The Rise Farm Story
Story by Aric McBay
“This is what we have chosen and want to do, and how we want to spend the rest of our lives,” says Sarah Winney. “We truly believe that everyone has a responsibility to the Earth. This is a way that we feel we are doing our part, and getting more satisfaction from it than we were in our previous lives.”
Sarah and Rob Winney run The Rise Farm in Central Frontenac near Godfrey. They raise pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits, and ducks. “We have just under 23 acres,” says Sarah. “We have a lot of grassy waterways, ponds, and rock.”
Farm life has been a big change for Sarah and Rob, and they are still fairly new to it.
“We moved from Toronto,” explains Sarah. “We had both worked office jobs, and started becoming more conscientious about where our food came from. We wanted to diversify what we were eating, and we wanted to do it as responsibly as possible.”
Their farm in Frontenac is located between family in Toronto and Ottawa. “We originally bought the property as a destination and thought ‘oh we’ll do some camping,’” recalls Sarah. “Every weekend it got harder to leave.”
They moved to the farm permanently in April 2018. “Our ten-year plan went to a five-year plan, to a six-month plan, to ‘we’re here!’” laughs Sarah.
“We spent the first year just learning the land, where we could put chickens and pigs, where we could rotationally graze,” says Sarah. It was important to Rob and Sarah to really understand the ecology and the limits of their rocky farm. “Everyone wants beef, but at this point our land couldn’t sustain cows so we decided to raise sheep and goats instead.”
As they settled in, they took part in every farming workshop they could find. They also signed up for the Frontenac Ambassador program, and are grateful for support from staff at the County of Frontenac. “That’s been really pivotal for us,” Sarah says. “It’s been really nice to be welcomed in the community. The County has been really helpful in embracing us as new farmers.”
As they enter their third season, they want to make sure to keep things manageable. “Our biggest challenge right now is to not go too big,” Sarah explains. “It’s hard with farming because you only have one chance per year.”
“Everything is raised by us, and we are 100% hands-on from bottle-feeding to making sure every chick has enough food. We do it all ourselves.”
Animal welfare is their top priority. “We really care about our animals, about ensuring they have the best lives with the most sustainable impact on the environment.” Sarah says their customers share those values. “We believe that people care about where their food comes from. We’re always excited to talk to our customers about how we raise our animals, and how things work to get food from the farm to your table.”
Their online store includes staples like chicken, eggs and pork, but also unique options like goat, duck, and rabbit (whole, ground, and pepperettes!).
Sarah and Rob have a plan to scale up production in the years to come. “We’d like to see continued growth, and to grow our local community base,” says Sarah. This year they plan to start making value-added products like hot sauce and pasta sauce.
“Eventually we would like to have an on-farm store with an inventory of products where customers could come and purchase whatever they’d like, and see the farm,” Sarah concludes. “Feeding our friends and family is the reason we will continue doing this as long as we can.”
Where to get The Rise Farm products:
- You can order pork, lamb, chicken, goat, rabbit, and duck from The Rise Farm website at: therisefarm.com
- Follow The Rise Farm on social media at https://www.facebook.com/therisefarm/ and on Instagram @therisefarm.
Contact Us