Achi news desk-
Technology from the 19thed A century came out of retirement at a Newfoundland garden store, as staff looked for all the help they could get to fill orders during a busy season.
The Seed Company is in downtown St. John’s have repaired and released their almost 90 year old Ballard seed packing machine, which is something of a family heirloom.
Owner Peter Byrne said he had fond memories of his grandmother using the machine when she owned the shop, in the 1970s.
“From what I found, there are probably eight machines left in Canada that are working,” Byrne said.
“The amount of seed we needed to produce each year, I really had no choice but to pull the Ballard seed machine back out of the warehouse and get it going again.”
Byrne estimates his machine was built sometime in the 1930s or 40s, but the technology itself is even older — it was developed before the turn of the 20sed century.
Jeremy Carter, an employee of The Seed Company, worked with the machine to get it back into working order.
“Some of the stuff is probably difficult or impossible to pick up off the shelf,” he said. “So a bit of improvisation to make up for the expense.”
Owner Peter Byrne said he had fond memories of his grandmother using the machine when she owned the shop, in the 1970s. (CTV News)
The machine can turn out around 1,200 seed bags an hour, and has been busy working on packing carrot seeds into bags for the coming growing season.
Carrots are a popular vegetable to plant in Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly suited to the province’s growing conditions.
The retro machine is part of a major transformation for the St.
Byrne said he bought the store in 2014, bringing it back into the Gaze family after about 25 years.
Since then, his group has focused on social media and online ordering. Jackson McLean, who helps run the store and its online presence, said their approach has served them well throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our website started off with maybe one or two orders a day, and now we’re getting dozens and dozens a day,” he said. “So that it almost rivals the business in the shop, which is quite amazing.”
Their seeds are shipped across Atlantic Canada, thanks to distribution deals with grocery stores that the business would love to expand.
They’ll need their old Ballard machine for a few more years, at least. Byrne said they have been shopping for modern replacements, but the production of newer seed machines has to wait a long time.
“You can’t go on Amazon and buy a machine,” he said. “Probably only two or three companies make them.”
