Business

Taking Back Our Spaces

Returning spaces to the land of the living has been a significant objective for Mark MacKenzie in his professional life. His creation and stewardship of Appleseed Organic Lawn Care has been geared to turning chemical-ridden spaces into a more naturalistic reality. Since 1987 this company has served Ontarians with a view to replacing chemical-derived agents that have been proven to cause serious health problems.

The company's approach reflects Mark's philosophical orientation: that the way we structure our lives and surroundings has a direct bearing on our quality of life, both collectively and individually. Accordingly, Appleseed Organic Lawn Care has been at the forefront of helping people eradicate toxic entities from their living spaces whilst at the same time utilizing quality lawn care methods.

Mark's penchant for creation and innovation is testimony in the fact that Appleseed Organic Lawn Care is the province's first and largest of its kind. The company's vision statement is: "To empower more and more customers to have a lawn they are happy with without having to succumb to toxic chemical and pesticide usage."

The very term organic lawn care is build on two fundamental assumptions; (1) that your lawn is not a carpet but rather, a living organism and; (2) those living organisms thrive when the entire lawn system is accounted for. The ecological imperative of our times has thrust this approach into the limelight, emblematic of our increasing awareness that all things are interconnected.

Charting a new course away from damaging chemical-centric approaches serves as tangible demonstration that Mark and Appleseed Organic Lawn Care has had the intellectual were-with-all and integrity to act on the best scientific evidence. The great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stated, "Knowing is not enough; we must apply (what we know)!"

Mark's expertise on issues of soil quality has made him a sought-after public speaker. He has given presentations to numerous Ontario municipalities. At the heart of this activity is the belief that we do not have to be beholden to the practices of the past that have so endangered the public health. This generation of Ontarians can be remembered for their commitment to changing the way that we treat our living spaces.
Emission Controls through the Everyday

The question of 'What can we do to lessen our imprint on the planet?' has been one that has guided public discourse for years now. Even the seemingly innocuous pursuit of snow clearing can be carried out in ways that minimize the affect of our actions.

Mark MacKenzie has manifested this approach within the context of his Ottawa-based company Appleseed Snowblowing Services, existent since 1987. Whereas conventional snow removal companies spew a cacophony of emissions in what invariably is a minimal 20-minute activity, Appleseed Snowblowing Services takes a mere minute to clean most driveways, thereby exponentially lessening the overall environmental impact.

Utilizing bio-diesels facilities a significant reduction in greenhouses gases in comparison to conventional approaches. It is estimated that Mark's company achieves a 95% decrease in emissions. The crucial element in the equation is the composition of the bio-diesel fuel itself. Appleseed Snowblowing Services' fuel is made from waste vegetable oil. The adoption of this technique ensures a cheap and light-impacting approach to snow removal.

In addition to the beneficiary environmental outcomes enunciated above, there are also important social contributions made by these activities. Foremost among them is the reality that the company helps people make a living during high-density months by extending employment to them. This speaks notions of sustainability that is at the very core of Mark's belief system: that it is difficult to speak of sustainable individuals and communities without those persons having the means to make a decent living.

Enabling people to go about their daily lives during harsh winter climate conditions takes a great amount of care and coordination. Should medical emergencies arise in the midst of snowstorms, Mark's company is highly sensitive to the needs of people by having immediate snow clearing performed.

One of the chief challenges of our times centers on the phasing out of fossil fuels as a leading material around which modern civilization chooses to organize its societies. By leading by example, Mark MacKenzie hopes to demonstrate that it is possible to see beyond the current lethargic quagmire.
Discovering The Joy Of Farming

One of the stunning characteristics of the last sixty-plus years of North American life has been the exodus of people from a rural, agricultural existence to an urban-centered service industry-driven reality. The multitude of ways this change has shaped modern culture is still being delineated by academics.

The shift has occasioned the influx of a preponderance of processed foods, triggering alarming obesity levels, soaring cancer rates, and engendered a general disconnect with the land and natural food-producing processes. To use a non-Ontario example, in the 1990's the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture conducted an infamous survey of elementary school students. When asked where milk came from the vast majority of the children indicated that milk came from the grocery store, as opposed to cows or farms.

Lately there is plenty of indication that society is beginning to seriously reconsider this direction. A case in point is Mark MacKenzie, who owns and operates two organic farms (5 acres in the community of Braeside [started in 2008] and 15 acres in Ottawa [started in 2009]). He is a living, breathing example of someone who has not come from a farming background, but who nonetheless is forging ahead successfully. Tellingly, Mark's entry into organic farming lowered the average age of Ontario farmers, despite the fact that he was 49 at the time he began farming. Demonstrating the actual extent of the demographic predicament facing the province, the average Ontario farmer today is 53 years old.

