First and foremost, Lee & Maria’s is a family farm. Our long tradition of farming stretches back over 40 years and we stand behind all of the fruits and vegetables we grow. We grow in the traditional style with the aid of synthetic fertilizers and when required we do use some chemicals. We respect our land and strictly follow provincially approved growing practices.
We stand behind all of the fruits and vegetables we grow.
We understand this isn’t what some of our customers would like to hear. We understand the desire for organic produce. However, we also have a belief that trust with our customers is of the utmost importance and we refuse to grow or sell produce that is called organic when it hasn’t been properly certified.
Truth is, a vast majority of farmers who claim to sell organic are not certified and don’t follow proper organic practices. We’d rather be upfront with you than lead you astray.
That’s why we have developed our “Farming Definitions” as a set of standards that we promise to follow at all times. When you see us using these words, it isn’t just buzz word lingo…we stand behind it.
Guaranteed Local – When we say local, we mean it. We guarantee that any produce we refer to as local either in our delivery service or at our on-farm market will have been grown in either Essex County or Chatham-Kent. We will never refer to produce grown near London, in Niagara or around Toronto as local. Produce that travels over an hour in a truck is not local.
Organic – Whenever we refer to organic produce, we will only call it organic if the farm it came from has been certified by a recognized body. We will never just call something organic, we will ask for certification before using those words.
Pesticide Free – Some crops we grow and those of some of our farmers are grown pesticide free. These crops are not grown to the same standards are organic produce, but they are grown with minimal amounts of chemicals. We use this term to denote produce that may closely resemble organic, without the certification.
Ontario Grown – This is self explanatory. We use this term for any produce grown in Ontario, but further away than Essex County and Chatham-Kent. We feel the distinction is important, because we will never refer to all of Ontario as being “local” … it just isn’t.