Tim Rorabeck and Henry Goddard harvest ahead of Rorafresh Farms first delivery day. The North Marysburgh greenhouse operation sells leafy greens, vegetables and herbs direct to local customers. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
It may be too early to start speaking of an agriculture renaissance in PEC, but along County Road 7 in North Marysburgh, the small garden movement is embracing new technology, and the timing could not be better.
Fresh, home-grown, shoulder-season, made-in-the-County greens and vegetables are on their way.
Tim Rorabeck and Henry Goddard are the brains behind Rorafresh Farms’ entry into the greenhouse-grown produce market in Canada.
Leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach can be ordered direct on their website on the weekend, harvested fresh on Tuesday afternoon, and delivered by Wednesday morning.
Tim and Kim Rorabeck have grown fresh produce for friends and neighbours for over 30 years.
In 2022, they decided to try a different tack, moving toward a Prince Edward County that can feed itself year round through sustainable farming.
For that, they needed to even the playing field with chain store grocery outlets, who have convenience, price point, and consumer shopping habits on their side.
Freshness, quality, and all the ease of online shopping, they decided, were the essentials.
Enter a fellow county native and Laurier University graduate who helped to create a farm-to-table ordering app. Over 750 farms across Canada use it to sell directly to customers.
In 2015, just a year or two after he served as PECI’s graduating class valedictorian, Mr. Goddard was playing intramural hockey at Laurier University. Line mate Cole Jones told him about a web-based ordering program he was working on.
It’s a call back
to Prince Edward County’s
agricultural heritage,
but with a modern,
sustainable spin.
It could connect producers with customers and allow businesses to sell and buy directly, monitor purchasing and market trends, allow integration of supply chains, and manage inventory.
That became Local Line, a “Farm to Fork Commerce Platform,” and it is gaining momentum as the local food movement flourishes. Shoppers can visit sites such as Rorafresh.localline.ca. They can check out what’s available, fill their cart, and place an order.
“I moved back to the County in 2020 and we reconnected,” Mr. Goddard recounts. “Cole needed someone to run the engineering team and offered me a position.”
“Being from the County and surrounded by all these fantastic farms that supply both these amazing restaurants and all the locals, I could see how this app would help both sides of the industry.”
Edwin County Farms and The Elmbrook Farm, in addition to Rorafresh, are among the nearly 1,000 Local Line users across North America.
But it’s not just software engineering Mr. Goddard is occupied with these days. He spends hours each week working in the Rorafresh greenhouse, getting his hands dirty in composted cow manure.
“Being on both the web programming and the agriculture sides has helped me shape, understand, and address the issues better. It’s been so beneficial in so many ways.”
Rorafresh started to move direct-to-consumer in 2022. Mr. Rorabeck tinkered with the greenhouse and the varieties of leafy greens that would grow best in the shoulder seasons.
In 2023, Rorafresh took advantage of a weak winter. Greenhouse growing started in October. There were still leafy greens to sell on New Year’s Day. And again, thanks to unseasonable warmth, the spring shoulder season got underway in February 2024.
Conditions this winter were more trying. But the colder winter was an opportunity to see which types of spinach, lettuce, and other leafy greens were more resilient.
Although not certified or marketed as organic, Mr. Rorabeck proudly notes the only spray used is an orange juice-based agent that cures weeds. An army of ladybugs snuffs out any burgeoning aphid colonies.
“A couple of ladybugs will try to escape the farm now and again, but that’s the worst of it. It’s all organic,” Mr. Rorabeck beams.
Currently, Rorafresh grows two types of spinach, four types of lettuce, kale, arugula, onions, carrots, Swiss chard, collards, herbs, frisée, cilantro and parsley.
Mr. Rorabeck used the saw mill and dead trees on his property to create back-and-knee-saving raised beds. Covered by a half-moon layer of greenhouse plastic, the beds are put into the greenhouse. The mini-greenhouses create a protective pocket of air that allows the growing cycle to continue until harvest time —as long as outside conditions don’t dip too far below the freezing mark.
Tomatoes, peppers and the like are a non-starter. There’s not enough heat produced to make them grow. But leafy greens thrive in cool conditions.
“This really could be a business-in-a-box for people. It’s a call back to Prince Edward County’s legacy in agriculture but with a modern, sustainable spin,” notes Mr Goddard.
Last week, Rorafresh had their best sales week ever. Word is slowly spreading. Something great is growing in Prince Edward County. Just like it always has.
Just at a different time of year. And just in time.
See it in the newspaper
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