Call it the little farm that grew.
What began as a hobby has grown into a business that provides farm-fresh meat, vegetables, eggs and more to Timmins-area residents.
Allen and Nicole Graham own and operate Graham Acres, located on Shirley Street north. They have a spread of 35 acres and a retail service area in their home.
“We started it as a hobby farm for ourselves and it’s one of those beasts that just kept growing and growing,” Nicole said. “We had relatives and friends, and then relatives and friends of these people and the next thing we had a little too many gardens and we ended up at the markets. We just kept growing very naturally.
“We didn’t aim to be bigger. We just kind of grew with our customer base.”
Agriculture is in the couple’s blood.
“My husband comes from a farming background,” she said. “So, this was something we wanted to do for our own family. It just grew from there.”
While Graham Acres is a full-time operation, Allen still works.
“My husband still works at Glencore,” Nicole said. “During COVID, I got sent home. After that, we noticed that the traffic was so high here that it would warrant me doing this full-time. My husband is still not doing it full-time, I mean that it is like (him having) two full-time jobs.
“You have to like it. If you didn’t like it, there is not enough return on it to be self-sustaining. We’ve pretty much just reinvested all of our profits.”
There are no vacations on a farm. Whether it is Christmas, Easter, Canada Day or some other special occasion, chores come first.
“The animals need to be fed daily,” she said. “There are no holidays. In the summertime, we employ some students and they help us with the crop. We just put in the crops — the basics, potatoes, carrots, beets, squashes, pumpkins … and started a lot of the plants (such as sunflowers and plants for home gardeners) in the greenhouse. My daughter took over that.”
There is always something to do on the farm.
“We have 35 acres and we usually have eight to 10 acres in garden every year,” Nicole explained. “The rest of it is for the barley we grow for our cattle. We grass feed our animals and we finish them with the barley we grow here.”
The farm fresh beef, in addition to not having additives or genetic modifications, is tender and tasty.
“I don’t think it’s the breed so much as how you feed the cattle,” she said. “We believe the barley gives them a marbleization in the meat. They’re getting grass-fed and then the barley is what makes it juicy. It marbleizes the meat.”
There are no additives or chemicals in the farm-grown barley animals are fed.
The farm offers a wide variety of cuts and ground meat using beef, pork, chicken and turkey.
Smoked meat products made with Graham Acres meat include pepperettes, beef jerky and summer sausage.
Graham Acres also has box specials for various meat combinations. Vegetable boxes are available as well.
They also have Skippy Snacks, treats made for dogs from farm products.
There is an opportunity for customers to plan a pig roast with the Do It Yourself Pig BBQ. Customers can rent a whole pig barbecue equipped with a trailer hitch. Graham Acres supplies the barbecue, the charcoal and the pig.
During the pandemic lockdown, life continued down on the farm.
“If anything, it brought us a lot of clients we didn’t expect to have,” Nicole said. “A lot of people really embraced the buy local and they buy natural. They like the idea of the freezers here and people are not going back and touching (the products). We’re pretty well the ones serving people out of the freezer, so there are not a lot of hands on the meet before you buy it.”
She said the flavour provided by farm-fresh products is superior to those bought at grocery stores.
“Once you try a natural carrot as opposed to a store-bought carrot, there’s no comparing it,” she said. “We have a good base of clients who come back and repeat. We have a number who come back weekly, buy their things and their eggs.”
With agriculture growing in the region, so are opportunities to sell farm-fresh goods.
“During the summer we do the two markets,” Nicole said. “We do the Urban Market downtown and Mountjoy Farmers’ Market. We’ve been doing them for years and we’re not going to stop.
“The rest of the time, produce and everything is available here at the farm. We just try and keep it here local. The difference between the grocery store and us is that we grow it right here. We don’t have to bring it in. We have been hit with a lot of extra expenses when it comes to packaging and along those lines. The only time we raise our prices is when our profit margin has been affected.”
Every year can be different in terms of the harvest, with weather playing a big role in agriculture.
“This year we lost the whole potato crop,” she said. “At the end of August, September and early October, it just rained and we could get the machines in. By the time we got in to take the potatoes out, they had all just rotted in the field.
“But that’s the nature of the beast. Some years we get good crops and some years we don’t.”
When they aren’t at a local farmers’ market, the Grahams sell right from their farm. She just advises customers to call ahead.
“We don’t have store hours here. We have farm gate hours,” Nicole said. “Basically, we’re open if we’re home. I’m home most of the time. I always tell people to call ahead. If they’re going for a drive in the country and they want to stop in, we’re open if we’re here.
“It’s one of those things if you post store hours, then you’re set buy those hours. We don’t hire. It’s just my husband and I. Other than the summer to help with the crops, it’s just him and I. So, we have to have a little bit of leeway.”
This flexibility can be a benefit for customers.
“By not setting store hours, if they call me up and ask if it’s too late, I can say ‘no, it’s fine. I’m up till 10 tonight,’” she said. “I’ve got nurses who come off shift at 6:30, 7 p.m. and ask if they can come by at 7:30. As long as you let me know, I’m good. The advantage to living here, we can pretty much serve at any time.”
The Grahams plan to keep running the farm, going to farmers’ markets and producing farm-fresh food for the foreseeable future.
“We’re going to be around a little while yet,” Nicole said.
Graham Acres is located at 1725 Shirley St. N. in Timmins, phone 705-268-5068. Check out their website or find them on Facebook.
