Organic farming is more than a job. It is a life style in which the Laepple family had "grown" into for many years, before emigrating from Germany to Canada in 1998. Fritz and Linda and all their children have worked together to build and improve the farm over many years.
The general principles of organic farming include protecting the environment, minimizing soil degradation and erosion, optimizing conditions for biological productivity, and promoting a sound state of health at every level, for our soil, our animals, and our customers. No chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides are applied to our crops. Our animals are raised drug free, and without hormone implants. Our cows eat grass and hay, our chickens and pigs eat grain, and all of it is grown here on the farm.
The soil on our farm is quite sandy, and we have continuously worked to improve its fertility through rotational grazing in the summer, lots of cover crops and adding composted cattle manure from the barn's winter straw bedding packs.
The old bank barn has been the home of many farm animals since it was build 175 years ago for the original owner and first settler J. Jutzi. It has seen some renovations and additions but the giant, hand-hewn white pine logs still hold the original design together. The barn also still has the original ropes and wooden wheels inside, which the horses used to use to pull wagons up two stories for unloading. In 2011, we had a 10 kw solar system installed on the roof. This investment allows us to harvest the sun year round, and produces more electricity than the farm actually uses.
Buy Local! Buy Fresh! is more than a slogan. It is a fact that this Region provided healthy food in abundance to settlers and natives for hundreds of years, before our reliance on trucks and long supply chains has brought us to this point, when a bite of food travels, on average, more than 800 km before it reaches the consumer.
Our local customers help us move away from a food system that is so heavily dependent on fuel consumption and long supply chains. We believe that eating local foods in season fosters environmental and human health, enhances economic well-being, and strengthens our social fabric.
Our goal is to grow what we eat and we would like to share it with you. From field and stable to your table.
Get in touch!
2298 Bleams Rd
Petersburg Ontario
519 634 1033
mobile 519 588 8922
laepplefarm@gmail.com
FAQs
Yes we are open all year round, but only 3 days a week. The rest of the time we are bussy farming.
- Tuesdays 2pm to 6pm
- Fridays 2pm to 6pm
- Saturdays 10am to 5pm
Yes, our farm has been certified organic for over 20 years. Forage, grains, potatoes, cattle, and everything else we grow is certified by Pro-Cert.
No. We sell most of our meats by the cut. But if you have room in your freezer we also offer quarter and half animals on a limited occasional basis.
No, we do not attend markets. We only offer our products directly from our farm store.
We will deliver, but there are conditions that apply. More details can be found in our online store. We do encourage friends and neighbours to share a ride or shop for each other.