New N.S. farm faces insects, drought, wind damage in 1st year

It's been a bittersweet first year for Mountain River Farms,a small operation in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley that made it throughan insect infestation, drought conditions and wind damage.

Cory Dunham and his partner, Tarra Pelton, purchased the 25-hectarefarm near Middleton in November 2015.

The couple currently has about 2,000 square metres of growing space in use.So far, they've produced spinach, bokchoy, kale, and a wide variety ofAsianvegetables.

To start farming, they relocated with their four daughters from Halifax.

"We pretty much just packed up everything, went on the few dollars we had saved, and moved down," said Pelton.

"We had jobs in the city, it didn't really click with us. We were raised around farms."

Many trying moments

Buying the farm was the realization of a dream for the couple, but 2016 would test the strength of their conviction.

With the spring came an infestationofflea beetles.The critters live in cool moist dirtand love salad.

"They will eat a lot of your greens, spinach, kale," saidPelton.

The next plague came in the summer, when record low rain-falls meant even established farms were feeling the heat.

Dry summer, windy winter

The couple lost several crops to the drought. They only hadone well to service their crops and house.

"Towards the end of the season, we were tapped out. At the end of the day, our kitchen sink would spit and sputter at us," Pelton said.

Finally, this week the winds reached close to 100 km/hour on high parts of the property. Dunham said theydamaged the barn roof, pulling part of it off.

2016 had some high points

But the couple says 2016 wasn't all bad.

Besides finally becoming farmers, they were now selling the veggies of their labour at local markets.

They even got a call from Pete's Frootique, when the Sobey's-owned chain heard what exotic crops they were growing in small-town Nova Scotia.

"We sold them a bunch of tomatillos over the summer.They were flabbergasted.They didn't know they could get those here," said Dunham.

Tomatillos are like tomatoes, just smaller and green. They are eaten raw or cooked in a variety of dishes, particularly salsa verde.

"They were actually shipping them in from Mexico, and here we are in N.S. growing them at scale," he said.

Learning from mistakes

When the couple looks back on 2016, they say they've learned from their mistakes and are ready for anything the new year can throw at them.

"If 2017 went the same way this year has, one of us would have to take off-site work. But we would never give it up. We're too stubborn, plus we're Nova Scotian and that's even worse," saidDunham.

The couple hopes to expand the farm up to an acre and a half in the new year. They're also fundraising for a new vehicle and cooler so they can sell even more produce.