At the Gates of the City
There’s a farm so close to the edges of Ottawa, that even before you’ve had a chance to let out a deep exhale at having escaped the city, even before the last of the highway overhead signs is in your rearview mirror, you’ll be at the gates of Ottawa Farm Fresh.
Nestled in the greenbelt, only a stone’s throw from Gloucester and close to Mer Bleue, Ottawa Farm Fresh is the endeavour of Jonathan Bruderlein and Jolianne Demers, their son Milo and a team of supporters and employees. The red brick farmhouse and massive restored century-old barn sit on 100 acres of cleared land and woodland. The team farms three acres as an organic market garden and keeps a further six acres under regenerative cover crops.
The farmers’ journey to the periphery of the nation’s capital started with an undergraduate degree in agronomy at McGill. After a few years gaining experience on established farms, they took on a farm lease in the Eastern Township's Dunham, Que. in 2012, where they farmed for five years. Predominantly using horsepower, with the occasional help of a tractor, they built a huge clientele, feeding 600-plus families weekly in Montreal. But they were unsettled, and the huge amount of time spent driving into the city weighed on them.
“We were financially successful,” Bruderlein says. “We had it all. We followed this linear journey of growth — from renting a small farm to building up this big business, to putting ourselves in line to buy a huge million-dollar farm.”
But something was missing, so they decided to go on an adventure.
The family, with three-year-old Milo in tow, set off in their white delivery van, converted to a camper, to travel around North America for three years. They criss-crossed the continent twice, stopping with other organic farmers on route. They went farm-to-farm.
“We learned such a lot,” Bruderlein recalls. To put that knowledge to good use, he started a consulting and coaching business out of the van.
However, the two realized they missed farming. So, they returned to Canada. A friend at Roots and Shoots Farm near Wakefield told them about rental opportunities on National Capital Commission (NCC) land. And this is how Farm Fresh came to grow just 10 minutes from the city centre.
“It’s perfect,” Bruderlein says, “because we no longer drive 16 hours weekly to deliver CSA baskets and we are close to the city for our customers and for cultural opportunities. It’s a privilege to be able to start our second farm, now with 10 years of experience to bring to it.”
Lucky land
The land at Ottawa Farm Fresh is unbelievably productive, tidy and weed-free. Formerly a chicken and rabbit farm, it now grows row upon row of salad leaves, kale, radicchio, beets, cabbages, pumpkins, squash, carrots, peppers, eggplants and many other vegetables. The team members grow 35 crops and more than 150 different varieties in the fields surrounding the red brick farmhouse. Poly-tunnel caterpillar shelters and a greenhouse protect succulent tomatoes, cucumbers, ginger and late season spinach and arugula. Fallow ground is planted with abundantly beautiful flowering cover crops. It’s a Garden of Eden.
“Jolianne’s standard is very high,” jokes Bruderlein, “and so we all rise up to it.”
Bruderlein works with a team, which includes two to five people in the fields during the season, a summer student position, an accountant and a marketing wizard. For the last couple of years, through the Canada-United States-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, Farm Fresh was able to welcome two agronomists from Mexico, here in Canada to grow their knowledge of sustainable farming practices. There is also a cast of farm faces, introduced to customers through the farm’s very active Instagram account.
The 2023 growing season saw the thriving farm store move into an open and airy restored century-old barn. In June, after three years of work in partnership with the NCC to rehabilitate what had been a wreck, the Farm Fresh team threw a barn-warming party, complete with line dancing, farm tours, a barbecue and a little bit of history from Ed Ramsay who was born and grew up on the farm and whose grandfather built the barn.
“It’s another step towards creating the vibrant community space we want to build here,” Bruderlein says.
“The NCC is the new feudalism in the greenbelt,” he says re- ferring to the idea that there’s big landowner and farmers who rent from that person, “and it’s a collective asset. It’s federally owned land and the NCC is doing amazing work. It’s a mir- acle that we have this greenbelt. Every city should have one.
As prime agricultural land gets eaten up by development, the NCC’s custodianship ensures that city residents have access to high-quality nutritious fresh food through year-round CSA subscriptions. And while this food is beyond the financial reach of many, Farm Fresh launched an accessibility fund in 2022, supporting 10 families to access subsidized basket of healthy organic vegetables. The farm matches donations to the fund, last year subsidizing to the tune of approximately $10,000.
Offering others’ goods
There are some things that Farm Fresh does not grow, however, but there are talented farmers nearby who do. Apples come from Verger Croque Pomme in Thurso, Que., while ginger, watermelons, cantalopes and sweet potatoes come from Chapeau Melon outside Buckingham, Que. Freezers offer locally raised meat from Grazing Days in Saint-André-Avellin, Que., and Arc Acres in Greely, Ont., and the barn store stocks a whole host of other locally made goods, including soap and bath treats, as well as milk, cheese, eggs and other dairy products, bulk grains and legumes, and honey from the farm. Everything Farm Fresh sells is a piece in the puzzle of a holistic health strategy, which includes eating the best quality, locally produced food money can buy.
Ottawa Farm Fresh
2811 Ramsayville Rd., Gloucester, Ont.
ottawafarmfresh.com | @ottawafarmfresh
