rev-digital-FINAL-PRESS-2023-PAGES-AHCC-QUARTER-BLEED - Flipbook - Page 15
“We began to explore the
feasibility of our own Vertical
Farm start-up... It would be a
chance to re-commit ourselves
to this place and this life-style.
We would be putting down roots
all-over again. .”
Founders Romano Marchi and Robin Gibson
pick their first greens, July 2022
F
or Robin and I, it is the result of years of imagining, researching,
experimenting, planning and doing. In the summer of 2020,
as we all went through lock-down, I found myself, like so many
others, pondering life changes. Changes to career, life-style, and
all of the changes going on in the world and in our communities.
It was a time to re-assess what is important, to take stock and
re-calibrate. That summer, having so much time to spend on our
beautiful farm on a quiet backroad in the Highlands, was very
reminiscent of our first years here, starting in 2004. When we
were just beginning our new adventure of rural life. Back then, it
was figuring out what we would do to maintain the country lifestyle we wanted. And now, here we were again, trying to imagine a
future among so much turmoil and uncertainty, with us in our own
little piece of paradise. So I began to focus on an idea that I had
been circling around for some time. I’ve been an avid vegetable
gardener all my life. I had run a small business in Southern Ontario
before moving north. I had been dabbling in hydroponic growing
and researching the emerging field of Controlled Environment
Agricuture (CEA), sometimes called Vertical Farming because
you grow up-ward, utilizing vertical space as opposed to a single
horizontal plane. We began to explore the feasibility of our own
Vertical Farm start-up. We looked into purchasing or leasing
ware-house space. We considered creating a farm in shipping
containers. But one afternoon, sitting in the yard in the sunshine,
we had the epiphany. We had the land! We could put up a building
right here. We would be working from home. That would give a
sense of security in these uncertain times. It would be a chance
Photography courtesy of Northridge Inn
to re-commit ourselves to this place and this life-style. We would
be putting down roots all-over again.
