For Dani Deschatelets and Jordan Bringelson, selling fresh produce isn’t just about business — it’s about building community and promoting wellness from the ground up
One Garden Produce & Preserves, located at Soo Market, is committed to promoting the role that fresh fruit and vegetables play in maintaining good health.
The motto of the business, co-owned and operated by the Sault’s Dani Deschatelets and Jordan Bringelson, is ‘connection and healing from the source.’
“We believe that food is medicine and we want everybody to be as healthy as possible,” Deschatelets told SooToday. “We believe that by growing everything close to home we’re healing ourselves from the inside out. That’s our goal.”
One Garden’s produce is grown in the Sault and Algoma District.
Consuming naturally produced food with no preservatives is vital, Deschatelets said.
“Generally we’re not a healthy society. There’s a lot of nasty stuff that we’re consuming on a daily basis. To be able to go back to basics and feed ourselves better is proactive and better than having to be reactive and deal with repercussions later on.”
Produce from One Garden is well preserved for sale in the winter months.
“We work with the Mennonite community in the Algoma District. They have really good areas to store our food,” Deschatelets said.
“As long as it’s staying cool and in a dark area and kept dry our root vegetables are able to last all winter long. Our carrots are cured properly in our nice dry cool area. Same thing with our squash, our potatoes, anything that’s root based.”
What’s One Garden’s most popular product?
“We sell a lot of carrots,” Deschatelets said with a smile.
Apples also rank among their hottest-selling items.
“We always get a lot of good remarks from customers that there’s just no comparing our stuff to what you get at the grocery stores. I hear that all the time. Everything here is fresh and tastes like it should.”
As a mom, Deschatelets said she enjoys bringing her son Nikola and daughter Demitri to help out at One Garden’s booth at Soo Market and educate them about the value of fresh, locally grown food.
Deschatelets said it’s also gratifying to see customers contribute to the local economy by buying from vendors such as One Garden.
“I have definitely had a few people tell me they are making intentional choices to shop locally and in Canada.”
One Garden also travels to small communities in far northern Ontario during the growing season.
“We like to provide fresh produce to those who rarely have access to farm fresh food. We like to share the goodness when we can and we want everyone to have access to fresh food,” Deschatelets said.
One Garden has been officially recognized for its commitment to providing fresh food.
Local health food stores awarded the business bronze status in Community Votes Sault Ste. Marie for 2025.
“That was quite a pleasant surprise,” Deschatelets said, adding One Garden is aiming for platinum status in 2026.
Co-owning a business in the food industry is a career change for Deschatelets.
A social worker, she stepped away from that field to spend more time with her children and partnered with Bringelson to establish One Garden in 2023.
“Jordan asked me if I would be interested in going on this adventure with her. I said ‘absolutely, let’s do it.’”
Deschatelets has found the experience rewarding.
“We’re able to connect our love of the land and good food and connect with people at Soo Market. It’s meshed together. We feed ourselves and others good things and we have our kids involved. I feel like it’s a really cool well-rounded blessing that we’ve come to enjoy.”