Nature’s Apprentice
Farm
To address climate change, we need to do two things: stop sending carbon into the atmosphere, and capture atmospheric carbon. Local, regenerative food production helps with both.
All of the pictures below are from the Farm!
112 Lynx Hollow Rd. Pakenham, Ontario
Why Nature’s Apprentice Farm?
Alberto grew up in Northern Spain, helping his grandparents on their farms and hiking with his parents in the mountains. He has always been fascinated by the natural world. Alberto’s life’s mission is to help biodiversity to thrive, with the hope that future generations will enjoy sharing our planet with all kinds of wonderful life forms as much as he do.
Learning is Alberto’s favourite thing in life. He pursued a Masters in Conservation Biology and a PhD in Ecology with the conviction that understanding natural ecosystems better would allow us to integrate and live sustainably. After 10 years in academia, he had a few realizations that would change his life:
1) As with all good things, science advances slowly, while unfortunately, ecological damage is rampant
2) Good knowledge doesn’t always translate into good policy
3) Spending an increasing amount of his time in front of a computer was limiting my creativity, passion, and wellbeing
4) Agriculture is by far the most impactful human activity on our planet.
We are also capturing carbon in many ways: we keep our soil densely planted with as many species of plants as we possibly can, all season long; we rotate our chickens on pasture; we nurture our soil with local compost and mulches, which has allowed us to steadily increase our soil organic matter; we have created one wetland and we are in the process of creating a second, larger one; we have planted over 200 trees and bushes, most of which are edible; we create diverse habitats to attract as much life to the farm as possible, and all life forms are made of carbon!
For all humans to be food-secure and have fulfilling lives, we need to change the way we produce and eat food. He believes in the enormous potential that regenerative agriculture has to grow food that strengthens our health, our communities, our ecosystems, and our climate. Wanting to be part of the solution, Alberto decided to start a regenerative farm. His says he’s extremely lucky to have a partner (Joanna, left) who shares his passion for Nature and food, and who enjoys having the simple and tremendously fulfilling lifestyle their farm has offered them.
They co-founded Nature’s Apprentice Farm in 2020.
What is Nature’s Apprentice Farm doing to Fight Against Climate Change?
They are reducing carbon emissions in several ways:
They don’t till their soil
The food is sold within 70 km of the farm
Keep packaging to a minimum and give their customers incentives to use reusable containers
They are 100% solar-powered and export excess energy to the grid
Prioritizing reclaimed and low-carbon materials
They installed a root cellar, where they can store food for months using zero electricity
The plant nursery is exclusively heated by the sun
They don’t use any chemicals, all of which are carbon-intensive
They pick food scraps to feed their chickens and leaves to feed the soil, avoiding methane emissions in landfills, they don’t use machinery, only electric and hand tools.
You can contact Nature’s Apprentice Farm by email or phone number:
naturesapprenticefarm@gmail.com
613 255 5509
They are open to the public from June to November on the following days:
Wednesdays and Fridays from 4 pm to 6 pm
Saturdays from 9 am to 12 pm
Saturdays from 3 pm to 4:30 pm for pre-booked farm tours
The rest of the year, they are open by appointment.
Nature’s Apprentice Farm Future Projects?
