July 14th, 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 - min $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!

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.

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

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.

Plus the best local blueberries are on sale for 2 for $10! or $6 each.

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

Huge Shout Out to Talkin Funny - Always out there trying to make the community a better place!

Start your morning with real food.

Comfort Farms Pork Sausage Patties are made from premium Ontario-raised pork and lightly seasoned to let the quality of the meat shine. They're perfect for breakfast sandwiches, a traditional farmhouse breakfast, or alongside eggs and pancakes.

Raised without antibiotics or added hormones, these patties are made with simple ingredients and are frozen for freshness, making them easy to keep on hand for a quick, hearty meal.

A freezer staple you'll reach for again and again.

At what point did we decide that nature wasn’t good enough?

For thousands of years, every seed carried within it the memory of everything that came before it. It adapted. It evolved. It worked in partnership with the soil, the insects, the weather, the fungi, the animals, and ultimately, us. Whether you believe that process was guided by God, evolution, or both, it is difficult not to stand in awe of it.

Then humanity decided we could improve it. Science has done incredible things. It has saved lives, cured diseases, and helped us understand the world in ways our ancestors never could. But science also has a responsibility to know the difference between understanding nature and trying to replace it.A genetically modified seed isn’t simply the next step in traditional plant breeding. Traditional breeding works with the genetic diversity already present within a species. Genetic engineering allows us to directly alter DNA in ways that would not naturally occur.

 Whether that is wise isn’t just a scientific question. It’s a philosophical one.

Can we do something? 

Absolutely.Should we? 

That’s a different conversation.

The human body is astonishingly complex. We’re discovering every year that our gut microbiome, immune system, hormones, and metabolism depend on relationships we barely understand. Every plant contains thousands of compounds that interact with us and with each other. Nature is rarely simple.When we change one piece of an incredibly complex system, we can’t always predict every downstream effect.

Science has taught us that lesson over and over again. DDT. Asbestos. Leaded gasoline. Certain pesticides. Many things were once considered safe because we simply hadn’t asked the right questions yet. 

Sure. That doesn’t prove genetically modified foods are harmful. 

But it does remind us to approach new technologies with humility. 

For me, this isn’t really about fear.

It’s about respect.

Respect for systems that took an unfathomable amount of time to develop.

Respect for biodiversity.

Respect for seeds that can reproduce naturally without patents.

Respect for farmers who save seed instead of buying it year after year.

Respect for the possibility that God’s creation may be more intelligently designed than anything we can manufacture.

Maybe genetically modified foods will prove to be perfectly safe over generations.

Maybe they won’t.

But when I have a choice, I choose food that is as close to its original design as possible. 

Food grown in healthy soil. 

Food from farmers who know their land. 

Food that hasn’t been engineered simply because we had the technology to do it.

Not because I’m anti-science.

But because good science begins with humility.

And sometimes the wisest thing we can do is admit that nature has been solving problems far longer than we have. 

Locally yours, Small Scale Farms

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.👇

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

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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