Snowy River Farms Growing Forward

It’s hard for me to ask for this, but our small farm, Snowy River, needs your help. For the past 6 years we have operated at a loss while we put everything earned (and more) back into infrastructure, livestock, government registrations, pasture improvement, soil building, feed and labeling. We have been slowly growing but have reached a point where, in order for us to continue doing what we love, we need to access funding. Our biggest issue is that, because we have operated at a loss, our bank will not loan out to us. It’s a catch 22 in that they want us to grow bigger before they will lend us any money but we can’t get to the next stage without funding. Before I get into the details of what we need and how we plan to use this to better our community, here is a bit about us for those of you who may not already be part of our life:
Our farm is located in Cooks Brook, which is close to Shubenacadie, in Nova Scotia. We started from the ground up in 2011 when my husband and I decided we no longer wanted to work in the larger agriculture industry (he was working on a dairy farm at the time) and wanted to raise healthy products for our friends, family and community. My husband switched to carpentry and I stayed at home to start up the farm, grow our family, and now here we are! We practice responsible, natural farming which ties together the organic, locavore, and sustainable principles that benefit our land, livestock and consumers. We run a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program which gives those around us access to freshly picked, organically grown fruits, vegetables and herbs and also benefits small farms in our area as we include them as part of our “farmer team” to provide variety to our customers while we focus on which items we are best at growing.
On farm we raise heritage cross pigs on both woods and pasture land, as well as a non-GMO grain ration and plenty of spent fruits and vegetables which we collect from our local grocery store. We are one of only a handful of farms which are using non-GMO grains for our animals in Nova Scotia and the taste is second to none! We also spend lots of time interacting with our pigs, including morning belly scratches with our 3 year old daughter. Every pig we raise on our farm gets a name and has a beautiful personality that we take the time to get to know; we care greatly for them while they are with us. Our pigs do not have their teeth clipped, tails docked, receive vaccinations or antibiotics and. Our pigs are really the heart of our farm here and we couldn’t imagine spending our days without them.
We also have a small flock of Katahdin/North Country Cheviot lambs who graze on pasture with their mothers around the parameter of the farm, 3 out of 4 seasons of the year as well. We spend a great deal of time with our flock and every lambs gets a unique name, often chosen by my daughter. Our lambs do not have their tails docked, and are free from vaccinations, antibiotics and growth hormones. Our sheep are also a major part of our family, you may have recently seen an article that was shared about our dear Dotty who blessed us with 4 babies after giving us quite the health scare. Everyone comes when called, hoping to be the first to get a neck scratch or some apples, and, while they barely cover the cost of their winter hay, are most certainly a favourite.
Finally, we also have our Nova Scotia Free-Range License for chickens. Our birds are given access to grass from day one and are allowed to go outside no matter the weather. We give them a mix of pasture grasses, fruits and vegetables as well as a non-GMO grain ration. This ration is lower in salt than traditional grains fed to poultry so they do not gorge themselves on feed. This leads to a slower growth in our birds and, along with access to the pasture for sunshine and movement, a much healthier animal with none of the heart or leg issues that we see in the conventional industries.
We believe in local. We believe that Nova Scotia does, and can, produce some really amazing, and nutritionally jam-packed food, and that we can provide this to our community for fair prices, but getting around federal regulations is costly and those fees end up getting added onto the end product. We are currently looking at the development of new sausage and pepperoni recipes, all gluten free, with your health in mind as well as accessing new stores so that our product can be more
available to you. These products require testing in a lab for quality and nutrient analysis which will cost us upwards of $14,000. We were also told recently that in order to legally sell from our home we are required to have a separate room for sales which needs a hand washing sink, as well as counter space. In order to have the testing done and new labels made up, as well as the renovation to our home for product sales we are looking at a total cost of around $20,000. This is just not feasible for us and it leaves us in a really awkward position. We know three things:
1. We have people who support us, who want our product in stores. They are sharing our items with their friends and family and posting photos of the amazing meals that they create from something that we grew - that is incredibly meaningful to us.
2. We love what we do. I do not want to do anything else for as long as I live. I wish to keep my hands dirty, my body nourished and my heart overflowing. The farm does this for me.
3. We cannot continue without your support. We have hit a road block. Even if we find funding through a loan company, fees like these will increase our prices and we really, really do not want to do that. We have always strived to keep our pricing as fair as possible but this is a great example as to why many of the local products you see have such high price tags.

Please, if you cannot donate we understand completely, we do ask that you share this with your friends and family in hopes that one of them may be able to.