Fast forward to spring of 2016 and now we come to the "Horror Story" portion of my article.
Andreas has started having health issues and is not able to function on a day to day basis. This is now his livelihood so he has to think about how he is going to survive and make things work. They are approached by an investor. The investor purchases 80 acres of land adjacent to the 10 acres that they already farm. This was meant to be a partnership where Andreas and Mary Ellen are 2 of 3 on the Board of Directors.
Andreas had to go in for open heart surgery to repair an aneurysm. In their own words:
"This spring their investor took over their business while Andreas was recovering from open heart surgery, using their staff and neighbors to execute.
The investor was to rent the farm with an agreement to purchase it. The agreement was broken suddenly leaving the farm ransacked and tens of thousands of dollars of equipment and anything not nailed down removed.
Andreas and Mary Ellen, who built a unique farm business from scratch, are in threat of losing everything, having no income at this time. They are living in an apartment in Calgary and need to move back to the farm, clean up the mess, sell the farm and secure jobs. Please help them to get through this trying time before everything is lost."
So these people that have given everything to this farm are finding themselves struggling to live day to day. Andreas should still be spending time taking it easy and recovering, but now he is having to go back to work the farm so that his family doesn't lose everything.
They have managed to find a bit of seed that wasn't destroyed and start some meagre crops of greens and veggies on the land that is overgrown with weeds. There is no equipment left. Everything is done manually. The greenhouse crop is destroyed and will need to be completely restarted again. There is a hole in the gas line going to the greenhouse that will need to be repaired before there will be heat. Several of the walk in refrigeration and freezer units are no longer functioning. The flocks of poultry no longer exist. They have a delivery truck but don't have legal access to use it because technically they no longer own it. It is a bad situation for these folks.
They have enough greens and veggies to bring to the South Common Market each Saturday and Sunday. It is helping them barely stay afloat. They have a couple of restaurants that are buying their produce, but they could use at least 6.
Andreas' has a current health situation where he has a hernia that needs to be operated on. He cannot lift more than 20 pounds. This is an added stress for them as this is currently a one-man operation.
This is what the Muse is all about; supporting local businesses, getting the word out. I learned a lot about sustainability while interviewing and researching for this article.
So how can the Muse community help?
*If you are a consumer like me, go and like the Facebook page, follow them on Instagram - find out where they are selling their produce.