Brilliant Meadows and Nourished Roots Market Garden share a 48 acre property in Mono. As part of this field day, you will have the opportunity to visit both farms and hear from the farmers about how they share space, resources and discuss the land-sharing arrangement between the farms.

About the hosts

Brilliant Meadows is a regenerative mixed vegetable and livestock farm run by Shiying Lu with help from her family. Shiying grows a diverse range of culturally relevant vegetables on a ¼ acre market garden, and also raises pastured chicken, duck and pork. The long-term goal is for the farm to operate as an eco-system, where each operation is connected to another and wastes become inputs. In addition to an in-depth farm tour and conversation, Shiying will share about her farmer-led research project where she will be measuring the soil health impacts from pasturing chickens on cover crops. The tour will also look at the use of electric fencing for pastured animals and how the farm is supplied with potable water from the pond.

Nourished Roots Market Garden is a mixed vegetable farm focused on building the soil naturally and supplying our community with the freshest produce from ⅔ of an acre. Haley Smith and Colin “Paddy” Patterson grow around 40 different crops intensively on 30 inch beds using only hand tools and attend a farmers market on Saturdays in Mimico. Along with sharing their farming practises and farm setup, they will discuss their current project through Experimental Acres and their land access journey.

Preparation

Please bring a packed lunch/snacks.

Accessibility information

No washroom available on-site, but there are several located at retail outlets and gas stations within a short drive

In order to make our training and community building events accessible to all farmers and future farmers in Ontario, EFAO strives to reduce financial barriers for registration by using a Pay What You Can model. To register please complete this form!