Farming & Family: The Best of Both Worlds By Chelsea Enns Raising your family on the farm is always the idyllic version of how to raise your kids. You can picture it in your head; your children running free in the fields, climbing bales in the hayshed, helping dad to get that new calf to drink from a bottle, picking carrots out of the garden with mom to have for supper. It’s true. Growing up on the farm, kids have more opportunities to get dirty, explore and learn organically. They have freedom. Farming can also be overshadowing. What you don’t usually picture are the long days for dad in the field, sometimes eating alone in the tractor. Or not being able to be at soccer practice after school because the cows need to be milked. Having to say no to weekend camping trips because there is too much work to do on the farm. Don’t get me wrong. The farm life is the best life. I knew I wanted to raise my children on the farm. But for us, we knew that raising our family on a conventional dairy farm wasn’t for us. At the time, we lived on a 140 cow dairy in southern Manitoba with 600 acres of land surrounding us. Our first was born in July of 2019. It came as a surprise to me when our son was born, that I was nervous to raise him there. Not because of the obvious dangers that come with living on a farm (large animals and equipment) but because I was scared that we wouldn’t be able to have the family first, farm second balance we were determined to have. We wanted less. But at the same time, we wanted more. In spring of 2021, when the opportunity to move to a small dairy with 90 acres on Vancouver Island came to us, it was something we knew we couldn’t pass up. A 50-cow dairy with a cheese processing facility on site – also known as Little Qualicum Cheeseworks- a well known Agri-tourism destination. Diversification was something we only dreamed about before and now had the chance to make it reality. The Cheeseworks adds so many benefits to the
Rory Enns (above) waits to start the day. Rory (in costume) helps out with cleaning the barn. / Rory Enns (ci-dessus) attend pour commencer la journée. Rory (en costume) aide à nettoyer la grange. Photo: Albert Enns.
otherwise simple farm life. We can teach our children what it looks like for our food to go full circle. From milking the cow, making the cheese, packing it up and sending it to the local grocery store. We can instill in them a passion to teach others about where our food comes from. They will know what sustainable farming looks like and know why it’s important to keep our footprint small. We can show them how people you work with can become like family, when your real family are half a country away. So now, with our little farm, life looks a little different. We have time. Time to have breakfast together each morning. Time to explore this beautiful island we now call home. Time to spend with family and friends when they visit from out east. Our children can still grow up alongside animals and learn to care for them. They still have the freedom to roam and play. They can help dad in the field when making hay. They can see where that cheese you see in the store
60 JUNE / JUIN 2022 Canadian Jersey Breeder / Eleveur de Jersey Canadien
comes from and how it’s made. To say we are thankful would be an understatement. Thankful that we can raise our family the way we want to and be able to do what we love at the same time. Could it be that you can have the best of both worlds? In my experience, we can.
