The Glen Road Organics Ltd.

Teaching, Growing, Research

At The Glen Road Organics our work is centered around the biological life in the soil.

Our compost, potting mix, native plant nursery and market garden all find their beginnings with the soil food web.

We believe that balanced soil ecology is the secret to natural sustainability.

We are hosting a microscope workshop with ReWild Ecosystem Services!

Come Join us Friday February 21, 2025 for an interactive experience learning about the life under your soil.

Buy your tickets here

Tickets

Watch as Nicole talks about compost with JM Fortier

They discuss the benefits, challenges, and key considerations to help you make the best choice for your gardens

Want to know how to increase your soil health?
Watch our video with JM Fortier for 5 mistakes you should avoid.

Read Our Newsletter

Click the download link below for a PDF version

Download

PRODUCTS WE SELL

Our Compost and Potting Mix

COMPOST

Some customers refer to our compost as their crop insurance.

At GRO we offer a high quality bio-diverse compost.

Made on site, our compost is ready for your fields or gardens within a few weeks. Our Bio Diverse Compost was the first compost in Canada approved for use in Certified Organic Operations and can be used as a natural soil amendment for organic or non-organic growers. Use this product to increase your soil health,

fertility and structure.

To learn more about this product

Click Here

POTTING MIX

GRO Bio Diverse Potting Mix is ideal for starting your seedlings or indoor plants and is approved for Certified Organic Operations. When using GRO potting mix additional fertilizers are not required! This product will aid in faster germination, and plant production with less watering needed and increased plant growth. It contains a greater water holding capacity than other commercial potting mixes.

To learn more about this product

Click Here

GET IN TOUCH

We'd love to hear from you

705-439-2345

theglenroadinfo@gmail.com

gro_ingwithnicole

Is one of your New Years Resolutions to improve your microscope skills? 🔬
We have the perfect workshop for you! John Montague, Colleen Dempster (ReWild EcoSystem Services) and I will bring you a full day hands on workshop. We will cover anything from microscope basics to helping you identify microorganisms on your own. You can easily bring these skills onto your own farm or garden this summer and assess your soil or compost!
Find tickets on our website or in the link in the bio.
Hope to see you there!

#compost #soilfoodweb #microorganisms #microscope #workshop #kawarthalakes

World Soil Day!!
Although every day is world soil day when you’re soil nerd. A large part of why we are so focused on soils is because they a key part of our livelihood. Healthy soils are a key part of our climate and our human health. While our world is quickly advancing with technological solutions the easiest way to build healthy soils is very simple. By cover cropping, adding organic matter, and minimal tillage practices you can improve your soil. These will all create a healthy environment for our favourite microorganisms to thrive, and we all know they do the real work.
Although our soils are now covered in a layer of snow in many places it’s not too late to think about new practices to improve your soil health 🌱

#worldsoilday #healthysoil #soilfoodweb #microorganisms #covercrop #organicmatter #kawarthalakes #ontarioorganic

A snap shot from our last row of compost for the year! Sums up the half day process in about half a minute.
Send us a message if you are interested in learning how to do this for yourself this summer.

#compost #soilfoodweb #ontarioorganic #kawarthalakes

This summer I had the great honour of heading up to Quebec to film a couple of YouTube videos with @jeanmartinfortier. We talk about what makes great compost and the benefits of applying this compost to your soil.
Personally it was an incredible opportunity to film with an absolute legend in the field, it’s an experience I’m not likely to forget soon!
You can find the videos on @themarketgardeners YouTube channel or if you message me I can send you the link!

#compost #marketgarden #youtube #ontarioorganic #soilfoodweb #soilhealth

It’s sunflower season! 🌻
Many of these are not intentionally seeded this year, they’ve just popped up around the garden and we’ve had to move some around.
Our tallest sunflower this year is 11’2” and was planted by the critters around the farm.
They are the best rays of sunshine in the garden especially on gloomy days!

#sunflower #ontarioflowerfarmers #giantsunflowers #ontarioorganic #kawarthagrown

A bit of insight into the workshop next Saturday! Hope you are all ready to get your hands dirty, we’ll be hosting an interactive workshop all about compost production in small piles and big windrows!
We are so excited to be teaching others how to make high quality compost themselves and can’t wait to make this an amazing day!

