‘I love doing this’
Young farmer building business in Grand Pré one plant at a time
A gentle breeze sweeps in from the nearby Minas Basin as Emily teBogt sweeps her fingers through rows upon rows of fresh peas ready to be picked.
Birds chirp and the young farmer smiles while the calm wind offers some relief from the sun beating down on fields flush with produce she’ll harvest by hand, spending hours on end on her hands and knees.
“It’s tough work,” she mits.
“This one farmer told me he uses calories to make calories.”
teBogt has one helper for three months in the summer, but she does all of the picking. She works from morning to night, seven days a week, during the growing and harvesting season.
“It takes a certain kind of person to be a farmer. My dad has always said that. I don’t have much of a life working here, no vacation. But I wouldn’t trade that for another job,” she says.
A dream come true
The Horton High School graduate laughs as she recalls her childhood dreams. Most of her peers dreamt of world travel.
“I just wanted to buy some sheep,” the 23- year- old jokes. “Growing up, I always loved sheep.”
teBogt grew up on ad- her family’s farm bordering Lower Wolfville and Grand Pré.
“My family has dairy and chicken quota and I farm on their property. They’re always there for support,” she says.
teBogt knew she wanted to farm for a living from a young age. After high school, she studied plant science at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro. By 18, she had started building her own business.
“Start small while your market grows,” she says, offering advice to aspiring farmers. “I ended up throwing a lot of vegetables in the winter ( at the beginning) because I didn’t know how or where to sell them.”
The Grand Pré resident, owner of teBogt’s Produce and Meat, also raises sheep, pigs and laying hens.
Difficult weather
She’s learned to adapt to the dry conditions vegetable farmers are dealing with this summer, but she’s still hoping for more rain.
“I’m not as bad here because we have heavy soil, so we’re not as bad off here as some of the farmers further down in the Valley with sandy soil. I also use plastic mulch to hold water in,” she said, noting she hasn’t had to resort to irrigation yet.
“Growing is slow, that’s the biggest thing. Planting has been difficult. I can only plant when I know it’s going to rain, so then I have all this stuff at once that has to be weeded at once.”
Overall, she’s feeling pretty good about the progress she’s made in six years. She’s seeing more loyal customers at the Wolfville Farmers’ Market and she’s been able to gradually purchase new equipment with each passing season.
“I get more efficient every year, so I grow more veggies every year and the market gets better every year, with more people buying local.”
Coming from a family of farmers, teBogt knew she was pursuing a career in a field that is costly and labour intensive. But, she also knew there was a good chance the rewards would outweigh the risks.
“I don’t have to commute to work. I just wake up and walk down the driveway,” she says.
“I eat good, I get to work outside… I love doing this.”