Jon and I at SFM Conference, Jan 2016 |
I also attended many, many farming and farm-related workshops, on topics like Financial Management for Farmers, Caterpillar Tunnels, Social Media, Farmers' Market Management, Greenhouses, Food Safety, Marketing etc, etc, etc. There's a lot more farmers in Nova Scotia at our scale and therefore many more opportunities for learning than in MB. We knew that going into the move and are so glad that we did spend three years on the East Coast, taking as many courses, looking at other farms, and learning as much as we could.
However, the move has proved less disappointing than I had expected. The farm has joined Small Farms Manitoba, an organization run by Kalynn Spain which is doing great work in the province, connecting young/small farmers, providing resources, hosting an annual conference and planning awesome events all the time. There's also the newly formed Direct Farm Marketing Association of Manitoba (DFMAM), and I'm lucky to already know the president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, the provincial policy organization. Dan has been super helpful connecting me with others and steering me in the right direction when I have questions.
DFMC Keynote speaker Elspeth McLean-Wile from NS! |
At any rate, I'm really glad to have been pleasantly surprised by what is going on in the small farms industry in Manitoba. We pictured moving here and feeling really isolated, but the more people we meet the better it gets! We wish there were more growers in our area, so we hope that our success will lead others to settle and start their businesses around Brandon in the coming years!
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