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About

About Nikkey & The Farm in Glenville

meatfarminwinter
Me at the farm in winter

About Me

I started baking in my early teens after I had developed a severe nut allergy and learned baking out of necessity, since at that time nut-free options or bakeries didn’t exist. And so I always found myself having to adapt recipes to either remove or replace the nut ingredients. I would have to research what would be right, or if a particular product was safe-and then experiment in the recipe. Need can drive passion and it turned out that I loved to bake.

Fast forward to my adult life, married to a pescatarian for 20 years, mother of a teenage daughter who prefers chicken fingers to anything else. I always felt like I wasn’t running a restaurant when it came to family meals so resisted making ‘two dinners’ based on everyone’s dietary needs and tastes but still didn’t want to pull my hair out trying to please my hangry family come supper time. Thankfully our daughter likes fish!

Sometimes meals at home were a challenge, and would find myself again adapting recipes. You want the goal of meals to be fresh and new and not boring while still being healthy, right?

Then, once again life got in the way. After recovering from thyroid cancer and being constantly fatigued, first, it was suggested to eat minimal soy and soy products. Meals made harder just with that. No more tofu based or ‘veggie-meat’ based meals. And I was not nearly as fit as I was before the cancer, gained a ton of weight, was always tired, and developed ‘stress-induced pre-diabetes’. I didn’t even know that that was a thing, but here I was. I already knew that sugar and I weren’t great friends, a fact that was devastating since I adored baking & cake decorating but I wanted my energy back more than I wanted to satisfy my sweet tooth. My doctor urged me to try the Keto diet. 

Initially, I admit, I was sceptical. I had trouble believing that eating that much fat was going to be good for me. But after a few weeks it was hard to deny that I had far more energy, lost weight, and could maintain that weight far better. 

Once again, necessity being the mother of invention, I found myself needing to reach out to get more recipes and then adapt what I found, to suit my own dietary needs and that of my family. I was in a mad pursuit of a diet not being an exercise in deprivation and constant calls to the fun police, I was determined to get this diet to be the best of both worlds. And at this point, I realized I am a pro at adaptation to a nut-free existence. So many baked keto products have almond flour and so many other dishes have meat products, this skill was in constant demand. And Just like when I was a much younger I found myself loving both the experimentation again and the glee when I hit upon something fabulous. Best yet, I loved when my family and friends would also get excited. All of this had no sugar!

There, the idea was born. My sister-in-law was over and she and my
husband were snacking on parmesan crisps topped with olive and artichoke tapenades, with a skinny bitch cocktail, while I was checking the crème brûlées setting in the fridge, and making a salad niçoise with fresh tuna for supper. While others suggested it before, they insisted I start a blog to share all the recipes I had developed.

In truth, I’m a shy person, but I believe in constant self-improvement and thought maybe doing this would be a great reach for me in personal development as well as an opportunity to combine doing what I love with my living. They were fooling around with names — and then, voilà, they called me La Femme Nikketo. Immediately I loved it. I felt like a super hero baker and cook with a whisk in hand, whipping the carbs gone to make fabulous treats without the sugar.

That to me is simply joyous.

 

 

me vs the bugs while planting

And at this point, I realized I am a pro at adaptation to a nut-free existence. So many baked keto products have almond flour and so many other dishes have meat products, this skill was in constant demand. And Just like when I was a much younger I found myself loving both the experimentation again and the glee when I hit upon something fabulous. Best yet, I loved when my family and friends would also get excited. All of this had no sugar! There, the idea for La Femme Nikketo was born.

So where does the farming come in to this equation?
 
After starting the website I realized that I love to exist in real life more than online.
 
And… people wanted my products… plus, I have a farm. And it’s always been a dream to actually make the farm into an actual working farm. That, combined with the fact that too often sugar-free in a store does not mean wholesome, with the help of my husband and an incredibly hard working farm hand,
The farm in Glenville was born.
 
Here we grow what we make. Specializing in preserves and confections.
Bob making his rounds in the field
for show, cutflowers, & bird diversion
row covers offer natural crop protection

Farm to table Goodness

The strawberries in our Strawberry Jam
Keto Triple Chocolate Coconut Flour Brownies with Frosting

Triple Chocolate Keto Coconut Flour Brownies

These easy & quick Triple Chocolate Keto Coconut Flour Brownies are sugar-free, gluten-free, nut-free, & paleo! With the chocolate ganache frosting on top, this brownie is meant to satisfy some serious chocolate lover cravings––like mine!

