A Brief History of Andrews' Scenic Acres
Lauraine and Bert Andrews
chose and purchased a 100 acre "run
down" farm in 1980 with the plan of operating a
pick your own berry farm. From this initial vision came the
Andrews' Scenic Acres slogan "Growing Berries is
our Business".
We chose the name Andrews'
Scenic Acres as our farm is nestled southeast of the beautiful
Niagara Escarpment. The name also reflects our family farm as a
beautiful and relaxing place for all ages to visit.
From the period of our initial development through to the present day in the new millennium, our growth areas include our farm market, farmers'
markets, school tours, adult group tours and pick your own. In 1999 Andrews' Scenic Acres expanded to include a fruit winery
"Scotch Block Winery"
. Using fruit and grapes grown on our farm the winery has unlimited potential and appeal.
Some of our farm family highlights include 'Business of the Year in 1992'
by the Milton Chamber of Commerce. In 1994 Bert was inducted into the "Hall of Honour" at Norwood District High School. Also in 1994 the Andrews Family: Lauraine, Bert, Angela, Kurtis and Valerie were chosen "Farm Family of the Year" by the Halton Region Federation of Agriculture. In 2002 our fledgling Scotch Block Country Winery was chosen "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce. This award is presented annually to a new business venture in Halton Hills.
At Andrews' Scenic Acres we are proud of the fact that our farm is the first farm in west Toronto, Peel and Halton to introduce many new crops and consumer foods. A list of commercially grown new crop introductions include highbush blueberries, fall raspberries, black raspberries, yellow raspberries, elderberries, black currants, red currants, gooseberries, fall strawberries, grapes and blackberries. We are also the first farm to offer an extensive array of annual and perennial flowers for customer cutting.
Raspberry and black currant cider has been accepted by health conscious customers as a very refreshing alternative drink. We label these ciders under the Scotch Block label. As a move to slightly distance and operate our new fruit winery as a separate entity, we chose the name "Scotch Block Winery". A book entitled, "Halton's Scotch Block: The People and their Stories" has been written by Jim Dills and Gloria (Stark) Brown. The book is a historical perspective relating stories of the early Scottish settlers. It is published by the Milton Historical Society. In the acknowledgement section it states, "
Bert Andrews deserves credit for this book ever being compiled."
Since our farm and winery are located in the middle of Scotch Block and in an effort to honour and retain our local history, we named our dynamic award winning (over 60 National Awards) winery Scotch Block Winery. To date we have some 28 different fruit wines on the shelf including our core group of Black Currant, Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry, Red Currant, Gooseberry and Elderberry
To give a more comprehensive
outline of our farm operation please find listed below our major
acreage.
|
TOTAL 625.95 Acres |
 |
In addition to retail sales
at our farm market we also sell at farmers"
markets including Milton, Georgetown, Brampton, Nathan Phillips Square
and Sherway Gardens. Besides the above mentioned fruit and
vegetables, we supply our customers with jam, honey, maple syrup, baked
pies, tarts, jamming and freezing supplies as well as limited
giftware. The sale of fruit and vegetables direct to grocery
stores is a relatively small segment of our business. We do sell
and deliver strawberries, sweet corn and pumpkins directly to grocery
stores.
A very important part of
our business is the agri-education program. We cater to all age
groups but our main students are pre-school to Grade 3. Over the
period from May to November we book over 15,000 students. We
support the philosophy that if the children enjoy themselves they will
bring their parents back to the farm.
Andrews' Scenic Acres are members of
the following organizations:
What
about the future of Andrews' Scenic Acres and Scotch Block Country
Winery?
Down on the farm the future
looks challenging and exciting for both Andrews' Scenic Acres and for
Scotch Block Country Winery.
