Two Beets Farm makes healthy eating easy for residents in Westboro and Hintonburg Connection. Two Beets Farm is an online vegetable farm-stand initiative, founded by Diana Beirnes and Nic Gosselin. They offer completely customizable fresh vegetable baskets, which can be ordered online and picked up at your convenience. Diana and Nic understand the struggle of being health-conscious and occupied with busy jobs. They aim to make the association people have with food special through their work.

The genesis of Two Beets Farm is a story of adventure. One day, Diana and Nic decided to take a few months off from their corporate jobs to explore the outdoors. As enthusiastic nature lovers, they wanted to take time to bike, hike and travel, camping in their trailer along the way. Little did they know that the trip would lead them to a career switch, relocation and opening their own business.

They’d considered visiting various farms while travelling to make the trip more affordable and to gain more of a local experience. While doing so, they became interested in learning the fundamentals of farming and the origin of food. Finally, they chose to stop at a farm in Quebec for a whole season to try their hand at farming. “The lifestyle, food, the opportunity to share the experience with other people inspired us to start our endeavour,” added Diana. “What helped was that Quebec provides resources to burgeoning farmers – renting land to those starting their own business.”

The challenges faced by Two Beats Farm on the road to success

There were many small roadblocks along the way. They realized that there would be various unknowns to unravel and many hats to wear as entrepreneurs. Yet their passion for food and strong partnership triumphed over it all. Their love for farming and serving people organic and fresh vegetables fueled their pursuit. It made them confident to follow their calling and take the risk. The name Two Beets Farm is inspired by the idea that they both are two beats to a tune – music being another hobby that brings them together.

Two Beets Farm’s mission is to not only serve people fresh variety but also educate them about their food, the nutritional value and how it’s grown. Nic and Diana want to meet people and build relationships with them while impacting their lives in a positive way. That is also the reason why they joined the Discover Local program. Nic and Diana feel it is a great way to support and contribute to the community in Westboro and further support other local ventures.
 

About Discover Local

Discover Local is an exclusive program for our residents, created to better acquaint them with their neighbourhood and the many local businesses and services therein. It’s all about discovering what makes their local community so vibrant, inspiring, and livable. From cafes and restaurants to retailers, gyms and beyond, we invite you to discover local – there’s a whole neighbourhood waiting to be discovered!

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Bridgehead Coffee, a renowned fair-trade coffeehouse chain, is a local favourite for the residents of Westboro and Hintonburg. The first company to offer consumers fairly-traded coffee in Canada has a special relationship with the Westboro neighbourhood. The first Bridgehead Coffeehouse opened at 362 Richmond Road in Westboro back on June 17, 2000. Gradually, it expanded to twenty outlets and now includes a line of organic teas and food products as well.

What makes Bridgehead unique is not just the fact that they provide high-quality coffees but also how warm and generous their team is. The staff makes an effort to engage with every customer and make a positive impact on their day. They love helping to create great memories over cups of coffee. “We wish to utilize every interaction as an opportunity to make someone’s day,” says Blair Amyotte, Director of Marketing and Brand at Bridgehead.

To make every experience worthwhile, they strive to ensure that everything they serve meets the highest standards. They go the extra mile, starting with meeting with the farmers responsible for growing the beans and plucking the tea leaves. Bridgehead gives the farmers a helping hand when they need it, including collaborating on environmental and sustainability policies. Blair says Bridgehead wants to eventually introduce their customers to these local farmers and show them where their coffee comes from.

The pandemic posed huge challenges to community-building and collaboration opportunities – the values Bridgehead is defined by. Due to travel restrictions, the team hasn’t been able to meet with their farmers over the past year, and they realized that some have been hit really hard. One farmer partner, for instance, wasn’t able to prepare enough harvest for commercial sale. Yet, Bridgehead still bought several bags to keep the partnership going. Although that coffee did not reach customers, the beans were turned into thank-you coffees for the staff, along with a note telling the story of the farmer who grew them.

Bridgehead also believes in building community close to home. On March 15th, 2020, when the first positive case of COVID-19 had just been identified and assessment centers were preparing to be opened, the Bridgehead team planned a special surprise for the staff. The team visited Assessment Centre with coffee for all the nurses and other staff. They were greeted with tears of joy and gratitude and an unforgettable heartwarming response. Touched by the reaction, Bridgehead has delivered coffees to those frontline workers every single day since then. They have also offered their thank you coffees to different local health care worker groups including The Ottawa Hospital, CHEO, EORLA and community health clinics like Centretown Community Health Clinic – to name a few.

These stories exemplify the extraordinariness of Bridgehead’s community service initiatives. Bridgehead knows the impact that kindness can make on someone’s day – so they work hard to delight their customers, support the farmers, rewarding their employees, and celebrate the healthcare workers who are protecting our community.

About Discover Local

Discover Local is an exclusive program for our residents, created to better acquaint them with their neighbourhood and the many local businesses and services therein. It’s all about discovering what makes their local community so vibrant, inspiring, and livable. From cafes and restaurants to retailers, gyms and beyond, we invite you to discover local – there’s a whole neighbourhood waiting to be discovered!

The post Westboro’s Bridgehead Coffee nourishes the community with its caring spirit – and its amazing coffee appeared first on Westboro 2 (Scott Street) Blog.