The Farm
Established in 1993, Ferme Rêveuse was named after Rêveuse – the offspring of Kornel’s favourite cow Gibrouille while in the first year of his apprenticeship. Rêveuse was his very first cow, gifted to him when he finished his training.
The farm began as a dairy farm, producing grass-fed milk for many years. In 2016 Kornel and Olga began raising pastured chicken on their farm under a new artisanal chicken program. Eventually they expanded further with pastured/free-run eggs, including building their own egg-grading station in 2019. The following year, they started producing grass-fed beef and real veal.
In 2023, due to a number of factors, they made the hard decision to end their grass-fed milk production. This was mainly done to focus on direct to consumer marketing of what they produce on the farm, as the customer farmer relationship is so important to them.
They continued to expand their offerings: In 2024 they introduced pasture-raised rabbit, now have plans to add pastured pork to the farm in 2025.
Alongside their pasture-raised animals, since 2019 Olga has been selling her traditionally fermented kombucha under the name Wild Ferment Craft Kombucha, so that she could share her love of healthy gut friendly fermented foods with their customers as well.
in the media
Ottawa-area farmer brings pasture raised chicken to market
Ottawa-area farmer brings pasture raised chicken to market
Ottawa-area farmer brings pasture raised chicken to market
Robyn Miller, CBC News Ottawa
July 18, 2016
New chickens raised in an old-world way
Ottawa-area farmer brings pasture raised chicken to market
Ottawa-area farmer brings pasture raised chicken to market
Laura Robin, Ottawa Citizen
August 09, 2016
Ferme Rêveuse: L’ambition canadienne d’un Suisse
Ottawa-area farmer brings pasture raised chicken to market
Ferme Rêveuse: L’ambition canadienne d’un Suisse
Isabelle Brisbois, Le Droit
22 mars 2022
Les quatre coins de l'assiette
War in Ukraine leads to new life on a Canadian farm
Ferme Rêveuse: L’ambition canadienne d’un Suisse
Saison 1 | Épisode 1 (Français), tou.tv
27 juin 2022
War in Ukraine leads to new life on a Canadian farm
War in Ukraine leads to new life on a Canadian farm
War in Ukraine leads to new life on a Canadian farm
Andrew McClelland, QCNA
June 29, 2022
Kornel's Ukrainian project
In 2016, Kornel started consulting with Ukrainian farmers on pasture management, dairy farming, and cold barns through SOCODEVI and the Lviv Agrarian Advisory Service*.
To continue this work while the war carries on in Ukraine, we brought farmers (along with an official and a translator) to Canada in April 2023. Over two weeks, they gained knowledge, training and field experience - and were hopefully able to take a break from the mental and physical toll of the war.**
We hope these farmers’ experience and training here will be shared with those back home.
To offset some of the costs of travel, accommodations, and fees to bring the farmers here, we set up a fundraiser for folks who wish to contribute to this project. In addition, $1 from each package of pelmeni (dumplings) sold was redirected to this program. Our pelmeni are produced at our on-farm production kitchen by Ukrainian refugees. With the help of our community, we were able to raise about $2000CAD. Thank you!
* To learn more about this project, watch this video which talks about the Ukraine Dairy Business Development's (UDBD) achievements in 2021.
** Check out the Co-op Union Rivnopravnist Facebook page to see what we accomplished during their visit in April 2023.