A string of early frosts has cut deep into Stoney Acre Farms’ pumpkin and corn crops, capping off what Mike and Kathleen Melnychuk call one of the most challenging growing seasons they’ve faced.
The Fraserwood couple, who grow strawberries, corn and pumpkins, said their season began with hurdles long before the first frost.
“Our season starts in early May when we bring the strawberries out of dormancy and plant new plants, followed by planting sweet corn and pumpkins,” said Mike Melnychuk. “The dry weather that followed planting is when problems started happening. In the strawberries we had sluggish growth, despite irrigation nothing replaces rain. Then severe wildlife damage at the hooves of white-tail deer caused a crop loss of well over 10,000 pounds of fruit.”
Pumpkins and corn, seeded on about 1.25 acres, also got off to a shaky start with poor germination and high weed pressure. Still, by late summer, optimism returned.
“Every day we would go out and see positive growth,” said Melnychuk. “By early September we had pumpkins ripening and sweet corn ready — some of it only needed a few more days.”
That optimism faded quickly. A soft frost June 24 was followed by a hard frost on Sept. 5 and another on Sept. 7.
“Waking up at 6 a.m. and seeing the thermometer showing minus 3, my heart definitely dropped,” Melnychuk said. “Still, at the time, I felt confident one frost couldn’t stop it all. But by the next day, the corn was wilting and browning. We had to leave over half of our pumpkins in the field and were only able to harvest about 15 per cent of our sweet corn.”
Extended family pitched in to salvage what they could, hauling the best pumpkins and gourds into storage, while immature squash were already going soft in the field.
“Luckily, we did what we did because that night it dipped down to minus 2 for over four hours, which would have damaged everything that was out there,” Melnychuk said.
Despite the loss, he said the support from friends and customers has been a bright spot.
“Throughout all of this, we had lots of offers to help from friends and community, which was greatly appreciated,” he said. “The whole north Interlake has been super receptive to us. It’s amazing how far people come to buy our produce.”
The Melnychuks are already planning for next season. They hope to build a high-tunnel greenhouse to start pumpkins earlier, move up seeding dates and expand to nearly five acres of strawberries.
“This was our first major year of production and I still feel optimistic,” Melnychuk said. “You can’t really learn to deal with challenges unless you face them. At the end of the day farming is farming — no matter what we grow, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature. That’s where being a close-knit community really helps, sharing experiences to make us resilient. Stay positive. There’s always next year.”
For news, updates and to see when and how to purchase their pumpkins, gourds or other produce, follow them on Instagram stoneyacrefarms or Facebook @stoneyacrefsrms
