Field of Organic Berry Dreams : IMC Maritimes

A lush green field, bright sunshine, and plenty of ripe, succulent strawberries; this is Heritage Farm, where a welcoming hand-painted sign directs visitors into New Brunswick’s only organic strawberry U-Pick. Heritage Farm is located in MacDougall Settlement, NB, (about 20 minutes from Moncton) where Anita Fontaine runs the farm and her husband, Paul, is a blacksmith.

Visitors to Anita’s strawberry field are in for an educational experience. Anita encourages people to test the different varieties of strawberries before they begin to pick, so that they can choose their favourite. “Most customers don’t realize there are different types of strawberries, and just how different the berries can taste”, she explains. She now grows four types of strawberries on her farm; her personal favourite is K-93, and the customer favourite is Bounty, a very sweet and juicy variety. There are also Cavendish and XX, which are just beginning to ripen, extending Anita’s season well beyond most U-Picks. She had previously grown a fifth type, but they were too sour so they were plowed under.

According to pesticide studies, strawberries are the single most contaminated fruit. However, Anita’s berries are certified by the Maritime Certified Organic Growers (MCOG), and have never been exposed to pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, synthetic fertilizers, or GMOs. Anita says that “Parents love taking their children to the U-Pick and not needing to worry about them eating berries right off the plant”.

Weeds on the farm are controlled by mechanical cultivation and handpicking, which began in April. Anita was in for an unpleasant surprise this year when she found weeds in the hay on one section of her strawberry field. She is planning to take the flowers off of the new weeds with a weed trimmer, so they won’t re-seed. She nourishes the soil naturally, using seaweed extract, crabmeal, and compost on her strawberry field. The strawberries also receive help from the neighbour’s bees, who pollinate the field and produce exceptional honey.
The U-Pick is open daily from eight to eight. Anita feels she could probably stay open later, but she still has the rest of the farm to tend to (organic vegetables and pasture-raised chicken). Morning business is quite steady, afternoons are quiet with the heat, and it becomes busiest around suppertime. Weekends are also hectic; by late last Saturday afternoon “the field was picked completely clean of ripe berries”, forcing Anita to close the U-Pick.

The berries are priced at $1.50 per pound, and customers must bring their own containers. Also available at the U-Pick is fresh strawberry jam made by Anita’s daughter, and pre-picked berries for four dollars a quart. “The quarts are picked each morning, and people often buy them in the afternoon, when it’s too hot to stand in the field”, explains Anita.

If customers don’t have time to get to the field they can purchase Anita’s berries at the Bouctouche Farmers’ Market, where she displays photos of her farm to show people and encourages them to come for a visit. According to Anita, “most of my customers at the farmers’ market are cottagers looking for organic food”. In fact, she’s noticed that demand has really increased in the past year. No wonder! Organic strawberries might not keep for quite as long, but it doesn’t matter... consider yourself lucky if you can get them home without eating them.

This place sounds fantastic, where is it?
I would love to go and pick with my kids

Paul and Anita Fontaine Phone: 506-576-9524 Address: 723 MacDougall Rd., MacDougall Settlement , NB E1H 3H4 (just 20 minutes from Moncton).

For more local organic producers, visit http://www.acornorganic.org.