Laura and Stephen Besaw's Honey Tree Farm, a fixture in Petite Riviere, NS is a colourful painting straight out of a storybook.
As we drive up the steep hill, overlooking rolling hills and a rushing river, their cute blue farmhouse greets us, nestled between rows of colourful Swiss chard, heads of bright green romaine lettuce and school bus yellow zucchinis. There is a large barn to the left with a red steel roof and white topped greenhouses dot the lush landscape. A blossoming fruit orchard to the right leads us to a giant tomato greenhouse also home to some honey bees.
Walter and Chebucto (the dog) lead the way while we stroll throughout the land. Laura and Stephen tell us about life on the farm, organic techniques for keeping the weeds and bugs at bay and about why local organic farming is so important.
Laura, Introduce us to your family and who works on the farm?
Our family consists of Stephen, myself and our 8 year old son Walter and my big kids Oliver and Stella Thompson. All the kids have done a bit of farm work but it’s been Stella who has been on the crew working in the field with us the most.
Please elaborate on your organic farming journey.
We exclusively use organically approved growing practices here at Honey Tree Farm. The health of the soil is directly related to the health of the plants that grow here. We care for not only the soil where we grow our crops but also our organic fruit orchards, our nearby water and our nearby woods. It’s all connected. The health of this beautiful place grows nutrient rich produce and fruit. We bring it to market and sell it to our community and it brings us everything our family needs. We’re super lucky and grateful.
Stephen and I actually met at the Lunenburg farmers market and soon after fell in love and began our farming journey. He gave me a peach tree on our second date. We planted it and now 11 years later we take care of that tree and harvest the most delicious peaches. We count our lucky stars as we eat those peaches. This is our family’s origin story.
Why is it important for local communities to support their local organic farms?
There is something wonderful that happens when our friends and neighbours buy our produce and in turn support our farm. We feel so grateful we get to do what we love and they feel so grateful to have access to very fresh fruits and vegetables grown just miles from their home. It a great feel good feedback loop!
Then there is also the aspect of supporting local agriculture and food security. Shortening the supply chain. More dollars going to the families who will grow your food for you. Each village needs a farm … or each neighbourhood needs a farm…. And the more small farms the more food security an area has.
How did the name Honey Tree come about?
Honey tree farm comes from our first business plan, which was centred around fruit and honey production. We prepared our land for planting a small organic orchard with acres of peaches, apples, pears, plumbs, and cherries.
Then we collected all the supplies and began to keep bees and grow our hive numbers. As our trees grew ever so slowly we knew we needed other avenues to bring home the bacon. Working for other businesses wasn’t satisfying anymore and we knew we were very motivated to work for ourselves. So we began the market gardening adventure and took a break from bees as they didn’t fair well in our coastal freeze thaw winters.
What do you grow? Do you have a specialty?
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