OUR RETAIL FARM MARKET IS NOW OPEN FOR 2020 SEASON!
Please practice social distancing and respect our processes that are to help protect everyone from the spread of COVID-19.

Update July 27th, 2020

Existing members will be offered additional weeks in two week extensions starting August 20th, 2020 at a time.  Price will be $55.00 per week and payable by August 13th, 2020 for the pick ups of August 20th, 2020 and August 27th, 2020.  We will not be able to do deliveries after the August 13th, 2020 due to time restrictions and traffic increasing again that the province is mostly in stage 3, our seasonal staff will be departing and we will rely upon new employees for the fall season, we encourage those members who have had delivery to speak to us on a one on one basis to discuss alternative arrangements.  We have completed 9 weeks of the 12 week CSA WEEKLY BOX program. As stated several months ago we would look to the 8 or 9th week and make some decisions regarding going past August 13th, 2020 pick up dates and delivery. As we had more interest then expected we moved our packing of the boxes to within a cooler three weeks ago, this enables a better cold chain of the product especially with the heat we have had also the last three weeks.  Our farm has suffered with drought conditions and excessive heat with only receiving approximately 1.25 inches of rain the last 5 weeks, due to the topography and only a well at the home farm in Vaughan we are unable to irrigate most of the crops in the back fields.  Fortunately we have been able to purchase from other farmers to ensure that our members did not get negatively affected, we can continue to harvest our crops as we can and continue to rely on many other Ontario farmers that have been contributing to the boxes.  The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on skilled farm labor that is often those who are part of a migrant worker program, the last 6 weeks we have recognized the supply is tightening, pricing of Ontario produce is rising as demand has increased.  California, Florida and Texas all have major production of produce that have a significant impact on supplies in Ontario, that supply is under stress and will most likely continue to be for sometime in the near future. 

The new farm  in Niagara on the lake will be put into production as soon as possible, the greenhouse space will enable us to move into a full year for many crops in early 2021 and beyond.  This year has been extremely hectic and we truly appreciate everyone who has supported us during this most difficult time, we can farm because of your support.

If you have any questions please contact us and leave a message, we will return the call or email us at eat@frontstepfarms.com

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE JULY 7TH, 2020

We are looking forward to this week’s CSA WEEKLY BOX as more Ontario products are starting to be ready. We had originally laid out the 12 week program that would end August 13th, in order to allow us to understand how the season was progressing. Also COVID-19 has been effecting production capacity in Ontario with migrant workers being tested positive on many farms in Southwestern Ontario, we have operated our farms with local help and continue to do so during this year. We can still accept members for the final 6 weeks or those after at a rate of $55.00 multiplied by the weeks remaining, you must have signed up and paid no later the Wednesday at 5pm of that week.  We will be announcing in the next few weeks if we will continue the WEEKLY BOX later into the fall, existing members will have the first option to continue and we will contact you soon.

Stay Well,

Sukyi and MIchael

UPDATE JULY 2ND, 2020

Week 6 of the 12 week CSA Program was completed. The work at the Virgil (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario) farms is progressing well to redevelop the greenhouse production, establish vineyard, vegetable, small fruit and tender fruit over the next few years. Several of our crops are becoming ready and we look forward to beginning harvesting.

UPDATE JUNE 26TH, 2020

Week 5 of the 12 week CSA Program was completed. You may have heard about farmers having issues with COVID-19 and their migrant workers, we at this time are relying on local help and are doing what we can to help stop the spread of the virus. We are operating the Market with us picking your product and allow you to take that from our pick up table. It is going well and we hope we continue to have everyone’s support during this difficult time to operate.

UPDATE JUNE 19TH, 2020

Week 4 of weekly box will be completed today. We have now enabled new members to join the balance of the weeks at a flat rate of $55.00 per week for the remaining original 12 week program, the bell curve of products is over and now will average in 15-17 items. If you join this week by Tuesday at 5 pm you will be paying the $440.00 amount, then if the late season program begins you will have the first option as all other members to continue before we take on additional members. We have had very good success with our “DRIVE THRU” pick up and if you are interested please fill out form and we will contact you to discuss. Our Retail Farm Market is now open with hours posted above, we ask you to keep socially distanced in line and we will pack what you point out to us you wish to buy, yesterday was our first day and things went fairly smooth and in the next few days we hope many existing and new customers will take some of their time and visit us.  The farm production has been slow on our home farm due to earlier cold temperatures and the recent heat is now helping, we continue to plant and will do so to extend our traditional production season at the new Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario farm. 

If you have any questions please call and leave a number, we will follow up.

Stay Well!

