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Despite Cape Breton’s harsh winters, a family-run juice company near Baddeck is blossoming.
Glenbourne Premium Cider and Juices is believed to be the island’s first registered orchard. What started in 2019 with the planting of 500 trees has grown to 5,800, with another 1,300 about to go into the ground.
Today, their products are sold across Nova Scotia.
Co-owner Diana Poloni, who lives and works in Glace Bay, originally bought the property as a vacant plot of land. When her partner, Lakmal Siriwardana, moved from Gander, N.L., to Cape Breton, she took him to see it.
“She stopped the car right on the highway here, showed me the land and I asked her, ‘Where is north?’” Siriwardana said. “We figured out the north and realized the slope is really great for apple trees. So we started planting.”
Siriwardana, who spent several years making cider in Europe, knew exactly what to look for. Poloni was quickly sold on the vision and recruited her siblings, Renata and Enzo, to join the venture.
Together, they built the business from scratch — manually clearing the land, constructing the production facility, and even building a bridge over a marshy stream running through the property.
Old farmland
The orchard sits on old farmland that hadn’t been used in decades. The original horse-and-buggy road that went from Baddeck to Sydney still winds through the back of the orchard, providing easy access to the patches of apples and pears that dot the hills.
“We actually started clearing the land with a chainsaw,” Poloni said with a laugh. “Then we moved to a clearing saw, and finally got an excavator, which was a game changer.”
To withstand Cape Breton’s long, harsh winters, the family selected semi-dwarf tree varieties from Ontario that max out at about three metres (10 feet) tall. The island’s heavy snow helps insulate the roots, while the shorter height forces the trees to channel energy into growing fruit rather than wood. As a bonus, harvesting doesn’t require high ladders.
While these trees typically take eight to nine years to mature, Glenbourne managed its first harvest last year. Their juices are already on the shelves of more than 30 stores provincewide, packaged in recyclable pouches with spouts to preserve freshness and reduce shipping costs.
“It’s slow and steady, but honestly, I think it’s probably the healthiest way to approach what we’re doing,” said Renata Poloni, Glenbourne’s marketing manager.
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Renata started by pitching the juices at local holiday markets and now travels across the province to get the product into new retail locations. Her ultimate goal is to make the brand a Nova Scotia staple.
The family is already looking toward expansion. They have planted a field of pear trees and plan to introduce pear juice and hard ciders to local restaurants before eventually hitting the shelves of the NSLC.
While Glenbourne received funding from the Nova Scotia Farm Loan Board and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Diana Poloni said community support has been their greatest asset.
“Our neighbours just come out and help us do everything, whether it’s putting the siding on the facility or coming over with a cup of tea or soup on a cold day,” she said. “We wouldn’t be where we are without them.”
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