Our Partnership with Ferme Onésime Pouliot in Quebec

Here at Weaver’s Orchard, we want to offer you the highest quality fruit even beyond what can be grown at our farm. Local growing seasons can be very short, as we saw with strawberry season this year when the Pennsylvania strawberries ripened late and then finished quickly due to heavy rains. Because of this, we have been searching out other growers with similar growing practices in hopes of partnering with them to provide you with the best quality produce.

Three years ago, based on a recommendation from another trusted grower, we began partnering with the seventh-generation family farm Ferme Onésime Pouliot just north of Quebec City. We now receive shipments from Ferme Onésime Pouliot twice a week.

 

There are three things I particularly appreciate about this farm.

First, they provide us with an excellent product: Seascape strawberries. These are a dark red variety that are very sweet and tasty. Because they are “everbearing” strawberries, they have a long growing season.

Second, Ferme Onésime Pouliot has an ideal climate for producing exceptional berries. They’re located on Saint-Jean-de-l’Île-d’Orléans, an island on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Their location produces a perfect microclimate that keeps temperatures moderate. This cooler climate gives the farm’s berries a better shelf life.

Third, owners Guy and Daniel Pouliot pay close attention to quality. One sign of this is that they quickly transfer the berries to a cooler after picking. This is to get the “field heat” out so that they will last longer. Ferme Onésime Pouliot even has a system of large fans that cools the berries quickly.

Recently, my wife Anne and I had the privilege of spending a couple of hours on the farm talking with Guy and Daniel. We then took a tour of the farm with the one of the managers, Joey Boudreault.

We noticed that, like us, this farm is using high tunnels. We have used them most often for cherries, while the Pouliots use them to protect their raspberry crop.

We were also excited to see the nursery on the premises and to learn that the farm employs researchers who can develop the best methods for growing the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and sweet potatoes that are farmed at Onésime Pouliot.

We are very happy to partner with this beautiful seventh-generation farm in Quebec. They are also excited to work with us because we are the first market they have exported to outside of Canada (although they have now added a few more markets in Pennsylvania!). With this partnership in place, we will be able to offer our customers delicious, high quality strawberries from July to early October.

From August 10-16 2018, the strawberries from Onésime Pouliot are only $5.99/quart (regularly $6.99) and raspberries are only $3.49 (regularly $3.99).