ABOUT US
I will never forget the first time I tasted a fresh baby carrot straight out of the ground. I was about 8 years old and my sister and I were sent to help an elderly neighbour weed and harvest her 2 acre garden. She repaid the hard work with two large bags of freshly picked vegetables for each of us. We could barely carry them home, they were so full. Having experienced hunger and food insecurity it suddenly felt like we had won the lottery! I was munching on carrots and string beans the whole way home. Although I was too young to appreciate how this experience would affect my relationship with food, to this day, I still love the taste of fresh garden carrots, and all things grown by my own hands.
Fast forward many years - my husband and I moved from the Maritimes to the west, raised a family, worked hard at our careers and I lost touch with my passion for gardening. Fate had other ideas it seems.
In 2018 we were living in the Okanagan by now, I was a busy Operating Room RN, and we had an empty nest. Slowly I began suffering from an illness known as FND (Functional Neurological Disorder) that took away my life as I've known it. I had to step away from my calling, and make huge adjustments to manage an unpredictable, and debilitating chronic illness. The Okanagan heat worsened the symptoms so we needed to make a change.
That is how Mountain Thyme Farm came to be. I wanted to find a way to keep myself occupied, while managing FND. The idea of having a small market garden arose from a desire to address food insecurity, to be of service to my community, and reconnect with my passion for growing things. So we moved to the Edson area in 2023, and purchased this beautiful 7.5 acre property from some nice local folks. We made a promise to the previous owners that we would cherish and care for this place as much as they have. We stand by that promise.
Living in northern Alberta creates unique challenges when gardening. We have heavy clay soil, and cold winters with little sunlight. Using a geodesic growing dome has solved some of these issues. Its design is the most efficient at regulating temperature, with a pond that acts as a heat sink for the winter months, and offers cooling in the summer. We've opted with an Arctic Acres Growing Dome, and we can't wait to show others how this style of greenhouse can change the way we garden in Alberta.
Although the property has seen some changes, we remain committed to maintaining the health of the soil, and the wildlife that call this space home. We are dedicated to practicing chemical free farming, using low/no dig methods, that allows the soil to maintain its structure, and microbial value. We fertilize using manure from a neighbouring farmer, compost tea and vermicast (worm poop). By respecting the integrity of the soil, everything we plant becomes more nourishing. Have you ever had a carrot that tastes like cardboard? We have! Crops grown in nutrient and microbial deficient soils just don't taste good. Healthy soil grows nourishing crops, and we're so proud to be able to offer that to our community.