They say that on the path of life, you often end up back where you started. In the case of Jody Nelson, that’s very true. The former Albertan started her life on a farm, moved to get away from it, and now finds herself with her hands in the dirt once more, albeit this time in Nova Scotia. Nelson and her husband, along with their two kids – run Localmotive Farm just outside of Stewiacke. In between picking food for their CSA and running a farm, Jody sat down to talk to Passable.
Squashes from Localmotive website
What is your connection to farming?
I grew up on a small, family beef farm in Northern Alberta. As a little girl, I knew that the best tasting carrots were the ones that still had a bit of fresh dirt on them. In my youth I spent many years getting far, far away from my hometown. I never imagined that I would end up where I started: at the end of a gravel road, on a little farm built out of nothing.
How does it feel to come full circle?
Pretty startling. The older I get , the more I realize how consistent we all are. Not to sound cliché, but you can’t escape who you are or where you come from. It has been a full circle, but this farm bears no resemblance to my family’s farm. For one, I am far away from my extended family, which can be pretty isolating. I grew up among a throng of cousins. That just doesn’t exist for us here. We are also smaller and more intensive than my family’s farm. We are only using one acre to supply a 53 member CSA, a small farmer’s market, and us. The “us” has gotten much larger these days, which is also a difference from my roots. We have taken on many WWOOFers (people who Work World Wide On Organic Farms) and apprentices over the last couple of years. I have loved opening our doors to all sorts of interesting people. It sort of compensates for the lack of family nearby.
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