Farmer Aden
Aden Spurr grew up on farms, but never thought he would be a farmer. Professionally trained as a glassblower, he spent most of his adult life travelling around, working for glass artists, and playing with fire.
In 2014, he decided that he needed a change of pace. He put glass aside for the moment, and jumped into a farm internship at Meeting Place Organic Farm. There he learned what it is like to be a farmer on a holistically managed mixed livestock/vegetable farm. It was here that Aden found he had a interest in growing vegetables, and in pursuit of more experience, he signed up to intern at Orchard Hill Farm for the 2015 growing season. That year, he really got a chance to see what a vegetable farm looked like on a large (small) farm scale. At the time, Orchard Hill boasted a 250 share CSA, and there were a lot more opportunities to interact with customers, who came to the farm every week to pick up their vegetables. Aden discovered that he enjoyed having direct contact with the folks that were eating the veggies he helped grow, almost as much as he enjoyed the growing of the vegetables!
At the end of that season, Aden returned to Quaker Oaks Farm, and set to work planing what his garden would look like. With some help from his family, he broke ground, and began planting in the spring of 2016. He held his first on farm market that June, with a selection of lettuce, spinach, salad turnips, radish, and carrots! In 2017, he added the CSA share program. Then in 2020, he started selling to restaurants and chefs.
This year Farmer Aden is looking forward to expanding on the no-till/low-till/no-dig gardening he has been experimenting with. And is super excited about supplying the local community with tasty vegetables!
Farmer Sarah
Sarah Reed grew up just 15 km east of Aden at Rainbow Woods Farm: a solar-powered off-grid managed forest/sugar bush and small hobby farm. SHR completed a Bachelors in Environmental Theory at the University of Ottawa, and then ventured from coast to coast across Canada through their career in environmental education – notable positions include white-water canoe instructor, turtle nest excavator, and bagel baker. Increasingly disenchanted with seasonal positions, SHR returned home during the pandemic to explore a more grounded (ha!) career in agriculture.
After working with Aden for the greater part of 4 years now, there is nowhere they’d rather be.
At The Sparrow’s Keep, SHR is the creator of most of the To Do lists, and responsible for data collection and record keeping. They work alongside Aden in planting and harvest, but if you don’t see them at CSA pick-up it’s because they’re out jamming to tunes & weeding.
On their home farm of Rainbow Woods, SHR identifies with pride as a shepherd: taking great care in nurturing their flock and raising grass-fed lamb. An interest in wool has led them into the world of fibre production, processing and craft – SHR now owns a sweater they crocheted, of yarn they spun and dyed, from sheep they raised and sheared. SHR is also responsible for the pasture-raised chicken and turkey in the CSA meat share. They are longtime vegetarian/vegan (who only recently started eating meat again) for whom livestock’s quality of life is a high priority.
This year SHR is looking forward to expanding production with new varieties of herbs and flowers, and exploring ways to integrate wool into the horticultural setting.
The sparrow's keep 