We haven’t published a farm update for quite a while, so I think it’s time to get in touch with you.
A lot has happened here in the last couple of months. (Clears throat)
We sold our farm—
And we bought a larger farm at Berwick, in the Annapolis Valley.
Since the boys seem to be more interested in raising animals than gardening, we had been hoping to find more pasture land. In the meantime, our small church group dwindled away as several families moved away.
Since we had connections with a congregation in the Valley, we eventually started thinking of looking for a larger farm there. We checked around a bit in July and into August. This one 61 acre property seemed like a perfect fit, except for the price. It had an older house, a barn and some other outbuildings; over 20 acres of clear land, and lots of wooded land—perfect for pigs. However, we didn’t do more than just drive by because we didn’t think we could afford it.
That farm had been on the market for quite a while and wasn’t selling, presumably because of the old house that needed extensive renovations. We knew we would be okay with an old house for a start, until we got a chance to gradually renovate it. We finally began wondering if God might be keeping this farm just for us!
Next Steps
So, around mid-August we booked a viewing and went to have a look. Since it looked favorable, we got to work on arranging financing. This was not easy because of our low income, but we did eventually find a company that said they would probably be able to lend us the necessary money.
Now that the financing looked promising, we made an offer on the property, and finally came up with a deal at the upper extremity of our budget.
We went to work de-cluttering and cleaning up our farm for selling. Caleb painted the trim on the house and the shed. We trimmed the grass in places where we had fallen way behind this spring. We even did a little painting inside the house (in the middle of summer!)
On the 7th of September, after taking some good pictures, we listed the house for sale on a website called For Sale By Owner. It took a couple more days for it to be listed on MLS. However, almost immediately we started getting showing requests from individuals along with a few Realtors. I was busy for the rest of the week with answering emails and phone calls.. and lots of showings. By the following Monday we had a concrete offer from a young couple from Ontario, who wanted to get started on their own organic farm. They were happy with all the soil improvement and perennial plantings we had done on the property.
So that’s how we went from starting to look for a larger farm in July, to viewing a farm in August, to having bought it and actually sold our farm by the 14th of September.
We plan to move in Mid-November, after our daughter Selema gets back from spending the summer and fall in Ontario. Our biggest regret is leaving our kind neighbors and faithful local customers here at South Maitland.
Future plans
On the new farm we plan to continue growing some vegetables; however, we won’t expand the gardening at this time. It will take some time to build the soil, I’m sure.
Our sons enjoy raising animals, so we will begin adding more cows to our small herd.
Our pigs are doing very well; as you may have heard if you follow our infrequent Facebook posts, we had two litters of very healthy and bouncy piglets in one night! These were from the two Kunekune cross gilts that we bought in Quebec in February. We were very happy with this double success after a dismal start with the early pregnancy and birth in late winter. The Berkshire piglets that were born in the spring are now half grown and are also doing very well. Since we will have woodland on the new farm, we will expand our herd of pigs and raise them in the woods. Pigs are woodland animals and do well if they can be in the shelter and shade of the trees.
We will probably grow a few more turkeys and meat chickens as well.
And don’t worry, we will still be coming to the Halifax Forum Farmers Market! Besides the Forum Market, we haven’t decided where we will be selling our products. We may add several pickup locations in the greater Halifax area. (If you are not close to the Forum Farmers’ Market, let us know if you are interested in having us set up a drop point in your area for next summer.)
So, here we go.. a big move ahead of us! However, we know our Lord will work everything out, one step at a time.