I'm a commuter farmer.
I live in downtown Toronto and drive 30 minutes north to Highway 7 in Bramalea three days a week to tend a quarter-acre plot of vegetables. There are 13 other new farmers like me leasing similar plots on this 50-acre property bounded on all four sides by new suburban housing developments. The land is owned by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and managed by FarmStart, a program that encourages new Ontario farmers. It was worked by the McVean family descendants and then gifted to the City of Brampton in 1971, in part to conserve this part of the Humber watershed and preserve some of Brampton's agricultural heritage.
As I dip my fifth bucket into the well behind the barn to transport water to a thirsty row of zucchini plants, I know that I'm not just following a local food trend. This well and this barn have been here since Alexander McVean and his family built it in 1845, and the soil my zucchini are growing in has been producing food for the community — or, at least, the McVean family — for as long or longer.
Officially, I shouldn't be drawing water from this well. It is ground water on conservation land that would otherwise feed into the West Humber River that snakes its way through Brampton, under Steeles Avenue, across Islington, and south to Lake Ontario. But this week has been hot and the young zucchini leaves are limp. The modern fire hydrant that feeds the farm's irrigation pipe is shut off today. The option is either water from this well or drought for the zucchini, and I know what choice I have to make.
The historical farm never needed to be connected to the Brampton city water system, which is why there is no running water. Instead, when subdivisions rolled in within the last two to five years, they brought roads, electricity, and water mains up to the edge of the property. The one we connect to sits above ground beyond the chain-link fence at the north end.
Some of our neighbours might not be sure quite yet whether having farmers next door increases or decreases their property values. By my estimation, this Brampton suburb is closer to a sustainable community model than their older urban counterparts. With deer to watch through their front windows, strawberries to pick mere minutes away, fresh vegetables that travel less than one subdivision to arrive on their kitchen table, and only a 30-minute commute downtown to work, it's no wonder the area is growing as quickly as my zucchinis.