Read More »

Where are you located?

Our farm is located in Glenville, Nova Scotia. It’s a little hamlet between Mabou and Inverness on the island of Cape Breton.

 

My Jam looks separated, what do I do?

Our sugar-free jams are natural products. Because we are sugar-free and use all-natural products, from time to time ‘fruit float’ can happen to fruit like strawberry or rhubarb during the canning process leaving pulp at the top and jelly on the bottom. If this occurred with your jam, don’t worry, it’s just as delicious as all our other jams. When this happens, we encourage our customers to dig in and mix it up!!!

 

What does it mean you’re sold out for the season?

We are a farm-to-table business, where we believe strongly in growing a large proportion of what we make. Sometimes, if there are other local growers that have supplies beyond our own, we may top-up our fruit or berry inventory (this is especially true with Blueberries as our bushes are young and our neighbour has acres of stunning wild blueberries!). However, for the most part, we grow what we make and when we run out, that’s it until next year. Every year our capacity grows so we hope to run out a little later each year.

 

I just bought from you at a market, will those items be on your website?

For the most part, yes, but not yet, or soon. If you are reading this and we are still in a growing season, I usually am so busy farming, making, and selling at my local farmer’s markets that I don’t have a chance to update my website. However, once the farmers markets at the end of Thanksgiving Weekend (That’s the second weekend of October here in Canada), I usually put aside time to update the website with all the current products. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, I post when that happens.

 

Why don’t you use the same sweetener in all your products?

Sometimes I feel that by producing sugar-free goods, you have to be part magician, chemist, and explorer. There are so many sugar-free sweeteners out there and not one of them behaves exactly like sugar. Each of them has its positive and negative qualities depending on the application. For instance, I use a lot of allulose, not never in meringue, because it loves water too much, so you could back that meringue for hours and it would still be sticky.

 

Are there sweeteners you don’t use in your products?

Yes, there are a few. I don’t use artificial sweeteners at all. Next, I’m not a fan of stevia because of the after taste so I don’t use that either. Also, I don’t use xylitol as it’s toxic to dogs. I love dogs and have an adorable retired racing greyhound myself who is an expert at catching what falls on the floor before anyone can get to it first — he’s that fast. As such, if I wouldn’t have any food with xylitol in my house, just in case it could fall on the floor and could be consumed by my super-fast houndie, I won’t put in my products just in case for your puppies too. Finally, I don’t use products like maltitol or mannitol, as they are notorious for upsetting the stomach.

Shipping & Pickup

Deliciousness takes time. Many of our products are made to order in a small facility. Orders typically take 2-3 business days to produce and process before they ship – excluding weekends and holidays. At times, we reserve 5-7 business days to ship your order in case any ingredients are delayed in shipment from our suppliers. You would be notified by email if this occurs. You will receive an email confirmation with your order tracking number when your order ships. Please read the shipping notification email carefully.

Shipping

We ship via Canada Post. A shipping estimate will be provided during the checkout process. We only ship within Canada and to the US at this time.

Shipping within Canada is a flat rate of $9.99 or FREE if you spend $125 or more!

Shipping rates to the U.S. are calculated in real time during checkout based on destination and weight of the package.

For all shipments within Canada: Expedited shipping via Canada Post takes an estimated 3-9 Business Days depending on your location.

All shipments the the US may be subject to customs charges and or duty. We are not responsible for any costs associated with customs charges, taxes, brokerage charges, and or duty.

International Shipping is not available at this time.

Note that delivery dates are always an estimate only, delivery times may vary depending on your location, weather conditions, and other factors.

Pickup

From June to October we offer pick-up every Sunday during the Mabou Farmer’s Market for local shoppers.
Please have your order in by Friday to ensure we have it ready for you for the Market that Sunday.

From November to March we offer local porch pick-up or drop in the Greektown/Pocket/Danforth Village area.

Below is your return policy. However, more than anything, La Femme Nikketo wants to ensure their customers are happy and love their purchases. If you have any concerns with your purchases, please contact us right away so we can assist you.

We accept returns within 15 days from shipping date under certain circumstances. La Femme Nikketo will ONLY pay for a return label if a product arrived damaged or was shipped in error. In all other cases, the customer is responsible for the shipping costs. Please contact us if you need to return your purchase. Please note that a product is required to be returned in order for a refund to be issued. Sometimes we might be able to issue a refund based on a photo confirmation of a product damage. We do not accept returns on any opened/used items.

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