Revival Farms

I used to run away from school. I’d usually wait until just after lunchtime, and either attempt to have my mom pick me up with an illness I made up that morning, or I’d simply just walk out the door. Even though I enjoyed some of my classes, and had a great group of friends (still to this day!), I was either bored or embarrassed. When it came to reading, I was sneaking adventure books to school that were meant for adult readers. When it came to math (especially anything done in front of the class), I’d write the answers in my desk and hope no one noticed. Teachers sent notes home to my parents - mostly telling them I was a good kid but couldn’t concentrate on my school work. I struggled until high school, when I finally got to choose some of my classes. Fast forward to when my son turned 4 and I had to start thinking about his schooling. We tried the public school system and even though he enjoyed time with friends, he was getting those same notes home - can’t sit still, won’t complete his work, talking too much in class, interrupting his peers. My heart broke for him because I knew what it felt like to disappointment people when I was just being myself. I went back and forth on homeschooling, until one day I opened another note from his teacher and I just sat and cried. Even though his teachers were wonderful with coming up with different activities for him (including extra time outside) they just couldn’t accommodate his needs with 29 other kids. I started our homeschool (unschool) journey the next day and we haven’t looked back. This September, our Homestead Learning Centre will welcome other kids into our unique learning programs based on traditional skills and connection. What started as a need to allow my son to learn and grow in a nature setting turned into the realization that he was far from alone in how he learns. I hope you’ll join us ❤️

Yet another reason we raise our own birds. You can see and taste the difference in their eggs and meat. We are living in a time where nutrient deficiencies are stemming from excess rather than lack.

https://anyavien.com/non-organic-chicken-contributes-to-hormonal-imbalance-polycystic-ovarian-syndrome-breast-cancer-and-more/

Chickens have grown 364% over the last 60 years.

In the 1940s, chicken was expensive. The average chicken was $3....that's $30 today when adjusted for inflation.

A&P, the country's largest supermarket at the time, wanted to turn this delicacy into a staple.

So, they devised specialized breeding and feeding to grow bigger chickens, faster.

It worked...

The average chicken now grows 2X as fast and weighs 3.5X more.

Chickens are meant to eat a wide range of foods such as grass and bugs, but now they are primarily fed corn and soy to fatten them up as fast as possible.

This not only fattens them, but changes their fat.

The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of modern chickens can be as high as 20:1, 3X that of pasture-raised chicken.

And, just as A&P wanted, we are eating A LOT of it.

The average American eats 65 pounds of chicken per year.

Chicken is a health food, but I recommend sourcing it from a farm where the chickens get to move out in the pasture, consuming a more natural diet.

Our Homestead Learning Centre opens this September! After months of property searches to find the perfect place for our programs, we landed right back at home in Southwold, Ontario. We will still be on the lookout for properties, but we aren’t in a rush. We will open our doors to learners of all ages who want to experience what it’s like on a homestead - from caring for animals to learning traditional skills to finding community and support in a world full of distraction. We’d like to invite 7 more students into our one-room-schoolhouse (ages 7-13) that will run Monday-Friday from 9am - 3pm. We will also be inviting people to join us on evenings and weekends for our traditional skills workshops from educators who are passionate about what they do - from wilderness survival to processing wool into yarn, we have a little taste of the homestead for everyone. We can’t wait to get started and we hope you and your family will join us! Please send a message with any questions you have and we will reach out soon ❤️ - Jen & Mark

We woke up to 12 new babies! Adrian was AWOL for weeks and we assumed the worst for her. Today, she showed up with her brand new babies. She must have been sitting on a nest outside the coop this whole time. The best surprise 🥰

Some more nature art today! ❤️ 🦉

I’ve been reading a lot about Dick Proenneke and his life in the Alaskan wilderness – he built his own cabin by hand and lived there for thirty years, hunting and gathering his own food. This quote was taken from chapter nine of One Man’s Wilderness, written by Sam Keith and based on Dick’s journals. I’ve been drawn to this life for what feels like my whole life - a life I wouldn’t need a vacation from… a life where there is no need for the gym, fancy supplements and food. To me, this is real living. Even though there isn’t much unspoiled land here, we will be recreating this simple life – living, working and learning the skills that sustained us for generations. We really don’t need as much as we have.
“Needs… I guess that’s what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they’re dependent on too many things and too many other people. I don’t understand economics and I suppose the country would be in a real mess if people suddenly cut out a lot of things they don’t need. I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked, “must I really have this?”
I guess most of the extras are chalked up to comfort or saving time. Funny thing about comfort - one man’s comfort is another man’s misery. Most people don’t work hard enough physically anymore and comfort isn’t easy to find.
I’ve seen grown men pick at food. They can’t be hungry in the first place or maybe their foods have been too fancy and with all the choices they’ve had they really don’t know what they enjoy anymore.
I’ve never found anything I like better to drink than Hope Creek water, the good feeling I get out of lungful’s of mountain air, and drafts of sweet water from the snows is probably as good as any high I’d get out of a bottle or a pill but, of course, not many have a chance to live in unspoiled country.” – Dick Proenneke

