May 26th, 2026

It's easier than ever to order online and have us delivered.

The goal has always been real simple - make real food easier to get.
Please note: Everything in this newsletter is available for free delivery, and we update it regularly based on what’s in stock at the hub. Please read all details on free delivery page before ordering - minimum $30 order.

New to Small Scale Farms? Enter 10%OFF before you check out and save 10% off your entire order - AND have us delivered for free!

We have great deals on now at The Hub, while quantities last. 

Oranges 2 for $1, local beets $3 a pint, and delicious 2nds beans on for $1 a pint!. Plus we have freezers full and our meat sampler bags fully stocked, so you can come try our meat and taste the difference for yourself.

We are open to the public Monday to Friday 9–5, Saturday 9–4, and Sunday 10–4 - 13145 Lundy's Lane

View Directions To Small Scale Farms

BLACKBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES NOW $3 EACH AT THE HUB

There’s something fascinating to me about the way Small Scale Farms has grown.

Some of the people who have become the most integral parts of this journey were barely in my life when this all started. Some were customers. Some were strangers online. Some just randomly showed up one day and stayed. And somehow, through belief alone, we became connected and something is being built here that none of us could have truly expected.

That’s the part people don’t always understand about building something real.

On the surface it’s about the food. To the average eye it’s a farm. But it’s not just about the deliveries, the animals, the gardens, the long days, or the chaos.

It’s the people who quietly become part of the story.

The people who show up consistently — in whatever way that works for them. The people who genuinely check in. I can tell who’s truly connected now. Easily.

It’s the people who believe in what you’re trying to create even when it still looks unfinished, irrational, exhausting, or impossible.

Quite honestly, some people end up becoming more present in your life than people you’ve known forever. Although the people I’ve known forever still hold a very dear piece of my heart.

Life has taught me something difficult over the years. Words mean very little without action behind them. And it’s made me question many of my “friendships.”

Some of the people closest to you will tell you they love you. They’ll tell you they support you. They’ll tell you they believe in you. But eventually, reality reveals itself through consistency, effort, presence, and action — not language.

Above anything else, life is about who you choose to be. Especially in the moments no one can see you.

And trust me when I say I’ve worked on this deeply within myself too. I know expectations can destroy relationships. I know what it’s like to hope people will become who you believe them to be. I know what it’s like to keep giving understanding, patience, and grace because you see the good in someone.

But I’ve also learned that you cannot force alignment.

You cannot make people become who they say they are. Or even who they are trying to be. At some point, you simply have to observe.

And when you do, life becomes very clear.

The people who care show up.
The people who believe contribute.
The people who value you make effort.

But if they don’t even value themselves, in my experience, the people who only speak in words eventually disappear behind their own inconsistency.

Oddly enough, that realization no longer makes me bitter.

It actually makes me deeply appreciative.

Because what Small Scale Farms has shown me is that connection doesn’t always come from history. Sometimes it comes from resonance. Shared belief. Shared values. Shared vision. Consciousness.

You can’t fake spirit.

Sometimes complete strangers understand your heart more than people who have known you your entire life.

And maybe that’s because real connection isn’t built through proximity alone.

It’s built through action. Through showing up when things are hard. Through believing in something before there’s proof. Through choosing to build instead of just watch. Or worse — complain.

I look around sometimes at the people who have become part of this place, and it honestly amazes me.

None of this unfolded the way I expected it to.

But maybe that’s the point.

Some of the most meaningful parts of life begin the moment you stop trying to force people into the roles you hoped they would play… and instead start appreciating the people who naturally choose to walk beside you.

Our pick-and-pack section is the most affordable way to feed your family.
Come by and fill a half-bushel basket with whatever you'd like from this section, for just $30 - and it helps us keep food moving so nothing goes to waste and prices stay reasonable. Win win.

