Beautiful, ‘back-breaking’ labour

N.S. couple say you have to love it to do it

At 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Marguerite and Jack Miller were pickling.

On Monday, it was 50 bottles of blackberry jelly, 18 bottles of chokecherry jelly and 24 bottles of green tomato chow.

“It’s back-breaking, fly-bitten, hoping you don’t get frost, hoping you get rain,” said Jack on Tuesday afternoon. “We love it. Anyone thinking of getting into this, you’ve got to really enjoy it.”

Since James Miller moved up to North East Margaree from nearby Big Brook in 1906 to buy the 100 acres backed by the river from which the community gets its name, the family has been growing vegetables and selling them.

With a resurgence of farmer’s markets over recent years and the growing popularity of small scale community supported agriculture — whereby a grower delivers vegetable boxes to your door in return for a subscription — the Millers have some sobering advice for anyone contemplating making a living from the soil.

Jack, 63, and Marguerite, 62, grow four acres of vegetables and hay another 30 acres.

In the past they’ve kept cattle and pigs too, but have given up on the livestock for a form of agriculture that at least takes the winters off.

The first word of warning would be that they never made a living purely from small-scale agriculture; Marguerite (now retired) worked as a nurse and Jack as a property manager.

They also had several advantages over any newcomers.

Jack was raised growing and peddling vegetables with his father, John, up every dirt road within a 30 kilometre radius of the Miller farm. Taking over that land, he had access to experience, farming equipment and infrastructure built up by the family over three generations.

“Having equipment is a big thing,” said Jack. “If you’re going to start at this, start small and do what you can manage.”

Be realistic about your time, financial constraints, market and how they align with your principles.

“We’re not organic and we don’t pretend to be,” said Jack. “We don’t have time to be out squashing bugs one at a time.”

They do soil tests each spring, use fertilizer to amend the soil that they have taken from for generations, and apply some sprays as needed.

Another advantage they have is that everyone knows they are there selling vegetables, so customers come to them. They don’t have to deliver food boxes, peddle door to door like John Miller did, or give up a day a week managing a stand at a farmer’s market.

“On the weekends it’s just like a Walmart parking lot here — four or five cars at a time,” said Jack.

But they do advertise in a way. There’s an acre of sunflowers out front that only feeds the birds and the eyes of passing motorists.

They were Marguerite’s idea after a blight hit their field of blue potatoes eight years ago. They had to stay out of that field by the road for five years to avoid being hit by the blight again.

Now for two weeks in the fall cars line the road and people share photos of the sunflowers on social media and, inevitably, a few head up the driveway to buy some vegetables or preserves.

Another key element is if you’re going to grow vegetables as a couple, both partners need to be on board.