Welcome to The Backyard Urban Farm Company (BUFCO), an award-winning, family-run, organic vegetable landscaping company that designs, builds, plants and maintains edible and native pollinator flower gardens for residential and commercial clients throughout the Toronto area.
We are on a mission is to inspire urbanites to grow their own food and reconnect with nature. We are also on a mission to develop and elevate committed, self-motivated nature-lovers who are building careers in the organic land care industry.
The Owners
After three successful decades working in the motion picture industry, husband and wife team Marc Green and Arlene Hazzan Green co-founded The Backyard Urban Farm Company (BUFCO). The Company was established as a response to their growing awareness of, and resulting unease with their own contribution to climate change and their need to find a meaningful solution. 2024 marks BUFCO’s 15th anniversary.
Arlene Hazzan Green
Arlene (she/her) is an avid gardener and life-long learner who loves to share her knowledge. She is an Organic Master Gardener, an Accredited Organic Land Care Practitioner with SOUL (Society for Organic Urban Landcare), and has a Diploma in Organic Land Care from Gaia College. Arlene is also an Emmy award winning television director and writer. (Photograph: Brianna-Roye)
Marc Green
VP Operations, Installations
Marc (he/him) is a meticulous project manager with a focus on customer service excellence and is driven by his desire to deliver product and services that meet or surpass the highest expectations. Marc is an avid outdoors enthusiast, loves wilderness camping, canoeing, and fishing. He also has a deep connection with music, spending his spare time playing guitar and piano. “Nature is medicine for the spirit. Music is medicine for the soul.”
The Owners
After three successful decades working in the motion picture industry, husband and wife team Marc Green and Arlene Hazzan Green co-founded The Backyard Urban Farm Company (BUFCO). The Company was established as a response to their growing awareness of, and resulting unease with their own contribution to climate change and their need to find a meaningful solution. 2024 marks BUFCO’s 15th anniversary.
Arlene Hazzan Green
CEO; VP Gardening Division, Garden Designer
Arlene (she/her) is an avid gardener and life-long learner who loves to share her knowledge. She is an Organic Master Gardener and Accredited Organic Land Care Practitioner with SOUL (Society for Organic Urban Landcare). Arlene is also an Emmy award winning television director and writer.
Marc Green
VP Operations, Installations
Marc (he/him) is a meticulous project manager with a focus on customer service excellence and is driven by his desire to deliver product and services that meet or surpass the highest expectations. Marc is an avid outdoors enthusiast, loves wilderness camping, canoeing, and fishing. He also has a deep connection with music, spending his spare time playing guitar and piano. “Nature is medicine for the spirit. Music is medicine for the soul.”
The Team
Debbie Lo
Garden Manager & Designer
Debbie (she/her) is an engineering graduate from University of Toronto and has a Diploma in Organic Land Care from Gaia College. She endeavours to combine her technical skills with BUFCO’s vision to encourage mutually uplifting relationships between the earth and its inhabitants. She enjoys feeding garden scraps to her bunny, feeding bunny poo to her worms, then feeding worm poo back to her garden.
Luisa Martinez
Luisa (she/her) is an Organic Master Gardener and problem solver, who enjoys learning from life’s challenges. Merging her love for science and art, she studied Architectural Technology and Permaculture Design before working in ornamental gardening. She joined BUFCO with the goal of extending the joy gardens give her beyond just the aesthetics. When not covered in dirt, you can find her dancing salsa, biking, and tattooing.
Julia Stephens
Julia (they/them) graduated from Queen’s University in printmaking and art history and has a Diploma in Organic Land Care from Gaia College. Julia joined the BUFCO team after working at organic grocery stores and farmer’s markets, building rammed earth houses, and designing vegetable gardens. In their spare time, Julia can be found tending their own backyard veggie patch, playing music and cooking for friends.
Cagan Kolay
Cagan (he/him) grew up in Turkey, spending all his spare time trekking & camping around remnants of old civilizations, using historic trails such as the Lycian Way. After finishing his degree in architecture, he moved to Toronto to explore the connection between wood and architecture, starting as a Woodworker. When he’s not working or discovering the beautiful nature of Canada, he enjoys photography, sketching, and canoeing.
Greg Pieon
Greg (he/him) was raised in the small town of Dundas, Ontario, in the shadow of the Niagara Escarpment. Between gardening and family excursions camping in Ontario and the Maritimes, the outdoors is his playground. He has a diverse background ranging from ranch hand in BC, IT guy, runner, cyclist, hiker, and DIYer. Working on his home and yard is his meditation. He sees gardens as evolving spaces, with a little help. “Change is good, Donkey.”
Victoria Maclean
Victoria (she/her) grew up in Argentina surrounded by pastures and surreal sunsets; a setting that spurred her love for nature. After working as an elementary school teacher in Buenos Aires, she migrated to Toronto with her family and is now an Organic Master Gardener. She is transforming every room in her home into makeshift greenhouses populated with plants – that is, when she is not camping on the great Canadian shield.