We love incorporating nature into our art 🐌 🎨 At our learning centre, we will be discussing the role snails play in our environment as well as fun facts about them (like the spiral pattern on their shell appearing in nature). As children learn more about snails, they could add drawings and notes to their page. By the end of the unit, they’ve created their own resource for snails! We open our doors to more students this fall - send us a message if you’d like more information!

Just a little sample of an activity at our Homestead Learning centre. Creativity is so important for healthy development (especially when we incorporate nature and multiple learning methods). By the end of the year, children will have a binder full of resources they’ve created themselves. 🌳

This is our monster mulberry tree! The fruit is just about ready, and we’re coming up with creative ways to catch the fruit before the chickens and ducks can. Stay tuned! Any favourite mulberry recipes?

Bandit was caught in the crossfire of a bubble fight 😂 He is honestly the sweetest boy and nothing much phases him. 🫧

A little update for those of you following along with us.

We found another beautiful property where we could run everything we were planning. The list price was right within our budget and the property had been on the market since last fall, so we put an offer in, willing to offer what they were asking. We found out today that they want an extra $150,000 above asking and aren’t willing to budge from that price.

We are feeling incredibly frustrated with this process. We understand that it’s a common practice when a property is first listed, but it’s disheartening to find a property, walk through it, put in an offer, only to be told that they want more than what they’re asking (and what we’re able to spend).

Still not giving up! We just thought we’d share where we are in the process. We’re so thankful to have some amazing people in our corner, who are working tirelessly to make this happen. ❤️

Jennifer Jacquelyn

Saying goodbye to the life we thought we’d be living for the rest of our lives isn’t easy. Turning the page to the next chapter, trusting that this is what is meant to be, is still scary. Even though we trust, and even though we know we will eventually see why it didn’t work out for us… Thank you all for your encouragement though the last several months - we have no regrets for dreaming big and going for it. Revival Farms is still here - it’s just going to look a little different right now. Wish us luck as we tour some more properties in search of a place we can call home and welcome students to this fall ❤️

When you feel like you’re being watched and you turn around 😂

Please keep us in your thoughts this week as we navigate the final stage of the lending process on our property. Today marks two full months of work (and long nights) to be considered and we really can’t wait to get this project started. Thank you all for your patience as “one more week” turned into eight, your beautiful messages and calls of support. It truly takes a village and we couldn’t be more thankful for the one we have (and one we’re growing). If you pre-registered for our cabins, camps, school or workshops, you may be getting a call or email this week to finally, officially book your spot! I’m reminded of the stages of a dandelion as we wait - how we need to fully transform ourselves and break down before we can move forward. Let this week be the last “one more week” 😂

Mama Rose and her adopted baby 🥰 She continues to sit on a dozen eggs, so she will be one busy girl in just over a week!

I spy .farms in the Real Living Elgin and Port Stanley Villager magazines this month! I loved getting together with Peri at to chat about our plans - she’s so wonderful to work with and it was an honour to be included. Special thanks to Geoff at Villager Publications for featuring us! Grab a FREE copy from a local Elgin business ❤️

UPDATE: Wow… the messages haven’t stopped since this post and we’re just blown away. We already have several new lender options and others who are reaching out to their connections. We are so so grateful to have so many people in our corner, working hard to make this dream come true. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Well friends… I was going to do a live video to share this news but I haven’t been able to stop crying about it.

After months of work, weeks of inspections, business registrations, insurance and thousands of dollars, we just found out that our lender pulled out (on the last day, at the last hour). Our move in date was scheduled for next week… that’s how close everything was. The beautiful property we were set to call home and run our business together as a family was re-listed yesterday.

We don’t know what this means for Revival Farms right now. To be honest, we’re just trying to process this news ourselves. We don’t understand it… even though we believe that everything happens for a reason. We will be the first to tell you that we don’t know that reason yet.

All we can say is thank you. Thank you to a community of people who were just as excited as we were to see this project go through. You really kept us going and kept us motivated to bring this farm to life.

