Strawberries and much more
/by George Fullerton
July is the height of the strawberry U-pick season at Walker’s Strawberry Farm just downstream from Berwick, N.B., on the Millstream River. But the farm offers much more than strawberries throughout the year. The Walker family also produces raspberries, vegetables, beef, meat chickens, and eggs.
The operation was established in 1980 when Brian and Linda Walker purchased a 100-acre farm, which included a two-storey house and small outbuildings. There had been a barn on the property, but it was destroyed during the so-called Groundhog Day gale, a severe winter storm that struck the region on Feb. 2, 1976.
Brian grew up in a farming family on the Newline Road just outside of Sussex. Linda grew up outside of Nackawic and was familiar with the farming lifestyle.
Brian and Linda’s initial step into agriculture production on their farm was raising beef.
“We wanted to have our own beef, so I would go to the Sussex auction barn and buy three feeders and pasture them through the summer and sell a couple in the autumn and slaughter one for our family,” said Brian. “Eventually, we bought a small group of commercial cows and went looking for a bull. I was impressed with the Salers cattle, and we built our operation into a purebred operation. In 2022, we saw 52 calves born.”
Brian said they established the U-pick because of a keen appetite for strawberries and a childhood experience he had with his mother and siblings.
“One time, when I was quite young, our mother took us kids up to Grand Lake and we picked 100 boxes of strawberries,” he recalled. “Over the next couple of days, my mother made desserts and jams. I always held onto that memory and thought one day I might have a U-pick operation.”
LEARNING CURVE
The Walkers started with a few acres of strawberries and experienced a steep and challenging learning curve.
“The year we planted was extremely dry,” said Brian. “We also got infected with tarnished plant bug, which results in misshapen berries. And we also had clipper weevil, which clip the buds off the developing strawberry plants. We plowed down our first attempt to build a U-pick operation but came back with a better management strategy.”
Brian said that they had to learn control methods for a series of strawberry pests, adding that he likes to keep chemical controls to a minimum “because I want to eat my berries too.”
In addition to the U-pick, the Walkers sell picked strawberries at their on-farm shop, to area supermarkets, at farmers’ markets in Sussex and Fredericton, and to some retail farm markets.
The Walkers constructed their 600-square-foot on-farm market building near their driveway entrance in 2014. The roadside shop offers a variety of fresh produce grown on the farm, including whatever fruits and vegetables are in season, as well as a freezer with beef cuts. The Walkers also have laying hens and a flock of meat king chickens, so that they can add eggs and chicken to their shop offerings.
Through the years they’ve bought properties in the neighbourhood, and they currently have about 260 acres of arable land.
In addition to rotating fruit and vegetable crops, the Walkers also add in grain, grass, and alfalfa to the crop management plan.
FAMILY TIES
Both Brian and Linda had teaching careers and retired in 2010, turning their energies to farming full time. Along the way, they raised their four children who all achieved post-secondary education.
Michael is a large animal vet and Ryan works in the greenhouse industry, both in Chilliwack, B.C. Danielle is a nurse in Calgary. And Jeremy became a mining engineer and worked in that industry for a time, but recently moved back to New Brunswick permanently. Now working alongside his parents on the farm, he has assumed some management responsibilities and introduced new initiatives to the operation. Brian and Linda are very happy to see Jeremy’s enthusiasm for farm work and management tasks.
The 2022 strawberry season turned out to be successful, with more than seven acres in production. While Brian lamented weed issues and winterkill patches, the strawberries, for the most part, had healthy foliage and lots of tasty fruit.
During my visit, Brian and Jeremy identified rows by the varieties of berry growing in them and then plied me with handfuls of berries to illustrate the taste and physical qualities of the different varieties. While subtle characteristics could be distinguished, the bottom line is that they were all delicious!
“We continually try new varieties of strawberries,” said Brian. “Our early variety is AC Wendy, which was developed at Kentville, N.S. We have other varieties come on as the season develops. Our U-pick operates for about four weeks. If we relied solely on the Wendy variety, our season would only be one-week long.”
The season for the family’s strawberry U-pick operation usually ends the last week of July.
This spring, four acres were planted with new sets. Barring winterkill or other challenges, they expect to have 10 acres of strawberries available for U-pick and wholesale in 2023.
The Walkers maintain an irrigation system for their strawberry production, which comes in handy during cold nights in the spring.
“When the air temperature gets around 3 degrees, we get out of bed and start up the irrigation to avoid frost damage,” said Brian, adding that usually happens around 3 a.m. “We continually scout for disease and pests and address any issues before they become a big problem.”
LABOUR FORCE
It takes a good deal of labour to manage strawberries and other crops. In addition to Brian, Linda, and Jeremy, two temporary foreign workers from Jamaica are hired for the entire season. Additionally, two more foreign workers move over to the Walkers’ farm from the neighbouring Avon Valley Floral greenhouse operation when that business’s spring production winds down.
“This year, we are fortunate to have two great summer students working for us,” said Brian. “Connor Fillmore will enter Grade 12 in the fall. He grasped very quickly the tasks around production and managing the U-pickers. Julianna Diotte is studying radiology and she helps manage the roadside stand as well as cashing out the U-pickers. Nancy Watters, a neighbour, spells off Julianna on long days.”
The Walkers also have about one acre of raspberries, which suffered from a fungal infection that rendered the crop a failure this year.
Promotion of the U-pick and on-farm market is by word of mouth and through Facebook
“Linda updates the Facebook page every evening,” said Brian. “We traditionally advertised in the local print media, but this year we have just focused on Facebook, and it works very well.”
The U-pickers come from the greater Sussex area and from as far away as the greater Moncton and Saint John regions.
“We have lots of loyal customers who keep coming back through the berry season and from year to year,” said Brian. “They realize that quality and freshness provide a superior taste and nutritional experience.”
VARIETY APLENTY
As the strawberry season winds down, the Walkers stock more and more fresh vegetables at their roadside shop, including beets, carrots, beans, peppers, green and red tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and potatoes. As vegetable production exceeds the roadside shop sales, produce is wholesaled to supermarkets and farm markets.
As if the offerings of produce were not enough, Linda adds some baked goods to the stock and sometimes supplements those items with breads and sweets from the Mrs. Dunster’s bakery in Sussex. On occasion, the Walkers also sell produce from Sussex Valley Vegetable Farms at their shop.
In a step toward agri-tourism, Brian is constructing a sheep pen, which will be an attraction for families stopping at the farm.
The farm has included a greenhouse as a season extender since 2014. And this year, the Walkers added a grow tunnel, again to start plants early and keep certain crops producing later in the season. Jeremy took the initiative to build the tunnel, and the Walkers expect to add more of them as they become familiar with the technology.
After more than 40 years, Brian and Linda Walker are still busy farming and are happy to see their son Jeremy take a committed interest in the farm and work on initiatives such as season extension.
