Azilda green thumb ReBecca Caissy loves nothing more than getting out in the garden, and her new business, ReBecca’s Roots, can help you make the most of your backyard plot
ReBecca Caissy is sewing the seeds of love in Greater Sudbury, and she is doing it with her new gardening venture and a new season of gardening in her newly erected driveway greenhouse.
Caissy, who lives in Azilda, is a passionate green thumb and her neighbours can attest to that, given the gardens that line the front and backside of her property, and the greenhouse newly erected in her driveway.
Her company, ReBecca’s Roots, offers planning and layout guidance, and seedlings. Bookings are being taken now.
“Right now, I am doing a giveaway for bare root strawberry plants and asparagus crowns on the ReBecca’s Roots Facebook page to build interest and exposure,” she said.
While the front yard is for all things sunny, Rebecca Caissy of ReBecca’s Roots and her boyfriend reserve a lot of backyard real estate for growing garlic. Supplied
Born in Elliot Lake, Caissy moved to Sudbury at a young age. She studied chemical engineering at Collège Boréal and really enjoyed the environmental side of things.
“Afterwards, I worked with a greenhouse company and in Val D’or where I made my first garden outside my apartment,” she said. “After relocating to the Sudbury area, I then started working at a local farm in Chelmsford and learned so much.”
Now based in Azilda, her personal gardens are being prepped for a season of ground cherries, snap peas, carrots, beets, zucchinis, summer squash, tomatoes and so much more.
“This year, I am even trying something new with tromboncino squash,” Caissy said. “It’s a unique looking, long and skinny, Italian summer squash variety.”
In addition to gardening and garden consulting, Caissy has another occupation, too: training the next generation of food farmers.
Her four-year-old daughter, Haley, actively spends her days in the dirt, too. Haley grows sunflowers and seedlings and when ready, she snacks on crisp, fresh vegetables.
“We pick ground cherries and snap peas together,”Caissy said. “It’s our special time together.”
Even her boyfriend puts in the time building greenhouses, erecting growing contraptions and planting garlic.
Caissy attributes a lot of this passion for gardening and creativity to her father, a welder, fabricator and jack-of-all-trades who helped her build her garden beds before passing away earlier this year.
“Together before he became ill, we ripped out my front yard and built gardens because that is where the sun shines the brightest for eight hours per day and that is what the produce needs,” she said.
Her backyard is reserved for onion sets and herbs. In the front garden, it’s about cucumbers, pole beans with installed arches along with carrots and squash varieties, which make for lots of preservatives, canning and harvest-style dinners in the fall.
“I was pretty proud of myself last year when I opted to make my own sauerkraut and it turned out great,” she laughed.
First time gardener? Need gardening advice or horticultural help? ReBecca’s Roots may be able to help. Supplied
Caissy, always dreaming and reaching for the stars, hopes for a world where we recreate the yard gardens generations before us built.
She has ideas on soil regeneration and land-sharing, as well.
“I want to see people garden confidently and share knowledge with each other,” she said. “Growing builds character and community, and ensures food security, and we need that in today’s world.”
Of course, her end goal is to own a farm and embrace the lifestyle that comes with it and she is hoping it all begins with planting the seeds of a new business venture.
To learn more about ReBecca’s Roots, visit the Facebook page.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
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