Our Farm

What Sustainability Looks Like To Us

When most people hear the word “sustainability,” they think “green” or “environmentally-friend­ly.” Though these associations can be helpful to consumers, they don’t always tell the whole story.  This is largely because we live in a world where the ‘green washing’ of environmental claims runs rampant, making it hard to tell fact from fiction sometimes.  In an attempt to be transparent, we want to share with you our views of sustainability and what we’re doing everyday to ensure our business practices environmental stewardship and social integrity.

Sustainability for us is an awareness of how we, as both individuals and a small business, impact our surroundings over the long-term. It is the idea that if we are aware of how we impact our surroundings, we can act in ways that provide for environmental, social, and economic benefits for future generations.

Here’s how we advocate for the environment:

Reducing Impact

• A local farmer picks up spent grain and uses it to feed his cattle
• Bicycle racks support employee and visitor commuting
• A discount is given to cyclists.  We encourage people to ride their bicycles to the brewery; those that do receive a ‘green discount’ for doing so
• An outdoor Fix-It Station (sponsored by North Shore Cycle) equipped with bike repair tools will be available in the spring of 2023 
• Toilet tissue, paper towel, and tissues are made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper
• Biodegradable, natural cleaners and detergents, no phosphates, harsh chemicals, or artificial colours 
• Felled trees from the forests on our property are cut, dried, and stored for future use in our pizza oven

Efficiency

• A heat exchanger not only cools wort so yeast can thrive to ferment healthy beer, it also pre-heats water that goes into subsequent batches of beer
• Energy efficient LED lighting illuminates all interior and exterior areas of the property
• Water-efficient toilets and faucets throughout the brewery
• Energy efficient hand-driers in our restrooms
• An Energy Star certified Navien Combi-Boiler with an annual fuel utilization efficiency of 95% supplies both heat (in-floor) and hot water for the brewery and kitchen
• A 700 hp steam boiler with 85-percent overall efficiency conserves and recycles energy for steam production used in all processes from heating, mashing, boiling, and general tank cleaning
• 80% of appliances are Energy-Star rated and/or managed properly for peak efficiency and low energy consumption

Waste Management

• All cardboard, paper, aluminum, and glass from the production process of brewing and cooking are recycled
• Foil bags used for hop pellets are saved after being emptied and dropped off a local depot for recycling
• Re-use program in place for our brewery, bar and kitchen towels
• No-go plastic bottle zone for staff and guests
• Food scraps from the kitchen, tap house, and brewery are composted on a daily basis. Once broken down, the compost is applied to our flower beds and perennial gardens

Water Conservation

• A C.I.P. (Clean-in-Place) system has reduced the amount of water to clean tanks by about 65 percent
• Our water is sourced from an on-site well
• Garden hoses are equipped with flow meters

Enhancing Biodiversity

• Brewery kitchen garden uses organic fertilizers and/or the art of companion planting, which act as natural insect repellents
• In 2019, we started working with a conservation group called ALUS (Alternative Land Use Services), who helped us turn a portion of our farmland into a pollinator row – consisting of natives species, prairie grass, and wild flowers
• Each year we plant a rare or endangered Carolinian plant, shrub, or tree species.  Thus far we’ve successfully established: pawpaw, hop, mulberry, quince, dogwood and cucumber-magnolia to name a few
• We’ve established hives on the property to help with the pollination of the fruits, vegetables, and flowers on the farm
• We connected with St. William’s Nursery in 2020 to purchased some of their “pollinator habitat” boxes – filled with 18 different native perennial plant species known to flourish in our Carolinian zone 
• In 2022, we started working with Carolinian Canada and the Ontario Plant Restoration Alliance on a new pilot recovery project for the Cucumber Magnolia tree, which has been identified as a Species at Risk
• In 2023, we’ll be working with Birds Canada monitoring forest birds on the farm to identify species at risk

The concept of naming Amazing Places within a UNESCO biosphere reserve began in Fundy Biosphere Reserve, with the intent of identifying and promoting significant natural sites for residents and visitors to access, in order to encourage better knowledge of ecological features and inspire a conservation ethic in people.

Amazing Places, in Norfolk County, is a sustainable tourism initiative that identifies and promotes significant sites in the region for residents and visitors alike to explore and gain knowledge about the uniqueness of the Long Point Biosphere region. In addition to the sites that have natural and/or biological significance, an Amazing Place should also have features that provide visitors with a memorable experience, be publicly accessible, and hold some cultural and/or historical significance.

The focus of the Amazing Places program is to direct residents and travelers to the gems throughout the region for the purposes of discovering and connecting with nature, and outdoor education. Following the “do no harm” model, contemporary Amazing Places are/or have been chosen in locations that can handle increased visitation without compromising what makes the destination Amazing.

A Certified Organic Crop

On November 1st, 2019 ECOCERT Canada issued an organic product certificate to the Carolinian Hop Yard.  Basically stating the production, preparation, and marketing of our hops is compliant with Canada’s organic standards. For the nine years prior to our certification, we didn’t spread, spray, or seed anything on our property that would not exist in our environment naturally.  The benefits of this choice have come back to us ten fold, as we’ve watched our hops flourish from year-to-year.  In addition to this, we are continuously amazed at the diversity of the natural world that thrives in and around the hop yard. Fawns, bats, wild turkeys, salamanders, snapping turtles, and a wide variety of birds, insects, and mushrooms have successfully made Carolinian Hop Yard and/or Charlotteville Brewing Company their home. Watching this diversity grow and prosper tells us that we’re making the right decisions in our agricultural approach to hop yard and on the farm itself.