Farmers’ Market Week: Mountain Road Farm
As part of #FarmersMarketWeek, we chatted with Travis and Allison of Mountain Road Farm from Wakefield Quebec.
Read more below about the their experience as market newcomers and why they decided to begin farming.
Question: What do Farmers' Markets mean to you?
Farmers markets are a place where a local farmers, bakers, artisans, makers, etc. can go to meet and make their products and/or craft available to their community. Both farmer and patron benefit from markets like this, as the farmer is able to enter into an area of the market that may otherwise not be available to them, and the shopper has the opportunity to buy local produce straight from the grower. Often the items found at a farmers market were harvested just days or hours before they hit the market stall, which underscores what it means to have access to fresh, local food. Farmers markets can facilitate personal connections and bonds that benefit the farmer, the shoppers, and the community at large.
Question: As a market newcomer, how has experience been?
We're actually in our second year of operations here at Mountain Road Farm. We started growing last spring and provided weekly CSA veggie boxes for 25 families in the Ottawa/Gatineau Region over the summer months. It went really well, actually better than we ever expected, so we decided to open up more shares this season and expand into doing a couple of markets. It has been such an incredible journey so far!
We're learning so much every day and we feel extremely lucky having been able to start this farm.
We're a husband and wife team, and neither of us come from farming backgrounds, so it was a real leap! We took courses and read so many books to prepare ourselves but the biggest learning has happened from just starting and doing it. We love our work every day and fall asleep satisfied and exhausted most nights of the spring/summer/fall months. In the winter we slow everything right down and enjoy the calm and quiet, spend quality time with our family and try to enjoy all the outdoor activities we possibly can.
We're elated to be involved with the Parkdale Night Market. We feel proud to be bringing local, fresh organically grown produce to the community - which is where we lived and played before we moved out to the country to start our farm. We love getting to know our customers and understand where we fit in in the grand scheme.
Question: What was your motivation to get into the trade?
We wanted to get into farming for a few reasons. We were starting to become more aware of how the food system works and how our food is grown and produced. A lot of the practices being used by "big agriculture" weren't lining up with our values and ideals. We wanted to make a change for ourselves, for our family and for our surrounding community.
Another motivating factor was that we were ready for a lifestyle shift. We had spent a lot of our time on the hamster wheel of office and corporate jobs. Although those did serve us for a long time, it was becoming less and less rewarding. We weren't spending as much time with our young family as we wanted and our stress levels were pretty high. It left us searching for another way.
We wanted to set a good example for our kids and show them that you can change things, you can make a living doing what you love. We wanted them to know how to grow their own food and how to live more harmoniously with nature. We had always talked about moving to the country someday. We just ended up moving a lot sooner than we ever thought and left our jobs behind to start this new chapter.
Question: If you were to start all over, is there anything you would do different?
I would not do a thing differently. I feel everything has unfolded beautifully so far. Even the really tough moments have taught us so much. We try to use those moments as learning opportunities and springboards to do better in the future. I wouldn't trade any of it!
Learn more about Mountain Road Farm on their website and sign up for our newsletter to find out when they’ll be at your Ottawa Markets!
