WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
‘Just about everything in here has beengrown or crafted by regional family-owned producers,’ Jamie Israel tells me as he tours me around the bright and expansive farm store at 3Gen Organics. I spot several products that fit Jamie’s description. Cucumber relish from Kellsons Craft Condiments. Ice cream from Mapleton’s Organics. Pasta sauce from Barrie’s Asparagus. Scented candles from Porchswing Candle Co. And of course plenty of 3Gen Organics items too – including single origin certified organic pork products (like sausages, bacon, burgers), and other organic products: pasture-fed eggs, tortilla chips, honey, flour, and more.
‘I’m a firm believer that families are meant to support each other,’ Jamie continues. ‘After all, family is what has sustained our business for almost one hundred years.’ You read that right: the Israels have been farming the land at 3Gen Organics, in the enclave of Wallenstein, for almost a century. Since the 1930s. That’s five generations of farmers. These days, three generations of Israels continue to work the farm – including Jamie and his wife Anna as well as Jamie’s parents Carl and Carolyn and sons Luke and Brett. ‘As it stands today,’ Brett tells me, ‘we’ve got just under one thousand acres of certified organic farmland.’ This is not a small operation, then. And yet it remains firmly in the family. As it should.
The 3Gen Organics farm store is open Thursdays and Fridays 12-5pm, Saturdays 10am-5pm, or by appointment. And it’s worth a visit.
Like so many other remarkable farmers, producers, and food businesses that dot Guelph and Wellington County, 3Gen Organics is a partner of Taste Real – a County of Wellington program that promotes local food and facilitates valuable connections among farmers, food businesses, consumers, and craftspeople alike. That includes farmers like Jamie and the Israels, whose business is a model for organic, sustainable farming.
Learn more at 3genorganics.ca and tastereal.ca