See you all soon and don’t forget to buy a ticket if you haven’t already there is still time! You can get them from the link in the bio

Happy composting everyone 😊

#compost #soilfoodweb #ontario #kawarthalakes #microorganisms #thermalcompost

We are 2 weeks away from our conference here on the farm!
I wanted to take some time to tell you a bit of information about our speakers!
These two days will be all about soils and soil health including how to make your own compost. Come join a like minded community for these days and learn as much as you can from experts!

#soilfoodweb #drelaineingham #feedyoursoil
#kawarthalakes #soilconference

Sometimes you have to take a photo shoot with the compost because it looks so good! Our compost got off to a great start this year with an excellent bay crop! These four windrows look amazing. In the pictures I’ve included breakdown shots from two week old compost and month old compost. We are really proud of the product we’ve produced in the last month and can’t wait to teach others this in a little over a month at our conference!

#compost #soilfoodweb #ontarioorganic #feedyoursoil #windrows #kawarthalakes #buylocal

HOT TO GO!
Our thermal composting season has begun for the year! Getting up to certain temperatures ensures your compost is weed and pathogen free!
Use compost to add organic matter, nutrients and microorganisms to your soil.

#feedyoursoil #hottogo #compost #thermophiliccompost #ontarioorganic #soilfoodweb #kawarthalakes #buylocal #organicmatter

A quick update on our cover cropped soil. I’m amazed everyday about the quality of the soil I get to work in! It takes a lot of work but it is always worth the effort in the end.
My aim through these videos is tell you all about the power of the mighty microorganisms but to show the steps that you can take to create soil that’s alive in your own gardens and fields.
As always I’m going to shamelessly promote our conference in the end of August. It will be a great time to learn from Dr. Ingham herself but also workshop ideas with me after the presentation for ways you can integrate the soil food web principles into your growing!

#soilfoodweb #livingsoils #covercrops #organicmatter #compost #cucumber #ontario #ontatioorganic #kawarthalakes #buylocal #regenerativeagriculture

Join us for our soil conference in August with Dr. Elaine Ingham founder of The Soil Food Web Inc. Dr. Ingham and I will be talking about how to create healthy soils on farms and how it benefits you and your plants for years to come!
🌱Early bird pricing ends at the end of May so get your tickets soon!
See you then!
#feedyoursoil #soilfoodweb #ontarioorganic #compost #drelaineingham #kawarthalakes

A peek into our growing season 🌱 It’s go time, which means hardening off our seedlings and getting the garden ready for planting. I’m very excited for all the plants going into the garden this year and have more exciting things to share as we really start to get into the season!
#ontarioorganic #kawarthalakes #spring #seedlings #cutflowers #plantingseason #soilhealth #buylocal

For many farmers earth day is just a regular day of work, going out to the fields and tending to the land the best way we know how. We consider earth day to be every day and aim to show that in every way we farm. We consciously choose to take the time to leave our growing spaces better than we found them. For us at the Glen Road Organics that means tending to the life above ground as well as below. We only have this one earth and we are going to try our best to make sure we do our part to take care of it! 🌎

#earthday #ontarioorganic #buylocal #kawarthalakes

Have you ever wondered how we make our beautiful, good looking, extraordinary, exceptional, magical, mythical, compost?
Well now you can find out!
The second day of our soil conference features a full day compost workshop. John, myself and Dr. Ingham will be here to teach you how to make your own diverse compost!
Participant spaces are limited in order to give everyone the best composting experience. So make sure you register before they are all gone!
You don’t have to go to the Friday presentations but we would recommend that you do.
Find your tickets in the link in the bio or on our website. See you soon! 🌱
#soilfoodweb #compost #soilhealth #feedyoursoil #ontarioorganic #kawarthalakes #buylocal

