Amid the 100 acres of farm in Saint-Pascal-Baylon, a few minutes outside Rockland, I see and hear a group of farmhands pounding stakes into the ground for a trellis system on which will grow cucamelons.
Also, known as “mouse melons,” the grape-sized fruits look like tiny, cute watermelons and are one of dozens of crops growing at Jardin Boulay Garden, owned by Mary Lynn Boulay.
The work of pounding the stakes is certainly not cute in the blasting sun of the day, however. Atop the ladder, Olivia Romeo wields a heavy maul with sister Sophia Romeo and Jardin Boulay Garden co-farmer Stephane Berube – Boulay’s husband – holding the ladder steady.
What is perhaps unique about the Romeo sisters, who live a only a country-lane or two away from the farm, is that they love the work of farming, though they have real no real interest in becoming farmers: Olivia, 21, is a university psychology student, while Sophia, 22, works at an area grocery store.
Young farm hands working the land
The pair, who have worked the farm for several years, simply love tending to the fields and crops and helping grow food that the community eats. I admire their work ethic in the blasting sun and humidity.
“I like working hard. It’s rewarding,” Olivia says, with Sophia agreeing. “And at the stand selling, there’s the social aspect and getting to see different people from the community. It’s good relationships.”
With small family farms being consolidated into larger corporate entities and with fewer kids wanting to take over the family business of agriculture, it’s encouraging to see young people like the Romeos – essentially Gen Zs – caring about how their food grows and where it comes from.
For her part, Boulay stresses the importance of her farmhands for helping the farm tend the fields and sell the resulting produce at their market stand at the corner of Laurier and Giroux streets in downtown Rockland starting again in a couple of weeks.
“They are very good workers. They’re out here working hard and giving it their all. I depend on them,” Boulay says.
The farm grows blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, tomatoes and just started cherries.
Standing over a field of green spiky leaves, Boulay hands me a fresh garlic scape from a hardneck garlic plant: I snap off a piece and the aroma of garlic released is immediate.
“I’ll be cutting them this weekend,” she says. “All the energy and water then leaves the scapes and goes to the garlic bulbs.”
Near the house, a handful of apple trees will produce the popular Honeycrisp and the venerable McIntosh, among other varieties.
A few metres from the greenhouse, where the season’s crops get their start as tiny sprouts in little plastic trays, is a peach tree with small cucamelon-sized peaches just starting to appear.
“I plant them, water them and transplant them. After that, I have to rely on Mother Nature,” says Boulay.
No farmers means no food
It’s likely that even few customers who shop farmers’ markets and market stands – and know they are buying produce from the farmer – recognize at least somewhat the difficulties and essential hard work in hot conditions that farmers face.
“Most people when they come up to the stand, you know, don’t really know everything that’s gone into what vegetables or fruits we’ve grown,” says Boulay.
Her message, therefore, is a very simple one: support farmers because without them there would be no food.
She points out that for the youth that come to the street-side tent – which I think is just wonderful for a town’s urban core – it’s an educational experience during which she can tell them exactly how the fruits and vegetables are grown.
“I have kids and younger people that come to my stand, and they see that we are selling what we grow. Even teenagers come and ask to have a carrot. They take a bite and say, ‘Wow. That’s how a carrot tastes.’ It’s an education process, and we have teachers coming with their students. In September, when the kids are on lunch break they come and buy apples,” Boulay says.
On the busiest days at the stand, Boulay might sell out of an item and send someone to rush back to the farm for more.
“I was told that I couldn’t be a farmer because I was a girl”
The Jardin Boulay 100 acres runs parallel to Rollin Road before curling into a dog-leg right with forest on each side that provides some shelter.
The property was formerly her father’s hobby farm – Mary Lynn moved out when she was 18 but took over the farm when her parents passed away — which she has built up over the years.
The market stand has been operating on the space they rent on Laurier Street since 2010.
“When I said I wanted to be a farmer, I was told that I couldn’t because I was a girl,” Boulay says. “I’ve always liked this kind of life. When I got the place, I wanted to go back to the life that I had growing up.”
While many crops are now showing encouraging signs of early growth, others look very clearly like the lettuces and brassicas that they are.
An empty field awaits beans – both yellow and green – batches of which Boulay, Berube and the Romeos will plant about ten days apart to stagger their harvest over the season.
Sweet peppers and hot peppers will be growing far apart so the former don’t take on a nip of heat from the latter when the bees do their pollination jobs.
Ultimately, the weather conditions are always front of mind for farmers. Boulay says the early spring was a difficult one – “when it’s cold, the bees don’t come out” – and now she says with a smile that the current bit of heat is good, though she would love if it would rain once a week.
The market stand on Laurier makes up virtually Jardin Boulay’s entire business. It’s a lot of work, she says, as I pluck a warm, juicy strawberry and pop it into my mouth.
“When I’m not at the stand, I’m here,” Boulay says. “There’s always work to be done transplanting until about mid-July. And after that, it’s taking care of the weeds and maintaining.”
Jardin Boulay Garden anticipates opening July 12. They operate Thursday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the fall.
Food writer Andrew Coppolino lives in Rockland. He is the author of “Farm to Table” and co-author of “Cooking with Shakespeare ». Follow him on Instagram @andrewcoppolino.
