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.
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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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New to Kent Heritage Farms? Try our Sampler - A little bit of everything from Kent Heritage Farms! A great way to try their farm-raised meats, discover your favourites and enjoy some savings along the way.
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🔥 FREEZER CLEARANCE SALE
We’re still working through excess inventory, which means some great savings for you! Once this batch of chicken breasts sells out, the price will return to its regular retail price. So enjoy the savings while they last!
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Eating Local Means Understanding the Seasons I think we’ve become so accustomed to walking into a grocery store and finding whatever we want, whenever we want it, that we’ve forgotten something pretty fundamental. Food has seasons. At Small Scale Farms, we get a lot of questions about why certain products aren’t available locally. Sometimes those questions come with a surprising amount of frustration, so I think it’s worth explaining. Let’s use asparagus as an example. Here in Niagara, local asparagus is generally harvested in May and June. It’s one of the first exciting crops of the growing season, but by October, that season is long over. Just because you can walk into a grocery store and buy asparagus in October doesn’t mean a local farmer can grow it for you. The same goes for strawberries, peaches, sweet corn, field tomatoes and dozens of other crops. We’ve become so disconnected from our food system that we sometimes confuse availability with seasonality. And they’re two very different things. Of course, some Ontario crops can be stored for months after harvest. Apples, potatoes, carrots, onions and squash are great examples. We also have greenhouse growers who can extend the growing season for products like lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. But that doesn’t mean everything can be grown here twelve months of the year. And yes, Small Scale Farms carries imported produce too. We’re not suggesting everyone should stop eating bananas or avocados because they don’t grow in Niagara. Our goal is to support local agriculture wherever possible while still making a variety of affordable, healthy food available to our customers. What I’d really love to see is more people reconnecting with the natural growing seasons. When strawberries are abundant, enjoy them! Freeze some for winter. When tomatoes are plentiful, make sauce. When fall arrives, stock up on squash, apples and root vegetables. These are the kinds of habits that once helped families feed themselves throughout the year, and they’re worth bringing back. Supporting local agriculture isn’t just about choosing where to spend your money. It’s also about understanding what farmers can realistically grow, when they can grow it, and what it takes to produce our food. We can’t demand local asparagus in October and then be frustrated that it isn’t available. If we genuinely want a stronger, more resilient local food system, we need to start working with our growing seasons instead of expecting them to work around our shopping habits. And maybe the better question isn’t, “Why don’t you have this locally?” Maybe it’s “What’s growing locally right now?” That’s a conversation I’d love to see more of.
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I never even knew what a butt chop was until Leslie Comfort gave me one, and let me tell you! Absolutely delicious! If you're looking for a simple meal that's fast, easy and full of flavour, this is it. Another fantastic cut of locally raised meat from Comfort Farms. Give it a try!
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Good old-fashioned bologna made with heritage pork raised by the Comforts! Real ingredients, locally raised pork and that classic flavour we all grew up with. Perfect for sandwiches, fried up for breakfast or sliced straight from the fridge!
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People come to Small Scale Farms because they want to feel good about where their money goes and what they're putting into their bodies.
They want real food, affordable prices and the opportunity to support local farmers.
Every time you shop here, you're making a choice that supports your health, your community and the future of local food.
Come see what we're building. Good food, good people and a better way to shop.
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Walker Ridge Farms Pears are back! $6 for 3L
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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 and alpaca mittens 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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The Best of the Season
Grapes are in! 🍇
We also have local squash, brussle sprouts, cabbage, beans, zucchini, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, carrots, pears, apples, roma tomatoes, eggplant 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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This Christmas, your company can give employees something they’ll actually use - good, local food delivered right to their homes across Niagara and Hamilton.
Our corporate food boxes can be built around your budget and customized for your team. It’s a practical gift, it supports local farms, and it puts healthy food directly into the hands of your employees.
For Small Scale Farms, corporate support like this can do more than create a busy Christmas season. It can help change the direction of what we’re building - allowing us to buy more from local farmers, move more food through our hub, expand our delivery network, and continue building a food system that is more affordable, local and resilient.
One company choosing to redirect even a portion of its Christmas gifting budget toward local food can make a very real difference.
If your business is looking for a meaningful Christmas gift this year, send us a message and we’ll build something that works for your team and your budget.
[email protected]
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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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Please note: We are open Thanksgiving Monday 10-4pm.
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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Thanks to Steve Soos, who is running for Ward 3 councillor in Welland, my Vote Small Scale Farms sign is officially up (with permission) at the corner of Woodlawn and Niagara Street.
Steve and I have worked together for years, and there’s a great deal of mutual respect between us. He’s someone who brings lived experience to the work he does and has spent years advocating for people facing addiction, mental health challenges and homelessness. He’s fought hard for people who are too often overlooked, and he understands that real change takes more than just talking about the
problems.
Over the years, Steve has also become a strong advocate for food security, sharing what he’s learned through his involvement with Small Scale Farms and helping others understand just how important access to affordable food really is. He’s been one of our most dedicated supporters for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been equally supportive of the work he does in our community.
And now, thanks to Steve, Small Scale Farms has officially entered the sign wars! We may not be running for office, but we’re certainly working toward a better future.
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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 Oct 7th and 8th
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