Welcome to Field & Forest Acres

We acknowledge the land on which we live is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples, many of whom continue to live and work here today. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties and is within the land protected by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum agreement. Today this gathering place is home to many First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and acknowledging reminds us that our great standard of living is directly related to the resources and friendship of Indigenous people.

In August 2009, we purchased our thirty-seven-acres of field and forest that belonged to a local family for nearly one hundred years and used primarily for grazing cattle. The forest contains several varieties of trees such as maple, oak and ash and some small ponds providing a home for many birds and animals. We spent the first two years developing the open land, planting Christmas tree seedlings and experimenting with the vegetable field. Along the way, we acquired some mini rex rabbits and a variety of poultry and began breeding our livestock.

In 2012 we finally built our house and settled ourselves on the homestead.

In 2013, we registered our business name and became a Managed Forest. We added goats to the mix and in 2014 we became breeders of registered Nigerian Dwarf goats. In 2015, we got married on a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend against a backdrop of fall foliage, surrounded by friends and family and the farm animals! 

Every summer we plant a rather large field of mixed vegetables, some crops doing better than others in different years depending on the weather conditions.

We now have a variety of chickens, guinea fowl, Muscovy ducks, a few mini-rex rabbits, a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats, and our Australian Cattle dogs, Mysti & Willow. When available, we sell free-range eggs, guinea keets, goats, hand-made goat milk soap, jams, jellies, honey, vegetables in season and firewood. Please visit our 'For Sale' page to see what is currently available.

Thank you for visiting our site.

Karen & John Desjardins

 

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Bunnies, chicks, ducklings, kids; Karen looks after all the baby animals.
Spending many years working as an elementary school Library Technician,
it was always fun bringing baby bunnies and chicks in to visit the students.
Karen's work in the education sector, makes her a natural in the Managed Forest
business where she documents the flora and fauna found at Field & Forest Acres.
When she decides to slow down in retirement, Karen plans on writing her
children's stories based on the antics of her farm animals.
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An Automotive Technician by trade, John likes being a farmer on the
weekend, with a whole different set of tools and equipment.
Chainsaw, wood chipper, log splitter, riding mower, tractor and all
the implements. When not working on various projects, John often
enjoys walks with our girl Mysti (and now Willow, too). Though, he
enjoys figuring out solutions to things like "we need another goat
enclosure", John looks forward to the day he can relax after
everything is done.