Kitchen table will be classroom

She envisions teaching from the kitchen table of her Gilbert’s Cove farmhouse, and says she is currently working on a course of study.

Doelle says she has been approached by strangers–and neighbours–about the possibility of guiding them in getting their organic gardens going.

Some are looking at ploughing up portions of their backyards. Others are hoping to get organic businesses off the ground.

Doelle says she plans to offer a course for beginners that will include non-chemical methods that boost yield and control pests and weeds.

Doelle says consumers’ concerns about safety, health, economics, and the environment are all contributing to an interest in organic growing.

Over the past two years, the contamination of supermarket pet food, spinach and luncheon meats has caused Canadians to want more assurance that the food their families consume is safe and healthy. Growing you own–without the use of pesticides, herbicides or commercial fertilizer--is one way of knowing you are getting what nature intended.

There’s also an increased awareness–and concern–that produce bought in supermarkets may be genetically modified.

Doelle says the movement that encourages people to reduce their carbon footprint by buying produce grown within a 100-mile radius of their home is re-igniting interest in backyard gardens. “And a lot of people who are just getting into gardening want to do it organically” says Doelle.

Plus, there’s a realization that there is money to be saved by those who produce their own fruit and vegetables, eat them fresh, and freeze the excess.

Doelle’s Wild Rose Farm grows vegetables year round. The earliest of her outdoor crops–peas and lettuce and swiss chard– are planted in early April. This past year, she harvested the last of her outdoor brocolli in December.

Three of her four greenhouses were crafted by herself and her family. The greenhouses, heated solely by sunshine, provide a growing space during the winter months.

As well as feeding her own family (which includes her husband and their four sons ) Doelle sells produce at Belliveau Cove market and from the roadside of her property.

Wild Rose Farm received its ‘certified organic status’ in the summer of 2008.