Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Fresh Facts
Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

President’s Message…… Newsletter #343

March 2020
The sweet smell of maple syrup boiling always makes me think of spring and the Volume 36, Number 2

beginnings of a new season. It’s no surprise to me that this parallel finds myself
humbled to sit in a new role on the OFFMA board as president. I look upon this
fresh season with a sense of excitement and wonder for all of the possibilities.
Inside this issue:
But before I get too far along, I would like to thank Steve Martin and Kristin Ego-
MacPhail for their leadership in the past few years. Each brought their unique
Membership News 2
strengths to the table and OFFMA is better off because of their participation.
Stepping onto the board is Thomas Wilson from Spirit Tree Estate Cidery. You have the 3
Power

The board recently had the opportunity to sit down and dig deep into some stra- Awards Gala 4
tegic planning and there were many common themes that emerged. The biggest
one seemed to be that we all love and value this industry, the work we’re able to Member Profile 6
do and the core values that have made us all love OFFMA. As we sit on the Upcoming Events 8
precipice of a new season for our farms, the board has so much excitement for
being able to hold on to the best parts of this organization, make improvements
where we can and make the OFFMA experience the best it can possibly be for
our members, just like we all try to do, each season, on our farms for our guests.
I welcome you to join us in this change; let us know what you’re looking for in
your membership, how we can help your farm, where you’d like us to move for-
ward and what we can do to make sure this organization is working for you.

Looking forward to getting to see and know more of you and your farms at
events throughout the year, in our
OFFMA members Facebook group
and across the province as we contin-
ue to work to help this beautiful organi-
zation bloom and watch your farms
grow along side it.
Sincerely,

Erin
Erin McLean
OFFMA President
Participants at the recent OFFMA Strategic Planning Session, plan-
ning for the future.
Page 2 Fresh Facts

2020 Membership Invoices

MEMBERSHIP NEWS Membership fees are now overdue.
OFFMA will accept Mastercard and
Classifieds Visa, cheque, PayPal or etransfer.
FOR SALE Lots of options to make it convenient
Delhaven Orchards Ltd. for you.
Frozen pitted sour cherries available Thank you to everyone who have al-
for wholesale & retail ready sent in their dues. Your contin-
519-676-4475
delhaven@ciaccess.com ued support is appreciated.

Classifieds ads are free for OFFMA Welcome to New Members

members. If you have something
you are looking for, something you
are selling, send the details to the
OFFMA office and we will include in
the next newsletter.
There is beauty in
Vincent Sowa, Dave Stotebury, &
Meaghan Richardson
Backed by Bees
Burlington, ON 905-691-7299
www.backedbybees.com
With a transparent line from farmer to
beekeeper to meadmaker they strive to

everything, just not keep their ingredients as close to nature

everybody sees it.
The OFFMA members only
Facebook page is active 24/7.
It is a great source of information
and inspiration.
If you aren’t already—get plugged
in.
Search for Ontario Farm Fresh Mar-
keting Association and send a re-
quest to join. A great place to share
ideas, post items you may have for
sale and/or are looking for, for your
farm business.
as possible. It allows them to confidently
talk about the mead and all its flavours,
honey and all its products and the local
food they grow, create or source. And
they try to have a little fun along the
way.
Timothy Alexander
Robintide Farms Ltd.
Maple, ON 416-518-9672
www.robintidefarms.com
Since 1967, Robintide Farms has been
farming in King City and providing the
GTA with local farm-fresh pick-your-own
and pre-picked strawberries, raspberries
and vegetables, as well year-round horse
breeding, training and boarding ser-
vices.

Stefan Board
(1943—2019)

Long-time Ontario Farm Fresh member, Stefan Board, passed

away in early December. He and his wife Ann founded the
Board’s Honey Farm (1974) in Restoule, which has grown into
a thriving and multifaceted business reflecting the natural ele-
ments of all things bee-related. With their oldest daughter,
Jaimie, the Boards are stalwarts of local farmers markets and
artisans’ fairs, in addition to the various bee-related education-
al events held at the farm.
Stefan had a great enthusiasm for life. Besides all of his apiary entrepreneurism,
he was an avid boater, a dedicated volunteer fireman, a master skier, and a gifted
welder. He will be missed by many.
 Newsletter #343 Page 3

You have the Power

As things start to heat up for all of us and the season gets going, here are a few tips
from Elaine Froese to remember.

You have many kinds of power that you may not be using or may not even be aware of:

□ You can choose to remove yourself from unhealthy situations.

□ You have the power to say “no more” or to walk away if someone is treating you
disrespectfully.

□ You can chose to talk about things that are going undiscussed on your farm.

