Meet Martti and Melanie Lemieux

Urban Designers to Dung-Beetle Lovers

When Martti and Melanie Lemieux were training as designers in Toronto, they likely never foresaw the day when a dung beetle would be a cause for celebration.

Yet, when some appeared on a cow patty in their pasture, they excitedly launched into a passionate explanation about how these little feces-eaters take manure and burrow deep into the ground. The beetles release nutrients while they aerate the soil --- a process that doesn’t work if grazing animals are given a de-worming agent or high levels of antibiotics.

“When you have dung beetles, it’s like you are hearing your fertility engine turn over,” says Martti.

“It means things are starting to work. The land is living,” says Melanie.

From City to Farm

Conversations like this are plentiful these days on the Lemieux farm, now in its second year of production. As they ponder the finer points of how microbes, carbon, and nitrogen work together to form the building blocks of a robust ecosystem, the Lemieux mix the practical with the philosophical, the scientific with the spiritual.

The journey, from being urban-designers to becoming a couple who wear rubber boots and ponder manure, started with the birth of 5-year-old Kian.

“With kids, your perspective changes, the blinders come off,” says Martti. “When we wanted to get fresh milk, we found out it can be considered illegal, so that’s when we started going to farms to get food.”

The couple, living in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood, traveled on Saturdays for two hours to get to the farm store. While there, they’d have a picnic. They got to know a few farmers and started to help out. This blossomed into farm-work weekends, then vacations.

“It gets in your blood,” says Martti, who now does freelance industrial design and invests the cash into the couples’ 80-acre Sylvan Valley spread bought in October 2008.

"Last year our income was 80 percent industrial design and 20 percent farming. Our goal is to flip that. This year, if we can hit 40-60, I’ll be happy,” he says.

Holistic Decision-Making

The couple has been using a holistic decision-making system developed by Allan Savory, a Zimbabwean biologist, farmer, soldier, and politician, who set out to stop desertification.

Savory’s book, Holistic Management guided them to create a basic goal: to nourish person and place. Then, they developed a quality of life statement, which involved thinking about personal issues.

“For me, stress was big. But when you really think about it, what does ‘not being stressed’ really mean?” says Martti.

“For me no stress is to have a day where I’m connected to my wife, my children, to walk out and see animals on the grass, to see things thrive, to feel the breeze. For me, no stress is about being connected.”

The Lemieux continuously work at this which, Melanie says, helps them to stay focused. “Decisions become simpler when you’ve defined your core values,” she says.

Off to a Great Start

In their first year, the couple built an impressive following at the farmer’s market with their organic vegetables and Melanie’s inspired spelt scones, biscotti, and pies from local, in-season produce. They gained enough respect that Martti was elected president of the Algoma Farmer’s Market.

This year, they’ve bought Icelandic sheep, Black Angus cattle and chickens. Together with friend and business partner Blake Hall they’re carrying out a well-designed livestock management plan.

The chickens are kept in moveable coops located right on the field so their droppings fertilize the land. The cattle and sheep co-exist in a “flerd” (a flock of sheep mixed with a herd of cattle). The Lemieux use a five-strand, electrified rope fence that can be strung and re-strung to direct the animals to graze on successive strips of land. This ensures the animals continuous access to fresh forage while it disciplines them to graze evenly.

After having their soil tested in a Minnesota lab the couple now supplements the animals’ diet with Acadian sea kelp and Utah salt.

This year, they’ll add grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured pork and poultry, eggs, and fleece to their farm products. Future plans include making sheep’s milk cheese and yogurt. They’ve connected with other farmers in the valley and recently brought Leeburn orchardist Don Smith’s watercress to some Sault restaurants.

These continual discoveries, both on and off their farm, make their new life exciting, says Melanie.

“An hour before I brought that watercress in, it was in a stream in the woods. We’re thrilled to be waking people up to the beautiful food in their own backyard.”

Five Questions for Martti and Melanie Lemieux:

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
   
   Happiness is over-rated. Contentment is where it is at.
2. Who are your heroes in real life?
   
   We take inspiration from our friends.
3. What is your favourite possession?
   
   Right now, our Natural Sheep Care book is our absolute favourite possession.
4. What is your motto?
   
   To abundantly nourish person and place. This means we have a strong commitment to regenerative agriculture where we produce nutrient-dense food and rich topsoil. It also means we are connected to our community by sharing our products and our ideas.
5. What is your favourite coffee?
   
   Espress Joe

To learn more about the Lemieux’s farming methods, check out a recent farm profile in Sheep! Magazine.

Photo by Tim Harris  www.timharrisphoto.com