SMOKY LAKE, Alta. – A lifelong dream to fill a yard with fancy birds has come true for Miles Buswell.
His front yard is filled with peacocks, guinea hens, mandarin ducks, quails, pheasants and 10 breeds of pigeons, as well as chickens, turkeys and ducks.
The dream has also expanded to include donkeys, miniature horses, goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, rabbits and calves.
With that much variety it made sense for Delores and Miles Buswell to throw open the front gates of The Farm and invite others to enjoy the menagerie.
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“I think people get their $20 worth when they come here,” Buswell said as he hobbled through the pens on a crutch, which will be his close companion until his turn for a hip replacement.
“Most of the kids want to pet the animals. The adults are just amazed by the variety.”
Curiosity brought more than 100 people to the yard last year to buy bunnies, chickens and eggs.
This year The Farm is part of the agriculture tourism promotion program Open Gates on 28, which the Buswells hope will encourage more people to turn off Highway 28 and into their yard.
It’s the first time since the couple moved to the northeastern Alberta town of Smoky Lake that they’ve felt part of the community, he said.
Swinging open the farm gate and hanging out a welcome sign has given locals encouragement to get a closer look at what’s happening at the four-acre farm site.
“We’ve got a very good response from the local community. They’re glad to see another business in the community,” said Buswell, manager of the bi-monthly sheep and goat sale at Tofield Auction.
“Just because you’re a livestock dealer doesn’t mean you’re a crook.”
The couple rent an additional six acres to grow cucumbers to sell each fall from The Farm, a project that involves the entire family.
“I love this life. I wouldn’t give it up,” said Delores, who grew up in a trailer park in Sherwood Park near Edmonton.
Buswell said by inviting people to the farm he hopes to pass on agriculture knowledge to children who have never seen a chicken hatched or watched a calf suck from its mother.
“I want to make sure the next generation of kids has plain old farm knowledge that we gathered from our parents and grandparents.”