-
Debbie Lo
(she/her)
Administration Manager;
Garden Manager & Designer -
Luisa Martinez
(she/her)
Garden Supervisor -
Julia Stephens
(they/them)
Gardener -
Nick Selby
(he/him)
Garden Technician -
Cagan Kolay
(he/him)
Lead Hand/Carpenter -
Greg Pieon
(he/him)
Landscape Technician -
Victoria Maclean
(she/her)
Office Administrator
Our Values in Action: We want to INSPIRE you to Garden
Imagine | Nurture Nature | Sow Seeds of Positive Change | Plant and Play | Investigate & Innovate | Rest & Relax | Eat! |
Imagine picking an exquisitely mouth-watering tomato that you grew yourself in your own backyard. | Caring for plants and the earth stirs something deep within us, connects us to those who came before us and reminds us we are part of something larger than ourselves. | Gardens provide a wealth of joy, knowledge and opportunity that grows when these riches are shared among us all. | Dig in and get dirty! Gardens are gathering places where family, friends and neighbours can let loose and have fun. | Challenge and wonder awaits a curious gardener looking for solutions. | A quiet garden invites us to slow down, turn off, and tune in to nature’s rhythms. | Feast your eyes on abundant and heathy harvests to share with family and friends. |
Our Values in Action: We want to INSPIRE you to Garden
magine
picking an exquisitely mouth-watering tomato that you grew yourself in your own backyard.
urture Nature
Caring for plants and the earth stirs something deep within us, connects us to those who came before us and reminds us we are part of something larger than ourselves.
ow Seeds of Positive Change
Gardens provide a wealth of joy, knowledge and opportunity that grows when these riches are shared among us all.
lant and Play
Dig in and get dirty! Gardens are gathering places where family, friends and neighbours can let loose and have fun.
nvestigate & Innovate
Challenge and wonder awaits a curious gardener looking for solutions.
est & Relax
A quiet garden invites us to slow down, turn off, and tune in to nature’s rhythms.
at!
Feast your eyes on abundant and heathy harvests to share with family and friends.
Our Values in Action: We want to INSPIRE you to Garden
magine
picking an exquisitely mouth-watering tomato that you grew yourself in your own backyard.
urture Nature
Caring for plants and the earth stirs something deep within us, connects us to those who came before us and reminds us we are part of something larger than ourselves.
ow Seeds of Positive Change
Gardens provide a wealth of joy, knowledge and opportunity that grows when these riches are shared among us all.
lant and Play
Dig in and get dirty! Gardens are gathering places where family, friends and neighbours can let loose and have fun.
nvestigate & Innovate
Challenge and wonder awaits a curious gardener looking for solutions.
est & Relax
A quiet garden invites us to slow down, turn off, and tune in to nature’s rhythms.
at!
Feast your eyes on abundant and heathy harvests to share with family and friends.
Our Values in Action: We want to INSPIRE you to Garden
magine
picking an exquisitely mouth-watering tomato that you grew yourself in your own backyard.
Nurture Nature
Caring for plants and the earth stirs something deep within us, connects us to those who came before us and reminds us we are part of something larger than ourselves.
Sow Seeds of Positive Change
Gardens provide a wealth of joy, knowledge and opportunity that grows when these riches are shared among us all.
Plant and Play
Dig in and get dirty! Gardens are gathering places where family, friends and neighbours can let loose and have fun.
nvestigate & Innovate
Challenge and wonder awaits a curious gardener looking for solutions.
Rest & Relax
A quiet garden invites us to slow down, turn off, and tune in to nature’s rhythms.
Eat!
Feast your eyes on abundant and heathy harvests to share with family and friends.
An Edible Garden in every yard.
Delicious, local food on every table.
A healthy, peaceful planet in every heart
Land Acknowledgment and Anti-Racism Equity Statement
We gratefully acknowledge the privilege we have to be working on land that is the traditional territory of many nations including, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Huron Wendat peoples. Toronto is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Mètis peoples from across Turtle Island. This sacred territory has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years and was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. We recognize the violence and loss of culture that makes our presence on this land possible. We also recognize our responsibility to confront the violence in which we are complicit and to work to dismantle the structures that perpetuate it.
We are actively working to recognize our own contributions to the systemic inequities that exist in our society. We are committed to doing the hard work required to uproot racism in all its forms and to amplify and support the voices of those who experience racism on a daily basis.
We strive every day, in every action, to nurture and maintain an equitable working environment; to provide a path forward to a more fair, prosperous and hopeful future for all, and to welcome people of all genders, races, religions, nationalities, cultures, sexual identities, languages, and abilities so they can feel comfortable, respected, and valued.