Welcome To Our Roost

We’re Happy To Have You

Established in 2022, Westholme is a fledgling farmstead (homestead/micro farm) with big dreams. While I (Krystal) am the heart and driving force behind the farmstead, my husband Gary is happy to help when I need a little extra muscle to get the job done and my son Zack loves to help pull weeds, harvest the gardens (especially the root vegetables and the peas) and feed the chickens. Our beagle, Renji, wears multiple hats and acts as both the farmstand welcoming committee as well as our chicken bodyguard. He takes both jobs VERY seriously. You will find us on the South Mountain of Kings County, Nova Scotia in McGee Lake.

I am passionate about growing our produce organically and using natural methods of pest control. We are not certified organic but all of our produce is grown without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Our chickens are pets with benefits (eggs!) and are raised on pasture where they have free access to bugs, grass and sunshine so they can produce the healthiest eggs possible. We currently have 36 hens (12 are still babies and not laying yet) and 5 roosters but that is subject to change at pretty much any time!

Our first year saw us get established with gardens and building the infrastructure for chickens. In our second year, we focused on raising those chickens (and building more infrastructure still because chicken math got us) while working on increasing our fruit and vegetable harvest. We opened a small farmstand at the end of our driveway in August 2023.

This year, going into year three, I am still working on building more chicken accommodations. My “Boy’s Club” coop that I build last summer/fall where all of our additional roosters were supposed to live out their lives as a bachelor flock completely did NOT work out. One by one the roosters got ousted from the bachelor coop starting in the fall and ending this spring when the last two had a falling out that couldn’t be resolved. We don’t eat our friends here even though that makes us terrible farmers and I love my boys most of all so giving them to someone else to eat wasn’t an option either. Each rooster has since gotten their own coop and already has or will soon have a flock of their own. We’re running seven coops at the moment with one more that still needs to be built. I didn’t intend to go all in on egg farming like this when we started out but, here I am. I have zero regrets.

Unfortunately, to make room for all of those chicken coops, our garden had to move to a new area this year. It got a rather late start too because chickens were living on the area the new garden moved to until I finished their coops enough to move them so I could start prepping the soil. Rather than expanding our garden this year to keep the farmstand stocked as well as our own kitchen, I find myself starting over with a fresh patch of ground. Yields likely won’t be as good as I’d hoped because of the fresh start but I’m hopeful that there will be enough extra to make it to the farmstand. Last year we had hundreds of pounds of produce pass through the stand, I’d love for the same to happen this year.

Looking forward to next year, I’d love to build a greenhouse as well as finally expand the garden like I’d hoped to this year. I’m running out of space though so we will see!