The Journey of 100-Miles Starts Here

Welcome to the farm!

We’re so glad you stopped by. We’re very excited to share our journey with you as we navigate our way through the highs and lows of running a local organic farm. Here’s a little bit about us and how we got our start…

We are Debbie and Jim Kinsella, organic farmers in Niagara. We’re also parents and grandparents – to 7, all told. Lucky us! We live on a 29-acre property in rural Welland, Ontario that’s in part managed wetlands – home to deer, wild turkey and a range of other fauna and flora.

Inspired by our grandchildren to lead a healthier lifestyle, we started growing our own vegetables and some fruit – mostly as a hobby – 4 years ago. Then quickly realized this is how we wanted to spend our retirement. While a second career may not be the typical picture of retirement, when passion takes over the rest becomes history.

Since then, we have learned a TON. And we continue to learn and try something new every season. This year, it’s a CSA program – along with plenty of new organic vegetable varieties and edible flowers.

After a big learning curve and much hard work, we were granted our first certified organic designation from EcoCert Canada in 2012. And we have been certified every year since.

We believe it’s important to be recognized as certified organic growers, because it shows our commitment to growing sustainable, healthy food, and provides you with a reassurance of quality that many unregulated organic growers do not.

With so many so-called ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ products on the market, it can be hard to know for sure what you are really buying.

With certified organic produce you are guaranteed:

• the farmland used to grow your produce has been free of chemical pesticides for a minimum of 3 years
• no chemical pesticides or fertilizers have been used in growing your produce
• prohibited use of GMO (genetically modified organisms)

If you ever have any questions about our produce or practices, all you have to do is ask. Contact us or drop by the farm. Our farm stand hours are still a bit haphazard, so it’s probably best to call first, to be sure someone is here to greet you.

You can also reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter. We plan to post and tweet about what’s available and share pictures of our farm friends (like this guy).

We’re looking forward to building a fun community, and we’d love for you to join us.

On this blog we’ll share what we know and what we learn of growing organic produce, as well as general goings-on at the farm. So check back often, or sign up to have each new post delivered straight to your inbox.

Until next time…

Debbie & Jim