Thank you for visiting my web site. Windy Hill Organic Farm is owned by Alyson Chisholm. I produce organic fruits and vegetables and keep a small herd of dairy goats on my 45 acre farm in McKees Mills, New Brunswick. I offer a CSA box program starting in June and sell my certified organic produce seasonally at the Bouctouche Farmers Market on Saturdays and at our seasonal farm stand every day through the season. Though I am the sole owner of this farm I by no means operate on my own. My team of amazing farm workers, as well as volunteers, family, friends, neighbours and other supporters (including CSA members of course!) enable me to run this farm in a sustainable manner and produce vegetables to feed hundreds of families. To my co-producers, I am very grateful and hope we continue doing this for a long time to come!
2024 turned out to be one of the best growing seasons we’d ever seen. The timing and amount of rain, sunshine and warm temperatures made everything we planted produce beautifully. Now that I’ve experienced the perfect growing year I’d love to have it repeated every year from now on, though I know that’s not possible. As always we will work with whatever 2025 throws at us and hope that it’s even slightly as great as 2024 was.
Last year I was blessed with a crew of experienced, returning workers many of whom, unfortunately for me but great for them, have moved on with their lives and have other plans for 2025. Thank you so much to Max, Marc and Alysha for their years of support to this farm and best of luck on your new adventures! Thank you even more to Carla and Danielle who will be returning for another season on the farm. Their contribution will be huge this season as we train new workers. At this moment in time I have one confirmed new full-time worker and am looking for a second. Watch this space and, if you are so inclined, apply!
We had our first full season at the Bouctouche Farmer’s Market in 2024 and it went really well. It was refreshing to finally find a farmer’s market willing to give farmers the support they need to succeed. I didn’t expect to have such great sales in a small community but it is obvious that this region supports local producers and who could ask for more? I look forward to another great season at this market!
Some of the new practices implemented in 2024 included cutting way back on potato production and buying potatoes from another local organic farmer. We’ve always struggled with growing potatoes, mainly because of potato beetle pressure. The whole farm crew agreed that we put way too much energy into pest management and realised that we would be much more productive if we used that energy elsewhere. Nature’s Route Farm is more highly mechanised than we are and have been growing high quality root vegetables for years. Buying a portion of our potato needs from Kent was one of the best decisions I’ve made in years! We still grow some early potatoes and did a much better job managing pests last year.
We invested in protective netting for some of our crops last year and did a trial where we compared leeks under netting to leeks under row covers, our usual method of defence against the leek moth. Well, the netting was definitely the way to go, even late in the season when the tall leeks lifted the netting up away from the ground! The problem we’ve been having with floating row covers is that they rip easily and this lets the pests in. Netting is stronger and longer lasting and also easier to repair if we do get holes. I’ll be buying more netting this year which, though more expensive, will last longer than row covers while giving better protection.
This year we don’t have many new projects since there will be lots of energy going towards training new crew members, however we will be expanding our use of netting for pest control as well as continuing to try out new cover crops to improve soil fertility. There are always repairs and improvements to do on infrastructure and equipment and this year we’ll be tackling the greenhouses. We plan to replace wooden parts that rot quickly in the humid environment with galvanised metal, and do this without removing the plastic cover. Hopefully we have an early spring like last year and are able to get a good start on the season. I feel very confident that the 2025 season promises great things and I look forward to continue supplying your delicious and nutritious vegetables!