One must ask children and birds how strawberries taste. J.W. von Goethe

Morris Gervais and Kendra Irving, owners of Barrie Hill Farm, are the very proud parents of son Avery,16, daughters Nia, 15 and Audrey, 10 and son Isaac, 9.The family has two dogs Albion, a Golden Retriever, age 4 and Elliotte a English Labrador, age 6 months. Morris met Kendra when she got a summer job on the farm and he was her boss! An office romance, so to speak. They married in November of 1999.

Morris graduated from Barrie North in 1985 and the University of Guelph with a B.Sc.(Agr) in 1989. Kendra graduated from Eastview in1992, the University of Guelph with a B.Sc in 1997 and Queens University with B.Ed in 1998.

After Morris graduated from Guelph, he returned home to work at Barrie Hill Farms alongside his parents Adrien and Evelyn. In the fall/winter season of 1989/90 he worked as a temporary at Molson Brewery in Barrie. The following fall of 1990 he returned to work again at Molsons and was eventually offered a full-time job in Quality Control. After almost 2.5 years with Molsons, he decided corporate life was not for him and returned home having decided to pursue farming full time.

After graduating Kendra worked as an outdoor educator/naturalist at Grandview Inn in Huntsville from 1998 until 2002. Kendra has been homeschooling their 4 children since then.

The Gervais family is very active! Morris refereed minor and junior hockey with the OMHA and the OHA from 1989 – 2003. Morris continues to play old-timers hockey in the Molson Sportsmen Hockey League. He also enjoys hunting and looks forward to deer hunting season each November after the farm is closed. Morris belongs to the Knights of Columbus council 1626 in Barrie and each year, along with the Knights, the farm hosts an annual blueberry pancake festival in support of RVH

Kendra enjoys curling and also volunteers with many ministries at Holy Spirit Parish, including the St Vincent de Paul Society and Barrie Out of the Cold

Avery is passionate about cycling. He has a part time job as a bike mechanic at Bikeland in Barrie and recently joined the cycling club Team Hardwood Next Wave. Avery also enjoys playing guitar and drums

Nia is a talented artist, enjoys fashion, sewing and singing in the church choir

Audrey is a talented musician currently studying Grade 3 piano and is a competitive trampoline gymnast with Infinity Gymnastics

And Isaac is just beginning to study piano and loves team sports. He played this past season with the BMHA Novice A Colts and is looking forward to playing baseball this summer

Barrie Hill Farms – pick your own fruits/vegetables and farm market - has been a family business since 1968. Adrien and Evelyn Gervais purchased the farm in 1968 and grew tobacco until 1979.Getting out of the tobacco industry, they introduced strawberries as their first produce crop beginning in 1977, followed by blueberries, raspberries and asparagus in the mid 1980s. By the 1990s the blueberry fields had grown to 40 acres, making Barrie Hill Farms one of the largest highbush blueberry farms in Ontario.

Morris shares “The community that continues to support the farm is our biggest inspiration. Without the families that allow us to grow their food, we wouldn’t be able to continue to be stewards of the land.”

Morris enjoys the challenge of working with Mother Nature to grow a successful crop, and the excitement it brings to their customers. Morris further shares “People are truly excited when each of the seasons arrive – especially strawberry season! It’s great to be part of our customers’ family traditions. And since we’ve been doing pick your own berries for over 40 years now, it’s especially satisfying to see many generations of customers returning year after year.

Additionally, it’s wonderful to have more and more new neighbours as Springwater grows. Neighbours who appreciate the fresh local fruits and veggies we grow. These neighbours not only buy our food, but also provide us with energetic employees to help us keep the farm running during the busy harvest season.

Thanks for letting us grow your food! “

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