□ You have the power to change the path your farm is on.

□ You do not have to work for free.

□ You can stay in the conversation instead of avoiding the conflict.

□ You have the power to take action and seek out the supports and resources you
need.

For more information, go to www.elainefroese.com. Elaine Froese is known as a cata-

lyst for courageous farm conversations and she has lots of resources on her website.
 Page 4 Fresh Facts

Leadership Award
Chris Hiemstra (far left) presents the
Leadership Award to Leslie and Jim
Forsythe.
Forsythe Family Farms has been a
member of OFFMA since 1988. Dur-
ing that time, both Leslie and Jim
have individually served on the
Board and as presidents for Ontario
Farm Fresh. And we know what a
time commitment those positions can
be.
One of Leslie’s superpowers is to
develop and implement outstanding
school tour programs. She is known
as the School Tour Guru.
Both Leslie and Jim have given back
and are still giving back to OFFMA
by sharing their experiences and
knowledge of the direct farm market-
ing industry.

Ambassador Award
Karen Whitty, 13th Street Winery presents the
award to Treadwell Cuisine, accepted by
James Treadwell.
This award is presented to someone outside
of the Ontario Farm Fresh membership who
promotes local food, local producers and farm
fare. These values are not new to Treadwell
Cuisine located in Niagara on the Lake. They
have embraced these concepts and have
been following them for years for both food
and wine that they serve in their establish-
ments. It is with great pleasure that Ontario
Farm Fresh was able to recognize their efforts
this year.

The Silent Auction raised a total of $942.

Thank you to all the donors and the winning bidders.
These funds will be used for various social activities during the year.
 Newsletter #343 Page 5

The stars came out for OFFMA’s

Annual Awards Gala
The Outstanding Farm Market
Award
Brian Hugli (far right), Hugli’s
Blueberry Ranch presented this
award to Wendy Hogarth and
Murray Johnston, owners of
Muskoka Lake Winery.
The farm where the Muskoka
Lake Winery is located was pur-
chased in 1950 by Murray’s
parents and by the mid 1950, it
was Ontario’s only cranberry
farm until the 1970’s.
Together, Murray and Wendy
expanded the farm to include
Muskoka Lakes Winery. The
farm and winery is now open to
visitors year round. The daily
Bog to Bottle Discovery is a
Signature Canadian Experi-
ence. Along with a patio, wine
tasting, hiking and snowshoe
trails, and harvest activities like
the Cranberry Plunge. Recently A heartfelt thank you to our
added Ice Trail and Blueberry
Hill make the farm a Muskoka
table sponsors:
‘must do’ in any season.
Murray and Wendy have four
* Baxter’s Bakery
boys who help out on the farm. * Darling Insurance
We look forward to seeing what
the next generation’s plans are
* Dominion & Grimm
for the farm! * Farm Credit Canada
* Wellington Produce
Packaging

A special thank you to Doug and Karen Whitty for hosting this
amazing evening, recommending that we bring Joe Pillitteri in for
some laughs and allowing us to take over their shop and winery.
Page 6 Fresh Facts

Member Profile: Erin McLean, McLean Berry Farm

A brief history of your farm and how it became a direct marketing enterprise.
Our farm began in 1991 as my Dad poured his heart and soul in to reviving one of
the original strawberry farms in our region back to its original glory. We started off
incredibly small – I can remember doing my first sale off of a picnic table on our
front yard before the ripe old age of six. Things grew from there and we attended
our first farmers market, then started a maple syrup festival, and began to focus
on growing quality fruits and vegetables to offer for PYO, on the farm and at mar-
kets. Over the years we’ve grown slowly but steadily, adding a store, more mar-
kets, selling to wholesale customers and still offering many on farm experiences
such as PYO fruits and vegetables and our annual Maplefest and Pumpkinfest. In
2010 with both my brother and I having decided that we were going to work on the
farm full time, we bought a second farm with more land and opportunities for
growth to make the farm viable for our entire family.

How do you break up the responsibilities related to the farm operation?

We’re lucky because the responsibilities on our farm really have fallen organically
in to categories where people’s strengths lie. My brother excels at production,
growing great produce and all things to do with building and mechanics…whereas
my strengths lie more in dealing with people, marketing, social media and selling
what we grow and the experiences we offer. Luckily, my Dad sees the value and
has developed skills in all of these areas and is able to help with whatever side
needs him most and keeps us grounded and connected.

What book are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a really in-
teresting read using well known historical events and digging deeper into the com-
plexities of them to show how humans aren’t great at communicating, approaching
or making sense of how we interact with each other. Though we share so many
similarities, we’re often strangers to each other. I have a double major in history
and psychology so both the historical elements and the psychological elements
fascinate and intrigue me. I often find myself trying to understand our staff, cus-
tomers and our family dynamics and all of the interactions that come with them
and this book is an interesting look into those things on a broader but relatable
scale!

