The Steward of the Land
Brenna Jansen is a third generation farmer. She didn’t set out to make a career in agriculture. Instead, she decided to study commerce after high school, attending the University of Ottawa, where she did a semester each in Germany and Sweden. “Following my degree, I moved to Copenhagen to work for a niche Petroleum Engineering company where I managed consultants and worked as a headhunter,” explains Jansen. “But, I realized that desk work wasn’t for me.”
In 2010, at just 25 years old, Jansen and her husband Mathias Marigaard returned to her family’s Pembroke farm to embark on her farming journey as the owner and operator of Hedgeview Farm Organics.
Like many small businesses, Jansen and Marigaard’s first year was full of big highs and big lows and a steep learning curve. While Jansen grew up on the farm, her parents and grandparents were dairy farmers and had sold the cows and quota, leaving her to decide to pursue something new — vegetable production.
“I had never gardened before,” Jansen says. “Aside from helping my mom pick beans as a kid.”
She relied on Google to help her learn more about the business of market gardening, something she felt had a lower barrier to entry than other agricultural businesses. “You can imagine how ridiculous it was — everything had to be researched and the entire business was trial and error,” Jansen says with affection as she flips through a pile of old photographs from those early days. “But, I’m quite sure my smile has never been as big and proud as it was in that first year, oblivious to how little I knew at the time.”
Farming is not a job; it’s a lifestyle.
The original 100-acre dairy farm was owned by Jansen’s grandparents, Albert and Ruth, who immigrated to Canada during the Second World War. Her opa, Albert, is originally from Bremen, Germany. He had been held captive as a POW in a Russian labour camp before meeting Ruth, who, at the tender age of 16, had been separated from her own family in Latvia. When Albert and Ruth eventually married, they and their first-born son were sponsored by Canadians George and Hazel Matheson to come to Ontario as farm labourers.
For Jansen, the significance of the land she grew up on and now cultivates is not lost on her — it’s so much more than just a business. It’s tied to the very essence of who she is, as the place that gave a safe haven to her family.
“My omi (Ruth) has a famous saying — farming is not a job, it’s a lifestyle,” Jansen says. Today, Jansen and Marigaard are raising their children, Svea, seven, and Peter, five, in the family legacy on the farm, visiting with their great-grandparents (both now 94 years old) who still live there. “I love that my kids and their friends can visit with them, just as I did with my own friends so many years ago, getting treats of ginger ale and KitKat bars.”
Putting the piece of the puzzle together
“As a farmer, I recognize that I am a land steward,” says Jansen, who invests heavily each year in environmental projects aimed at enhancing the natural features of her farm to improve habitats for species at risk, protecting the soil and supporting biodiversity. “It’s my small way I can take action on climate change — I want the farm to be resilient, so there’s something there for generations to come.”
The idea of community is also integral to Jansen’s vision for her farm. As the director of the Beachburg Agricultural Society, she’s passionate about using her farm, coupled with the skills she has honed over the years, to help educate about the rural-life experience.
“These are all small pieces to the puzzle,” Jansen says. “But, I be- lieve they can make a difference. After all, if I wish to run a suc- cessful farm, I need a strong and resilient community around me.”
From welcoming high school students to the farm as part of an agricultural career fair to partnering with local daycares to create gardens and teaching young children about growing and harvesting food, Jansen is at the forefront of a significant shift in today’s farm landscape. She also became an inclusive employer, hiring her first employee through the Bee Successful Employment program (beesuccessful.ca), an organization that helps individuals living with disabilities find employment in Renfrew County. She has created a business model that combines farming and growing vegetables with community integration.
All about storage and prep
Working on approximately five acres of the family plot, Jansen is growing more than 50 different kinds of products and produce that change from season to season. Fresh greens, spring mix, sweet carrots and greenhouse tomatoes are just a few of her customer favourites. Plus, her award-winning garlic, of which she has planted 15,000 bulbs this season alone.
“We try to focus on what our customers like to use most,” says Jansen, who works alone on the farm while Marigaard runs his own carpentry business.
Jansen also has a keen interest in fostering a direct connection between customers and the farm by sharing information about farm-fresh products. For example, on Hedgeview’s website, Jansen offers simple strategies to help extend the life of produce and minimize food waste. “For me, education is an important part of my approach to farming,” Jansen esplains. “I want every person to go home and know my cucumbers will become rubbery if they are left on the counter because they are not wrapped in plastic or dipped in wax like we are used to at the grocery store. And, I want customers to get some extra life out of their fresh carrots by removing the tops.”
From now until late autumn, you can find Jansen at the Carp Farmers’ Market every Saturday morning. She, along with her husband, whose Danish accent charms the customers, prep for the weekly market stall by organizing and loading their products into their truck and trailer to make the hour-long trek to Carp in the wee hours, even before the sun rises.
There, you can be sure to find a wide variety of lush, fresh greens in addition to the ingredients to make one of Jansen’s favourite recipes: kohlrabi slaw. “It’s such a quick and delicious recipe to make — it surprises my customers and makes people feel happy [to use] a somewhat unusual vegetable in such a delightful way.”
Hedgeview Farm Organics
2519 Greenwood Rd., Pembroke, Ont.
hedgeviewfarm.ca | @hedgeviewfarm
