Gerry and Sue Gammond grew strawberries from 1974 to 2007. "Everyone of our strawberries was marketed directly off the farm," shares Sue. "We usually marketed about 10 acres each summer. In the mid 80's we changed locations and began to host school tours and children's birthday parties, in 1989 we began to host Christmas parties and offer winter sleigh rides with our teams of percheron draft horses."
In October 1991 the Gammond's toured pumpkin farms in Illinois and Wisconsin with Al and Kathy Veri and Bob Cobbledick through the Ontario
Farm Fresh Marketers Association.
Upon returning, they decided to offer
“Fall School Tours” in 1992.
By the mid 1990's, They had "Pumpkin Fest"
going for 5 weekends in the fall and added the
haunted Cornfield 5
yea
rs ago.
In June 2008, Gammondale Farm was a regional winner of the Ontario Premier's Aw
ard for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. (Congratulations!)
The NAFDMA Story.
The best surprise for the Gammond’s came when
they found out about the NAFDMA Conference
in St Paul, MN in February 1992.
While planning a trip with their team of black Percheron horses to St. Paul for the Sleigh and Cutter Parade Winter Carnival they discovered that two industry conferences were going on at the same time. One of which was the NAFDMA Convention. The rest is history....
They joined NAFDMA and signed up for seminars
where Sue made contact with Janet Ecker of
Wisconsin who sold them a "Queen's Apple"
system that they still use at Gammondale.
Sue and Gerry have attended annual meetings in Toronto, North Carolina, Calgary and
Wisconsin and plan to attend this winter in Pennsylvania.
"We belong to NAFDMA because the people are so interesting, knowledgeable and fun. It is social networking at its best!" says Sue. "The organization and the people are great sources of information and always ready to try new things share ideas and be supportive of each other."
One of Sue's best NAFDMA memories was the Alberta Bus Tour! But then again, there was the North Carolina Tour too! . . .and all the great speakers and seminars!
Sue is really excited this summer about growing market vegetables in partnership with
neighbors who have 2 school-aged children. This will get them involved with the Thund
er Bay Country Market and they will be providing jobs for school kids. The Gammond's hired young students for their strawberry operation and they still hire students for harvesting and selling the pumpkins and squash. It is their way of ensuring that fresh, local food is available in their community.
Watch for Sue Gammond, Director of Fun and Education in Pennsilvania!
Gammondale Farm: Family Fun
Located 15 km south of Thunder Bay Ontario,
400 miles North of Minneapolis-St Paul,
200 miles north of Duluth and
20 miles north of the Minnesota.
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