This commitment comes from working 20 years in Africa for conventional large scale farms who only believed in the promise of the chemical industries: the next chemical would surely be the ultimate cure of all. Working this way it was obvious that chemical dependency was increasing rather than decreasing and the adverse effects on the employees and the end consumer(usually in Europe) could not be beneficial.

From the outset of the farm in 1997 in Spencerville, one thing we were not going to do was use chemicals. This is how Aubin farm evolved! Soon we realized there was a movement of other farms like us called ‘organic farming ‘, so that is where we belong!

As for the mix on our farm, we just did not like the taste of anything we bought in the supermarkets over the winter of 1997. We decided to put in a small vegetable garden and raise a few chickens for eggs and meat. Of course the cattle became a necessity to clear the land that was all overgrown, as we had asked for the chemicals to be kept away from it. The lambs came a couple of years later when someone could no longer handle their flock and asked us to take it over.

Tim was born, raised and educated in England. From Agricultural college he decided to do a world tour to gain more experience by working on farms in 2 hemispheres to get 2 summers in one year. After New South Wales in Australia, Alberta was the Canadian Experience. On return to England, life seemed too cramped. So he jumped at the opportunity to work in Ghana. This began the 20 year stint of farming in Africa, starting with corn on 10,000 acres in Ghana to hybrid flower seeds on 30 acres in Kenya. His experience covered all aspects of farming, but the best was growing roses in Kenya.

In 1997 when the farm started, the first investment was a rose green house. The first season apart from growing a little bit of food for ourselves, we were a complete flower farm and Roshan went to the market to sell flowers and a little of our excess vegetables. Needless to say the demand for the vegetables was so high that each year since then the flower production went down and the vegetable production went up. We have always listened to our customers and this has given the direction for the farm to develop. For Aubin Farm customer service and satisfaction are #1 priority. Of course you will never please everybody at all times but so long as you please most of them most of the times you are doing fine. This is what Aubin farm tries to achieve.

This is not too difficult to do because Roshan brings her teachers’ attitude to the farm and is always willing to help and is most conscious of being fair. Her Math background obviously assists the farm with the accounts. Roshan was born and brought up in Tanzania and went to England to finish her studies. She was teaching in England for 10 years until she married Tim and went back to Africa to bring up 2 daughters and maintain the homestead farms to keep the family in good health. So life on the farm in Canada is only an extension of the life as it was in Kenya.