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE JUNE 12TH, 2020

Week 3 of the CSA weekly box will be completed today.  We have had multiple inquires from people asking if they can join even though the program is going into it’s 4th week.  The beginning bell curve that is typically associated with a CSA program is now past, due to that the pricing will be pro rated at $55.00 per week and a commitment will be for the balance of the program that ends August 13th, 2020 for final pick up of original offering.  Once we approach the beginning of August, we will assess our crops, how other farmers in Ontario are able to produce given the current labour shortages and potential labour shortages and then offer out to those who are members a plan moving forward with pricing for additional weeks that reflects the anticipated units and volume of produce available. We took on a membership base the first few weeks to ensure we could properly establish our drive thru and delivery process, we are now able to expand to more pick up and delivery members.  We have continued to purchase seed and planting for late season crops and our goal is to produce as long into the fall as we can, our Niagara farm is being planned with the additional infrastructure we now have available due to our recent agreements. The weather continues to have some variations in day and night time temperatures and we are looking forward to redeveloping the 24 acres of land and greenhouses that we have next the Virgil farm we have been operating the last 6 years in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. Thank you for taking the time for us and we look forward to speaking when you reach out to us. 

Stay well!

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE JUNE 4, 2020

WEEK-2 OF CSA PICK UP TODAY FROM 12PM TO 7PM FOR MEMBERS.  DELIVERIES WILL BE ON FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH, 2020. We have continued to plant various crops the last 7 days, we are very happy with the rains that we have received earlier this week. We have several crops that were planted 7-10 days ago emerging and expect to see the growth flourish with the coming week of weather forecast. The early planting of potatoes have emerged and the onions look very good, the peas are up about 2-4 inches now. Beans are emerged in the pots and at second to third leaf, field beans are just emerging yesterday. We have begun to plant out beet transplants, and seeded melons a few day ago in trays for transplanting in about 7 days. Cucumbers are up in pots and the first large field seeding was done earlier this week. Our heirloom tomatoes for late season will be ready for pot transplanting by this weekend. We will continue to get ready to open the retail tent in the next few weeks, we are glad we focused on the back end of the farm and everything is running smoothly and on plan save and except the cooler weather, and drier then normal conditions up until this past rain.  We hope you stay well.  

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE MAY 26th, 2020

The CSA pick up at our Bathurst location will begin on this Thursday May 28th starting at 12 pm to 7 pm.  Deliveries to your door will be either Thursday or Friday and you will be notified on which day your box will arrive. An email will be sent out to members later today to communicate the process for pick up and to confirm other information if you are delivery or have special circumstances we need to know about such as allergies or diets that have religious observance occurring. Each member has been provided Michael’s cell if you need to make contact please use it by text or call, the house line will be checked in the late day or early morning. We look forward to the first week. The last week we have planted a number of crops and will continue to plant this coming few weeks. The hot weather is just another twist for the growing season.  If you have not followed us or liked us on Facebook, please do, we will be posting pictures in the coming weeks and letting the public know what is happening on the farm.

Stay Well,

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE MAY 18th, 2020

Since last Monday when we had two inches of snow at the home farm in Vaughan, we focused on preparing the fields making them ready for planting, about 38 hours went into that.  Tuesday, cultivated the onions that are coming up nicely, laid down the black tarp for early potted vegetable production that will mitigate some of the colder soil temperatures that came with the past weeks of below average air temperatures.  We planted another 900 pounds of seed potatoes, about 1 acre in now, we have six varieties in now. This past few days we have planted a significant amount of the 5 gallon pots with carrots, radishes, beets, zucchini, cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, pole beans. Two heirloom tomatoes for late season production under the hoop house, the varieties we have had good experience with them a number of times and will grow them in the soil for extra flavor profile. This rain today (expected to be 40-60mm will put us in a good position for beginning field plantings of seed crops, transplants will be determined in the coming 7 days with a close eye on two week forecast. We have a number of farmers who we have spoken to that we have been also buying from for many years and they have informed us about some of the impacts of cold weather, currently asparagus is in short supply due to the freezing, labour has also been a challenge due to the additional quarantine conditions placed on them by their local health departments. Day neutral strawberries were severely impacted for the late May, June period, we will know more in the next 7 days.  Fruit tree blossoms in Niagara have been opening the last few weeks and come crops may have also been impacted, this will be something we know more about in the next week. We are feeling very good right now about our production plans, the land is prepared, inventory of seed is on hand, additional seed is due in for mid week and we have labor available to get the farm moving forward. Our retail will remain closed for the next while, we will look towards June before we make a decision on opening it with processes that we understand will take COVID-19 into consideration.

Thank you for your continued support. Stay Well.