What is your typical morning routine?

In the summer it’s typically get something good to eat that will keep me from get-
ting “hangry” until the next time I manage to find time to eat, get out of the door
and down to work as quickly as possible. I’m trying to make more time in the
mornings though and this winter I’ve been writing down three things I’m grateful
for before I get out of bed to try to start my day off on a positive note before my
feet hit the ground. I’ve also bought myself a ‘Five Minute Journal’ and have been
trying to get into the habit of using it to help plan and organize my day so that I’m
not so overwhelmed with all of the things that need to be done each day!

What is your best marketing tip for other direct farm marketers?
I think the best marketing tip I have for other direct farm marketers is to make
connections and show what’s really happening on your farms and businesses.
People want to have authentic connections with the people who are growing and
raising their food and they want to be there to celebrate the great things and lift
you up when the hard moments hit – they don’t want to be sold things – they want
experiences, even if that experience is buying something from your farm. We as
an industry really need to showcase the unique businesses and experiences we
offer and the realities behind them. I’ve found that since I’ve changed our market-
ing to be a lot more personal and have found ways to distinguish ourselves from
 Newsletter #343 Page 7

larger scale stores, we’ve been able to create solid bonds and connections with
our customers that are much stronger. While we want to sell strawberries – putting
a post on social media saying: “strawberries are for sale” just doesn’t have the
same umph as saying “There’s something about biting into a freshly picked straw-
berry while juice drips down your chin that simply screams summer” and makes a
connection that makes people want something on a deeper level. We’re always
working to make that emotional connection stronger between our farm and our
customers and remind them of all of the things they love about our farm and fresh
Ontario produce.

What is your favourite app?

Right now my favourite app is called ‘Headspace’. It’s offers quick and simple
guided meditations, tools to help you de-stress and relax and helps me to slow
down my mind when it’s going a mile a minute trying to do everything that’s on my
plate!

Why are you a member of OFFMA?

For years, we would occasionally go to events and read the newsletter, but not
really fully take advantage of our OFFMA membership – then I started to push my-
self to go to more things and I realized that while the workshops and content
shared is so often amazing and helpful to my business, the real value for me is in
creating connections with like minded people. The more I pushed myself, the more
I got to know people and the less alone in my farming/farm marketing bubble I felt.
I love being a member of OFFMA because it has opened up a -cont’d on pg 8
 Page 8
Ontario Farm Fresh
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
PO Box 250 Gormley Post Office
Gormley, ON L0H 1G0
Ph: 905-506-0371 Fax: 647-556-7254
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
2020-21 OFFMA Board of Directors
Erin McLean, President
McLean Berry Farm
Jordan McKay, Vice President
Willowtree Farm
Kristin Ego MacPhail, Past President
Ego Nurseries Ltd.
Paul Baxter, Associate Member
Baxter’s Kitchen
Darlene Downey, Downey’s Farm Market
& Estate Winery
Meghan Snyder, Snyder’s Family Farm
Shane Van Casteren, Nicholyn Farms
Karen Whitty, Whitty Farms
Thomas Wilson, Spirit Tree Estate Cidery
Karen McPhee, OMAFRA Advisor
Fresh Facts
Upcoming Events
July 7 Farm2Fork workshop at Valleyview Little Animal Farm
July 28 SAVE THE DATE! For the 1st ANNUAL FARM SOCIAL and BBQ ,
Snyder’s Farm & Fear Farm, Bring the whole family and amazing
staff out to Snyder's. An amazing opportunity to socialize and
networking with your fellow OFFMA members. Lots of activities for
the kiddos so don't forget them. If you haven't been out to an
OFFMA event make this your first one, you will not regret it!
November OFFMA Bus Tour to Pennsylvania
con’t from pg 7, world of people who ‘get it’ – who understand the unique chal-
lenges of farming, of having hundreds and thousands of people descend upon
your home for a weekend, who face similar challenges with townships, with
seasonality and with finding that ever elusive work life balance. It’s allowed me
to be open and honest about the good things and the hard things and created
community and connection where I know I can reach out and find support, ad-
vice, guidance and love from people who have been there, done it or are sit-
ting there too. The more I pushed myself to use the resources and get to know
the people who make up this organization, the more I realized how vital it is for
us and our farm to be a member of OFFMA.
Editor’s Note: What didn’t we ask? What other information would you like to hear from
OFFMA members? Let us know and we will try and include in the next Member Profile?