Heartbeet Organics

Owners: Amy Smith, Verena Varga

Phone: 902-964-3060

Email: info [at] heartbeetorganics [dot] ca

Location: North Wiltshire

What we grow: Vegetables (mixed), Ferments, Kombucha, Tempeh

We are two girls on a 1.5 acre, organic, biodynamic, and diversified vegetable farm. We took stewardship of our little piece of paradise located in Darlington, Prince Edward Island in September 2010. We love to grow beautiful, delicious and nourishing food for our neighbours and our community. We grow over 40 different vegetables (including some unusual items like turmeric and ginger!), with a focus on unique, high quality, heirloom varieties. Our farm also contains a small orchard and a few berry bushes, all managed organically. We are also learning how to save seeds from crops we grow and have helped to start a lending seed library and small seed company selling high quality vegetable, flower and herb seed grown with organic or sustainable farming practices.

We’re happy with the size of our little farm and have proven that it’s possible to feed many people off of 1.5 acres, by running a financially viable and sustainable farm business. We believe in working with nature; we focus on building healthy, rich soil & increasing biodiversity so that we can produce food that is as nourishing as it is beautiful.

Our goal and philosophy is to leave the land better than we found it. What that means to us is to give back some of the nourishment, richness, subtleness and love to the earth that sustains us each and every day. We chose to become certified because we believe in the Canadian Organic Standards – we rely on them ourselves as consumers. We believe food should be a source of enjoyment and health, not something that can make you sick.

When buying food, we also look for the Certified Organic logo to assure us that the food contains no GMO ingredients, and that it was produced in a way that is safe for the growers, safe for the earth, and ultimately safe for the consumers.

We are also committed to training a new generation of organic farmers and take on two apprentices each year who spend the entire season (May – October) with us learning how to start and run a successful small scale organic vegetable farm: including plant propagation, growing, harvesting, and post-harvest management of a variety of vegetables; pest, weed and disease management; as well as the ‘business side’ of the farm — including marketing, promotion, managing social media, and the financial management side of things as well. We believe the future of sustainable agriculture consists of many successful, small-scale farms growing food for their neighbours and community.

Where to find our products: Charlottetown Farmers’ Market, CSA Box Program, Restaurant sales through Plate It

Certified organic by: Ecocert Canada