At the Farm Gate: Cookstown Greens
A crisp and breezy September morning. Slow drive on a dirt road to Cookstown Greens, our local organic vegetable farm ten minutes northwest of town. Vicky greets me with a warm smile as always, and my order is waiting for me in a big brown paper bag.
The office where farm-gate pickups happen smells earthy and delicious. Two other locals stop in during our short chat to pick up their vegetables.
Outside, Vicky’s husband, Mike, and the crew are bringing winter squash, carrots, and beets in from the fields. The last of the summer vegetables are being loaded onto trucks headed for grocery stores and the last farmers’ markets of the season.
Mike pops by, and we discover that he grew up just around the corner from my house in town. His parents lived in Cookstown for 20 years before moving closer to the farm, and he and his siblings went to Cookstown Central.
It seems fitting that a farm with widespread regional recognition should have such true connection to its namesake.
Cookstown Greens has been growing organic food since 1988. Today, the family-run farm spans 100 acres, with more than 18 fields and eight greenhouses growing vegetables year-round.
But the farm has changed considerably since those early days.
Cookstown Greens began as an artisan farm supplying chefs with vegetables, herbs, edible flowers and delicate garnishes. The original owner was a “true “pioneer of local and organic produce,” Vicky says. Vicky and Mike took over in 2012, expanding beyond restaurants into farm markets and grocery retail. Today, their produce can be found at 55 retail locations, while the farm continues to supply restaurants across Southern Ontario.
“Since the fall of 2012, our goal was to expand into retail locations,” Vicky tells me. At the time, Cookstown Greens was primarily a hospitality supplier.
“The brand was recognizable, but people were like, ‘Oh, I ate your stuff at, you know, a really nice restaurant. How do I get it?’”
For those of us in Cookstown, the answer is simple.
“Come to the farm,” Vicky says.
For Cookstown residents, the farm gate has taken on a little more significance in the past two years. Since the fire that closed our local Foodland, a full grocery shop has meant a drive out of town.
When I mention the grocery store, Vicky asks whether it will ever reopen.
“There’s no news,” I tell her. “There’s lots of rumour, of course, but there’s no news.”
“Well, that’s such a bummer.”
Cookstown Greens isn’t a replacement for a grocery store, but it is one more way to keep part of the weekly shop close to home. Farm gate customers can order directly from the farm, and there are also “seconds”: perfectly good vegetables that aren’t quite retail-ready.
“If you’re feeding a family, $2 a pound for beets, or carrots, or potato,” Vicky says. “I think it’s a good value.”
The farm gate became particularly busy during the pandemic.
“2020 to 2023 were the most insane years,” Vicky says. “People didn’t want to go to the grocery store.”
Curbside pickups filled the pavement with boxes and bags.
“It was wild.”
Things have settled since then. The farm gate email list now reaches 100 people, including seasonal customers from the city and a group of regulars who come every week.
For Vicky and Mike, the farm has become a way of life that took years to learn how to live with.
“Before it was, like, a grind to the farm, and now it’s kind of the opposite,” Vicky says. “It took, like, forever to find work-life balance.”
Still, there is plenty to love.
“We love what we do,” Vicky says. “And it also gives us an opportunity to try vegetables that we would have, like, never tried.”
She and Mike joke that they must have bought vegetables before they worked for the farm, but what did they actually buy?
“Carrots, and potatoes… I think that was the extent.”
Now they eat beets and squash, and encourage customers to do the same.
“I would encourage, you know, for people to try something new that they haven’t tried before.”
It is easy advice to follow at this time of year. Delicata squash, mixed beets, carrots pulled from the field: vegetables that require little more than roasting on a sheet pan with olive oil and salt.
It’s easy to relate. A bag of Cookstown Greens carrots has become a regular fixture in my kitchen. My kids have been known to eat them straight from the bag: sometimes in the car before we even make it home from the farm.
And the most interesting thing I learned that morning had little to do with farming.
It was about Cookstown.
Mike remembers growing up here in the ’80s and ’90s, when kids biked from one friend’s house to another and parents simply expected them to come home later.
“I’d go everywhere on my own. Parents, see you later. Come back at night.”
He loved Cookstown Central, too. His siblings went there, and now his nephew does.
Vicky tells me that Mike’s mother still talks about how much she loved raising her family here. She and Mike’s father had moved from England, and Cookstown, she says, felt like “the perfect place to raise a family.”
It is a familiar story: our small town is often remembered not for any single attraction, but for proximity, safety, the school, and the neighbours.
From the farm office, with locals coming through for their vegetables and Mike heading back outside to the fields, it feels like this is a story less about farming and more about community.
A business that has been here since 1988. A family that grew up here. A school that has connected generations. A farm that supplies restaurants in Toronto but also sells carrots to families just down the road.
And, thankfully, they have no plans to disappear.
“We’re gonna be here for the next 10 years,” Vicky tells me.
I love that.
Vicky and Mike, please don’t go anywhere.
