General farming (3 years or less) - I (Emily) studied horticulture, ecological restoration and herbalism in college. Together Shawn and I worked on a vegetable farm in Oliver BC for 9 months harvesting greens for local health food stores. I have also worked on 2 other organic farms in Ontario through WWOOF.
Do you have a business plan?
No - We are in the process of creating one.
Do you have financial resources available to start your farm?
Yes - We have a little bit of savings to help us with our farm goals and rent, but not enough for larger purchases/projects.
Do you have access to other financial resources (such as a financial partner, loan, etc.) to start your farm?'
No - Not as of right now. However, in the future we may need loans/grants.
Project
Farm Name
Moon & Forest Farm
Farm Project Description
We want to have a medicinal herb farm and regenerative vegetable farm, as well as growing gourmet mushrooms. The herbs would be used to create herbal products with such as dried tea blends, salves, infused oils, tinctures, and other herbal products for my apothecary. We would also like to build a drying shed so the extra herbs could be dried and sold in bulk to other herbalists in North America.
As for the vegetable farm, we would like to grow a variety of organic veggies that we can sell at markets or through CSA. We would like to contribute healthy and affordable fresh food to our local community.
Ideally we would need 2 acres plus a cold room, shed/shop for sorting/washing, and drying herbs.
If the land we are renting had a forest, we would look into growing mushrooms as well. We are really open when it comes to our farm project, except we don’t want livestock.
We have been living in our travel trailer that has solar and is built to function off grid. Ideally we would love to find a spot where we could both farm and live in our trailer. We are very quiet people who are just looking for a private and beautiful spot to live and work.
Preferred Arrangement
Lease -
Duration of the desired agreement
5+ years
Ideal date to obtain land by
April/May 2023
Land & Features Desired
Total Land Size (acres)
Anything from 2+ acres would be ideal.
Wooded Area (acres)
No
Cultivable Area (acres)
1-2 acres+
Possibility to expand area currently available (acres)
Yes - Any amount of acres
Zoning
Either
Preferred current state of the surface of the cultivable area
We don’t have a preferred state, whatever is available we would work with until it was ready. We don’t have any machinery though, so anything that's previously been farmed on organically would be helpful.
Open to landowner residing on property
Yes - We are open to it however would prefer if it was a private spot. We have 2 rescue dogs who bark at people so we wouldn’t want that happening while farming everyday.
Need farm buildings
No
Need fenced land
Yes - This depends but if we find we need it, We can fence it.
Need farm machinery and tools
No
Need established water source and infrastructure
Any water source would work for us, whether that’s a well or a creek. We can always find ways to make it work though, for example with water delivery in 1000L totes.
Need on-site housing
No
Production type
Vegetable - Unique varieties of heirloom vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, squash, carrots, beets, potatoes, peppers, dent corn, cucumbers, green beans, garlic, ginger, artichokes, and berries.
Orchard/Fruit -
Greenhouse -
Mushroom -
Other - Valerian, Feverfew, Milk thistle, St John’s Wort, Lemon Balm, Arnica, Yarrow, Calendula, Chamomile, Violet, Lavender, Borage, Fireweed, Bee Balm, Mullein, Goldenrod, Basil, Thyme, Red clover, Comfrey, Lovage, Dandelion, Self-Heal, Nettle, Motherwort, and more.
Type of agriculture
Organic -
Soil needs
Will acquire commercial insurance
Yes - If insurance is necessary we will definitely obtain it.