After a very wet couple weeks we wanted to take a peak at our soil. As you can see it’s drained beautifully, we have no standing water and our soil is still light and crumbly.
This is just one of the many benefits to growing with the soil food web and building great soils! There are many management practices that go into building and maintaining healthy, well structured soils! This is how we ensure our soils will be productive in changing seasons.
To find out more and how you can achieve this in your soil join us for our Feed Your Soil Conference, join our mailing list and follow along this season!
#soilfoodweb #microorganisms #climatechange #healthysoil #covercrop #feedyoursoil #aprilshowers #ontarioorganic #kawarthalakes

IT’S HAPPENING 🌱
Tickets for the GRO Conference: Feed Your Soil with Dr. Elaine Ingham are on sale!
Tickets can be found on our website and from the link in the bio.
Our early bird pricing lasts until the end of May.
Event details can be found in the event page for the tickets in the itinerary.
Make sure you buy your tickets early to hear how the Soil Food Web can help you grow better and healthier crops!
If there’s any questions or concerns feel free to reach out in a DM or an email!

#soilfoodweb #feedyoursoil #ontarioorganic #soilscience #soilconference #ontario #kawarthalakes

🌱SAVE THE DATE 🌱
We are extremely pleased to announce we are hosting a soil conference with Dr. Elaine Ingham as our speaker!
Dr. Ingham is the world’s foremost soil biologist and the founder of the Soil Food Web. She is the reason we use the farming practices that we do.
Come join us for a presentation with Dr. Ingham and/or a compost workshop.
Don’t miss the opportunity to hear our favourite soil biologist speak about applying the Soil Food Web to all types of farms.
Registration will open in the first week of April, it will be through the website and found in the link in the bio.
Hope to see you there!
#soilfoodweb #drelaineingham #compost #soilbiology #microbes #ontario #ontarioorganic #kawarthlakes

Come hear me ramble about the Soil Food Web and compost tomorrow at Seedy Saturday! And if you liked hearing me talk so much come say hi at our vendor table too! 🌱
#seedysaturday #soilfoodweb #compost #quinoaseeds #ontarioorganic

Happy First Day of Spring 🌷 Despite the recent snowfall and cooler temperatures the growing season will be here before we know it! May our spring be filled with emerging seedlings, birdsong and light! ☀️
#springequinox #bloom #springflowers #kawarthalakes #rhubarb #pollinators #ontario #ontarioorganic

Happy #cdnagday! A day to celebrate farmers and the tireless hours they put into producing food for Canadians.
It’s an honour to be farming year after year and doing our best to farm responsibly and still provide healthy food for the community.
I cannot wait to see what this year in agriculture has in store but whatever it is it will be worthwhile. 💚

#cndag #ontarioorganic #compost #kawarthalakes #quinoa #agriculture

A heartfelt thank you to everyone that stopped by and listened to my presentation this weekend at the @guelphorganicconference! I had a great time presenting the information along to everyone and hope that it made an impact! Thanks go @guelphorganicconference for having us this year, and other great presenters.
#goc2024 #soilfoodweb #ontarioorganic #compost #marketgarden #kawarthalakes

Today is World Soil Day! This year the theme is soil and water. Every farmer and gardener is well aware of the vitality of soil. The soil is the heart of production for any grower. As our climate changes and our weather is more unpredictable soil health is more important than ever to help mitigate that change.
What can you do to support your soil and the microorganisms inside?
•leave your leaf litter, leaf litter is not only great fungal food but is host to many little critters that help build organic matter over winter.
•support local growers and farmers who grow regeneratively! Your support helps every grower that is growing regeneratively and supports our soil health more than you know.
•buy great compost and apply it! The mighty microorganisms inside help create soil structure, improve water filtration and cycle nutrients so you do less work!

World soil health is something we can all work on from acres of farmland to home gardens. Our soils feed us so we can all work together to make sure we are fed for many years to come!

#worldsoilday #soilfoodweb #ontarioorganic #organicfarming #compost #microorganisms #soilandwater

Get a load of these rad crops! Cover crops are essential to building soil health. After our garlic and potatoes came out of the ground this year we cover cropped the soil right away. This year we used a mix of sorghum, oats, peas, wheat and tillage radish! The last picture is of a tillage radish I pulled out today and it’s 14” long with 11” that was in the soil! That’s 11” of aerating and compaction busting radish. The other crops help by building soil structure in the roots and producing organic matter when we mow them down. It’s always good to mix cover crops when planting because you never know what will grow the best per season!

