‘We try to create balance’

Home-baked apple pies cooling on a windowsill, the bloom of pretty perennials, lying around in a hammock on a Sunday afternoon. These images of life on a family farm paint a picture of serenity and relaxation. But it’s also a lot of hard work.

For husband-and-wife team Michelle Schram and Troy Stozek, who founded Fresh Roots Farm in 2011, it’s also a lifestyle that allows them to live true to their motto of nourishing, protecting and regenerating with their values of maintaining and modelling a connection with the earth.

On land previously owned and farmed by Schram’s parents and grandparents near Cartwright in southwest Manitoba, the couple have put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make it to where they are today.

“We had on slightly rose-coloured glasses when we moved out here,” said Stozek, originally from Dauphin. “Your senses kind of take a respite from the craziness of the city, but then you find yourself with a different kind of stress … building a business out. It was especially hard in the early days.”

Over the years, the couple studied and worked in areas of environmental science, local food movements and holistic management, before eventually giving up their city jobs and learning to create a viable livelihood from agriculture and animal stewardship. From the start, it was important for them to do that in ways that improve and regenerate the environments in which they reside and work.

“We came out here with not much,” said Stozek. “We had a dream to pursue a farming career that would support us as a business that’s viable and ideally sell most of what we produce.”

They started growing vegetables and eventually landed on more shelf stable items like honey, beef and eggs. Their, beef is from cattle raised on their holistically managed pastures from birth until slaughter. Their raw honey has not been pasteurized, heated or fine-filtered, resulting in valuable health benefits.

Fresh Roots Farm set out to achieve their goals to honour, respect and treat with dignity all the diversity of life inhabiting their land, from the livestock and bees in their care to the wildlife around them. Last year, they, along with the Dogs Run Farm, were honoured with the Pembina Valley Watershed District Conservation Award, acknowledging those who demonstrate positive conservation principles over a number of years that show long-term benefits for the natural environment and society.

With their two sons, Sydney, 7, and Sasha, 4, Schram and Stozek strive to be mindful of their home, their land and the future generations who will inherit all of it, ultimately with more tools and resources for adapting to future challenges, including climate change.

Schram is actively involved on the board of Direct Farm Manitoba, a co-operative of farms and farmers’ markets that works to advance education and pursue advocacy. She looks after all of the marketing aspects of their family business, while Stozek gratefully works outside, caring for the bees, cattle, plants and land.

“I’ve been busy planting more every year,” Stozek said. “I’m very passionate and committed to planting trees.”

Fresh Roots Farms works to improve and regenerate the health of their soil, plants and ecosystem. Incorporating grazing animals and pollinators into their system is a priority that helps produce high quality food. They employ systems of holistic adaptive grazing with their beef and sheep and pasture-based beekeeping, which involves careful, intentional planning in ways that promote ecosystem health and biodiversity.

With the exception of hiring summer interns and local youth through apprenticeship programs, the work is primarily done by the couple, with occasional assistance from their two young sons.

“We are trying to walk that line, to find gentle ways to invite them into the agro work,” said Stozek. “Our seven-year-old helps carton eggs — stuff like that.”

The dinner table is often viewed as the heart of the home and this farm family cherishes every meal around it and all the steps that lead them there.

“We are trying to instill in our kids that it’s something that we come together to do, create rituals around it, gathering, trying to pull kids into cooking with us,” said Stozek. “Mealtime is our favourite time of the day. We are sitting, we are sharing, we try to leave devices out of it as much as we can. We try to share meals with others; this is a major passion of ours. Sharing food with others is such a ceremonial act. It’s a major force in our lives,” he added.

“We really value good food,” added Schram. “It has been a journey to learn how to cook seasonally, to cook with whole foods. It really does make a difference with quality ingredients, there’s a lot of joy with food. We are sourcing from neighbours and friends — we collaborate with another farm. We grow a garden,” she explained, adding that they provide customers with recipes and tips on how to use different cuts of meat and various other resources in their newsletter and social media.

For Schram, who grew up in the community, the romanticized view of life on a farm still exists. She appreciates the fresh air, the calmer pace and the fact that her kids have lots of places to play.

“At the same time, doing this in a way that isn’t just a hobby farm, trying to make a viable livelihood, we have experienced quite a bit of stress. Living on a farm and having most of what we do here in the farmyard and office, sometimes makes it tricky to have a separation between life and business. We are constantly trying to be aware, making efforts to do all things ecologically friendly.

“Troy and I do our best. We are partners, we are spouses. We try to create balance,” she said, about the pressures that can put a strain on mental health.

Despite the challenges and the factors outside of their control, Schram says she derives great joy when she’s preparing customer orders. Stozek says he can’t imagine living anywhere else.

“I have the immense privilege of being outside. When you enjoy what you do it doesn’t feel like work. Some days it’s not very fun — minus 30 C — but you have a purpose. I’m called out there to care for the land and animals, to put my efforts towards something,” he said, highlighting the importance of lifelong learning.

Fresh Roots Farms makes monthly deliveries to two central locations in Winnipeg and offers on-farm pick-up or delivery for more regionally local customers.

Visit: freshrootsfarmmb.com

city@freepress.mb.ca