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE MAY 10th, 2020

On May 9th, 2020 temperatures at our home farm fell to -5 C, on top of the last several weeks of unseasonal low night and day temperatures has negatively impacting early crops in Ontario. Yesterday morning we decided to move the pickup start date to Thursday May 28th, 2020 and deliveries will on Thursday, Friday, Saturday depending on what works for you and us. The 12 week program will simply shift and now end August 20th, 2020 (not in September as wrongly stated in Video). We hope you can understand this necessary change and it will benefit the members as more products will be available such as early fall squashes, some new crop varieties of apples, pears. We will be reaching out to all the members by telephone, text messages or emails to answer any questions. Thank you for your continued support. Front Step Farms, Inc.

Over the last 7 days, we have cultivated early plantings of peas, potatoes, weeded our sunflower seedlings that emerge each year from last years crop (we hope the snow yesterday gave them some insulation) worked the land in Virgil (Niagara-on-the-Lake), worked about 60 percent of the land base in Vaughan, fixed equipment, and filled 500 gallon pots for specialty plantings, set up pole bean trellis system, and followed up with those who filled out the submission form.  If you did not hear back from us in 24-48 hours, please call us at 905-237-2141 and let us know your contact information, we will get back to you soon.

Stay Well.

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE MAY 3rd, 2020

We have continued to prepare for the first delivery date for May 14th, 2020. Lower then average day and night temperatures have delayed some plantings in Ontario, some of these products will  be 10-14 days behind unless temperatures in coming weeks are above normal. We received our first of two shipments from our seed supplier and will begin planting the cooler crops this week, we have already planted potatoes, onions and peas the last several weeks. We are planning to expand our production of cucumbers based on many of the members asking about them to be included weekly, this will also compliment tomatoes throughout the weeks. We have more updates in the coming days as we are now preparing land for our larger plantings of fall crops that will not be ready until after the 12 weeks are completed, in mid to late July we will assess how the season is progressing and make offerings to those who are already members.  We have added a phone number line in the submission so that we can reach you to talk to you about how a CSA program works and explain what the expected bell curve will look like, we take your support very seriously and are ensuring that we have had time to verbally answer your questions and make you aware of what to expect in the early weeks. 

We will begin adding photos of 2020 production and update you on our progression. Next week around Tuesday May 12th, 2020, we will be reaching out to you by the telephone numbers supplied to confirm the process of pick up.  If you have asked for delivery, we will be then asking for delivery payments so that we have it correctly separated from your payment of produce. 

Changes to communicate: 

1. We will be using cardboard boxes, not returnable containers, we feel that the additional cost to operate the weekly program will add a level of safety to our members, staff members and family.

2. We will deliver on either Thursday, Friday or Saturday based on the what aligns with our schedule and enable our members needs and requests to be respected. The process of delivery will be spoken to on an individual basis.

3. We  have listened to several suggestions and requests regarding allergies, religious observations, and size of box for homes that do not have 4-5. We will create exceptions based on those points and do what is necessary to support those who have informed us during our verbal conversations, we will be going over this again before we begin to ensure we have understood each other. 

4. Add on. we have a plan for pickup using our circular drive way directly in front of the house, it will be like a drive thru pick up that you do not have to get out of your car. We are considering having prepacked in paper bags some of the more popular items, upon pick up you will be able to communicate to us if you wish to add more of certain items.  Your purchases would be totaled and we will send a bill to your email and you can pay it later that day or the next as you did pay your membership. 

Thank you for your time to please contact us if you have any suggestions, questions or concerns.

Sukyi and Michael

UPDATE APRIL 21st, 2020

eat@frontstepfarms.com

We have now figured out the issue with the link of our email  (THANKS NICK J.!!!) You now click on it. We are very appreciative of all the inquires and those who are joining the CSA.  We have been working on some new plantings the last few days and we ask your patience for us getting back to you. We will do our best to be to you within 24-48 hours to discuss the details of the box.

Stay Well

Sukyi and MIchael

Michael’s cell 6475018999

UPDATE APRIL 12TH, 2020

We have begun the development of this site to allow for those who wish to know more and interact with us when they become members, please be patient as we are learning how to construct this website ourselves. 

If you want to review details of the CSA, please take the time to review the updates below, feel free to call us if you wish to talk about it and get a complete understanding of the program. You can reach us at 905-237-2141.

We wish to sincerely thank all those who have signed up and made their payments, for those who have expressed interest we will follow up this week.

Thank you for your time,

Sukyi and Michael

Welcome to Front Step Farms, Inc. 

OUR FARM PLAN DUE TO COVID-19

Please excuse the format of this website, it’s the next rain day job. Right now we are focused on farming.  Below the green section is a submission form that you can fill out for our CSA.

12 Weeks of Local food for $495.00, please review and contact us.

UPDATE APRIL 10th, 2020 RE: Weekly CSA BOX
We have kept the previous updates available so you can understand our production plans that are focused on supplying customers with a weekly box.

SCROLL DOWN THRU THE PAST UPDATES, YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR INFORMATION AND WE WILL FOLLOW UP WITH YOU, only hit submission button once, it will not prompt you.

