Off-grid farm garners provincial nod

Thursday, July 14, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

Minimizing their fossil fuel energy footprint has earned the farm owners of Rainbow Heritage Garden in eastern Ontario a provincial innovation award.

Kylah Dobson and her husband, Zach Loeks, picked up their regional Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Wednesday afternoon during a ceremony in Carlsbad Springs. They were excited and honoured to win.

Dobson says the Premier’s award program is great for sharing innovations with other famers and learning about what other producers are doing on their farms. “It actually allows farmers to network and share innovations through the program.”

On their five-acre organic vegetable farm near Cobden in Renfrew County, Dobson and Loeks grow 200 varieties of 30 different crops. Dobson says they’re working towards their organic certification. In addition, they grow as many heirloom crops as possible.

Now in their fifth full year of production, Dobson and Loeks sell their crops at two farmers’ markets plus through the Ottawa Valley Food Co-Op. They also have 90 customers in the upper Ottawa Valley through their Community Supported Agriculture program.

The entire farm is off the electrical grid. “Everything we do has to be rethought so that we’re using as little energy as possible,” she explains. They’re trying to keep their energy footprint small for themselves but also so they can pass the carbon savings on to their customers.

“They know when they’re buying produce from us it has been produced with the least amount of fossil fuel energy possible,” Dobson says.

One of the highlights of the farm is a mobile solar generator. Dobson says the whole system of solar panels is mounted on a wagon so it can be transported throughout the farm to wherever it’s needed. “It’s almost always in use, whether it’s pumping our water or charging a drill.”

Dobson’s uncle was also a Premier’s award winner from the Cobden/Ottawa area. Grant Dobson and his wife, Dorothy, operate Connaught Nursery. The other winner was Greta’s Organic Gardens of Ottawa. BF