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Our mission is to rebuild local systems so people become participants instead of consumers. Food is simply the first doorway...
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So… What Exactly Do We Do Here? Someone came into Small Scale Farms recently and asked me a pretty simple question: “How would you describe what you do here?” And I realized the answer isn’t actually that simple. We’re a localized food hub. We work with farmers, producers and distributors to get food into the hands of people in our community. We sell directly from our hub, we deliver, we buy in bulk, we support smaller producers, and we recover food that might otherwise be wasted. And I think that last part deserves more attention. Take the pineapples we have right now. We have a TON of them, and they’re only $3. When you see something extremely cheap here, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with it. Sometimes there’s simply too much. Sometimes a large retailer rejects a shipment for a small reason. Sometimes plans change and a distributor or farmer is suddenly left holding food that needs somewhere to go. That’s where being small can actually be one of our greatest strengths. We can pivot. We can say, Yep. Bring it here. We can get it in, drop the price, tell our community about it and get that food into people’s kitchens instead of watching it become waste. There’s also something else I’ve learned while building this. Some people seem to have it in their heads that distributors themselves are somehow a bad thing — especially when we’re talking about building a more localized food system. I completely disagree. Distribution is an important part of a functioning food system. Think about something as simple as potatoes. A distributor can pull in here with a hydraulic lift truck and unload a skid of 50-pound bags of potatoes. For a small food hub like ours to drive around picking up that same amount ourselves, without the trucks, equipment or resources designed for it, would be an incredible waste of time and energy. And sometimes those distributors are going directly to farms themselves, picking up the food and moving it where it needs to go. That’s valuable. I’ve actually been made to feel at times like there should somehow be shame in using distributors while talking about building a local food system. Absolutely not. Farmers grow food. Distributors can help move it. Food hubs can create markets for it. And communities eat it. The goal isn’t to eliminate every step between a farmer and a family. The goal is to build a system where those steps actually make sense — where farmers are supported, food isn’t unnecessarily wasted, and communities have better access to it. That’s what we’re trying to do here. We support farmers and producers. We work with distributors. We buy in bulk. We recover food. We make good food more affordable when opportunities come our way. And because we’re small enough to be flexible, sometimes we can save food that a much bigger system simply can’t. A resilient food system needs all of those pieces working together.
And today, that happens to look like a whole lot of $3 pineapples.
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Today at our hub, broccoli 3 for $1. Corn, (seconds) 3 for $1
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Easy Homemade Bone Broth 🥣 Homemade bone broth is simple — it just needs time! Start by spreading your bones on a baking sheet and roasting them at 425°F for about 30–40 minutes, until nicely browned. Transfer the roasted bones to a large pot or slow cooker. Add an onion, a couple of carrots, celery and a few cloves of garlic. Cover everything with water and add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook low and slow for 12–24 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste toward the end. Strain the broth, let it cool and refrigerate or freeze for later. Use it for soups, stews, gravy, sauces, cooking rice or just warm up a mug and enjoy.
Our bones are just $9 right now for 3 lbs. That’s $6 off!
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Pasta Surprise
This is one of those meals that comes together in no time but tastes like comfort food. Brown some hot Italian sausage, toss in veggies, I used broccoli, shallots, and red peppers, then mix it with your favourite pasta. A little olive oil and a pinch of Himalayan or grey salt is all it needs. Simple, hearty, and incredibly satisfying
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Leslie’s got an abundance of heritage pork sausage that needs to move, so we put together an incredible sausage bundle. As a bonus, she’s throwing in broth bones absolutely free so nothing goes to waste. It’s a great deal, and a great way to stock your freezer.
This is the lowest price we've ever offered sausages from Comfort Farms.
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Our hub smells like strawberries! 🍓
Come for a visit - 13145 Lundy's Lane or have us delivered.
For free!
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The Best of the Season
We are patiently waiting for local apples and local grapes to start rolling in! 🍎🍇 And if all goes as planned, we’re expecting local watermelon this week too.
But here’s something I never thought I’d say: it’s becoming a fight over who gets the watermelons with seeds!
What a change from only a few years ago, when seedless seemed to be what everyone wanted. More and more people are asking questions about where their food comes from, how it’s grown, and choosing food in a more intentional way. For us, that’s exciting to watch.
This is what eating with the seasons looks like. Sometimes you wait. Sometimes things arrive later than expected. And sometimes what people want completely changes.
