Specialty Crop

Locally produced honey; homemade apple cider vinegar and elderberry syrup; free-range chicken eggs; a variety of meats, including free-range chickens, heritage turkeys, pork, lamb, and beef; alfalfa; and small quantities of fresh fruit from the orchard.

The owners, Alisha and Tim Michaud, who both have full-time jobs, saved enough money to purchase 140 acres of farm ground near Pine Bluffs. In their spare time, they started growing alfalfa, vegetable gardening, beekeeping, planting an orchard and vineyard, and raising farm animals.

“Neither one of us have agriculture backgrounds, but we really got the bug for farm work,” Tim says. “We absolutely fell in love with it.”

Most of the property is in alfalfa, but in 2016 they planted an orchard consisting of apples, pears, and plums. And in 2019, they planted a one-acre vineyard with cold-hardy white and red grape varieties, and are finding that the white cultivar Itasca and the red cultivar Frontenac do well in their environment.

Once they obtain the necessary licenses, they hope to begin producing and selling small quantities of hard cider and wine.

They also constructed a geodesic dome greenhouse and a high tunnel on their property, and are producing fresh vegetables, but because of their full-time jobs they haven’t yet started selling produce to the public. However, they wanted to share the following with others who are considering such a structure: the geodesic dome withstands severe storms better, and it also can extend the growing season a bit longer. Tim said that temperatures in the geodesic dome stay above freezing on nights that get down to 26°, whereas it starts freezing in the high tunnel when temps dip to around 28°.

“The 2° difference might not sound like a lot, but we have found it to be significant in some of the colder nights in late September and October,” says Tim, noting that other factors come into play, such as how warm the soil is, which ties into whether the days have been sunny or cloudy.

The Growing Spaces website says that the geodesic shape contains a larger volume of air compared to the external surface area, making it less impacted by the heat of summer and cold of late fall through early spring.