We’re not saying it’s over… it’s just going to take some time to get back on our feet and find the way forward. ❤️

Mireille Guillemette

Hey Friends! Some exciting things are happening over at Revival Farms and we can’t wait to share them with you (including our new location!!). Our full website is coming soon but if you’d like to be the first to know about our beautiful property and everything we will be hosting, click the link below and add your info 🥰

HOME | Revival Farms

What didn’t you learn in school that you wish you had?

We’re looking for an experienced lifeguard to join our team for the summer! If you’re interested, please fill out the application using the link below and we will reach out soon. We will be posting more positions in the upcoming weeks - check out the link to see who we are currently looking for!

https://forms.gle/9uGwfM7hwwAXEfne8

It’s time 🥰 What are some of your favourite recipes? We’re going to try some omelettes tonight!

We’re Jen and Mark – the owners here at Revival Farms! We may have started Revival Farms together, but we couldn’t even come close to this dream without our wonderful team and community. You’ve already met Mimi and Peri, and you’ll be meeting many more of our team members in the coming weeks.

Mark and I are lucky to have a pretty awesome blended family and are the proud parents of three boys between us. Family comes first and we believe in family dinners and quality time spent playing board games and lots of time with our animals and nature.

Although we both grew up in small towns, our hearts have always been in the country, surrounded by animals, and we’ve been working towards that dream for years. Revival Farms has been growing for a long time, and we are so excited to share it with all of you this summer. Our goal is to let others experience a homestead close to home.

You can find Mark inventing, planning, building, modifying, fixing and improving just about everything on the farm. As a Millwright with over 25 years of experience in just about every trade, Mark doesn’t stop until he finds the perfect solution to any problem. If you see a unique setup on the farm, you can be sure it came from Mark. He is obsessed with puzzles and problems, and I haven’t come across one he couldn’t solve. While Mark enjoys solitude most of the time, he is happy to show you how to fix just about anything. Mark is our math, shop and woodworking teacher at our Homestead School. He’s a free-energy chaser, creative inventor and an old school family man.

You’re most likely to find me (Jen) in the woods, leading a workshop or teaching the kids in our camps and Homestead School.

If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, this was the ultimate dream - a place where we could share lost skills, resources. The community, the village.

I’m the biggest lover of books, learning nerdy things, traditional skills and anything that takes us back to our roots. I’ve always said I was born in the wrong time - I could spend hours inside an antique store, or listening to the stories people share about their lives.

I’m most at home in nature - sinking my bare feet in the sand or mud, or sitting and cuddling my chickens. I’m a deep thinker and storyteller who enjoys the deepest conversations. I’m much quicker to ask you about your dreams than what you think about the weather.

Whether you’re looking for a getaway close to home, surrounded by life and nature, or you’re looking to learn lost skills from people that may not have a degree, but who have been practicing these skills all their lives - passed down from generations of family members, Revival Farms is waiting for you. We hope to meet you in person and show you this wonderful place, created by a labour of love of generations past and a community of people who will feel like family from the first moment you meet them.

Do you have any of the following items lying around? We will keep them out of the landfill and put them to good use on the farm! Paint 🎨, Wood 🪵, Windows 🪟, Steel, Craft and School Supplies 📚, Instruments 🎹 🎶. We are happy to pick everything up in the London, St. Thomas and Elgin County areas. Thank you all! ❤️

We never know which colours we’re going to find each morning 🥰 Today, we found our first grey egg and our first dark olive egg.

On behalf of the Team at Revival Farms we would like to send a big wonderful shout out and thank you to all of our families, friends & supporters! We couldn't be doing this without you. As another successful week comes to a close, we feel gratitude for everyone's collaboration, interest and participation as we continue to work hard on this project of hearts and minds, while of course, welcoming all of your questions & curiosities! Much love Friends 🧡
Introducing another team member-Bandit the Rooster 🐓 🌳👋

Wow! The response so far has been amazing!! Thank you to friends and family, near and far who are supporting this business and community endeavor! Thank you for the "likes" and "shares" as this is how advertising is done in 2024. We are growing very quickly, thanks to many of you! Sending love ❤️ It really does take a village Jennifer Jacquelyn Revival Farms

Hey Friends! Could we ask a favour? Would you help Revival Farms grow by following and sharing our pages? It will only take a minute and it will make it so much easier to get the word out about what we’re planning ❤️ Thank you all for your time and support - it means the world to us.

FACEBOOK: (click the Revival Farms text above)
To share our page with your friends, just click the … button in the top banner, select Invite Friends and click Select All (or choose who you’d like to share it with).

INSTAGRAM: .farms
https://www.instagram.com/revival.farms?igsh=Z3kzZHh2dHFnOGtm&utm_source=qr