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Reaching by direct mail 9,000 homes and businesses in North Grenville and Merrickville/Wolford www.ngtimes.ca
Vol. 9 No. 7
The Voice of North Grenville
February 24, 2021
The future is female – newcomer starts unique small-scale farm
Owner/operator of Vintage Soil Farm, Isabelle Rodé by Hilary Thomson
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A young female farmer is venturing out on her own this summer to offer fresh produce to the local community. Isabelle Rodé got into farming seven years ago after she graduated from Environmental Studies at Waterloo University. During her university career, she had the opportunity to participate in the co-op program, which allowed her to see what a career in the field would be
like. “It was a really nice way to learn that I don’t want to work in an office,” she says. “That’s why, right when I finished university, I got a job at a farm and honestly thought it was going to be one year and then I would figure something else out; but here I am, all these years later, still doing it.” Isabelle’s farming career has been varied, from her first job working on a farm on Howe Island, to a position in educational farming, and then out to B.C., where she
managed a 15 -acre mixedvegetable farm. “It was just a really incredible learning opportunity,” she says about her time in B.C. “I was able to really hone my skills and really envision myself having some kind of operation like that in the future.” In B.C. the growing season is long, and there is already a lot of interest in growing and eating locally. Although Ontario is somewhat behind, Isabelle has seen momentum starting to grow for the local food movement
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in the province. “I really want to help create what we have over in B.C. over here in Ontario. So that is what kind of led me back over here to start my own thing.” Having moved back east at in April, 2020, she spent the summer working at a farm in Quebec. She was drawn to Ottawa for its diversity, and started looking for land for rent in the area. Isabelle was lucky to find a property in North Grenville where the owners were willing to rent out a six-acre chunk for small scale agriculture. “It’s pretty hard for a new farmer starting out these days to get access to land. It’s a huge problem for our generation of farmers actually, especially with the COVID market.” Excited about her new venture, Isabelle moved to Kemptville in December and is starting to set the stage for her small-scale farming business, called Vintage Soil Farm. The piece of land she is renting is on County Road 20, and already has a little blue farm stand on the property. During the growing season, she is planning on using it as a location where people can purchase produce using an honour system, as well as a pick-up point for a small Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, where people can buy into the farm and get a weekly basket of fresh produce. Isabelle’s business is cont'd on page 3
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