Sept 20th, 2026 Newsletter
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Welcome to Small Scale Farms
Welcome to Small Scale Farms. We’re building a place where good food stays close to home - connecting people with local farms, seasonal produce, practical food choices, and a stronger way of feeding our communities.
Living in Niagara gives us access to an incredible growing region, and we want to make the most of that. From what’s fresh at the Hub to our weekly free delivery sale and more, our goal is simple - help more people eat well, support local growers, and become more connected to where their food comes from.
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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 sale 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!
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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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Walker Ridge Farms Pears are back! $6 for 3L
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Right now we have a ton of strawberries on sale for $5 each! Come shop at 13145 Lundy's Lane, no membership required.
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The last of our shepherd peppers are available from our hub location only. While quantities last.
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We created our Free Delivery page to make it easier and more affordable for local families to access great food while helping more food move through our local food system.
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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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Last of the Simcoe Strawberries 🍓
Come for a visit - 13145 Lundy's Lane or have a basket delivered.
For free!
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Your grocery bill keeps going up, but that definitely doesn’t mean the farmer is getting more of it. By the time food gets from a farm to a grocery store, there can be processors, distributors, warehouses, trucking, brokers and retailers all taking a piece. Meanwhile the farmer can still be barely making it work. This is one of the reasons I created Small Scale Farms. We can shorten that chain. We can buy from smaller farms, bring all that food together in one place, and make it easier for people to actually shop local without spending their entire Saturday driving from farm to farm. And I think this is the piece people miss when we talk about “saving farms.” Small farms do not survive because we all agree they are important. They survive because people buy their food. Meat, vegetables, milk, eggs, fruit, bread. The stuff you are already buying anyway. We keep talking about food security, but food security is not some abstract government conversation. It starts with making sure the people around us who know how to grow and raise food can actually afford to keep doing it. Maybe one of the most important things we can do is also one of the simplest: move more of our grocery dollars back toward the people actually involved in producing the food.
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If the Trucks Stop, the Food System Feels It Fast People are talking about a possible trucker shutdown on October 1. Whether it actually happens or not, I think the conversation itself is telling us something. Everything is coming to a head. Fuel keeps getting more expensive. Operating costs keep climbing. Farmers are squeezed. Truckers are squeezed. Small businesses are squeezed. Consumers are paying more at the other end and somehow everyone in the middle is still struggling to make the numbers work. At some point, something gives. The price of fuel may simply become the straw that breaks the camel’s back. And if trucking is significantly disrupted, the consequences for food could be enormous. Our grocery stores depend on trucks moving every single day. Produce, dairy, meat, frozen food, animal feed, ingredients, packaging and restaurant supplies all move through an incredibly complicated network that most of us never think about because it normally works quietly in the background. Until it doesn’t. A farmer can have a field full of food and still be unable to feed anyone if there is no way to move it. A warehouse can be full while grocery shelves sit empty. Perishable food can spoil while people somewhere else are looking for it. Let alone the large scale producers - aka the part of the food chain that would be affected the most. That part is the part that worries me. I have been saying for years that we have built a food system with too much distance between the people producing food and the people eating it. Too many steps. Too many dependencies. Too many places where one disruption can ripple through everything else. I don’t know whether October 1 will become that moment. But I do believe there are serious consequences when we continue pushing every part of the food system closer to its breaking point. This is exactly why local food cannot be treated like a cute alternative. It is infrastructure. The shorter we can make the distance between farmers and families, the stronger we become when something somewhere else stops working.
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The Best of the Season
The grapes are in too! 🍇
We also have local corn, cabbage, beans, zucchini, potatoes, onions, watermelon, daikon radish, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, mushrooms, garlic, roma tomatoes, beefsteak, 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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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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We are currently completely out of vouchers.
If you could find in your heart and are able to buy one for someone else looking for fresh produce, please help. So many people are struggling and we are doing our best to help keep them fed! HEALTHY FOOD....
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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.
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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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CANADA DOESN’T HAVE A FOOD PRODUCTION PROBLEM. WE HAVE A FOOD CONTROL PROBLEM.
When governments say they are investing in “local food,” I want Canadians to start asking a different question:
Who controls the money?
Canada is spending millions of taxpayer dollars on food security and local food infrastructure. That sounds great. I believe deeply in investing in local food.
But look at how
some of it is being structured.
One of the federal government’s newest Local Food Infrastructure Fund programs is worth $20 million. Instead of that money simply reaching hundreds or thousands of independent farms, food hubs and community organizations directly, the government is selecting a limited number of large nonprofit organizations to receive the money first. At that level, applications under $3 million aren’t even considered.
Those organizations then decide where the money
goes.
That may be called local food infrastructure.
But it is not decentralization.
And that distinction matters.
Canada already has one of the most concentrated grocery systems in the world around us. Most Canadians buy their groceries from just five major companies - Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro, Costco and Walmart. Our own Competition Bureau has been warning that Canada needs more grocery competition.
Galen Weston’s Loblaws alone operates more than 1,100 grocery stores across this
country under banners including Loblaws, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Zehrs, Fortinos, Maxi and others.
And yes, this is the same Loblaw that received up to $12 million from the federal government in 2019 to help replace refrigeration systems in hundreds of its stores.
Think about that for a second.
Taxpayers helped fund refrigeration infrastructure for one of the largest corporations in the Canadian food system, while small independent food businesses routinely build their own
coolers, buy their own trucks, find their own customers and carry the financial risk themselves.
Now we are talking about spending more taxpayer money building food hubs and food-security infrastructure.
Fine.
But then we need to ask what we are actually trying to build.
Do we want another system where a handful of organizations sit in the middle and decide who gets access?
Or do we want thousands of independent farms, neighbourhood markets, small food hubs, processors, community
kitchens and local distribution networks capable of feeding the communities around them?
Because those are two very different food systems.
I run a small food hub. I see this from the ground every day.
Small farmers don’t necessarily need another enormous institution standing between them and the people eating their food. They need places to sell. They need cold storage. They need processing. They need distribution. They need customers. They need schools, hospitals, municipalities and
community organizations that are actually allowed and encouraged to buy from them.
And communities need more than one place capable of feeding them.
That is resilience.
A truly resilient food system doesn’t create another bottleneck.
It creates thousands of doors.
So when a politician announces millions of dollars for “local food,” don’t stop at the headline.
Ask who receives the money.
Ask who owns the infrastructure.
Ask who decides which farmers participate.
Ask
whether the investment creates more independent points of production and distribution - or simply creates another layer of centralized control.
Because food security is not just about having enough food.
It is about making sure no handful of corporations, institutions or governments controls the road between the person growing it and the person who needs to eat.
If Canada is serious about food security, start building from the ground up.
More farmers.
More independent food
hubs.
More local processors.
More local markets.
More direct purchasing.
More community ownership.
More ways for food to get from the land to the people.
That is decentralization.
And that is a food system worth spending our tax dollars on.
#CanadianFarmers #LocalFood #FoodSecurity #SupportSmallFarms #FoodSovereignty #SmallScaleFarms
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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 Sept 16th and 17th
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