Growing a healthy revolution
True Food Farm is more than just a provider of high quality produce; it aims to support a movement centred on procuring food, “the way humans have done for thousands of years – not on the profits of corporations – but by respecting and honouring the natural bounty of the land we live on,” said Cameron Teboekhorst, founder and owner.
Teboekhorst has created a market garden on a one-acre parcel of land adjacent to Sequel Inn on Garden of Eden Road. Kale, fennel, Swiss chard, garlic, zucchinis, carrots, tomatoes and much more are carefully and thoughtfully gown from seed, nurtured and tended using only hand tools (without fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides), harvested and sold every Saturday at the Creemore Farmers’ Market.
“This started as a little sandbox market garden and as an experiment to push back against big box corporate food systems,” said Teboekhorst.
Having gone to Trent University studying Sustainable Agriculture, True Food Farm was born. Along with the education came a personal passion and a relentless pursuit of learning. A major focus for Teboekhorst was to be able to grow his own food and balance that with a growing study of the importance of soil health as a critical starting point.
“True Food Farm is a small attempt in a much bigger movement to learn about the land and how it provides, to learn and preserve ‘old-fashioned’ ways that are incredibly advanced, and to feed ourselves and those around us with fresh, naturally grown food,” he said.
Started during the pandemic Teboekhorst and his partner Liv spent countless days and weeks testing, experimenting and expanding their knowledge of land-based living, ecology and growing food. In doing so, the couple learned and became more committed to the importance of “taking back the control” of food production, and intentionally shifting away from “food monopolies of cheap, processed and unhealthy products that’s sold as food.”
“Food quality is rapidly deteriorating and terrible for our health,” says Teboekhorst. “Food has become monopolized and centralized where profits trump quality.”
Currently in year three, True Food Farm barely turns a profit (like so many start-up businesses) but Teboekhorst is nonetheless buoyant as he is fuelled by purpose more than profit. Teboekhorst is committed to fresh, vibrant produce but more importantly, healthy options, through quality food, for the community.
“Everyone needs to eat, and yet some of the largest companies in the world are using this to produce and manufacture unhealthy or unnatural foods,” he said. I am trying to take back that power, equip myself with the skills and knowledge necessary to provide food in a way that synergizes with the laws of nature and ecology, produces food that is nutritious and uncontaminated and prioritizes food security over money”.
True Food Farm can be found every Saturday morning at the Creemore Farmer’s Market, open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Station on the Green. See Instagram @truefoodfarm.
