Twin Rivers Farm: Inspired by two watercourses in Thessalon
When Ryan and Cassie Whitehead closed the deal on the farm they purchased in March 2019, they admitted they had no farming experience. In just a short amount of time, they learned a lot and started to turn their berry farm into a thriving business.
They bought Flood’s Berry Farm, north of Thessalon, ON near Little Rapids. The Floods operated it for over 30 years, and when the Whiteheads bought it, Jeff Flood stayed on for the first season to mentor them. They also did their own research and looked to other berry growers who were succeeding.
“We looked for those growers who were doing well and we’re modeling their best practices,” said Ryan, “we’re learning every day and will continue to learn and understand the business.”
Flood’s farm is now called “Twin Rivers Farm,” inspired by two watercourses close to the farm: the Thessalon River and the Little Thessalon River.
“Our main motivation to buy the farm property, was that we wanted a different kind of lifestyle for our family,” said Cassie and Ryan.
“Our son David, now five years old, was ill and spent a lot of time at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. That experience changed our priorities. It was important for us to spend more time with our three children. Being able to work where we live, enabled that to happen.”
Before purchasing the berry farm, Ryan was a funeral director in Thessalon and in Sault Ste. Marie. He then moved on to work as a carpenter in Muskoka. Cassie is a Veterinary Technician. Both Ryan and Cassie grew up in the country and have always enjoyed the outdoors. When the farm became available for purchase, it made sense for them to buy it.
The farm sits on fifty-five acres of property, with four acres of raspberry bushes, six acres of strawberries and three acres of blueberry bushes, along with one acre of sweet corn fields. Berries have numerous health benefits. The Whiteheads want everyone to know what these benefits are to overall health. They are excited to be able to offer such a nutritious product for their customers.
“We are also building up the soil to a healthy organic content level. We have very sandy soil right now, so when our neighbour plants and harvests his crops of oats and peas, he will over plant with clover, then plow that in. This will build up the organic level. It’s a win-win relationship with our neighbour. As well, we rotate our strawberry crops, so that we can keep moving them around in order to grow in the best soil. We have also used our chickens and turkeys to help keep the pests down. They love to eat the bugs that eat our crops, and they enrich the soil. We are learning that working with nature is the best way to farm.”
Twin Rivers recently installed a commercial walk-in cooler, which enables them to keep the berries longer considering how valuable and perishable this food product is.
“Our goal is to sell everything directly from the farm,” said Ryan. “We do have some retailers in Sault Ste. Marie interested in buying our berries, but if we can sell them from the farm, it will cut down on expenses of transporting them.”
“Our long-term plans include looking and listening to what people want and doing everything we can to accommodate our customers. We want to be more efficient at doing what we’re doing and market and sell everything we harvest.”
The Whiteheads want the farm to be an overall agri-tourism experience. Their children have even gotten involved in showing customers around the farm, letting them hold the rabbits, and see the goats and chickens.
“Now, because of COVID-19, we had to put that on hold, but we are looking forward to the day when we can again become a farm destination and provide an experience for the whole family.”
With the 2020 season underway, they ask their customers to read their Covid-19 farm guidelines in order to follow proper protocols as set out by Algoma Public Health (i.e. limiting the number of people in the field to avoiding overcrowding when it comes time to buy their berries at the farm stand). U-pick is by appointment only. Ready pick berries are also available. Cassie noted they prefer a phone call from customers rather than communication through social media as it is very hard to keep track of the messages that way.
“We would love to operate as it was in the past and hopefully that will occur in the near future,” said Cassie. “For the time being, patience and understanding is appreciated from our customers.”
It is evident the Whiteheads are very passionate about farming. It comes out through their enthusiasm and the way they describe their farm and what they do. Experience is secondary to that kind of can-do attitude. I have no doubt they will be successful.
Here are some great recipes:
www.ontarioberries.com
www.ontario.ca/foodland/recipes
Here is some information about the health benefits of berries and how to prepare them:
www.ontarioberries.com/berry-info
Twin Rivers Farm
Cassie and Ryan Whitehead
https://www.facebook.com/twinriversberries/
Instagram: @TwinRiversFarm
46 Collver Rd., Thessalon, ON P0R 1L0
(705) 842-3925