One of the things that makes our farm a little unique is where we are located. For those who may be unfamiliar with the Labrador region, I like to describe it as the Alaska of the East. Truthfully, there are many parts of Alaska that actually have less challenges with growing weather than we do; but I realize it’s not a competition.
It doesn’t really matter where you are, if you’re growing or raising plants and animals, there are significant challenges everywhere. If it was easy everyone would be doing it, right?
Specifically we are located just at the outer edge of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, along the North side of the Goose River, just a couple of Km (or about a mile) from the mouth of the river and Welbourne Bay. Geographically we are center of Labrador in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We are quite far North: 53 Parallel North. The landscape is overwhelmingly covered in black spruce forest and very acidic, shallow soil. Actually, our farm name, Taiga Valley Farm, is taken from the most common name for this ecological region that encompasses large swaths of land all the way around the Northern Hemisphere, the Taiga.
Being this far North brings with it some interesting distinctives when it comes to our growing seasons. In the middle of winter we barely see seven hours of sunlight, and in the middle of summer the days are so long, it doesn’t get completely dark even at 3 or 4am. I like to tell people that while we don’t get as many “growing days” as places further south, we must certainly get as many “growing hours”.
Farming isn’t easy anywhere, and we consider it a privilege to be growing food production in the North. Food quality and security are of the utmost importance to people of the Arctic and Subarctic and knowing we are making a positive impact on those challenges brings real meaning.
Keep growing!