Farm Queen Foods will be Closing in February 2024
Thank you for your support over the last almost 18 years, it has been my absolute pleasure to be your farmer.
As a first-generation farmer, learning to farm organically, with no experience has proven to be a life changing endeavor. I am not the same Cindy that struck out to play in the dirt and pet cows and chickens in 2007.
When I started farming, my plan then, was to change how Local Food is raised and sold. I set some goals and began farming with the focus of keeping it local, humane, sustainable and responsible. It was important to me that the proceeds from the farm would be used to support fellow Organic and Regenerative farmers and stay within my local economy.
I struck out to farm in a way that I could feel good about. And in my own small way, I feel like we have actually changed the world, just a little bit. Because, I can only farm, if you eat!
Together, we have contributed to improving the world in so many ways. Here is just a small list of what I think we have accomplished;
As a caring livestock farmer, each animal that was raised for meat, was raised respectfully. To be cared for and nurtured in a way that their needs are respected and the life they live prior to processing, be a life they enjoy. This is a direct contradiction to some existing farming practices. We went against the grain, and I got to witness the joy and feel the peace in farming my way. Thank you for that.
Since 2007, we have injected well over 4 million dollars in to the local economy, which means jobs, and supporting small local business in Grey County, and their families. Keeping the money flowing locally means I did not spend ad dollars with Facebook, or Google, or Instagram, because that money then filters up to about the 6 richest people in the world and they don’t need more money, but my neighbors do!
To quantify our impact in the world, approximately 537,000 acres have been farmed without the use of Pesticides or GMO’s for 16 years. That is amazing!
NOT using pesticides in my Organic farming career has saved approximately over 1.5 MILLION pounds of Pesticide. Together, we have kept that much pesticide out of the system. How many bees and wild pollinators were saved by not using 1.5 million pounds of pesticides, or little brown trout who were protected in the creek on my farm, or the wildlife allowed to live happily in the fence line forests that we didn’t take out on our farms, even though the government would give us a rebate if we did?
Diversification means strength in farming, in the world, and in life in general, not weakness. That’s the focus of an organic and regenerative farmer.
I do not know how to qualify how many pounds of carbon we have sequestered on over 500,000 acres of pasture and hay lands in the last 16 years?
Or, how many pounds of organic nutrients have been returned to the food system by applying the composted manure to grow nutrient dense foods. Food is nutrition, it is life.
Further, the great Canadian farming business model of Monoculture, believes that all livestock should only be grown in barns, with no access to sunlight, fresh air and fresh grass. Could you live that way? Do you live that way?
I farmed outside of the existing farm system and just grew local, nutrient dense food. I have not accessed farm grants, or programs, or funding and tax breaks. (full disclosure, my FBR# automatically saves Residential Property Tax on the land space I use for farming). I have never asked for donations, or crowd funding, or charity, or monetary gifts, I have never received any inheritance or gifts of money to operate the farm business or in my private life, this business has been run and survived the old-fashioned way, with hard work. I grew the business by reinvesting into it the proceeds from the sales generated. And it was hard!
BUT How many people have we inspired to become Organic Farmers? Or change to Organic Farming? Or to grow food to support the local food market, instead of a global food market. I can tell you; we were one of the first to sell meat on-line in Canada, and in an All-Meat CSA. Now I cannot count the number of like-minded farmers who do the same in my Township, County, Ontario, the rest of Canada, the US And the world! This same farm style system is happening everywhere. Partnership farm groups, growing and selling groups, in local markets are everywhere. We started at the beginning of a movement that is changing the world.
How do we measure the health benefits of how farming this way, has impacted the world? To think, feel and know what the right things is to do, and then choosing each day to do it. Even when it was the very hardest thing we could do. I failed many times in my farming career. I landed in a pile of shit more times than I’d like to recount, but I always knew where the shit came from, and what was in it. To be authentic, and do what I believed was best for the livestock I raised and processed, and for the people I was feeding, was good for my spirit, and, I hope the world.
How do I qualify how many loving friendships I have made with some of the most incredible people who walked into my farm store?
It’s overwhelming for me to think of all the good we have contributed to the world by working together. For all this and so much more, I am grateful for and beyond what I feel I deserve sometimes.
Thank you, to anyone who supported the business over the years by buying the meats and things we have sold. The folks watching and cheering us on all along the way and the farmers who started farming organically because we were successful enough at it. To the local food businesses who started up to also serve the local market and to others who added local products to their mix. I sure hope I inspired some of you to just jump in with both feet!
To sail across the ocean, you don’t just get on a boat and head out to sea. Without knowing where you are going to land, you will never arrive there or anywhere, you’ll just float until you drown. Too many folks are adrift in the middle of the ocean, because they did not decide where they want to end up.
Thank you for your support over the years! It’s been a good run. I love what we did, changed the world for the better; even if it was just a little bit.
My business is changing, as I grow and change as a human being. I’m offering Local Farm Market Business Consulting, and Farm Book Keeping Services. Call or Text if you you would like to know more, 226-974-0471.
All my best,
Cindy Boyd