We’ll keep you posted as the apples, grapes and watermelons arrive. 🍉
In the meantime, we've got local corn, beans, zucchini, potatoes, onions, carrots, blueberries, (last chance) strawberries, raspberries, mushrooms, beets, garlic, roma tomatoes, pickling cucumbers and more! Plus all of our meat, milk, soaps, honey, eggs etc are always local!
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Comfort Farms Organ Ground Beef is a nutrient-dense blend made with ground beef, heart, tongue, and liver from naturally raised cattle right here in Niagara. A simple way to add more real nutrition into everyday meals without sacrificing flavour. Perfect for burgers, tacos, pasta sauce, meatballs, or chili, this blend is rich in protein, iron, B vitamins, and minerals while still tasting like traditional ground beef.
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Real food is exactly that - food. For thousands of years, people thrived on foods that came directly from nature, not from factories.
Whole, minimally processed foods naturally contain the vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, fibre, and enzymes our bodies were designed to use together. When we replace those foods with highly processed products full of refined sugars, artificial ingredients, preservatives, and industrial oils, we’re asking our bodies to work with something they were never meant to rely on.
Choosing natural foods isn’t about perfection—it’s about giving your body the building blocks it needs to support energy, digestion, immune function, and long-term health. The closer your food is to how nature made it, the more likely it is to nourish you the way it was intended.
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Organic Dried Elderberries – 100g Grown and dried locally in Vineland, Ontario by The Elderberry Farm. These organic elderberries are rich, vibrant, and traditionally used for homemade syrups, teas, tinctures, and seasonal wellness recipes. A pantry staple for many families looking to support their immune system naturally and keep simple herbal traditions alive year-round. 100% dried organic elderberries. No fillers or additives.
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New! Sheer Tallow Sun Block! A nourishing tallow-based sun block made with beef tallow, avocado oil, jojoba oil, shea butter, beeswax, vitamin E, and non-nano zinc oxide. Naturally tinted and handcrafted in small batches to help protect and moisturize skin during time spent outdoors.
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Our natural Flea + Tick Spray is made with a simple blend of geranium oil, neem oil, and apple cider vinegar to help naturally deter fleas and ticks without harsh chemicals. Geranium oil is traditionally used to repel insects, neem oil is known for its natural pest-deterring properties, and apple cider vinegar helps support a healthy coat and skin environment. Perfect for dogs, outdoor adventures, hikes, farm life, and everyday prevention during flea and tick season. Lightly mist onto your dog’s coat before heading outside, avoiding eyes and sensitive areas. Simple ingredients. Real protection. No unnecessary chemicals.
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We’re quietly building something bigger than a grocery store.
A crew of people who understand that food matters, community matters, and where your food comes from is going to matter more and more in the years ahead.
Being close to the source changes things.
You learn more. You eat better. You become part of something real. And yes… being part of our world definitely has its perks. 💛
Give it a shot. It might be exactly what you need.
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Introducing the Community Voucher Challenge!
Imagine if every local business, church, sports team, service club, and community organization committed to helping just a few families access fresh, healthy food. Together, we could make an incredible impact.
By purchasing $30 produce vouchers, you’re doing more than making a donation—you’re investing in your own community. Vouchers can be gifted to your employees, customers, volunteers, or clients, or you can choose to have them added to our Community Voucher Wall, where they’re available for people who need them most.
To recognize those who step up, we’ve created sponsorship levels with marketing benefits that grow alongside your impact. From mentions in our newsletter to recognition on our website and social media, we’ll proudly showcase the organizations helping strengthen our local food system.
Healthy food changes lives. Strong communities support one another. We invite your organization to be part of something bigger than a donation—a movement that keeps local food local while ensuring more families have access to it.
Buy local. Give local. Make a difference.
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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.
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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.
We are open to the public Monday and Tuesday 9-4pm, Wed - Friday 9–5, Saturday 9–4, and Sunday 10–4 - 13145 Lundy's Lane
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Our tomatoes and pickling cucumbers have arrived at our HUB! Half bushels now available.
Pickling Cucumbers: $35 half bushel Roma Tomatoes $25 a half bushel Pearl Onions: $5 a basket
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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.👇
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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.
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Locally made mushroom blend designed to support energy, focus, and overall wellness — an easy way to add functional mushrooms into your daily routine.
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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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Small Produce Bag Aug 12th and 13th
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