Farm Past

Bantry Bay Farm is the name given to the land that sits just outside of the quiet little town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick in Charlotte County. It currently sits calmly and grows some casual fields of hay. The children have all gone away and the few who remain move slowly as if revering those whose feet don't walk these paths anymore. In the farm house, signs of life are frequent as the farm managers get ready to accomplish their daily tasks. Their work however is not on the farm. No the farm has not been active for some years now. The days of dairy cattle and turnips a la crushed mussel shells are long gone.

A long time ago, this area was famous for it's turnips. They were THE BEST! The secret was that farmers were using crushed mussels as a soil enhancer. This was superb until one year farmers got a shock. The turnips just didn't want to perform. It was realized that after all the years of growing turnips on the same land, the land had become deficient in boron! 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 and Bantry Bay Farm became the local supply of cream, milk and ice cream.

Aside from cows the land also supplied dogs with a large playground, donkeys 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 continued to sell milk to them until 1980. For a short while there were beef cattle and then there were none. The only thing that is "farmed" there now is the hay. With a whole generation of children who didn't want to farm, the land remained quiet and became a sanctuary for deer, porcupine and other wildlife escaping the sound of the hunting season (BANG).

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 Terri Mais gave the ok for four young folks to start a small vegetable production on the land they share. The four are Brad Aune, Luke McLean, Mike Hadfield and Katherine McCord.

Together The Crew is a mighty team and with their strengths and weaknesses well-balanced, hope to be more than just the local farmers. They come with hopes and dreams of many flavours and can't wait to meet you! Please check out the rest of the website to know more.