Visit the farmshop for tasty treats or book a tour. Disconnect & Reconnect in nature. Home to Curd Girl cheese classes/kits. Sweetwood Heritage Farm & Sanctuary is near scenic Mahone Bay on the south shore of Nova Scotia. This farm dates to the 1760s and we pursue 'traditions that nurture' in all we do - for the heritage animals we conserve, for the land, the low impact natural and sustainable foo
ds we produce, and for our guests and farm friends. Living and demonstrating ways to live with a small ecological footprint is core to our values and sustainability, animal welfare and education are our guiding principles. We believe experiencing nature and small farm life is both a personal restorative joy and also contributes to a healthy planet - we share through classes, tours, special events such as goat yoga and eco-friendly farm-stays (yes, we offer cool glamping options) and through sustainable food production too. We raise gorgeous friendly heritage breed goats (Toggenburgs - those long haired beauties suited to grazing Lunenburg county grasses; the oldest dairy breed in the world, as well as other breeds too), free ranging heritage poultry (coloured eggs) and have our retired heritage pigs and other farm sanctuary companions that together make the place lively and joyful (and busy). We are well known for our fun and informative cheese making classes and sell CM supplies too (see the ), and even stock delicious local cheeses in our seasonal farm shop (our own dairy sadly has fallen due to COVID - though we continue to care for all the girls (they are family after all - yes, every one has a name and of course unique personality). This is now over 2.5 years of caring for a herd of dairy goats with no financial return - yes, we would dearly love assistance (of all sorts) to help with this mammoth task. Psst: Did you know we have become famous for our charcuterie grazing boards? Normally available for pick up by pre-order, though these can be enjoyed on site too at our outdoor seating in the 2022 season. This is possible because of our new (2021) onsite licensed kitchen. Private prebooked lunches are also available in season. Watch as we announce more soon for the 2022 season. The kitchen and cafe/farmshop has been a transformation from our previous dairy - trying to survive and continue to care for our resident animals, we have used up all savings/pensions everything to keep everyone safe and fed and to invest in new infrastructure to support more visitors. We hope you will take advantage of our new face and welcome the opportunity to visit and support the farm and sanctuary, whether through delicious food, visits, classes or farmstays.
* Back story. Our tiny dairy and creamery has been shut since Covid-19 started. It hit just as our season of kidding and milking began in March 2020. This was the beginning of only our 3rd (really 2 1/2) season - just getting off the ground (some of you may know of the mammoth behind the scenes struggles to get the tiny dairy operational). We were committed, however as we believed in offering something very unique and special in the local food and dairy scene (tiny scale dairy produced in the most gentle of methods - hands on methods that supported the optimum in herd health, farm (land) health and human health - truly ethical dairying and sustainable delicious food. But being the 'tiny dairy' and trying to be innovative in the provincial food system really has its issues when scale doesn't protect the margins. We are strategizing on hopefully a new more magical path forward. We hope you will take our classes or come for a tour, nab a cheese making kit (), order a charcuterie picnic box, visit our new cafe opening soon, book a farmstay, or find other ways to be part of this unique heritage farm and sanctuary story. Donations to help feed the animals are always appreciated. Physical help is really valuable too and we would love more and regular helpers. The opportunity of experiencing such personal interaction with our farm animals truly is therapeutic, though helpers do really need to be physically capable to manually contribute. If you love our goats, we will soon be launching our Adopt a Goat' program - providing special perks and opportunities to get to know a particular favorite and needy goat. I look forward to reconnecting and sharing more of the nurturing traditions here at Sweetwood.
