About our Strawberry Farm
Our strawberry farm has a rich and abundant history. We are known for our delectable berries. With their sweet taste and juicy bite, they're a fan favorite!
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How we grow our Strawberries
Growing a number of varieties of strawberries takes an immense amount of skill and knowledge. Fortunately for us, we have decades of both.
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The harvest
The care we take for our crops doesn't just stop at the growing phase. No, we take just as much care and pride in our harvesting techniques as we do the growing. Nothing makes for a sweeter strawberry than great attention from start to finish!
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Strawberry Farming
Here at Howe Family Farms we have been growing strawberries for five generations, that’s over 100 years of growing experience.
We believe the trick of growing a perfect strawberry starts with variety. We’ve grown countless varieties.
Some grow vigorously; some bear an unbelievable amount of fruit. Others, have a really long shelf-life,
but the most important characteristic is flavor.
We only grow varieties of strawberries you’ll love to eat!
Our Growing Process
Seasonal Treats
GROWING STRAWBERRIES
Choosing a flavorful variety isn’t the only trick to growing a perfect strawberry.
Care must be taken from planting to harvest. We not only take our time planting our strawberries perfectly, we go the extra mile when harvesting our crops to ensure you get the tastiest, farm fresh, strawberries.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Elgin County is the perfect place to grow strawberries because of it’s proximity to Lake Erie and its fertile soils. South Western Ontario‘s latitude exposes us to long daylengths during the summer, this allows the strawberry plant and fruit to accumulate more sugars, which is one of the reasons why Ontario strawberries are so sweet.
Quality Berries
The most important part of growing strawberries is the harvest. Strawberries do not have a very long shelf life. For this reason, we have picked up a few tricks over the years to prolong the shelf life of our strawberries. This includes; extremely stringent grading policy, as well as a protected growing systems that keeps rain off our berries!
Environmentally responsible Farm practices!
We have been growing strawberries on the same family farm for over 100 years, sustainability is at our core of our families values. We farm using the best and safest organic and conventional resources available. This involves using an Integrated Pest Management approach for monitoring pests, using natural and beneficial insects to control harmful pest, and even modifying our growing environment by using a plastic tunnel to protect our strawberries from rain.
Freshness Guaranteed
Our harvest process has 3 verification points; the harvester who picks and packs each quart, the patch boss who spot checks harvested quarts within the field, gives guidance and further training to pickers if need be, and the grading crew who gives a 360° inspection of the harvested quart, removing any bruised berries and filling any quarts that are not quite full. Simply put, we do not accept bad berries on our strawberry farm! We have always believed, quality must be at the forefront of our business.
Great Lasting Taste
Our strawberries are harvested fresh daily, and only picked (by hand) when perfectly red.
We allow the strawberry to fully ripen naturally on the strawberry plant before harvesting.
Letting the strawberry ripen naturally on the plant increases the sugar content of the berry and balances the natural acidity of the strawberry, making our strawberries sweeter, juicier and more aromatic than imports!
