About

In 2020 I made the decision to sell my little 7 acre farm and re-locate to a larger piece of land to enable my farm to grow. Unfortunately the whole process ended up taking place during the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic and needless to say, it was an adventure.

Although my new location gives me room to grow, that room has to be created out of standing forrest, the overgrown fields of what was once a thriving farm 60 odd years ago. As a result progress is slow but steady.

You can have a more comprehensive looks at my little farm operation on the other pages of this website but Facebook and Instagram are the places to go for a day by day feed of the adventures on the farm.

I believe in raising animals in a safe, healthy environment, with the best possible balance between productivity and the well-being of the animal in question. I grew up on a farm of sorts – there was pulpwood, blueberry fields, inland aquaculture, turkeys, and chickens.

My Father worked away during the week during much of my childhood and would only be home on the weekends when we would have to double down to get everything done before he had to leave again. Although I will be the first to claim I didn’t always have fun doing chores, (firewood drove me insane, I lost whole pints of blood to the mosquitos, and things were often rushed) one thing that always stuck with me is the respect for the animals and their well-being that my Father still has to this day. You can rush a lot of things when you’re tired, busy, and there always seems to be too much to do – but you cannot rush animals. I’ve always remembered that and it’s something I hold my Father in the highest regard for.

These days an increasingly large number of people are insulated from their food supply – meat, fruit, vegetables, and grains all come from the grocery stores. Period. I’ve always felt that it’s important for people to make the connection between farming (no matter how small the scale) and the food they eat. My hope was that when a connection is made (or re-made) it will encourage people to think about where their food comes from, whether it is grown sustainably, and the welfare and well-being of the animals and the people who grew it for them.

To that end I offered Farm Tours in exchange for donations towards feed and medical costs between 2015 and 2026. 

These short (less then an hour) visits to my farm were all about people connecting with the animals, learning a little about what it means to have a small farm, and asking any questions they might have. Some of the most rewarding moments I have had farming are when children get up close with one of many wee beasties (often for the first time) and have a chance to hold a chick, hug a goat, or pet a sheep.

I will treasure the many wonderful memories I have from eleven years of tours and the many friends I made along the way.

Unfortunately it has become more challenging as a single person operation to balance a day job and farm work and farm tours. In addition the character of the tour groups has been changing over time. Where it was unusual to have a “bad” tour (where there was littering, people not listening to instructions, misbahaving around the animals, or showing up very late or not at all) this has become increasingly common.

I have also had to contend with a massive increase in the number of people simply showing up on the farm, unannounced, and when approached, reassuring me that they are “just here to see the animals”. This has involved everything from finding people in my barn, opening gates, or attempting to hand feed the animals all manner of “treats”. It would seem signage and closed gates is not enough to overcome a complete lack of politeness or common sense these days.

As my insurance requires strict terms under which I can have visitors on the farm and my personal patience has been routinely tested, I have decided to step back from tours for the general public.

Group Tours for select organizations will continue as normal.

I participated in Open Farm Day for eight years, starting in 2018 through to 2025. It has always been a pleasure to invite the public on to my little farm to meet and greet the animals, learn a little more about agriculture, and hopefully head home with a new experience or two and just maybe the thought of trying something similar themselves. 

I was very lucky over the years to have the assistance of passionate volunteers to make each year a success. During the final Open Farm Day event of 2025 we had over 1,200 people attend during the four hours the Farm was open to guests.

As a one-person operation that struggled with the financial costs, insurance, preperation time, volunteer recruitment, and the increasing volume of visitors each year (parking!) as fewer and fewer farms participated, I am not surprised by this decision. As much as I will miss Open Farm Day, this is an understandable decision by the Federation.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who attended, the volunteers who made it happen, and the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture who helped organize the province wide event through their wonderful Open Farm Day initiative.