NL meatshare
The Windy Heights Campaign
NL Meatshare is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) campaign designed to raise money for local farmers and invest in food security on the island of Newfoundland. The way it works is you invest either $500 or $1000 now, and get repaid in the future with $600 or $1200 (respectively) in goat, beef, or pork. We call them Beef Shares, or Goat Shares, or Pork Shares!
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Our first campaign aims to help save Windy Heights so that Anita, Gerard, and Gerry can keep growing and diversifying their operations, become more climate resilient, and continue to serve the Northeast Avalon and beyond with the highest quality meats, mushrooms, and produce!​​​
Who are Windy Heights Farm?
Windy Heights Farm (legally incorporated as Fusion Holdings Ltd.) is the largest regenerative and chemical-free farm in Newfoundland and Labrador! They are also the largest mushroom producers in the province. Over the last 8 years, Anita and Gerard Walsh, along with their son Gerry, have slowly been converting what was once 400 acres of chemical-dependent sod into a thriving, healthy, multi-species, sustainable agriculture facility. But Windy Heights is not just a farm. They are community activators, bringing people together, giving them space to try out ideas and food-based innovations, and helping make the island of Newfoundland - out here in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean - a bit more food secure.
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The Walsh Family started Windy Heights after having operated a large family farm in Southern Ontario for many years. They returned back to Gerard's home province of Newfoundland and Labrador to try out a number of entrepreneurial enterprises before coming back to their one true love and passion: growing healthy food. In doing so they have built up a large supportive community and partnered on or hosted many on-farm community-based initiatives, including:
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a farm-to-table cafe (in the certified commercial kitchen)
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a local cidery production facility
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food trucks and community events, making use of a hill-top field with jaw-dropping panoramic views of the entire Northeast Avalon Peninsula
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foraging and nature-based craft tours and courses
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agritourism events and farm-stays
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youth and adult training and employment
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land-based innovation incubation, providing space for budding social enterprises, and partnering with Memorial University for on-farm research and development
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community gardens and rental plots for smaller scale market gardeners​​
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collaborating with other area farmers to form an Abattoir Co-operative to work together to save and collectively operate the area's last-remaining certified meat processing facility
Why do they need our help?
Over the last decade, Windy Heights has been the centre of a growing community of people who really care about the farm, about the Walsh's and their animals, and their ideas for a thriving sustainable farm. This is why, when we saw a "for sale" sign on their Portugal Cove - St. Philip's based property, we reached out to learn more.​ It turns out they faced a number of challenges all at once:
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the Northeast Avalon is facing an unprecedented drought (in what is usually Canada's rainiest city) resulting in an 80% drop in production this past summer
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they had one investor calling in a large loan unexpectedly
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they have faced ongoing barriers created by the town and nearby neighbours, mostly due to a lack of awareness about the environmental benefits and higher quality food that comes from organic methods
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the economy has changed, bringing with it a huge shift in how individuals and restaurants are buying specialty meats and mushrooms
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they are ready to expand to different markets and start using the full 400 acres more effectively, but to do this they need to put in a substantial investment into infrastructure upgrades, added certifications, and new processing equipment
The Walsh's really wanted to focus then next season on future-proofing the farm to make it more resilient in the face of a changing climate, diversify and grow their herds, and build on the partnerships and community they have already built. But all of these ideas had to be put on hold when one of their investors unexpectedly called in a $130k loan and set a repayment deadline of the second week of December.
Their first thought was to sell the farm to be able to complete this repayment, but instead we proposed that Windy Heights really lean on the community and trust they have built over the last number of years and raise this money the old-fashioned way - through a CSA program called the NL MeatShare campaign!
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"We" are a group of "Friends of the Farm" who, together with Anita, Gerard and Gerry, have put together this campaign to prove the value and power of a group of people with a commitment to good food, good land stewardship, and community investment!