• About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home Environment

From intern to farm owner at Earth to Belly Homestead in Stanley, New Brunswick

Agricultural land access series: Part 1

by Amy Floyd
February 6, 2022
Reading Time: 4min read
From intern to farm owner at Earth to Belly Homestead in Stanley, New Brunswick

Courtney Atyeo (left) and Louis St. Pierre at the Durham Bridge Farmstand 2022. Photo from the Earth to Belly Facebook page.

The origin story of Earth to Belly Homestead is one that we don’t see often in New Brunswick, but hopefully we will see more of in the future. Louis St. Pierre came to New Brunswick from Québec to work as a farming intern. He had buying land in New Brunswick in mind, but he wasn’t sure where he might end up. 

The farm was a traditional homestead that had been brought back into production by the landowners who lived on the site and had been working hard at re-establishing overgrown fields. In 2015, St. Pierre worked on the farm for a month and again for a month in May of 2016. He used his time there not just to learn about farming, but to understand the local market options and what sold well. He learned quickly that eggs for example, would be a good investment. 

St. Pierre is a jazz drummer. In the spring of 2017, he got the wonderful opportunity to play in a world-wide tour. The tour covered his lodging, meals and other basic expenses, so St. Pierre, motivated to buy land at the end of the tour, saved, saved, saved. 

“I was 21 years old and this was the first real money that I had ever made in my life, but I knew what I wanted. I made Excel sheets to track my finances and lived off of my expense allowance. If you can believe it, in that year I only spent $600 of my own money!”, said St. Pierre. 

After getting back to New Brunswick, St. Pierre found that the landowners he had interned with were ready to move on from the farm. St. Pierre and the farmer developed a close relationship during their time working together and he was able to buy the place for a great price; on the promise that he would maintain the site as a working farm. In this case, the purchase of the farm was done simply, through the bank as a mortgage. One of the farmers stayed on site for a time after the land sale, exchanging room and board for the use of the farm equipment that they owned. 

St. Pierre spent a lot of time with his business plan and thought very clearly about how he could make the farm support him so that he didn’t need to take any off-farm jobs. After just a few years, the farm has field blocks for produce, greenhouses, a large flock of hens, pigs, an indoor wash station and a dedicated kitchen space for processing value-added products. Louis’ partner, Courtney Atyeo also has a dedicated pottery studio on-site. After doing CSAs and market stands, the business is shifting, as the couple learns more about the local market and customer preferences. 

Earth to Belly Homestead, a traditional New Brunswick homestead site on the edge of the Stanley Village limits in January 2022. Photo by Amy Floyd.

The farm is typical of those in the area, with steep hills and rocky soil, but even so, the couple have been able to make the farm successful. St. Pierre attributes the success to a few things, “I did what I said I would. I worked with the farmer that was here before and I proved myself. Part of the problem is with education – young people might have goals, but they often aren’t taught the practical steps for reaching them. You can get what you want with hard work, but you have to keep trying.” 

Financing farm infrastructure was one of those challenges that required some tenacity. 

St. Pierre says, “You might need to look for some private investments. The banks weren’t really very flexible with me, even those set up to give agricultural loans. Lenders tend to favour larger producers. As a younger person on a small farm, you might need to come up with 20 per cent down and get a co-signer. Another problem is that the assessed market value on the land is often so much less than the actual market value, so the bank doesn’t see it as much of an asset. It can also be harder to finance a lot of smaller projects, like a pond, wash station, greenhouses, irrigation. The banks are more likely to want to give money for something more tangible like a barn.”

St. Pierre’s parting advice for new farmers: “The pandemic has brought so much economic disparity, which changes how people buy food. There are also lots of people coming to New Brunswick from other provinces and the price of houses and land is artificially high right now. With so many things changing, if you are short on resources, it could be good to rent land until the housing market stabilizes again.”

You can find Earth to Belly Homestead on Facebook or on their website. 

This story is part of the Land Access Guide for New Brunswick Farmers published by the RAVEN project. You can find more stories about the creative ways that New Brunswick Farmers are getting onto the land on RAVEN’s website. 

Amy Floyd is a Senior Food Security Policy Analyst with the RAVEN Project and focuses on rural issues, food sovereignty and permaculture. Floyd can be reached at Amy@RAVEN-research.org.

Tags: agricultureAmy Floydfood sovereigntyRAVEN
Send

Related Posts

Celebrating the Nicaraguan Revolution’s 45th Anniversary
World

Celebrating the Nicaraguan Revolution’s 45th Anniversary

September 13, 2024

I recently went back to Nicaragua after working there 35 years ago. The principal reason was to be on a...

Housing advocates ask for policy and planning considerations in the wake of provincial investment
Housing

Advocates criticize new rent bank over exclusions, ‘patronizing’ language

December 14, 2023

A newly-launched rent bank has received mixed reviews from housing advocates, who welcomed the new program but raised concerns about...

Share Land! Community creation in rural New Brunswick
New Brunswick

Share Land! Community creation in rural New Brunswick

June 5, 2023

After we first came to rural New Brunswick in the mid-1990s, we noticed a distinct group of people. This group...

National Farmers Union wants to break down barriers facing racialized farmers in Canada
Food sovereignty

National Farmers Union wants to break down barriers facing racialized farmers in Canada

May 17, 2023

The National Farmers Union (NFU) organized a full-day BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) farm workshop on April 1...

Load More

Recommended

The Millennium Scoop: an ongoing crisis for Indigenous families

The Millennium Scoop: an ongoing crisis for Indigenous families

4 days ago
Délai prolongé! COOP Média NB offre d’emploi : Journaliste vidéo autochtone

Toujours pas de justice cinq ans après le meurtre de Chantel Moore

4 days ago
Livestream: Local News Matters — Incubating local news in the Maritimes [video]

Livestream: Local News Matters — Incubating local news in the Maritimes [video]

2 hours ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join the Co-op / Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

X
Did you like this article? Support the NB Media Co-op! Vous avez aimé cet article ? Soutenez la Coop Média NB !
Join/Donate