Life on Martin's Sweet Farm

High school sweethearts from Listowel, the couple decided to start farming after spending more than a decade in the corporate world. After a long search they settled on the perfect property and took possession of in May 2014.

By Stacey Sage

The farm is over 165 years old, and Heather and Les are lovingly restoring it to its former glory to support and sustain their bees. It took a lot of hard work and a large investment, but they feel it has been worth it.

Bees and Trees = Honey and Maple

Every year, Les and Heather tap 1,000 maple trees over 30 acres and manage 120 bee hives that house between 40,000-50,000 bees.

True to the name, this sweet farm produces 100% pure and natural honey and maple syrup. They also blend their honey and maple syrup together making their signature maple honey which is used to sweeten a number of other products.

Their honey is never pasteurized and doesn’t need to be because honey is naturally antibacterial.

Along with the maple trees and beehives, Heather and Les grow hay and clover for the bees and do a complete crop rotation regularly to rejuvenate the soil. These hard-working farmers have also planted a few hundred fruit trees on their property.

Bees at Martin's Sweet Farm in the heart of the Halton Region.

Martin's Sweet Farm Specialties

In addition to their many exciting honeys, you can purchase other goodies from The Sweet Farm. You can buy their locally made products at various locations around Ontario, or direct from their website.

Canadian Crunch

Body Scrub

Maple Honey Toffee

Lip Balm

Maple Honey Mustard

Natural Deodorant

Glaze & Dipping Sauce

Hot Coarse Maple

Honey Mustard

Maple Fudge

Honeysticks

Spicy Maple Honey

Beeswax Candles

Body Butter

Soaps

How Much Honey Are We Talking?

Typically, each hive will produce about 100 pounds of honey, but half is left for the bees to survive the winter, so roughly 50 pounds is harvested from each hive. Last year, honey production was down because of the overly wet summer. Fingers crossed for a warmer, dryer season this year!

Why Buying Local Matters to Heather & Les

“There’s the obvious environmental reasons to buyinglocal; you aren’t contributing to wider global issueswith trucking and shipping.

It’s fresh, which might be less of a concern withsomething like honey than produce, but it’s also fromsomeone you can know, someone you can visit,allowing you to understand what goes into makingand producing the product. And any time you arebuying local food products, you are contributingto a more sustainable food supply system.

Buying from local farms keeps farmersproducing which means we all have a betterchance of preserving and protecting ourlocal food sources for whenwe need them.”

At Love Local Food, wecouldn’t agree more!

Get Your Honey Here!

Visit Martin’s Sweet Farm online at facebook.com/MartinsSweetFarm to keep up-to-date with everything happening at the Sweet Farm.

Martin's Sweet Farm offers a wide variety of goods in addition to their specialty honeys, from Maple Honey Mustard to Beeswax Candles.

Founded in 2014 by Leslie and Heather Martin, Martin’s Sweet Farm covers 100 acres near the village of Campbellville, nestled in the heart of Halton Region.