Client Spotlight: Cedar Grove Farms

A Solawrap Canada client spotlight post where we get to speak with Caitlin Luck of Cedar Grove Farms in Haliburton County, Ontario.

Project: 20’ x 36’ Hoop House

Year Constructed: 2022

Caitlin Luck is no stranger to the farming lifestyle - she grew up on a farm in rural Alliston, Ontario. She tells us her experience and passion for growing food did not start there, as her family mainly raised horses and goats. However, moving to Haliburton County 12 years ago, when she and her husband Jamie took over 7 acres of bush land to create a beautiful homestead, has led to her developing many skills, including growing produce, with Cedar Grove Farms. “We slowly expanded our usable property in order to grow food. Our first priority was the chickens for eggs, and then we moved to outdoor growing.” 

This eventually led to them wanting to add a greenhouse on to the property. With deer and various other predators around, having the protection of a greenhouse was appealing.  “We wanted to provide a safe haven to grow our food and a longer growing season.” 

Caitlin and Jamie constructed the greenhouse project themselves after finding a used hoop house to work with.  Caitlin recalls the construction process: “We built it up on sand and put landscape fabric down for the floor, and the rest came together easily.” 

They installed insulation in the ground around the perimeter. 4’ of insulation above ground on the north side with steel roofing, covering the rest using 4’ wide Solawrap. 

They chose Solawrap to cover the hoop house after their research concluded that cladding the project in less durable poly would mean more potential damage and replacement needs to deal with down the line. “We decided to cover the house with Solawrap because of its reputation as being a tough covering.”

When asked about the process of mounting Solawrap to the structure, Caitlin found that it was “easy to connect the channels to the hoops.” When it came to installing the Solawrap into the fixing strips, she had a tip for those looking to undertake the process: “have multiple people to help with installing in the channel.” They also appreciated our tip to spray lubricant in the channels to help the material slide more easily into place. 

Caitlin says the kids love hanging out in the greenhouse and that it provides a great place for learning and a nice place for the family to spend time together.

They’ve found no issues with the heavy snowfalls in the winter, saying that the snow clears easily off their structure.

Growth in the greenhouse so far has consisted mainly of raised beds, and they have used the space for seedlings and local produce boxes throughout the summer. They’ve had strawberries from May to October. They plan to expand their growing to sell more produce. Caitlin said that for their third season she would now try growing winter hardy vegetables such as kale and will see how it goes.  

Products at the farm include farm fresh eggs, vegetable seedlings, produce, perennials, unique timbers, and preserves. They occasionally have homemade ice-cream available too!

We’d like to thank Caitlin for taking the time to share her story with us, and wish all the best of the harvest for her and Cedar Grove Farms year round!

Find out more about Cedar Grove Farms at their website here, and follow them on Instagram here