After five years running a start-up farm in L’Ange-Gardien, Alix Tabet and Doug Bishop managed to buy their own land in Breckenridge, where they growing produce and flowers for sale at the Aylmer market and through direct-to-consumer boxes.

Previously known as Larkspur Farms, the couple are now operating under the name Fermes de petites victoires (Little Victories Farm), a name chosen to remind the farmers to celebrate the small but important victories in the challenging world of farming.

Now, in their first season of full production on their land on their farm along Highway 148 the pair are celebrating their latest little victory – the opening of their own store.

Right now, the store features a variety of early-season vegetables grown on the farm as well as other local products, but the couple says they will have a more abundant selection as the season goes on, including a wider variety of local producers.

“We want to have a lot of our vegetables, but we also want to have a lot of products from other local producers that have similar ecological values that we share,” Bishop said.

The pair purchased the 20-acre plot in 2022 and have spent the past few years coming up with creative solutions to make farming work on their property, including growing a variety of plants that grow well with each other.

“It’s small [ . . . ] and it’s in a triangle shape. So it’s not a super useful piece of land for most farms, but we’re not most farms,” Tabet said. “We are an organic, small-scale market garden [ . . . ] and we focus on producing a lot of food on a small acreage.”

Bishop said they use a biointensive method of farming, one that has been used for thousands of years but has recently become popular because it allows farmers to make use of small spaces.

“We don’t use a tractor for cultivating, and that allows us to put plants a lot closer together, which maximizes the space that we have [ . . . ] It’s really surprising and shocking what you can get from just a small acreage,” Bishop said.

The idea of a farm store was one the couple had from the very start, and was inspired by the property’s prime location along Highway 148. They said they are hoping to fill a void in fresh food availability between Shawville and Aylmer where many people go to buy groceries.

“That’s the greater vision for the farm store, is to have an alternative for people to be able to shop locally for their food and get a lot of what they might be getting at the grocery store but [are] having to drive 30 kilometres to get,” Tabet said. “They can come directly to their community and get it here.”

The pair also sell 40 varieties of cut flowers that they grow on the farm as well. “Just like there has been this movement of growing diverse vegetables, there has also been this movement of local flowers that has emerged in the last few years,” Tabet said.

In the future, they hope to grow fruit trees and offer tours of the farm, something they believe will help instill an interest in agriculture, especially in kids.

“Having tourism and people being able to come and experience the farm is important to us,” Bishop said. “I think it’s really important because of how disconnected we’ve become in general as a population.”

But for the moment, the couple want to focus on growing the store they have invested time and money into. “We’re hoping that we can dedicate more energy to that and make that the heart of the business here,” Tabet said.

She said in this busy time of full production on the farm they are still taking the time to appreciate the small victories along the way.

“It’s a dream come true, really,” she said of running the farm. “Anybody who’s in agriculture knows how difficult it is, and how many challenges you face and how hard you work. Despite all of that, it is still a thing you’re passionate about, and there are a lot of little victories to celebrate each day.”

The farm store is open on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m..

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