uncovered an untapped market with his water spinach and
assortment of other Asian greens. In future years, he hopes
to enrich his soil, build more greenhouses, and employ
more people in order to meet the demand that he’s only just
started to explore. M
Born and raised in Wasaga Beach,
Tim Schneider has come back to his
roots. Tim purchased a property last
fall in Duntroon that provides a stunning view of his childhood hometown and the surrounding Georgian
Bay coast. After living in England for
the past seven years, running a firm
that specialized in energy efficiency,
he is now using his skills in business
and efficiency to work by starting
an organic farm.
The primary focus at Tim’s farm,
Dunridge Farms, is garlic. He started out this year with 58,000 bulbs
planted on three acres of land. The
‘Music’ garlic variety he’s planted is
hardy and “it loves this soil, the combination of heavy clay and loam,”
says Tim.
fied an old cast iron potato digger
for the job. “We’ll see what happens,” says Tim of this year’s harvest,
“and if the sense is that there’s pretty
good demand, we’ll go up to 5 acres
[next year].”
In addition to garlic, there are also
apple trees on the property, and Tim
has planted a number of varieties of
tomatoes and pepper plants. To help
his garden of tomatoes and peppers,
Tim has laid down a new variety of
bioplastic made from cornstarch that
helps reduce weeds and pests, keeps
in moisture and heat, and unlike other material such as landscaping fabric,
completely degrades at the end of the
season so it can be tilled right into the
ground. Tim invested in a tractor at-
tachment that prepares the beds and
installs rows of the bioplastic along
with drip lines. “You can lay thousands and thousands of feet in a day”
with the tool, says Tim, who notes that
he hasn’t weeded this garden once this
year, which saves substantially on labour costs. “It’s scaleable, it’s manageable, and it removes risks from the crop.
I’m a fan,” says Tim of this system of
bioplastic covering.
Tim is now in the process of building
a house for his wife and three daughters, and is confident that his investments in the future for his farm and
for his family will pay off. Lots of garlic, combined with some tomatoes
and peppers, certainly sounds like it
will be a successful recipe. M
It is not only the bulbs that can be
harvested on the garlic plants, but also
their tender stalks, known as garlic
scapes. In addition to farm gate sales,
Tim has sold his garlic scapes to the
Huron Club restaurant in Collingwood, who uses them in a number
of their dishes. Tim recommends his
wife’s approach of sautéing the scapes
and adding them to lamb burgers with
some tzaziki.
In mid-July, the garlic bulbs are almost ready to be harvested, and
Tim has just purchased and modi-
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One such business is The Farm Project, a newcomer this
year at the Creemore market. Lara Kelly and Jamie Kingston took their first steps towards farming by swapping their
house in Toronto with a property just south of Creemore
for the summer, where they are growing vegetables and
producing a variety of prepared raw vegan snacks such as
kale and sweet potato chips.
“The market’s been the most important thing for getting
our business going… for the first year, testing out what
works, what doesn’t work, in a pretty supportive environment, too,” says Lara. “Everybody’s pretty open to new
ideas in this area.”
MEET ME AT THE MARKET
The established Saturday farmers’ market in Creemore has now been
joined by new thriving midweek markets in Stayner and New Lowell
Farmers’ markets offer one-stop shopping for a variety
of locally-produced fresh and prepared foods, as well
as crafts and other products made by people who live
nearby. But farmers’ markets also offer so much more:
they attract visitors and build economic activity, they
build community by giving people a place to meet
their neighbours, and they help people eat healthy and
learn more about where their food comes from. There
are few places where the benefits of farmers’ markets
are more apparent than a rural area such as Clearview
Township, where agriculture is a key part of our culture
and way of life.
The Creemore Farmers’ Market has been a model market for many years, drawing on the rich agricultural
lands of the surrounding area. New farmers’ markets
in New Lowell and, most recently, Stayner, have now
joined Creemore, providing even more opportunities
for people to meet up with neighbours and discover local farmers, artisans, and other vendors.
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Sandra Lackie, who helped start the Creemore market
and now runs the 100 Mile Store on Mill Street, points
out that many farmers and food producers start off being a vendor at a farmers’ market, and that “markets are
often small-business incubators.”
The New Farm is one such business that got its start at
a market. “The Creemore Farmers’ Market was the only
place we sold vegetables when we first established our
farm, and it was a very important part of our business
for the five years we sold there,” says Brent Preson of the
New Farm. “I don’t think we would have a farm today if
it wasn’t for the sales and marketing opportunities the
market provided us.” The New Farm has now expanded
to the point where it mostly sells its produce to highend restaurants across southern Ontario.
Although the New Farm has moved on to greener pastures, local markets continue to serve as a starting point
and lifeline for many farms and other businesses.
Farmers’ markets also offer an opportunity for local restaurants to
connect with, buy from, and learn
about what local farmers have to
offer. The owners of Chez Michel
and Creemore Kitchen both say
that they regularly visit their local
markets, and that’s where they first
discovered many of the farms that
have gone on to become regular
suppliers for their restaurants.
Not only are farmers’ markets good
for business, but they’re an important place for social interaction, for
farmers as well as the general public. When Lara and Jamie at the
Farm Project moved to Creemore
in the spring, “we didn’t know anyone at all,” says Lara. “Just meeting
people at the market has been nice socially for us, because
we see the same people every week, and we feel part of the
community now, even though we’ve been here for such a
short period of time.”
