About

What We Do

Hello Farm is a small, organically-grown market garden run by Zenryu Owatari and Ava Richardson in Havelock, Ontario, Canada. We recently moved to Ontario from Japan where we ran our market garden for over a decade in the hills of Keihoku, Kyoto. We re-launched our new farm here in Havelock in the spring of 2021. We offer over 120 varieties of organically-grown vegetables such as heirloom Japanese eggplant and cucumber, Asian greens, heirloom tomatoes and squashes, fresh edamame and dry soy beans, Asian daikon radishes and turnip, local heirlooms like sugar snap peas and string beans, fruits, herbs, etc. Zenryu is also a vegan chef with over 40 years of experience, and provides our customers with weekly bento box meals, plant-based sushi, soups and salads. You can find our fresh produce and vegan meals at the Campbellford Farmers Market (Saturdays, 9-1pm, May-Oct) and the Peterborough Regional Farmers Market (downtown Peterborough, Wednesdays, 8-1pm, July-Oct). We also sell fresh produce, soups and salads at Wildflower Bakery in Havelock. Some of our wholesale customers include Hobart’s Lighthouse restaurant on Stoney Lake in Lakefield, the Dharma Centre of Canada retreat centre in Kinmount, Camp Kawartha Environmental Education Centre, and several other occasional restaurants in the greater Peterborough area. We always welcome new wholesale customers, especially restaurants who are interested in fresh, high quality, excellent-tasting, unique veggies with great shelf-life and beautiful, vibrant colours.

About The Growers

Ava has been growing organic vegetables for over 20 years, starting as an apprentice in Ontario Canada, co-owning a small CSA (Community Shared Agriculture), farming in Kyoto, and now in Havelock, Ontario.

Zenryu grew organic vegetables as a hobby for over 20 years in California, where he was also the head vegan chef at his Zen Buddhist monastery. He decided to farm full time in 2011 and worked on a large-scale organic farm in Ibaraki Prefecture, specializing in baby salad mix. After the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster however, we evacuated south to Kyoto and started our own farm business. Over the decade we spent in Kyoto we were able to hone our skills for building healthy soil and growing delicious Japanese heirloom veggies. We recently moved to Ontario in 2021 to be near family.

Philosophy and Practices

We believe strongly in growing and eating wholesome, healthy, local, and safe organic food. Although our farm is not certified organic, we follow Ontario’s Organic Crop Producers and Processors regulations http://www.pro-cert.org/ . We predominantly use preventative pest control methods such as floating row covers, crop rotation, crop biodiversity, some permaculture techniques, supporting healthy living soil, and composting for whole-farm soil fertility. Under absolutely no circumstances would we use chemical fertilizers, GMO’s, or chemical pesticides, even when the cutworms decide to eat our entire lettuce crop! Our current projects include saving as much of our own seeds as possible (60 varieties and counting!), building soil microbial biodiversity, and growing predominantly Asian heirloom varieties of veggies.

We are not opposed to leaving a bit of dirt on our potatoes or giving our customers delicious, but fun-shaped carrots. Taste and nutrition trump all, and we trust that our customers will understand that a few holes in their kale leaves is testimony to how delicious the wildlife find the crops, as well as proof of our organic practices. Come see for yourself! We welcome visitors and volunteers to the farm. By appointment only, please.