This is Aaron Shantz Coordinator for Our food SENB
If you have anything to do with food security in Southeast New Brunswick, whether it's a teaching kitchen, a Community Food Mentor program, a community garden or a food bank, sooner or later someone will connect you with this guy, Aaron Shantz. And you'll be glad they did because he's not only in- the-know and connected in New Brunswick's food security world, he's also a really nice guy.
When I first met him at the Clementine Café on Elmwood Drive in Moncton, Aaron Shantz couldn’t shake hands because he had this massive gash from some accident with metal at his house. It looked painful and he made it sound like he had been incredibly stupid and clumsy. The other thing I remember about that first interview is that he said his wife was probably better connected to food security skills than he was because he was just a forestry guy, his original career being in GIS for big corporations – the ‘devil’, as he calls them – helping them to cut corners around environmental policy. "It made me sick."
But this is who Aaron is now. He and Shelley bought an abandoned farm and they've turned it into a homestead. In these photos you can see why Our Food SENB might think him suited to the job of coordinating food actions. Aaron and Shelley have committed to the idea of a way of life they believe more people must turn to if we're to survive on this planet. “I’m an idealist,” he says and the ideal is, “can someone start from scratch with no financial help from anyone else and actually provide for themselves and live with a low environmental footprint?”
This is Aaron's wife Shelley and their youngest son Clem on their way back from egg collection at the chicken coop. It all looks so peaceful and beautiful to be living off the land, and you might even be inspired to give it a try. But it's hard work, Shelley says. The original plan was for Aaron to work some minimum wage job while Shelley grew their food. Aaron got jobs like welding plastic tanks for firetrucks, picking corn, and milking goats. "We were going to live agricultural bliss," Aaron said, but "surviving in Kent County has been a real journey." And then kids started happening. "We never factored having a kid." Or two.
The Farm Truck. Aaron loves it despite — maybe even because — it has only a passenger door. Shelley probably appreciates its usefulness around the homestead, but she doesn't have to like that it looks like it was driven off an auto salvage lot.
This is Griffen. He is happiest when he is working, especially if he can work beside his dad. When we arrived at their homestead, Aaron came bouncing up in their pickup truck with Griffen at home in the passenger seat.
While we were there, Griffen spent a lot of time working with an old stroller like it was a truck or wheelbarrow. He was hauling stove wood, mostly.
This is Clem. He has no qualms about being photographed. He seems more the extroverted of the two boys, expecting you to make him laugh. And he's always ready to laugh.
You don't really know the Shantz's until you've seen the life they're making for themselves in Sainte Marie. They've been gradually turning an abandoned farm into a viable homestead. They had that house built.
"I know a lot of people have the ideal (of food security and a light environmental footprint) but it seems like a really hard thing and that all the things that are needed don't exist yet and that our generation has to learn those things. Maybe in a couple of generations we'll have it figured out." Aaron Shantz, Coordinator of Our Food Southeast New Brunswick