#ontarioorganic #covercrops #marketgarden #sorghum #tillageradish #compaction #kawarthalakes

I’d like to take some this this Organic Week to talk about organic farming. I grew up on a conventional cash crop farm in southwestern Ontario. I’ve seen both sides of farming and I love both but I love small scale organic farming more. I love being able to grow food and crops with just compost for inputs. I love the hard work and dedication it takes to provide the highest quality and healthiest product possible. The part I enjoy the most though is how organic farming gives back to the soil. Every aspect of how we farm is for soil health. I have learned so much about agriculture in the last few years and I cannot wait to keep learning as the years go on.

#ontarioorganic #organicweek #canadianorganic #agriculture #kawarthalakes #shoplocal #soilhealth

As another season starts to wrap up it’s always nice to showcase the real star behind our success and I don’t mean me 😏
Each year I learn more about compost production and how to properly use The Soil Food Web in our gardens and fields. All of the beauty in the garden is due to our very own compost and the microorganisms who work in the soil! Our spectacular crops this season are due to these compost rows that we work so diligently on every summer!
Photos are courtesy of the lovely @hollyvanreenen, she brought our farm and the compost to life this summer with these wonderful photos!

#composting #soilfoodweb #quinoa #zinnia #healthysoil #shoplocal #kawarthalakes

The small moments on a regenerative farm that capture your attention. Taking a break from cover cropping to enjoy watching a monarch butterfly feed on the zinnias. We love a garden that will feed both us and the pollinators! 🐝
#monarchbutterfly #endageredspecies #ontarioorganic #kawarthalakes #closeup #regenerativeagriculture

The quinoa finale! We have been harvesting the quinoa for the last couple of weeks. Not all the plants are ready at the same time so harvest is staggered. These sunny days have really helped to dry the quinoa harvested last week!
All that is left is to wait for the heads to completely dry and then we can separate the seeds out and then the chaff.

It’s been an incredible process learning the growing process and I can’t wait to grow more next year!

#brightestbrilliantquinoa #westcoastseeds #ontarioorganic #quinoa #ontarioquinoa #kawarthalakes #marketgarden

What brilliant colour coming from the quinoa today! They are just about ready to harvest and they are sure putting on a show!
#ontarioorganic #quinoa #latesummer #brightestbrilliantquinoa

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Feed Your Soil

THE GLEN ROAD
ORGANICS LTD.

The Glen Road Organics Ltd.

Teaching, Growing, Research

At The Glen Road Organics our work is centered around the biological life in the soil.

We believe that balanced soil ecology is the secret to natural sustainability.

Watch as Nicole talks about compost with JM Fortier

They discuss the benefits, challenges, and key considerations to help you make the best choice for your gardens

Want to know how to increase your soil health?
Watch our video with JM Fortier for 5 mistakes you should avoid.

Get GRO Updates

Read Our Newsletter

Click the download link below for a PDF version

PRODUCTS WE SELL

COMPOST

POTTING MIX

GET IN TOUCH

We'd love to hear from you

Follow us on Instagram

Feed Your Soil

THE GLEN ROAD ORGANICS LTD.

The Glen Road Organics Ltd.

Teaching, Growing, Research

At The Glen Road Organics our work is centered around the biological life in the soil.

We believe that balanced soil ecology is the secret to natural sustainability.

Watch as Nicole talks about compost with JM Fortier

They discuss the benefits, challenges, and key considerations to help you make the best choice for your gardens

Want to know how to increase your soil health? Watch our video with JM Fortier for 5 mistakes you should avoid.

Get GRO Updates

Read Our Newsletter

Click the download link below for a PDF version

PRODUCTS WE SELL

COMPOST

POTTING MIX

GET IN TOUCH

We'd love to hear from you

​

Follow us on Instagram

THE GLEN ROAD
ORGANICS LTD.

Want to know how to increase your soil health?
Watch our video with JM Fortier for 5 mistakes you should avoid.