Stroud
Farms began with Ernie and Rose Stroud back in the 1950's
and is now a 3rd generation farm with acreage in Ajax,
Whitby and Uxbridge. Our main store is in the north east
corner of Lakeridge and Taunton Roads and opens right
after the July 1st holiday weekend and closes in mid-November.
Our roadside market is located just west of Lakeridge
Road on the south side of Kingston Road in Ajax and opens
mid- to late July until mid-October. During the season
both locations are open Monday through Sunday 9:00 A.M.
to 6:00 P.M.
Our concept of direct-to-the-public fresh locally grown
produce has grown to be extremely popular.
Everything we grow on the farm is for sale at our market
– sweet corn, apples, pears, pumpkins, tomatoes.
It’s amazing how many people want to buy directly
from the farm.
Everything we grow on the farm is for sale at our market
– sweet corn, apples, pears, pumpkins, tomatoes.
It’s amazing how many people want to buy from the
farmer directly.
Foodland Ontario is talking about the miles traveled with
the produce.
And there’s zero food miles to consider when you
buy where it’s grown.
We’re
able to pick our tomatoes ripe and sell them rather than picking them green to
ship. The taste, it’s altogether different. A tomato that’s picked on
the green side will ripen, but you don’t get the same flavour as a tomato
that’s been ripened on the vine. And
of course corn, the sooner you can cook it, the better it is. It starts to lose
some of its sugar content from the time you pick it. Buy corn from a grocery store
today, it had to have been picked yesterday -- it’s already at least 24 hours
old. That’s
why we pick every day. We have a number of people who will be waiting at the farm
for us to come in with the corn in the morning. And that’s nice – I
like that. They
say, ‘Oh you’ve got the best corn.’ ‘You grow such lovely
tomatoes.’ ‘Your potatoes are the only ones I want.’ Nothing ups
your ego like hearing that. It’s those things that keep you wanting to farm.
Farmers
appreciate the customers who patronize the farmer’s
markets and roadside stands. All of the farms that are
selling on the roadside are the same – they’re
growing stuff there, offering it to the public, trying
to cut the middleman out and increase the quality of
produce the consumer purchases on any given day.
Farmers are pretty happy to have people buying like that. |
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