About Us | Harcliff Farms North

OUR STORY

Rachel Balkwill leans up against the old Harcliff Farms Cattle cattle trailer with the Balkwill family name on the side with a worn out image of a holstien cow

Hello and welcome to Harcliff Farms North!

Harcliff Farms North is run and operated by myself, Rachel Balkwill, with the help of my amazing farming family, Mark, Tracy, Ben and our wonderful supporting staff. We are a relatively new market garden startup entering into our fourth growing season. Our growing base originally started in Ennismore, ON on rented land but as of 2024 our crops are now grown and harvested from our home gardens in Omemee, ON. Throughout our daily operations we do our best to focus on producing our crops with natural and sustainable growing principles, without any harmful pesticides or herbicides. You can currently find our vegetables sold at our seasonal roadside farm stand up in beautiful Buckhorn, Ontario along with a few other favourite local goodies. See our farm stand page for more.

Farming has always been a constant in my life. Our family originally resided in Essex County and ran a successful dairy farm, but like many farmers we also had a bountiful backyard garden going on the side. Through this family garden I watched and helped my mother, grandmother, and aunts work to freeze and preserve countless vegetables, fruits and more. I'm grateful to say I've always known and had a respect for where my food comes from and there's no doubting that value has carried on through into my adult years.

Growing up in a farming community was also a source of peace and happiness for myself. It wasn’t until I was removed from my agriculture roots after college, working in the corporate, urban world in London, ON that I realized something was drastically missing in my life. So, in 2019 I decided to quit my 9-5 job, change careers, move up north to be with my family again and go back to school for Sustainable Agriculture at Fleming College.

Fast forward a few years later, I am now paying homage to the past generations who came before me by laying down my own agriculture roots. Through Harcliff Farms North me and my family are sharing our love and knowledge for home grown, local, fresh foods with the community!