and found that people wanted something new, so farms either had to change or they had to stop selling produce off the farm and concentrate on producing large volumes of produce. “The farm experience is important to people. They want quality, not cheap produce. So, you need to have a good set-up that will leave everyone who visits satisfied,” explained Krause.
For that to work, he admits, you have to enjoy having people running around your farm. “It’s not for everyone,” he concedes.
“On the whole, we enjoy it. Sandee’s focus is to make it exciting every year for people. She has the consumer background,” he adds.
The feature though, is still the food product, not the entertainment, he emphasizes.
“There’s agri-tainment out there too,” he explains.
“We need to keep it in context with what we like doing. While the hardest task is getting customers out to the farm, once there we try to make opportunities for them to purchase something that’s different,” he notes. “It would be easier and the returns might be better, but we don’t want to be a hotdog stand. Hotdogs are not about our farm. What we produce makes us unique. We are a berry farm,” he explains.
So, products such as berry pies, smoothies, shortcakes, cream cakes, turnovers and tarts are available at the farm, along with preserves such as jams, jellies and syrups.
Along with the 30 acres each of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, they also grow asparagus, green beans, corn, nugget potatoes, artichokes, pumpkins and squash, and from them, they offer value-added products for sale from the wraparound porch and retail store such as corn buns, field asparagus bread, corn pizza, corn chowder soup and pickles and dills.
On the porch, visitors can sit and enjoy fresh roasted corn pizza, shortcakes, pies, cakes and berry milkshakes or smoothies.
A window to the heart of the farm kitchen allows visitors to watch staff baking the pies and other products available for purchase.
There’s a fenced play yard for youngsters, and there are a few farm animals, including Laddy the miniature horse, Squeaky the donkey
JUDIE STEEVES
Alf and Sandee Krause have learned the value of diversification, not just in the crops they grow, but also in what draws visitors to their farm.
and Jake and Jerry, Belgian crosses who pull the wagon that takes visitors on a tour of the farm. “We want to make it a fun experience,” notes Krause. Although retail is the focus, they
also sell wholesale, but he admits they can’t compete with offshore products, so they concentrate on taste. Small-scale processors such as they are can’t produce the cheapest goods, he notes. But they take a ‘whole farm’
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