Ask any questions, we will be happy to speak to you 905-237-2141. 

UPDATE APRIL 3rd, 2020 RE: Weekly CSA BOX

We thank every one who has contacted us regarding our weekly box. We have had many inquires and appreciate those who have submitted the online form below, please only send once as it will not prompt you to let you know it went thru.  You can follow up with a contact to our phone number at 905-237-2141 leave your name and state your phone number slowly and clearly please, we will return the call with the following day (we are now working frequently outdoors and messages will be checked at the noon hour and end of day).  We have the ability to have multiple pick up days and will be adjusting pick-up days based on participation, this will be communicated to the members in early May prior to our first distribution at the Vaughan home farm. We are currently focusing on a pick up model, but will be expanding the delivery option as their has been inquires.  Should any member or a members of their family demonstrate symptoms or you suspect, or have COVID19 diagnosis WE MUST BE INFORMED IMMEDIATELY BY EMAIL, TEXT MESSAGE OR BY PHONE MESSAGE, we will then convert your participation into a delivery situation to your porch or entrance of your building where possible, we will have a nominal charge ($5.00-$7.50/week added to your box cost). If you cannot pick up your box, we will allow for alternative arrangements but we must be informed in advance and have this confirmed back to you (we will be following strict onsite Biosecurity protocols and members will be aware of what we expect of them or those picking up on their behalf).  We will be implementing protocols that will include a numbered box system that is assigned to a member, we will ask that they properly clean and disinfect the container prior to return (we will do this again prior to any reuse, you will be getting your same container back) For those who have informed us of a COVID19 illness, we will not be doing a recycled container program, that will convert into a cardboard box/bag system as to eliminate any problems that reuse of containers may present to others. If and when we open the retail, we will not be operating the separate areas with the same staff, we will keep all CSA processes (packing, pickups, etc.) separate. We will continue to update via this website and Facebook. When we get to our capacity to properly service the members, we will make an update on this page.  The support we have received via Facebook, telephone conversations has been greatly appreciated, we are able to farm in 2020 because of the support by our community, friends, family and suppliers.

Stay Well,
Sukyi and Michael
905-237-2141
Michael’s cell 6475018999

UPDATE March 28th, 2020

12 weeks for $495.00 of local food, please review and contact us.

We are doing what we can to farm and serve our community.

We are currently accepting members for our Weekly Box Program, also known as Community Supported Agriculture “CSA”, scroll down to view the details, we have made significant changes that we hope can enable those who wish to participate.

Our retail will remain closed for shopping until further notice, visit this website or Facebook @frontstepfarms page for updates.

Please do not visit the farm production sites before you call or email us, confirmation of an appointment is required. We will have no pick your own operations or farm tours happening for biosecurity reasons, we take this pandemic very seriously.

We are farmers, helping other farmers so that we can provide for our fellow citizens.

eat@frontstepfarms.com 

 or 905-237-2141

Community Supported Agriculture “CSA”

This is what we are planning for $495.00 for the Weekly Box

The day of the week will be established based on membership volume.

• 12 weeks of mixed in season fruit, vegetables, herbs and other foraged foods as available. (reduced from 20 weeks, investment lowered by $405.00 and a lower weekly cost of $3.75).
  • Paid by interact transfer, cheque or cash (receipts to be provided).
  • 5-15 items depending what is seasonally available, a bell curve type availability.
  • Two equal payments to be made on or before April 15st, 2020 and May 1st 2020.
  • A discount of $25 can be deducted when paying in full before April 1st resulting in a price of $470.00.
  • Delivery price is available at an additional cost, this will be determined based on demand.
  • A commitment is required and acknowledge the program payments are non-refundable for any reason.
  • Start date is anticipated to be as early as beginning of May based on what is available in Ontario.
  • As more items are in season the amount received will increase, the first few weeks will have a limited offering just so you can know what to expect.
  • We will as we have in the past also purchase from other Ontario farmers, our goal is to increase our production this year to mitigate any supply issues from others.
  • No switching will be permitted, we will acknowledge if you do not wish certain items and make effort to replace with similar value products when possible.
  • Your box will not be held past the cut off time to pick up unless special arrangements have been agreed upon.
  • All food safety protocols and farm biosecurity rules will be required of members.

We have been providing this service for nearly seven years and have had enough feedback regarding diversity, volume and will create when possible smaller bunches of certain vegetables. We did preserve a number of products last year and in the early weeks of the program we will include some of them in the program.

We hope we can help you and sincerely appreciate the support to overcome many obstacles we know many other farmers are facing.

You can fill out the contact form below, email us directly to eat@frontstepfarms.com or call us at 905-237-2141 and leave a message please.

Thank you.

Sukyi and Michael
Front Step Farms, Inc.
Michael’s cell 6475018999