The success of an organic farm in Ridgeville is paying some tasty dividends to shareholders. And in turn, Ruth Gatzke and Marc McKerracher, the people behind Rumar Farms on Canboro Road, wanted to share some of their bounty with individuals and families who may not otherwise have access to fresh produce.
Rumar Farms operates under the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. The fam sells “shares” to members for a set price at the beginning of the harvest season. Membership entitles shareholders to weekly baskets of fresh produce (based on what is in season at the time). Currently, there are 30 shareholders.
“It’s a really good farm model for market gardening in that people pay up front in early in the year for a share of the harvest,” McKerracher said. “It gets the community to buy into the farm. I would say probably two thirds of our members have been with us almost since the beginning and to us they’re family now.”
Gatzke said the farm, which they took over in 2014 from Ruth’s parents, Katherine and Alfred, is a labour of love. The farm was certified organic in 2017 and certified biodynamic in 2020.
“Essentially, it's a closed farm system,” McKerracher said. “We try not to bring anything in and create our own compost. We even make our own sprays from native plants and things like that.”
As for the CSA concept, Gatzke said it’s all about bringing people together.
“It creates sort of that bond with the community,” she said. Because we really do this for the community. It's not a big money-maker, it's more of a passion project for us.”
The way the farm works is that shareholders receive daily boxes of produce grown at the farm over the summer – the final boxes of the season went out the Friday prior to the Thanksgiving weekend – and typically runs for 18 weeks from June through October. The boxes are filled with what fruits and vegetables are in season. Some of the fruits and vegetables grown at the farm include pears (Bosc and Bartlett), tomatoes, kale, summer squash, eggplant, hot and sweet peppers, herbs and more.
According to McKerracher, what they decide to grow is influenced by what the shareholders want.
“You refine the offer to recognize what people typically want,” he said. “At the beginning, we did all kinds of weird eggplants and weird stuff, and you know what? That's for people to look at but it’s not what they want.”
“Each basket typically has seven different components in each, one being an herb, or something like that,” Gatzke added.
As a part of the corporate member donation program, business shareholders may also purchase an additional box of produce as a donation to Pelham Cares. So far, two local donor families take part in this CSA share program A third allotment is donated by Ruth and Marc themselves.
Allen Sadikov and Amanda Selig, St. Catharines-based financial planners with IG Wealth Management, first hooked up with Rumar two years ago and have since signed up for the donor program. It really didn’t take any real arm twisting by the farm owners, Sadikov said.
“They asked if we want to be corporate sponsors, we said yes,” Sadikov said.
As a part of Rumar’s corporate giving program, Sadikov and Selig, along with Smith Family Dentistry in St. Catharines and the farm itself each donate one of their boxes of produce to Pelham Cares.
The program was a natural fit for their financial business.
“We do a bunch of different charities,” he said. “We're part of network, we’re a national sponsor of Alzheimer's Society. We do United Way a lot. We’re even doing their garden hub in Lincoln, helping make food for them.”
McKerracher, meanwhile, delivers the donations to Pelham Cares personally. The program is a true win-win for the donors and Pelham Cares, he said.
“(Donors) get recognition for doing so, and they get a tax receipt from Pelham Cares for their contribution.”
And Pelham Cares clients, he added get the exact same basket that farm shareholders receive.
“In addition, when there's extras, we take that,” he said. “And, if people don't pick up their share, and believe it or not, that happens, that goes to the food bank the next day, too.”
Executive Director Gayle Sears said the Pelham Cares’ clients are thankful for the assistance with eating healthy.
“Everyone is very appreciative and sometimes overwhelmed by the organic farm fresh produce they get to choose from when they come and shop at our food bank,” she said. “We are grateful that we can provide such healthy choices thanks to the partnerships we have made with local farmers such as Rumar Farms.”
