Oak Manor Organic Farm
Oak
Manor Organic Farm is home to Jamie Cornetta and her daughter
Francesca. Their beautiful farm, in Hants County Nova Scotia, sits high
above the Avon River, so that if you look northwest, where the river
widens into the Minas Basin, you can see the mouth of the Annapolis
Valley. Besides the breath-taking view, the benefits of this locale can
be felt on a hot summer day, when cool breezes blow in off the Bay of
Fundy, chasing away mosquitoes and making haying a less strenuous
event. Jamie’s first visit to the farm, over 15 years ago, was on such
a summer’s day. The experience inspired her to move to Nova Scotia,
from New York City, to begin a life of farming.
Jamie’s
farm is approximately three hundred acres, of which 120 acres are in
pasture and cultivated fields. The rest of the farm is woodland. Jamie
describes her farm as a mixed operation. She keeps a variety of
livestock, grows grain for feed, hay, and vegetable crops. Oak Manor is
certified organic through OCPP. Jamie has also had the farm certified
organic with the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association. Having
organic certification is important for Jamie because it provides her
customers with the assurance that organic farming practices and
standards of product quality are being maintained.
As
you turn in off the Shore Road, and make your way up the long shaded
driveway, the first thing you will likely notice are Jamie’s cattle
grazing in the front pastures. Currently, the herd consists of about 24
cows. She started out raising purebred Herefords, a breed she likes
very much, partly owing to their docile nature. Today, the farm’s herd
is comprised primarily of Hereford crosses. “When I first was selling
Herefords, everybody was getting into these different mixes of cattle”
she said. “ I decided I should cross breed some of mine, but I want to
keep the colour of the Herefords - the white faces are pretty and that
deep red colour.” The decision to introduce Red Angus into the mix
resulted from her loyalty to family tradition. “My family is in the
meat business, they have always sworn by Angus beef. So I decided
instead of going Black Angus, to do Red Angus” reports Jamie. This way,
she got to keep the beautiful deep red colour, as well as introducing
the many desirable traits of the Angus breed into her herd. She finds
her crossbreds to be very vigorous - the calves get up very quickly and
start nursing, and the cows, even the heavy milkers, are easier to
maintain than the purebred Herefords.
Jamie does not
feed any grain to her cattle. They are raised on pasture, cut forage,
hay, and such offerings as beet greens from the large vegetable
gardens. Jamie is clearly proud of the beef her farm produces - “My
animals finish pretty nicely. That’s the reason why I like the Angus,
they have a natural marbling ability in their breed”. Other livestock
on the farm include several riding horses, chickens, ducks, goats, and
hogs. Freezer beef and pork, as well as free-range eggs are sold from
the farm gate.
Besides having very good land for hay
and pasture, the soil and growing conditions at Oak Manor are well
suited for a variety of grain and seed crops. While Jamie grew grain
during the past 15 years as part of her field crop rotation, she began
growing larger amounts, and more varieties about 5 years ago when she
began using Biodynamic farming methods. “One of the requirements of
being Biodynamic she said,” is to produce most of your feed and all of
your bedding right on the farm so you have more or less a closed
system.”
Grain crops grown on the farm include:
barley, triticale, oats, and spelt, along with seed crops of flax and
sunflowers. If you visit Oak Manor farm in mid-summer you are in for a
real treat. You will see, stretching down toward the river, ripening
fields of grain and flax, hedged by wide yellow ribbons of sunflowers.
While Jamie clearly enjoys growing grain, she has also experienced many
challenges. Perhaps the greatest challenge, and one faced by all
Maritime grain growers, is the short growing season and wet falls,
which often make harvesting very difficult.
Another
notable feature of Oak Manor farm, are the well tended, and abundant
vegetable gardens. The vegetables are marketed directly to individuals
and local businesses. She has also wholesale marketed her farm products
to grocery stores in Nova Scotia. Currently Jamie is exploring the
possibility of beginning a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) as part
of her farm’s marketing plan. Jamie describes a CSA as “a commitment
with a group of people who are interested in buying things, working on
the farm, or having a connection with the rural communities where their
food comes from”. Growing food, and being supported by the local
community is central to Jamie’s passion for farming- “its always nice
if I sell something and people say oh, that was delicious, we were
really happy with it.
|
