THIS IS NOT THE TYPICAL STORY

of us being born into the family farm, 3rd generation children trained since birth to take over the family business and carry on the name....no....

this is a story of 2 normal people who were busy running the rat race while dreaming of owning a farm.  Coming together to share in their desire for a sustainable future, with a passion for organics fuelling the fire, a unique farm was created in an area dominated by conventional cash crop and beef cattle operations.
So began this adventure called Heriter Farms!  Sit back, relax & learn about who we really are - we have nothing to hide! We hope you enjoy our story!

PATRICK WORKED AS A CORPORATE EXEC for over 30 years, doing custom carpentry in his spare time, staring out of an office window dreaming of cattle. He know there was more than just cocktail parties and black ties, unsure of how to make the change, but he was determined to make his dreams become a reality.

So a decade ago he moved to rural Madoc, retired, and began planning the initial steps. With no previous experience but a new found amount of time, he started to figure out what type of farming he wanted to do and where he would do it, pondering over this for many years before taking the leap. Always thinking about it in the back of his mind, he recalled a trip to Scotland where he saw Highland Cattle up close on their native soil. The furry beasts were gentle and tame. A great representation of what type of animal should be the face of the farm.

HE STARTED RESEARCHING JOEL SALATIN AND HIS WORLD FAMOUS MOB GRAZING TECHNIQUES. It was a simple YouTube Video that changed his entire perspective on farming. It would take time and research to get everything going using the Poly Face Farms model, but luckily he wasn't going to have to do it alone, he had a helper with a love of nature.

VALENCIA WAS WORKING AS A PERSONAL SUPPORT WORKER for the Victorian Order of Nurses, offering house cleaning in her spare time when she & Patrick first met.

A country girl at heart, Valencia is one who is not afraid to get her hands dirty and try new things, like learning to drive a tractor and help a 400lb sow give birth to tiny piglets. She was easily at home in the country with some farming blood passed down from her maternal & paternal grandparents (it skipped a generation we guess), and experience gained from being a WWOOFER at various farms in British Columbia. She brought knowledge of organic gardening and seed saving, and an interest in wild foraging and food preservation.  Given the chance to create something new on 160 acres of prime farm and forest land, with someone who believed in sustainability, ethical livestock care, and proper soil management, she decided to join forces and sold her property to begin a new venture with Patrick in the tiny hamlet of Marlbank, Ontario, and they never looked back. 

PATRICK PURCHASED THE FARM IN THE FALL OF 2016 and immediately began acquiring animals - first a head of 30 Highland Cattle (known as a fold), and then a lovely pregnant breeding sow named Daisy.
Valencia came along shortly after & immediately formed a bond with Patrick's tiny piglets, hanging around to spend time sitting in their pen, talking to them in their own expressive pig language (or imagining that she was!), and learning everything she could about livestock and organic care. Who knew pigs were so great!??! Though Patrick would argue that the cattle rank higher ;)

KNOWING THAT HERITAGE BREEDS would be the mainstay of the farm, and as an acknowledgement that we had inherited something truly special here (See the Page: Why Asselstine Road for more on that).  It only seemed right to name the farm something with purpose. 

WE KNEW EARLY ON THAT THIS FARM WOULD BE DIFFERENT FROM MOST (see: Why We Are Different?), so why pick a generic name? After many hours of google searching, play on words and translations of common farm terms into witty titles, we stumbled across the word Hériter, which according to Websters Dictionary, comes from old Anglo-French roots: Hériter, meaning "to inherit"; and Middle English, heritage, meaning "something possessed as a result of one's natural situation or birth".  What better word to describe animals that have been largely unaltered since the 6th century A.D. and a farm that was inherited from a couple who were passionate about natural farming and land stewardship?? So there it is...Heriter Farms!!! 

"To inherit the land, the livestock, old ways,

To farm with the yearning of long ago days.  

Glimpse into the past with the shaggy horned beast, 

and be thankful of their giving of life for your feast."

V. Bedard, 2017

Welcome to Heriter Farms!

Reference:

Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2017). Heritage. Origin and Etymology of the Word Heritage. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritage on Oct 24, 2017.