Saskatchewan farm offers the opportunity to experience farm life

For Josef Buttigieg, owning and running a farm was not something he had planned for himself.

But, as he tells his story, he emphasizes that life works in unexpected ways.

Back in 2017, the University of Regina biology professor was setting foot in Saskatchewan to pursue his teaching job. Born in raised in Toronto, Buttigieg wanted a temporary escape from the fast-paced, busy city life.

He and his family found themselves in Lumsden, Sask., to explore making an investment.

“The farm was supposed to be an acreage,” says Buttigieg. “How some people have cottages, I wanted to have a farm because you can do much more with a farm than you can do with a lakeside acreage.”

The idea started small with just a few animals here and there. Holding a PhD in neurophysiology from Hamilton, Ont.’s McMaster University, the professor was getting a taste of the slow-paced life he was looking for.

But what was meant to be a temporary escape quickly became not so temporary anymore.

“Some people got wind that I had a farm said, ‘Hey can you raise some chickens?’” says Buttigieg. “One thing led to another.”

After securing the farm land in 2017, a year later Buttigieg opened the farm for people to come and do tours, starting with his daughter’s friends. He says the concept of doing the tours themselves was completely unplanned, like much of Buttigieg’s farm journey.

“I thought, ‘We’ll just do this for fun. Some gas money-slash-beer money on the side, this will be great,’” he explains. “They had fun and they told their friends. All of a sudden we got people knocking on the door saying, ‘Hey, can we come take a look at the place?’”

Buttigieg wasn’t sure if there was a market for farm tours. However, after seeing pools of positive feedback from the public after starting the tours, he quickly realized he was mistaken.

“All of a sudden we had people banging down the door for that,” he says.

Now, the farm has hundreds of people coming weekly for tours and over 300 animals including sheep, birds, rabbits, alpacas and dogs, just to name a few. The farm offers goods, petting zoo, hayrides, events and parties and more, all listed on their website.

Buttigieg also stresses the importance of accessibility and affordability on his farm. He ensures that they price their goods ethically and activities like the hay ride are wheelchair-friendly.

He says raising his children on the farm life is far from what he had grown up on, but hopes his children sustain an open, hard-working mind as they grow on the farm.

More information on what the farm has to offer can be found on Fenek Farm’s website and Buttigieg asks that for those planning a visit, come with an open mind.

“You never know what you’re going to find when you come out to the farm. You might see a baby being born, there might be a swarm running or you might see sheep running loose and dogs being worked,” says Buttigieg.

Sania Ali has more details in the video above.

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