Share our farm

Farm: Mats Fine Oils
Location: Straffordville, Southwestern Ontario

We have a number of people that admire our farm life but this life requires a lot of skills to be self sufficient.

The seasons dictate the many things that need to get done so we are always moving on to the next crop such as hay, rye, spelt ,corn and sunflowers. We also press oils and mill flour about every 6 weeks but the date is variable. We are self sufficient in food, water and sewage. We preserve our summer foods from the garden by canning ,freezing or drying. Life is very busy!

It would nice to have free help on the farm but it is not that easy.

I have quite a few people who seem interested in what we are doing but we have some current serious issues forming in the small farming community. Most of us have noticed that our sales have slowed considerably this year 2023 so income has been reduced despite our hard long days of work. Learning about farming takes a lot of our time and there are very few jobs here that do not require a lot of learning such as oil pressing, combining the rye, oats or spelt, dehulling the spelt, repairing machinery, welding, machine shop, etc. Farm life is not set up for the farm uneducated or those not brought up on a farm.

My suggestion is to plan your future as to what you want to do and how you are going to do it... and yes how you are going to get the funds to purchase land, machinery and deal with the governments ideas of what they think farming is about.. I have spent a couple of millions already and not yet finished and still fighting with the bureaucracies. It is not an easy life but perhaps the only viable option in this uncertain world and the most enjoyable for those who can do it.

So what is your plan? I'd like you to work on that and share it with me.

I am 75 years old this year and I am slowing down. We have a very wonderful organic lifestyle that is debt and mortgage free and want to share it with those who are farm experienced and enthusiastic about farming. We have a new two bedroom apartment for a living space for those interested. We have tractors and draft horses with every piece of equipment necessary for growing seeds for our vegetable oils and flour. We are totally self sufficient food for ourselves horses, cow and chickens as well as having solar electricity, diesel generators that run on sunflower oil with plenty of water and a greenhouse.

See our web site at <matsfineoils.com>

Update April 7, 2023. We have a helper and have leased the apartment till nov 1 2023. I will work with the new helper and we will see if this arrangement can be extended for the winter months.

On our farm, we press Sunflower, flax, camelina and hemp oils from organically grown crops from our farm. We also produce rye and spelt flour along with corn meal from our fields. We have heritage chickens and organic eggs.

We are self sufficient in water, feeding ourselves and our animals, as well as electricity from solar cells and generators that run on our sunflower oil but grid is available if necessary.

As well as the four draft horses we have four tractors, a combine and a swather with all of the equipment needed for tractors and horses in the fields, for harvesting and planting.

We practice regenerative farming using pastures and animals, having crops only after a few seasons of pasture to restore soils with cover crops and compost. There is lots of water and there is a greenhouse.

We have a welding shop, machine shop and wood working shop and all the equipment necessary for making and maintaining our equipment.

We have a wood lot were we log with the horses. We heat our water and buildings with a wood fired stoves in the winter and have evacuated tubes in the summer for hot water.

The farm is debt and mortgage free and have a good customer base for our oil and flour sales which could also be customers for a vegetable or other businesses.

Wages from $16 to $20are possible depending on skills and education and there is always the possibility that we do not have enough income to support farm help so if you would like to share your skills we will share ours.

Email us at mat@matsfineoils.com

thanks -mat