Annapolis Valley farmer contemplating future after storm destroys greenhouse

Kevin Graham isn’t sure what’s going to come next for his beloved Oakview Farm and Greenhouse in Kings County.

Last Monday’s winds were the highest he has experienced at his small, 50-acre mixed farm, which has some cows, chickens, and crops. A 10-by-23-metre greenhouse was torn apart, and the exposed winter greens that he grows to help keep the farm running over the winter have frozen and are lost. They accounted for well over half of the greens that he has in production at this time of year.

Graham and his wife Jennifer have run the farm for 27 years. The winds, with gusts of up to 130 kilometres an hour, were just the latest blow to the farm in 2023, following the polar vortex in February, the drought in May, and then the incessant rains for the rest of the year.

“It’s like another mountain to try to scale,” Graham said. “The loss is significant… we’ve had a lot of weather that has caused a lot of loss… it has been a very rough year for a lot of us, and I keep hearing it in the community for others as well.”

He said that while he’s a small farm he can still access government aid programs, “it’s just a lot of loss for the size we are.”

The access to greenhouse programs have closed for the year and been used up, so there is no way to apply for support for a rebuild right now. The winds tore off the plastic covering, bending the frame in the process.

“If we could hold off for a year we would probably qualify, but our need is more immediate than that,” he said.

The plants in the greenhose are the farm’s main winter crop, and are sold at the Seaport Market in Halifax as well as locally.

The structure isn’t just for the winter greens, though, as it is used for starting spring seedlings and then for growing more crops.

“We use it 12 months of the year,” Graham said. “It’s a central part of our cash flow and operation.”

He said it will cost $30,000 to rebuild the greenhouse, and the value of the lost crop is about $6,000.

“It takes us a few years to make $6,000,” he said. “We’re able to pay our bills, but it’s very marginal, but to try to replace it at this stage would eat up most of the resources that we have.”

Graham is 75 years old, and says he’s “dancing on a fine edge” as he contemplates what to do next.

“I’m getting a lot of noise from people that maybe it’s time (to retire). I haven’t accepted the noise yet. It’s been my passion, and I love to grow things. It’s a central part of the whole farm operation and it’s really difficult to let go of it. We’re kind of known in the community for some of the product that we produce, so it’s a difficult decision.”

He says giving up would be hard, because the farm is part of his identity.

Graham had farmed in the 1970s before going to university and taking degrees in divinity and psychology. He then worked in the federal correctional system for a number of years before returning to farming.

The farm also had to take out its u-pick peach orchard this year because of the damage from the cold snap in February, and like many other growers lost a large chunk of their strawberry crop when the rainy period hit, as well as part of the summer vegetable crop.

“It’s been that kind of a year, just one challenge after another. That’s been the discouraging part of it,” he said. “It’s been relentless. Then with the amount of work that goes into seeding and transplanting all those greens… just to lose it in one night on top of everything has knocked me down, I have to say.”