Better Farming - December 2016

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of their fields the year before.
“We will never be this busy again,”
Anita declared one night after Steve
returned from a chilly dip in the
irrigation pond.
Now, she smiles. “My goodness,
what was I thinking?”
Since then, the Buehners have
transformed their equipment barn
into an on-farm store, demolished
their glass greenhouse to create room
for parking and septic beds, created
lavender products and added wine
and hard cider production and sales
to their operation. (They also grow
apples and cash crops.)
This year marked the third season
of their Bonnieheath Estate Lavender
& Winery. Profit is still elusive but
revenue steadily grows. The Buehners
are optimistic; they knew it would
take years before the business would
turn a profit, Anita says.
Both Steve and Anita say that
success is being able to look back and
know they’ve enjoyed what they’re
doing. “And certainly at this point, I
can say that whether it was in tobacco
(or the new venture), I really enjoyed
doing what we were doing, the
transition that we’ve gone through
and where we’re at now,” says Anita.
“Every step along the way was
interesting and challenging and
rewarding.”
What’s your role on your farm operation?
STEVE: The grunt (laughter). I leave
all the paperwork and all the, I could
be sarcastic and say the “fun stuff,” to
Anita. She does all the business parts.
ANITA: So Steve does more of the
agricultural and management of the
farming side of things. He is the
winemaker’s assistant as well.
And whereas I used to share in the
responsibilities of the agricultural
portion because that’s where my heart
is, I’ve had to give that up. So a lot of
that has been turned over to Steve.
Then of course there’s more managing
of the employees, training and payroll
as well as the tracking of inventory,
developing lavender products and
participating in a lot of meetings.
Howmany people does your farm employ?
ANITA: Three farm workers; we had
three that were seasonal for the retail.
We have our winemaker as well.
STEVE: The two of us and don’t
forget about your dad – 89 years old.
ANITA: He still looks after all the
lawn maintenance on the entire farm.
My niece helps out in the summer.
Hours you work per day?
ANITA: Minimum 10.
STEVE: I try not to work on
Sunday. I have a lot of physical work
to do all week.
Email or text?
STEVE: We text to our (four) kids
because they’re all over the place. But
I would say we’d email more.
Any favourite apps?
STEVE: I would think (Excel is my
favourite), definitely.
ANITA: I do a lot in Word as well.
STEVE: I despise Word. There’s too
many things in Word that something
(happens) and –
ANITA: It’s because you don’t use
it often enough.
STEVE: I know. I don’t have that
with Excel.
How often do you travel?
ANITA: We hadn’t (travelled) in
years.
STEVE: We were here working a
long time, a lot of hours, and our two
sons, we encouraged them to go to
Australia, (on) working holiday visas.
When they were there, Anita and I
decided (to go).
It was a nice trip we had. We went
to Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand,
beautiful.
ANITA: We visited six different
lavender farms in New Zealand and
Australia, and six different wine
regions. Then we came home and said
Steve Buehner draws a sample fromwine aging in a steel vessel.