Wayne Sabine likes to do things the old way. On his 285 acre farm he prides himself on maintaining diversity: cows, hogs, horses, chickens, mixed vegetables and fruit grow harmoniously. He sees his farming career as an opportunity to keep traditional farming methods alive.
He spends his time continually trying to improve his own farming methods by learning more about the old ones. Hooking his horses up to the plough, for example, was his most recent venture. He wants to stop using fuel on his farm, and he's well on his way.
Wayne bought this 285-acre farm in 1976, where he immediately began the huge task of renovating the buildings – which had fallen into disrepair. There wasn’t even running water in his home when he bought it, although all of that is changed today.
Unlike many farmers of his generation, Wayne did not grow up on a farm. He acquired his skills from reading and talking to other farmers. Like other farmers from his generation though, he had to work hard to buy his own land and support his family from agriculture alone.
"Wayne loves to farm," says Dilys, slightly shaking her head, "he's not about to slow down anytime soon as far as I can tell. It's his life passion, he's devoted his life to farming." Dilys, when she is not busy tending the home garden, cooking or making preserves, spends her spare time painting the landscape and drawing portraits, but most often she paints their picturesque farm nestled in the rolling hills of the Upper Saint John River Valley.
Not only does Wayne love to farm, he loves to farm sustainably. Even before playing an important role in establishing an organic certification body in the Maritimes, Wayne believed in organic agriculture and never sprayed anything on his fields. Now he has been certified organic for over 15 years, making him one of the first growers in New Brunswick to be certified organic.
Another integral part of his vision is having a mixed farm, "It's the most sustainable way," he says, "the animal manure feeds the vegetable crops while in turn the vegetable crops offer nutrients to both ourselves and the animals. The whole system has been in place before. I'm just trying to reproduce the traditional methods that our grandparents' parents would have been all too familiar with." It is clear that the farming ideas Wayne gets from looking to the past are in fact, a wonderful example of forward thinking.
