Welcome to our 2023 Youth in Heritage feature series – where we feature the amazing work our partners are doing and the opportunities they are giving their youth employees. Below, you will find a first article shared with us by Megan Samms who runs an outstanding rural community business who we have had the pleasure of working with in the past – Tuckaway Farms Apiary and Apothecary.
Tuckaway is a small regenerative farm, apiary and apothecary on the southwest coast of Ktaqmkuk/ Newfoundland. Regenerative agriculture is a way of practicing that prioritizes health of the soil, water, air, animals, insects – the land as an interwoven whole. It can also be thought of as holistic agriculture and for us, it’s born from a deep love of the land.
At Tuckaway, we plant heritage, open pollinated and organic seeds and tend them to fruition by amending our plots with compost and mulch. Our work is toward simple goals in our community — to provide whole food, bio-regional and handmade body care, to participate in local events, and to make a job or two in our rural community.
We cultivate food for the table – tomatoes, sweet & hot peppers, culinary herbs, salad blends, cauliflower, summer & winter squash, beans, peas, cucumbers and more. We like to grow small amounts of heritage storage crops too, like Long Blue Potatoes & Newfoundland Turnip.
In the on-farm studios we create naturally dyed and hand woven textiles, paintings, photo work, and hand carved wooden ware. Matt, our Senior Farm and Studio hand whose employment is supported by Youth in Heritage, works in the gardens, on the land as a wildcrafter, and in the studios. He uses skills to keep crops in rotation, to support studio work, and to take care of honeybees and animals. Much of the success of Tuckaway is owed to Matt and the skills he embodied before he came to us, as well as the ones he is learning on the job.
In Matt’s sweet words, “I love working at Tuckaway, a great experience, I’m always learning, it’s a happy and loving, caring and healthy work environment; I always feel safe and calm, never on edge. My work is varied and takes skill, can be physical or mental. Examples include, general body care like making soap, salves etc, general farm handing and gardening work, like construction of huts and feeders for chickens, fencing, many more tasks to list, always a pleasure and low pressure environment. I have learned a lot as well, very caring employers as well great friends. I do upkeep of the animals and plants. Tuckaway is my favourite, completely off grid setup, best work experience I could ask for, as well positive community impacts.”
For more information on Tuckaway make sure to check them out on facebook @tuckawayfaa.
Credit: Megan Samms
