When you consider the amount of land given to properties in cities, most would think it was only enough for a patio, some furniture and maybe a pool if space (and finances) permit. On the other hand, there are a handful of individuals starting their own urban farms right in their back yards.
3,000 sq ft. of property
They’re spread few and far between across the province of Ontario; there are maybe three in the city of Hamilton. One such farm, open officially for business as of this past February, is FieldMouse Farms. Owner, Rebecca Zeleney is working with just over 3,000 square feet of property and the biggest piece of equipment she uses is a walk-behind tractor. “Right now we’re in the process of opening one quarter acre of new land,” she said. Not included in the total square footage are the microgreens, which are grown indoors in a nursery attached to the house. Their biggest producer is salad greens (including beet greens, red Russian kale, arugula and spinach). That’s the priority of what I’m growing,” she said. Second to that would be her baby root vegetables (carrots, radishes, salad turnips, beets.)
Massive demand
Zeleney’s produce is sold locally to restaurants and independent grocery stores. “I also try to price my product so it’s accessible,” she explains, although once produce gets to the grocery stores she has no control over their markup. “Demand in Hamilton is massive for these kinds of products,” she said, adding that she’s nowhere close to meeting it. However with the 120 units of product per week that she moves she feels the farm is doing very well for the land they have. “Off 250 square feet I can harvest about 10 lbs. a week.” While the farm isn’t certified organic, and being in an urban setting it would likely never be, they do grow to organic standards, using non-GMO seeds. “We sell absolutely everything we grow every week,” she said. There aren’t any plans for a brick and mortar storefront or online orders; she doesn’t think selling online would make sense – and maybe that’s just too far down the road.
Surprisingly – and thankfully for the future of the industry - Zeleney says she always wanted to farm but for a long time she thought the barriers were insurmountable. “A lot of people think land ownership is a barrier to farming, or not having the knowledge. I’m lucky in the sense that I grew up around farming.” She had also done many apprenticeships related to farming in the past. “There’s always more to know,” she admits. “I never felt knowledge was my barrier – just land.”
The home they purchased in Hamilton had a backyard, so they decided to go for it. “I didn’t want to sit around and wait until we had money to purchase a parcel of land.” Urban farming has a somewhat altruistic notion about providing food to a certain demographic, according to Zeleney, or being able to provide food within a tighter radius. “I think the majority of people are getting into it because they like to farm but don’t have access to large land. People are having to make due with what they have and actually realizing that it works.”
For more information:
Rebecca Zeleney
FieldMouse Farms