I find it hard to believe it is week 18 already, and our last week of "summer" veggies. My how the season flies by! You'll notice lots of extra veggies this week - I've tried to include the full sampling from our fields to choose from with some teaser crops coming up for winter. Thank you all so very much for joining us along the journey, it has been a great year. I thought I'd share some fun facts with you this week about farming, thanks to Statistics Canada.
You can all consider yourselves proud supporters of one of around 50 thousand Ontario Farms that feed around 13 million people, or at least that could - many farms produce exports or non-food products. By my math, that's about 260 people to feed per farm. Our veggie boxes were going to 118 families, which if all were at least 2.2 people means we're feeding our share of the province! If you also consider that our summer veggie boxes are just under half our sales, with close to half our sales at the farmers markets and a little wholesale... I think we're definitely pulling our weight even when you consider farms also need to produce your meat, dairy, grains etc.
Not only that, but we're happily pushing up against some surprising numbers. Our farm is producing on 10 acres, despite the average Ontario farm being 249 acres. While we do have 60 acres, the rest is in hayfields which don't go very far towards feeding people (typically via cows).
We're young for farmers, the average age of farmers in Canada is 55 - we're in our 30s and proud to see a next generation of farmers swelling up around us. Are you surprised to hear that the average age of organic farmers is far younger? We know where the future lies for food and how to produce it!
Our farm happens to be all female this year, despite females representing only two fifths of the average Canadian farming population. I always wanted to shatter the glass ceiling as kid... I just never imagined it would be as a farmer.
We don't rely on any off farm revenue, despite 44% of farmers doing so. Closely related to that, only about half of farmers worked full time on the farm. We're full time on farm, and I'm proud to say it pays our bills. This lets us focus on what we do best - feeding you and taking care of the land to be able to continue doing so into the future.
When I peek at the census data the average Canadian work week is only 40h. Agriculture is 43h. That's something we can work on, but I know we're not alone - many of our small business friends work similar hours to us. However, we're happy to be shifting into the winter season where the work is a little more predictable, less stressful, and closer to that 40h per week average. Winter veggie boxes run monthly, and the veggies are all going into storage over the next week or two. I'll be sending out a general newsletter all about it soon, but check out our registration page for the full details. We're continuing with Harvie so you know that there will be the awesome personalization and swapping features you've seen over the summer. They've even added a few new features for box filling, ensuring you get more items you like more often.
Thank you for eating local, ecologically grown food purchased straight from us, your farmers. In doing so, you're supporting our little farm in bucking the trends, and proving that good food can grow close to home. We couldn't do it without you.
We look forward continuing to feed you over the winter, or if not next summer season!
Heather, Steph and the Fiddleheads
