Farmhouse 50 survives flood, COVID-19

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This article was published 10/07/2020 (2096 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Despite the double hit of catastrophic flooding and COVID-19 restrictions, Farmhouse 50 in Minnedosa reopened for business Friday, and owner Meaghan Cann and staff were run off their feet.

The combination café and specialty store serves fresh baked goods, as well as lunch and dinner at its licensed restaurant and patio. The Canns also sell Manitoba-made products, such as jewelry, cosmetics, clothing and home décor. Finally, the owners and their staff of 10 cater and host events.

“My staff is really excited. They were really excited to come back to work,” Cann said by phone on Friday.

“We’ve been busy. We sold out of all my baking in our first hour and I just finished my second round – which I think we’ve maybe done one other time. It’s really nice to see the community coming out and supporting us.”

That doesn’t mean it’s been an easy go for the young business, which opened in June 2018. General business knowledge states it takes two to three years for a business to either succeed or fail. Farmhouse 50 was proving successful, but COVID-19 was hard.

“The last few days we were open, the Friday and Saturday leading up to the flooding, our staff and I had just said, ‘Wow, this actually feels like things are getting back to normal,’” Cann said about the COVID-related restrictions lifting recently.

Business was brisk.

“We knew severe weather was coming our way,” she said about Sunday, June 28, when, all told, 155.5 millimetres of rain came down on Minnedosa.

Early in the evening, the business was fine, and the Canns focused on ensuring their home was safe.

“Once we had the flooding controlled at home, we came back to the Farmhouse and we turned onto Main Street and we could not even drive down the street to get to our business,” Cann said.

“Once we got to our business, it was even a struggle to get inside. It (the water) was definitely over my rubber boots, almost to my knees.”

The Farmhouse 50 basement, at 2,000 square feet, houses all the business stock, five freezers and four fridges, as well as the event décor. Because of Sunday’s rainfall and flooding, all but the appliances were lost. Then came Tuesday’s rainfall, which produced a foot of water in the basement and the appliances were lost.

“The second bout was kind of like kick you when you’re down,” Cann said.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into ensuring Farmhouse 50 reopened Friday, she added. Staff came in to help and a volunteer crew showed up to help haul out all the destroyed stock and appliances. The local Home Hardware, just across the street, managed to provide new appliances and a supply truck brought in food and other necessary items.

“A lot of around-the-clock work, and here we are,” said Cann.

At the same time, Cann and her four siblings have been spending time with their father, who is in palliative care.

“He’s experiencing his final stages of life right now, so that’s been a bit of an added stress,” she said.

Cann did make the point that despite enhancing their insurance to “include everything possible” after a pipe burst at their business, their policy does not cover overland flooding and sewage backup, according to the fine print.

“That’s unfortunate. I did apply for the disaster financial assistance program with the (provincial) government. I did receive a letter back just saying that they were reviewing it and somebody would be in contact with me,” Cann said.

“I’m hopeful, but from what I’ve read up on it, it would basically cover the cleanup. I don’t have much hope of having anything damaged or lost in the flood replaced with that. But if it can help – we had to have a humungous dumpster brought here … That adds up.”

Cann has been encouraging other community members to apply for the disaster financial assistance. As The Brandon Sun reported Friday, that program is a numbers game and the province needs to declare the disaster.

“That’s pretty much all we can do at this point, encourage people to apply for that and have them (the province) recognize what’s going on here,” Cann said.

Ultimately, Cann is grateful to have a minimally damaged home to return to. She knows many others have not been so lucky.

“A lot of people in town don’t have the pleasure of returning to their homes right now,” she said.

“Which is really sad.”

» mletourneau@brandonsun.com

» Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.