Well, hello there.
We're your farmers: Milo, Jonathan, and Jolianne.
our story
Having met at
McGill University while obtaining our B.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences, we (J&J) launched and operated Ferme Mélilot: a certified organic vegetable farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, from 2009 to 2017. Ferme Mélilot was known for its quality products, innovative production techniques, and efficient, systematic farm management style. During this period, we farmed using a combination of tractor power and draft horses. It was a blast!
In 2017, we decided to take a 3-year sabbatical and travel throughout North America! We let our lease go and sold all our equipment and animals. We converted our delivery van into a camper and hit the road for a 3 year circum-North American road trip.
It was amazing!! This sabbatical was an opportunity to reflect on the first iteration of our farm, learn about new perspectives and opportunities, and have a fantastic fun adventure as a family!
We're thrilled to be back for round two! What a privilege it is to be starting a fresh farm, but this time with a decade of experience plus all the perspective gained from our travels and from Jonathan's work as a farm business coach. We can't wait to meet you and grow boat-loads of delicious vegetables, luscious small fruits, and glorious cut flowers for you and your family.
Jonathan Bruderlein
Jonathan's a real nerd.He loves numbers, loves spreadsheets, and above all, loves people. At the farm, Jonathan the Chief Problem Solver (aka CEO). With an unending enthusiasm and solutions oriented attitude, there's no challenge that doesn't in fact contain an opportunity seeking to emerge; and Jonathan is always ready to uncover that possibility and make it a reality!
One of the gems that Jonathan discovered during the sabbatical is the practice of life-coaching. He immediately realized what a powerful approach it would be to combine life-coaching techniques with farm business consulting and agronomic services. Jonathan has worked with over 45 farms as a life coach and business consultant both through his private practice as well as through Kitchen Table Consultants, a US based farm management consultancy.
Jonathan works with farmers and entrepreneurs to support them to think outside the box, create success in all areas of their lives, and fully implement the things they know they need to be doing (even in the height of summer!!!) Since the separation of work and personal life is really an illusion, Jonathan and his clients delve into any topics that are useful: From sales and marketing, to communication with your spouse, to employee management, to spending time with your kids, to business systems, to soil and fertility management, to cropping systems… and everything in between. www.organicfarmercoach.com
Jonathan has a B.Sc. in Agronomy from McGill University, ACC coaching accreditation from the International Coaching Federation, and a Masters in Business Management from the School of Hard Knocks (aka the farm).
Jonathan loves reading science fiction, business management books, and autobiographies. He loves playing ultimate frisbee, eating peanut butter mixed with maple syrup by the spoonful, and wrestling with his lovely little munchkin (Milo). If he had to pick which Avenger he was, Jonathan would say Tony Stark (Iron Man) without any hesitation.
Jolianne Demers
Jolianne likes to work hard and play hard. Seriously, if farming was a competitive sport, Jolianne would be a world-class elite athlete. (yup, it’s her husband writing her bio). Jolianne’s farmer super-powers include warp-speed weeding, a super-human attention to detail down to the quantum level, and the ability to know true north all the time (like Captain America).
When she’s not farming, Jolianne has been diving into the world of dance, aerial silk, yoga, gymnastics, and crafts. Jolianne is also passionate about raising our son in line with self-directed learning principles, loves biking, and making massive batches of lacto-fermentations (sauerkraut, kimchi, etc) and canned goods for winter (we literally just finished our 2016 canned tomatoes… seriously)
Milo Bruderlein
Milo is the farm's lead project generator. He's a vivacious young boy who always seems to have 3 to 4 projects on the go and another 6 in the pipeline. From irrigation, to plumbing, to construction, to painting, to music, to electrical wiring, Milo has a keen interest in design and building.
It is such a gift to have him in our life and to be launching this second farm with him at such a great age! We're not sure who's more excited each time we go to the hardware store; Milo or Jonathan.
Milo loves biking, building, wrestling, math and numbers, power tools, and life in general. He does't know it, but the Avengers character that best suits Milo is Rocket (the techno-Racoon).