- Your produce doesn’t look like what I can buy in the grocery store… why?
Our produce is ripened in the field while still on the plant. This gives our produce much better colour than the store bought produce. Produce in the grocery stores have also been sprayed with pesticides to prevent insects and diseases from damaging the crops. Grocery stores only sell cosmetically perfect produce; most of the poor looking produce is ground-up for soups. So although our produce might not always be cosmetically perfect, it’s perfectly healthy and delicious.
- Why are you not certified organic?
We choose not to certify organic for 2 reasons.
Reason # 1 - the excessive paper work and record keeping takes time that could be better spent serving our many customers, as well as applying our time in the garden using intensive organic practices to grow our natural crops and raising our livestock.
Reason # 2 - In addition to the time factor, certification requires fees, if our word that we use all natural principles is not satisfactory and you want to see the organic certification, then the produce will cost more!
If you need proof positive that our crops are naturally grown, then come visit us at Cheryl’s Farm Market and we will enlighten you on procedures and equipment used to control the persistent weeds, pests and plant diseases.
- Your produce is not available as early as other places… why is that?
Some farm markets will sell produce to you and say it is local, but their definition of local is different than ours. If their definition of local is North America, or somewhere else Ontario that is much too far for us. We simply can’t get our crops to ripen faster than the US or Leamington. We also don’t have the infrastructure to compete with large farms. Large farms can use plastics, greenhouses and other structures to speed up the ripening of crops. Early season crops can sacrifice quality, we’ll take the slow approach and let nature take it’s course.
- Can I place an order?
Absolutely! If we have enough produce available special orders are not a big concern. We want to be able to supply the produce if you are canning or planning for that special dinner. Use our contact page to get all our available information.
- You never have enough eggs… why?
We never have enough eggs because they are soooo good and people eat them faster than a chicken can lay them. Wish we would just buy more chickens? We do too! … but we can’t! The Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) issue production licenses and we don’t have one. This is because Canadian eggs and poultry are controlled in a supply management system that allots producers a specific quota of production. This system works well for big farmers, but not for the little ones. We are at the limit of how many chickens we can legally raise without subscribing to this costly and confusing system. If we exceed our limit, we get fined, and it’s not worth the risk!