About The Farm

Bantry Bay Farm

Our vision is to create a long term system of sustainable agriculture, that supplies the local community with fresh, healthy food. In field practice this means using techniques such as: minimal use of fossil fuels, crop rotation, green manures, and taking a plant positive approach to growing.

One of the core ways we connect to the community is through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, in which members buy a share of the produce at the beginning of the year and receive a box/bag of food every week through the season.  To find out more, visit our Bantry Bay Farm CSA page.

The History

Bantry Bay Farm is the name given to the land that sits just outside of the quiet little town of St Andrews, NB in Charlotte County.  A long time ago, this area was famous for its turnips.  They were THE BEST!  The secret was that farmers were using crushed mussels as a soil amendment.  This was superb until one year the farmers got a shock.  The turnips just didn't want to perform.  It was discovered that after all the years of growing turnips on the same land, the land had become deficient in boron(and still is)!  Turnip was retired from this land and in 1938 it became a full time dairy farm under Mr. & Mrs. Redmond.  The Redmond family vacationed in St Andrew's during the summer months.  In 1955 Norman and Margot Mais took over Bantry Bay, and the farm soon became the local supply of cream, milk and ice cream.

Aside from cows, the land also supplied dogs with a large playground, donkey and horses with apples to eat, kids with an incredible place to learn about nature and homes for many other animals.  In the 1960's Baxter's Dairy bought the St Andrew's supply and Bantry Bay Farm continue to sell milk to them until 1980.  After the dairy ended the farm raised beef cattle, and then for many years the only thing that was farmed was the hay.  With a whole generation of children who didn't want to farm, the land remained quiet and became a sanctuary for deer, procupine and other wildlife.

With Margot Mais's death in 2004 the fate of the farm was unknown.  The children didn't want to see the end of a historical era, so they threw around some possibilities for the future.  In 2006 the tides changed when Tony Mais, Lori Mais-McCord, and Terry Mais gave the ok for a group of young folks to start a small vegetable production on the land they shared.  
 

After 10 years of farming Luke and Katherine have moved on, while Mike and Liana head into the 19th season of farming on Bantry Bay and are immensely grateful to have such an amazing place to live and work.  With such a rich history and beautiful setting, we are proud to provide the people of Charlotte County with vegetables we believe are the freshest and tastiest.