Creating A Self-Sustained Lifestyle

Anne-Marie Hardie

Passionate, driven and committed to self-sufficiency are just few of the qualities that describe Sally Shearman. Now the proud owner of Sharon Creek Farm in Sharon, Ontario, Sally has truly created her own career path from making her own pottery to a teacher of the visual arts. A true visionary, Sally recently transformed a country hillside into a fruit tree, nut farm and her own edible vegetable garden.

“When I bought this property, none of this was here,” says Sally. “Everything had to be built, from the barn to the electric fences that help protect the animals.”

Sally is one of those individuals who not only sees the possibilities in a plot of land, but is able to single-handedly bring it into fruition. As she walks around the hilly terrain of her property, Sally explains how each piece seamlessly works together, from creating frost pockets at the bottom of the hill to the ducks that come out to consume the morning bugs. Everything has been well thought through, including the protective barriers around the trees to the electric fences that help contain the livestock.

Farm life is not new to Sally; her father grew crops on a farm in England and then transitioned to a livestock farm when the family immigrated to Canada. In fact, Sally always knew that living off the land would become an integral component of her life. As a high school graduate, Sally initially wanted to pursue a diploma in horticulture; however, she was persuaded by her guidance counsellor to pursue a slightly different direction, focusing on advertising, which then followed with a college diploma in design arts and her own pottery studio. But a part of her heart remained connected to the plant world, so she decided to turn each plot of land she lived on into an edible garden.

As a single mother of two children, Sally clearly demonstrated to her children that anything was possible. She continued to take courses, culminating with a career as a visual arts teacher that specialized in working with children with dyslexia. Despite a successful teaching career, there was something that continued to draw Sally back to plants. So she returned to her original high school career choice and took a landscape design course at the University of Guelph. Here, Sally learned about how to convert lawns into landscapes.

Throughout it all, Sally realized that, although she loved the plants, landscape design wasn’t a good fit for her. Her true passion was in cultivating plants in their natural environment, then spent the time finding plants that were the right fit for the landscape.

It was near the end of the landscape course that Sally decided that she wouldn’t pursue landscape design. Instead, she purchased the 6-acre property that would soon become the home of Sharon Creek Farms. So why did she convert from landscape design to a fruit farm?

“I realized that I didn’t want to do landscape design, where my true interest was with native plants and growing food,” says Sally.

Extremely interested in self-sufficiency, Sally tries to make almost everything that she needs herself, from her children’s clothing to canning and preserving food.

“At one time, I turned my entire backyard into a vegetable garden,” says Sally. “I don’t believe in lawns.” It’s this desire to be self-sufficient that provided the motivation to truly live off the land.

Sally invested the first few years on the property understanding the nature of the land by consulting with a permaculture designer to determine the best use of the land. The planting began in 2012, with experimental planting initially to see what it would take. Sally carefully chose plants that thrived in the climate and terrain of the area, like cold hardy kiwi to pears. To prevent infestations, Sally planted companion herbs like wormword to naturally keep insects away from the produce.

In 2013, Sally planted over 200 berries, vines, fruit and nut trees, choosing the locations that would be best suited for these particular products. She spends her days monitoring their growth and evaluating which ones are the best for the region.

“The cold winter from two years ago was a difficult period,” says Sally. “We lost a lot of trees, but we also learned which ones were the survivors.”

With a continued focus on self-sustenance, Sally has assigned a large portion of the land to a kitchen garden. Here, she continues to grow her own food, while selling any excess to local restaurants and markets. In fact, one of her best restaurant customers is her daughter, who regularly uses the duck eggs, garlic scapes and produce for her Toronto restaurant.

The livestock is a combined result of Sally’s love for animals and her desire to maintain a true permaculture environment. The sheep provide manure and wool and are excellent lawn mowers, while the ducks help to control the bugs.

This year will be the first year that Sally will be selling her product at King City’s farmer’s market. The focus will be selling the berries and currants and then expand to include fruit once the trees mature. The market is also another venue to sell the garlic scapes, duck eggs and the overflow from her kitchen garden. But the possibilities for potential income don’t stop there, with Sally currently researching juices, cordials, and spinning and processing the wool from her sheep.

When asked about the future, Sally’s hope is to marry her passion for teaching with nature, bringing in the community to share how we are all vitally connected to the land. GT

Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer/speaker from Barrie, Ontario, and part of the third generation of the family-owned garden center/wholesale business Bradford Greenhouses in Barrie/Bradford, Ontario.