Another successful Friday with TacOasis cooking up a storm at Small Scale Farms. 🌮🔥

Everyone has been absolutely loving the food and the atmosphere they’re bringing here. We did get rained out Saturday, but that’s okay — this journey is only beginning, and we’re excited for what’s ahead.

What makes this even more meaningful is that TacOasis contributes back to our voucher wall, helping local families access fresh food. It’s one of those full-circle moments — community supporting local business, local business supporting community, and good food bringing people together in the middle of it all.

Real food, made easy. Add veggies to your order and we’ll bring it straight to your door.

Check out our vegetable section for free delivery.👇

The Speck of Sawdust

A kind man in our community who obviously cuts a lot of wood in his workshop thought of us and offered us his sawdust for the farm. Honestly, I love having resources like that around us. Wood chips seem surprisingly hard to come by these days, and I’ve been trying to get a local company to hook us up, but no luck yet. So with all this nonstop rain we’ve been having lately, even something as simple as dry sawdust feels valuable.

Last week, after heading out to Post Time to grab fence posts for the new pens Larry’s been building, I ended up getting a speck of sawdust in my eye.

And if you know me, you know this is one of my biggest pet peeves in life.

I cannot focus when something is in my eye. My brain immediately locks onto it. In the past, I’ve had things stay stuck in there for a long time, so quietly, in my head, I started panicking. I was already mentally running through solutions — maybe stop at the drugstore for eyewash, maybe use colloidal silver when I got home, maybe flush it out somehow.

Meanwhile, I was driving and listening to Christian music on the radio.

And a thought entered my mind that honestly caught me off guard:

Why isn’t God a possible solution?

Immediately after that thought, I responded internally:

“Okay God, if there’s even a lesson for me in getting something in my eye… I’m here for it.”

And almost instantly I realized something deeper.

I would actually have to ask.

Not just casually. Not symbolically.

I would have to genuinely ask God to take the speck of sawdust out of my eye.

And more importantly?

I would have to believe He could.

That’s the part I can’t stop thinking about.

Because what does it actually mean to believe?

Not hope.

Not wish.

Not “maybe.”

Believe.

And oddly enough, it wasn’t actually that hard for me to believe. God has already done much bigger things in my life than remove a speck of sawdust from my eye. So I sat there driving with this strange calmness and basically said:

“Okay God, I know you can do this. By the time I get home, it’ll be gone.”

As I pulled up toward the Allanburg bridge, it was still there, and I remember thinking, “Okay… maybe I need a little more time.”

Then I got stopped waiting for the boat to pass.

And while I was sitting there — not rubbing my eye, not trying to force tears, not digging around with my finger — suddenly it was just… gone.

No irritation.

No scratching.

Nothing.

Completely gone.

And honestly, what hit me even harder happened afterward.

I got back to the hub and said to Cory, “Oh my God, I just had something in my eye and it was driving me insane.”

And he immediately responded saying he’d had something stuck in his eye recently for two full days - and it was terrible.

That was the moment that really landed for me.

Not because I think God is some cosmic magician focused exclusively on sawdust particles. But because it reminded me how little we actually ask for. How little we truly believe. How often we carry stress, panic, fear, and suffering entirely on our own before even considering surrender.

And I don’t mean surrender in a weak way.

I mean surrender in the sense of realizing maybe we’re not actually doing this life alone.

Maybe belief itself changes something.

Maybe peace changes something.

Maybe trust changes something.

Or maybe God really did remove a speck of sawdust from my eye while I sat at the bridge in Allanburg waiting for a boat to pass.

Honestly?

At this point, I’m open to all of it.

People don’t just buy sourdough, they feel the difference.

Real sourdough is slow fermented, which helps break down gluten and phytic acid, making it easier to digest and gentler on your stomach. It’s made with simple ingredients, no additives, and the flavour is deeper, richer, and actually satisfying in a way most bread isn’t.

It’s not just bread, it’s how bread used to be made.

