Couple hopes new focus will bring in profits

NIPAWIN, Sask. – Julie and Kurt Rempel are charting a new path for their northeastern Saskatchewan farm operation.Beginning this spring, Kurt will switch to grass and beef production from grain and oilseed production at Nipawin.That change will require fewer acres of farmland, less machinery and fewer hours spent in the tractor for Kurt, who maintains a herd of 120 commercial cows without hired help.“The cow-calf operation gives me the most management flexibility,” he said. “If I’m late branding, it won’t cost me my crop. If I’m a week late spraying, I lose thousands of dollars per day,” said Kurt.The decision to get out of crops and into cattle appears to be a timely one this year. The Nipawin area had received about 330 millimetres of rain by last week and much of the farmland in the area was either saturated or under water.Julie, a mother of four children, looks to big changes ahead for her own business, Fresh Air Flavours by Julie.She will spend more time processing, labelling, packaging and marketing because demand for her line of homemade spreads, jellies, pestos and sauces is growing.Julie said running a farm and building a small business require capital, hard work and dedication.At times, the couple has discussed finding off farm jobs but Julie said their roots are here.“We love the lifestyle, we love the trees, and on a hot day, I can grab the kids, hop in the car and in 10 minutes we’re at the lake,” she said.But Kurt conceded cattle prices have to improve. “We’ve got a three to four year window. If they don’t start paying, we will have no option but to move on.”“I’ve been working for nothing and I’m tired of it,” he said.To supplement the farm’s income and to work from home while raising a family, Julie started harvesting and selling the natural foods that abound in the local forests in 2005.Fresh Air Flavours began when she contacted chefs from high-end restaurants in Saskatoon and asked if they would be interested in adding fresh fiddleheads to their menus.Orders grew quickly from 27 kilograms of the asparagus–like delicacy to 45 kg. in one growing season.Soon after that, she harvested chanterelle mushrooms, valued by chefs for use in soups, sauces and stews. Since then, Julie has added four processed items to her product line, which contains rosehips, rhubarb and lilac blossoms.“My idea was to develop unique products that are made with local ingredients that are readily available,” she said.“Everyone has rhubarb … But if you go into a supermarket, you can’t find rhubarb juice, rhubarb jelly, rhubarb jam. There’s not rhubarb anything.”Julie’s current line of products includes garlic pesto, lilac white wine jelly, rhubarb savoury sauce and wild rosehip spread, a unique alternative to cranberry sauce that can be spread on toast or used as a glaze on turkey, chicken, duck or bison dishes.The recipe for rhubarb savoury sauce is an old family recipe that was passed down from Julie’s great-grandmother.The rosehip spread is another recipe that Julie remembers from her childhood.“I grew up on the stuff,” she said.After five years in the business, demand for Julie’s products is growing by approximately 100 percent annually and her products are available in more than 30 specialty food stores located from Vancouver Island to Ontario. She also markets through her website, www.freshairflavours.com.“At this point, I think I have to decide how big I want it to get. This isn’t a regular grocery store product. It’s supposed to be a unique specialty product … and I want to stay in that market.”Julie has a small but growing stable of contracted harvesters.“I still like to get out there and pick myself because it’s what I love to do but I’m also looking for harvesters.”With demand on the rise, Julie will need about 300 pounds of rosehips and nearly 60 pounds of lilac petals.Expansion has also required a move from local processing to move to large scale production at the food processing centre at the University of Saskatchewan.Julie would like to increase production to about 10,000 units per product per year.She would also like to expand her product line and is already in the process of developing new recipes.“I love trying new things and I have a hundred ideas in my brain of things that I want to try,” she said. “You don’t want to have unrealistic expectations but I’ve always believed that people can reach their dreams, as long as they’re willing to work hard to make them come true.”