Living in a rural community and working 365 days a year doesn’t seem to be the recipe for romance, but that’s where Farming for Love comes in.
Creston’s Erin Harris, a 35-year-old second-generation dairy farmer and owner of Kootenay Meadows, has struggled to balance her dedication to work with finding time to date.
“It's definitely harder to meet people while farming, but I might not have been trying very hard,” she said.
As her parents transitioned to retirement in 2022, Harris took over and purchased the farm with big dreams of expanding the soil-to-shelf operation.
She was initially a bit hesitant about joining the cast of Farming for Love but wanted to jump at the chance to showcase her business and the beauty of Creston.
“Female-owned farms are still very much the minority,” she said. “This was very outside of my comfort zone experience, but I'm glad I embraced it.”
Filming took place in the fall of 2023. Harris had no idea what to expect as she was introduced to seven eligible bachelors from across the country. She had the opportunity to read a letter from each of them before the season began but otherwise had no idea who they were.
As she was getting to know the men, her love affair with Kootenay Meadows did interrupt some plans for one-on-one dates during filming.
“There were a couple of times that I had to put the farm first and get things done,” she said. “Especially with things like grain harvest, you only have so much of a weather window.”
Luckily, she had help from her team to take some of the work off her plate, so she could focus more on looking for love.
“On the farm here, we have incredible help, so the whole team knew what I was doing and was supportive,” she said. “My dad even came back out of retirement to help get our third cut of hay and grain in, which was really helpful.”
The milking robots, Karen and Debra, at Kootenay Meadows also helped ensure work hours could be more flexible for Harris.
Early on in filming, Harris formed a strong connection with Jared Beaton, a 26-year-old farming entrepreneur, also from Creston.
On their first date, they had a picnic at the Goat River with her dogs and talked about the importance of family.
“It just felt right,” she said. “I'd been feeling a bit hesitant and overwhelmed with the filming process and wasn't sure if I was going to connect with anyone. But our first date was really wonderful.”
At first, their nine-year age gap gave pause, but those concerns quickly dissipated as they spent more time together.
They also discovered how much they had in common - a love of dogs, the natural inclination to be homebodies, and a passion for agriculture.
“Even a lot of my friends that are farmers, they wouldn’t listen to a podcast on soil science or nerd out with me the way he does. That's a nice thing to find in a partner,” said Harris.
It also didn’t hurt that Beaton is from her hometown, while some of the other men came from as far away as Ontario and Nova Scotia.
“I’m proud of our community,” said Harris. “To meet someone else who has also chosen the valley, that was a selling feature to me, and it did mean it would be a lot easier without distance or a country between us.”
Authentic to her decisive personality in business, Harris went against the typical formula of the show and eliminated the other daters rather abruptly.
“I can be a bit of a people pleaser, really worrying about absolutely everyone's feelings,” she said. “I wanted to pull away from that during filming and remember to put my feelings first.”
She confessed her feelings to Beaton and ended her story line on the show several episodes earlier than the other three farmers.
“All of my daters were just such wonderful down-to-earth guys,” she said. “It was hard to not feel guilty that I formed a connection with Jared and wanted to go with that. I had to learn to balance my needs above other people.”
Nearly a year later, Harris and Beaton are still happily together, enjoying the farm lifestyle. He brings her coffee to the barn when she puts in long hours, gets up to help turn hay at 3 a.m., and cooks meals for her to come home to in the evenings.
“It all feels a little surreal, but it's been wonderful,” said Harris. “We spend a lot of time together, and he’s been great support on the farm.”
Her advice to others looking for love is, “Just be open.”
“Who knows, maybe if I had mingled more we would have met in a more organic way, but we’re super happy now,” she said.
