Help Us Build Our First Greenhouse

Hello Everyone,

We are embarking on a life-changing journey of starting our own farm business and we need your help to get us there. We are launching this fundraiser with the hope of raising enough funds to make our first major investment for the farm: a greenhouse. Over the next year or two we will be working as coordinators for FoodShare Toronto while we build and invest in all the necessary infrastructure, tools, and equipment for our dream farm operation. We decided to begin with the greenhouse because it will be the heart of our farm and essential for getting things started, but also comes at a steep price and is not feasible for us to purchase ourselves. We intend to build a 27’ X 144’ Heated Greenhouse that will serve multiple purposes as a propagation house for our seedlings, a place to grow yummy hot crops such as tomatoes and peppers, and a curing space for garlic, onions, and winter squash.

About Us + The Farm

Its Giving Farm will be a small-scale, organic farm at the northern tip of Rouge National Urban Park in Stouffville, ON. We intend to intensively grow a mix of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and cut flowers on 2-3 acres, with plans of growing and adapting culturally significant seeds for our communities. We are tenant farmers who secured a long-term lease with Parks Canada to live and farm in The Rouge. As one of the first new residential and agricultural leases in the park, the success of our farm will be an important determining factor for Parks Canada in offering more of these leases to young farmers like ourselves. We are hoping that our success will create access to more land opportunities for other farmers without capital or land inheritance while protecting precious GTA farmland through regenerative farming practices.

We have been working together as coordinators of a 3 acre urban farm site for the past 3 years. In those years, we have become close friends, teachers/learners, and now, business partners with aligning visions for what a farm operation can be. Beyond our work at FoodShare Toronto, combined, we have 15 years of experience operating and working at farms at a variety of scales, academic degrees in environmental fields, a passion for leading community-based initiatives, and a deep admiration for food and nature. Grounded in our shared values of gratitude + reciprocity, care, fairness, enjoyment and sharing in the abundance of the farm's bounty, we intend to farm in a manner that will nourish and heal the people and the land we belong to. It’s Giving Farm will be a manifestation of many years of dreaming, planning, scheming, and, of course, a lot of hard work and investment. With your help, we hope to raise funds in these first crucial steps in laying the foundation for our farm business. We are so grateful for this opportunity and thank you for your support.

The Cost

Greenhouse - $16,778

Modine PTP400 Unit Heater - $4,500

Framing material for base - $1500

Metal Rowling Growing Benches - $10 000

Electrical - $3000

Irrigation System - $1500

Winstrip Seedling Trays - $1000

Installation wages - $2,500

Total projection= $40 778

Asking - $40 000

Please donate if you can + share widely with your networks

If you would like more information about our farm check our website and follow us on Instagram and Facebook