Heidi Sterrenberg of Rural Roots Nursery and Market Garden helped start the Wednesday night market in New Lowell a few years ago, and now also sells her produce at the
new Stayner market. She also appreciates the social atmosphere her local markets provide. “My favourite thing about
the market is the social aspect,” she says. “I say I go to the
New Lowell one because it’s my night out, especially during
greenhouse season and farming season… I love to just go
out and say hi to my neighbours.”
One of the reasons the New Lowell market started was that
“we wanted a gathering place,” says Heidi. It can be a challenge getting the word out about the market, especially in a
bedroom community such as New Lowell, says Heidi, but
the market has persevered thanks in large part from support from local councillor Deb Bronée, as well as the New
Lowell Parks and Recreation Service Board. Now, the New
Lowell market is looking for some more vendors to add to
the variety of the market. “For various reasons we lost three
last year who were awesome,” says Heidi.
Both the New Lowell and Stayner
markets serve an important niche
in the area as midweek markets, allowing people to fill their kitchens
at home on a more regular basis.
“I love the mid-week market,” says
Heidi. “I know there are actually
some people from Creemore who
come to New Lowell, because it is
a midweek market, and they have
businesses that are open on Saturdays.”
Ian Payne and Viki Reynolds run
Not So Hollow Farm, where they
grow and sell native plants, and
also sell a range of local and sustainable products. “Saturday is just
no good for us, because we’re open
at the farm,” explains Ian, so that’s
part of why they chose to attend
the Thursday market in Stayner.
Heidi at Rural Roots is impressed
by how the Stayner market has burst onto the scene, building on the crowd that was already coming to the well-established Music in the Park. “The Stayner market is wonderful, because it had that built in crowd already… That’s a
farmers’ market crowd,” says Heidi. “I’m impressed because
already we have regulars,” she adds.
The Stayner Farmers’ Market was just launched in June of
this year with an impressive 40 vendors. Each of them pay
a $140 deposit for the season, and they only pay for any day
they miss, which keeps the market affordable for vendors,
and gives them an extra incentive to come every week.
Clearview Township was involved in setting up the Stayner
market as part of the PARC Project, a partnership between
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dors… so we’ve got everything from produce, to people
who knit, to our local restaurants who are giving us a little bit of everything,” explains Katie Deslippe, a summer
employee with the PARC program who coordinates the
Stayner market.
For Rose Price and her daughter Tracy, the Stayner market
is their first time at a farmers’ market, and they exemplify
the diversity and creativity available at Clearview’s local
markets with the variety of products available in their stall,
including homemade jams and strawberry pizza. “We make
everything. My daughter does all the knitting… I make the
pizza. We do the dog cookies,” explains Rose
the township and the Stayner Horticultural Society, the
Stayner Chamber of Commerce, The Door Youth Centre,
and the Clearview Community Garden. Shane Sargant of
the Township’s Recreation department lists the many reasons starting a market made sense for the township and
each of these organizations: “It brings people downtown.
Also it promotes our agriculture, our farmers, our produce,
what we grow in Clearview, and healthy eating, healthy
lifestyle. And… it’s a social thing. It’s become the Thursday
night where you meet and see people.”
It’s also more than just farmers who come to Clearview’s
local farmers’ markets. “It’s a unique collection of ven-
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Jennifer Eccles lives in Dunedin and sells her photographs
alongside refinished furniture and collectibles under the
name Treasures of a Gypsy. She is another first-time vendor
at the Stayner market. “This is the first time I’ve shown any
of my stuff,” says Jennifer, who works out of her home and
hopes to use the market as a stepping stone to eventually
open a storefront location.
Paula’s Pantry and Gifts already has a physical location in
Collingwood, but also sells their baked goods at the Stayner
Market. Rhonda Morby runs the shop with her sisters, and
lives in Stayner, so coming to the new market was a natural
fit. “I always came down for Music in the Park, so I thought
I might as well come and sell our stuff too,” says Rhonda.
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CREEMORE FARMERS’ MARKET
Sadath Ali of Ali’s Kitchen comes to both the Stayner and
Creemore markets, and people have been lining up for a
taste of their curries, samosas, and butter chicken pot pie.
Their business started out by accident when the Ali family
was living in Barrie and renting out their basement to students at Georgian College. “[They] spread out the word that
we made good food,” says Sadath. “Word got out, and next
thing you know there’s a lineup in front of the house.” Now,
Sadath and his family have moved to a 70 acre property
near Stayner, and are growing some of the vegetables they
include in their dishes. They are also looking for a place to
open a permanent restaurant in the area.
While the social and economic benefits of farmers’ markets
are far reaching, markets rely on the people who attend
and do their shopping at them to remain successful. So be
sure to visit all of the markets in Clearview Township to fill
your kitchen with delicious, healthy foods, your house with
beautiful crafts and creations, meet some new people, and
help build a stronger community. M
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Saturdays 8:30 am – 12:30 pm
Until Thanksgiving
Station on the Green, Creemore
NEW LOWELL
FARMERS’ MARKET
Wednesdays, 6:00 pm until dusk
Until September 10
New Lowell Recreation
Park Pavilion
STAYNER MUSIC AND
MARKET IN THE PARK
Thursdays, 5:00 – 8:30 pm
Until September 25
Station Park, Stayner
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Grown in Clearview.
© 2014 Township of Clearview
217 Gideon St.
Stayner, Ontario L0M 1S0
T: 705.428.6230 F: 705.428.0288
www.clearview.ca