Locally made mushroom blend designed to support energy, focus, and overall wellness — an easy way to add functional mushrooms into your daily routine.

Eeee! Larry gave me some wormwood! I put it right at the entrance to the medicinal garden so I can watch it grow...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a pie graph I had been building around poverty in Ontario.

The reason I started doing it was simple: I felt like we weren’t actually seeing the real numbers anymore.

So I started digging into the statistics myself.

How many people are on social assistance?  How many are on EI?  How many are working part time?  How many are considered “working poor”?  How many people are technically employed but still struggling to survive?

I wanted to understand the actual economic makeup of the province - not politically, not emotionally, but mathematically.

And before I even touched what we traditionally call the “middle class,” I had already landed at nearly 50% of the population living in poverty, near-poverty, or economically fragile conditions.

But after sitting with it longer, I realized I had left something major out of the equation:

The middle class.

And honestly, I shouldn’t have.

Because the more I thought about it, the more I started realizing that the middle class may actually be in deeper danger than many people officially categorized as “poor.”

Not because they necessarily make less money.  But because they have more debt.

Massive debt.

Mortgages. Lines of credit. Car payments. Credit cards. HELOCs, (home equity line of credit). Consumer financing. “Affordable” monthly payments stretched over years.

For decades, credit created the illusion of stability. It allowed people to maintain a middle-class appearance long after real purchasing power began collapsing. And now the cracks are starting to show.

A recent federal report stated that nearly 50% of Canadians belong to the middle class. But that definition becomes increasingly disconnected from reality when you compare incomes against modern housing costs, food inflation, insurance, fuel, taxes, and debt servicing.

Statistics Canada data shows Ontario’s median household income sits around $91,000 before tax. On paper, that sounds solid. Years ago, that would have represented stability. Today, in many parts of Ontario, that income barely sustains a mortgage, groceries, utilities, transportation, childcare, and debt repayments.

Meanwhile, what’s considered “middle class” in Canada is often defined as households earning roughly between $57,000 and $115,000 annually.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to say out loud:
A household can technically be “middle class” while being one missed paycheck away from collapse.

That isn’t stability. That’s leveraged survival.

And we’re starting to see the cultural indicators everywhere.

Travel is one of the clearest examples because vacations are often the first thing families cut when economic pressure rises. Recent reporting shows Canadian travel demand continues to weaken significantly. Statistics Canada reported Canadian return trips from the U.S. fell again in early 2026, continuing a long downward trend. Other reporting found Canadian visits to U.S. metropolitan areas dropped as much as 42% year-over-year.

At the same time, surveys show many Canadians are avoiding travel altogether because they simply cannot justify the expense anymore. 

That matters because the middle class has historically been the economic engine of discretionary spending.

When the middle class stops traveling, stops renovating, stops eating out, stops supporting local businesses, and starts pulling back in fear, the ripple effects move through the entire economy.

And I think that’s the stage we’re entering now.

What concerns me most is that many people still believe poverty looks like homelessness or visible desperation. But modern poverty often looks very different.

It looks like families carrying enormous debt while appearing “fine.” Two-income households unable to get ahead. People avoiding grocery stores because prices trigger anxiety. Parents quietly skipping meals. Adults with decent jobs unable to buy homes. Households financing basic necessities. People one interest-rate increase away from disaster.

In many ways, the middle class became the buffer zone holding the entire economic structure together. And if that buffer collapses, society changes very quickly — not just economically, but socially, psychologically, and politically.

Because once people realize they followed all the rules and still can’t build security, trust in the system starts to erode.

That’s why I keep coming back to local systems. Local food. Local production. Local relationships. Local resilience.

Because the larger the systems become, the more fragile ordinary people become inside them.

And maybe that’s the real story unfolding beneath the headlines right now: not simply that poverty is growing, but that the line between “middle class” and “poverty” is disappearing altogether.

Locally yours, 
Small Scale Farms

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