EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

This is my second full year of living on our 5-acre mixed farm on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia. As you know, we are primarily a fruit and berry farm, with several varieties of each. The owner, Norrie, is a former schoolteacher and now in his 80’s. He’s still amazingly active on the farm.

The farm is located on Agricultural Land Reserve land in BC. The purpose is to preserve limited fertile land in the province for farming, as opposed to residential or industrial uses. To qualify for ALR status, and advantages such as lower property taxes, a threshold of $2,500 farm income must be met in our district, i.e. county. We are able to reach this, although with little margin to spare.  In short, our little enterprise makes no money. This is no surprise in today’s farming world.

There have been changes to the farm. Before I arrived, we had chickens, but sadly, no more. Norrie says varmints got them. We have no livestock, unless we include a family of deer that regularly walk through the front gate.   This is a far cry from my upbringing on a dairy in South Carolina.

Our concentration is growing tree fruit and berries. The soil is fertile, and berries come every year, but in 2019 the blackberries and raspberries came and went quickly, as well as the Rainier variety of strawberries. The Tribute strawberry variety held on surprisingly long – even into October.  Our other ‘specialty’ varieties are cousins of blackberry, including tayberry, marion berry, logan berry, and cascade berry, came and went quickly.

Interestingly, our 2018 tree fruit season was bountiful. I had to prop the limbs of apple, pear, peach, etc. to keep them from breaking due to the heavy fruit load. We bottled apple cider with all the extra fruit.  However, 2019 was polar opposite — almost a dormant year.  I propped a total of three small apple tree limbs against possible breakage.  The year saw almost no plums, cherries, peaches, or pears. I could almost count every apple on the farm — approximately 40 trees of 10 varieties. It was head-shaking, but this is farm life.

Along with the fruit and berries that are for sale, in all of our extra time (lol), we play around with a small garden. This year, we successfully grew tomatoes, onions, broccoli, greens, and cucumber, and snap beans. These bush beans are amazingly productive. Less than successful in 2019 were kale and spinach, and the potatoes. I seem to recall planting more potatoes than were harvested. which make it a lost cause. We tried to plant corn the last two years, but this year I gave up. We buy it down the road.

But our previous generations of pioneer settlers didn’t have that luxury.  I can appreciate why our ancestors diversified their growing of produce. Their garden was a mixed garden. Their farm was a mixed farm. They quickly understood that one year will be better for various fruits and vegetables, and another year worse, for a variety of reasons. For them, this could literally be a life or death matter. Or at least a nutritious, balanced diet.

For most of us, getting the food basket is only an inconvenience. The hassle of traveling to the grocer and choosing from the cornucopia of fruit and vegetables – often brought in from other regions or countries. I will discuss this luxury in another blog.

May you have a meaningful Merry Christmas. We all  have much for which to be thankful.

Monty