According to Rose Clooney, there’s nothing like fresh fruit and vegetables. “I love it” she says outside of Noggins Farm Market in Greenwich, N.S. “I like to do pickling, so I always buy my beets to pickle beets and to make pickles, mustard, pickles. Then for Thanksgiving, all fresh veggies.” Clooney and Nova Scotia farmers are enjoying a strong harvest in fields and orchards. All those fresh vegetables come after a couple down years in the fields. Heavy rainfall in 2024 and drought conditions last year stunted the growth of many crops. Farmer Josh Oulton says his fruit trees were ready to produce. “We cared for them last year the same way and then this year was such a great growing season that they had all this pent-up energy and so the peaches were gorgeous, the plums, the nectarines...if we do have a couple bad years, it is really nice to have a year that we do catch up,” he says. “This year has been a pleasant, pleasant surprise, compared to the last half dozen years,” says Peter Elderkin. According to the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association, the apple crop is up by about a half-a-million bushels. “We have a good crop,” Elderkin says. “The quality of the crop is the best I’ve had in years.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