The MacKenzie organic farms produce a variety of vegetables: the growing of potatoes was initiated to answer specific local needs. Other crops include, peas, beans, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots.

"I'm having a blast," says MacKenzie. "After tasting the food we've grown and compared it to store-bought vegetables, I am struck by how bland and devoid of vital nutrients the latter is. Nothing beats local, fresh organic produce!"

The re-discovery of farming also speaks to the desire of people to recapture a more natural rhythm to their existence. The high-pressure, helter-skelter concrete jungle is not everyone's panacea. The 100-mile meal and slow-food movements are adjuncts to this overall reorientation.

Mark MacKenzie has chosen to invest himself in organic farming because he believes that the exigencies of industrial agriculture have rendered modern society unhealthy and dangerously reliant on processed foods. Consciously electing to be part of an exciting rediscovery of farming is further tangible indication of a person who is willing to lead by example.
Healthy In The Home

The quest of merging the needs of society with the natural rhythms and systems of the planet has been an ongoing preoccupation for Mark MacKenzie. His professional pursuits have largely consisted of a need to go beyond whatever presides as the consumeristic flavour-of-the-month into activities that transform people's lives for the better over the long term. Such a business is Healthy Home Services.

Attuned to the desire of people to rid themselves of exposure to chemicals in the home, Healthy Home Services has been providing home products and information to households across North America since 1993. Whether it be bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living room, basement and laundry, garage and garden or covering the subject of renovations, there is no domestic sphere untouched by products designed to turn living spaces into healthier places, free of the scourge of chemicals that sadly have become commonplace in modern society.

Kathy MacKenzie (Mark's wife), is President of the company. The linkage between creating healthy living spaces with the overall health and welfare of their children is dear to the tandem. As Kathy says, "I have seen so many changes in our environment in the last twenty years that I feel it is more important than ever before to have a healthy environment for families to grow in."

It is no unusual observation to offer the view that in the current epoch of North American history, adults lead lives that are in constant motion, barely allowing for retrospection and consideration of what domestic chemicals they may be exposing themselves to.

The inherent value in Kathy and Mark's approach lies in the very strong educative component of the business. The alarming increase in environmental illness and allegoric reactions occasioned by the usage of chemical-laden substances in the home have motivated the MacKenzie's to furnish people with pertinent information designed to combat these troubling maladies.

Scent-free and dye-free products are prominent in the array of goods provided by Healthy Home Services. The whole panoply of helpful household products such as nature clean carpet and upholstery cleaner, organic duvet/comforters, druide ecological and organic shampoo, citrus cleaner, unscented dish liquid, wood floor spray, ecover laundry additive, clover seeds, and beeswax furnish are made available.

By matching his desire to create a better world with practical, pragmatic solutions, Mark MacKenzie has been charting a proverbial course to a place where we are capable of leading healthier lives.
Leadership as Defined by Vision and Action

What defines leadership? Is it the ability to imagine what might be beyond what is? If so, Mark MacKenzie possesses this trait in spades. Evidence of his capacity to implement a transforming project that positively impacts a community is Wakefield Mill Inn & Spa, situated in Wakefield, Quebec.

The mill was originally founded in 1838 and designed for milling grains into flour. Subsequent owners expanded the facility to include a sawmill, woolen mill, and a general store. Fast forwarding to the modern age, the mill had fallen in a state of general disrepair and authorities were unsure of its future, despite previous attempts to alter the situation.

Enter Mark as a dynamic force who helped to return the property to its former prominence and as a point of pride for the Wakefield community. Mark was an initial investor and founding vice-president (circa 1999 to 2001) of the $3 million project that saw the creation of the Wakefield Mill Inn & Spa. He is currently attentive to the needs of the both project and community as a member of the company's board of directors (2004 to the present). Mark's abundant skills were also used in the realm of securing financing for the project.

Mark's vision and leadership helped contribute to the usage of the natural landscape in low-impacting ways. Additionally, there was a pre-construction public consultation process (which included a series of open house events) that was spearheaded by Mark in a successful bid to identify and account for the views and concerns of people in the community.

Meaningful societal benefits arise from such vision and leadership: the project has helped an area that has traditionally suffered higher than average unemployment levels by infusing the community with a number of well-paying jobs. The site itself has been revitalized and has recaptured its past status as a hub of activity. To top it off the Wakefield Mill Inn & Spa has captured awards (including the prestigious 2007 Hotel of the Year Award from the province of Quebec) for its reputation as a top spa and meeting destination.

If we agree that leadership is defined as the ability to conceive of potential transforming ideas/projects and of one's capacity to follow through and enact them, this project is further solid testimony to Mark MacKenzie's leadership quotient.