Farms to Tables 2025: Morrison Berries reigns as a Huron County staple

BY CHELSEA GAMBLE

Morrison Berries Country Market has been a Huron County staple since Ralph Morrison began planting strawberries without the knowledge of his new bride, Sandra. Luckily, Sandra was game to give one of Ontario’s best-loved summertime fruits a try. With Roger and Vicky Morrison, they planted more and more strawberries as the years passed, opened a storefront on their farm, started a pick-your-own strawberry operation, and started selling to grocery stores.

 

Now, their daughter Emily is the one running Lucknow’s favourite fruit farm, and her farm-made strawberry sauce sundaes and milkshakes have become one of the signatures of Morrison Berries. Emily is also the current president of the Lucknow Agricultural Society (LAS), on which I also have the privilege of being a board member. 

 

This year, Emily was kind enough to allow me to observe the many ins and outs of strawberry farming, from laying irrigation lines to planting to harvesting to selling strawberries and strawberry accessories. As it turns out, there’s a whole lot more to building a business on the backs of these delicate berries than most people would believe. It’s a crop that’s resistant to the ease of automation, requires near constant attention, and can go wrong in a million little ways.  

 

Over the years, the Morrison family started extending the flavour of the season by using a portion of their harvest to make products like jam. Today, Morrison Berries is equipped with a blast-chiller to freeze any excess berries at the height of their freshness.

 

But, for those in the know, one of the surest signs that summer has come to Huron County is the first appearance of fresh strawberry tarts and pies in the Morrison Berries dessert case. The components are simple - a homemade crust, a generous helping of strawberries, and just enough glaze to hold it all together - there’s no filler, no shortcuts - just strawberries, picked at their peak and cradled in a flaky shell.

 

Like everything in the world of strawberries, making these sweet treats is fairly labour-intensive; these aren’t just your ordinary fruit pies. While the recipe is a closely-guarded family secret, there’s no secret to what makes them such a sought-after summertime delight: it’s all in the freshness of the berries themselves.

 

The baker’s day begins early at Morrison Berries. When there are a lot of orders for pies and tarts, Sandra or Emily Morrison will be the first to head over to the farm store. The ovens get preheated, and the pie and tart shells are baked until just barely golden brown, and the glaze is prepared and allowed to cool. 

 

While the shells are being baked, the morning pickers come in. Because strawberries are so easy to bruise, all the picking is done by hand. Timing is everything - the pickers only harvest the berries when they’ve reached the perfect level of ripeness. This means heading out to the same sections of the fields, day after day, to turn over the leaves of the plants and rotate each berry to ensure it isn’t hiding any green spots. It also takes a lot of things going just right to get the job done. This year, for example, an unexpected June frost ended up damaging some of the early variety berries, which, in turn, decreased the overall number of tarts and pies they could make this year. The extra scarcity this season just ended up making people more determined to get their hands on their very own strawberry tart.  

 

As soon as the day’s first flats of berries come in from the fields, they’re stored safely in the cooler. Then, the berries get divided up - some are portioned into travel-safe, Morrison Berries-labelled clamshell packages and sent to grocery stores in Wingham and Brussels. Some go to fill the day’s orders for flats and quarts of fresh-picked berries, and some, of course, go to be sold on the shelves of the farm store. The berries that are left go into making the day’s dessert offerings. 

 

Only the best berries make it into the tarts and pies. Just before it’s time for assembly, the berries are washed, dried, hulled and cut in half or quartered, if they're on the large side. Emily’s golden rule is that each strawberry should “only be as big as you’d be comfortable biting into.” As soon as the strawberries are ready, they’re generously spooned into the shells with layers of glaze. Then it only takes a short amount of time before the glaze is set, and the pies and tarts are ready to go into the display case.
By 9 a.m., the phones start ringing - locals and long-time customers call to reserve their flats of berries, and more than a few of those are hoping for one of the day’s coveted extra pies or a few tarts to enjoy on their drive home. Sometimes, there are only enough excess berries to meet that day’s pre-orders, but, more often than not, a few lucky visitors manage to snag a pack or two from the display case.

 

As soon as the farm’s “open” flag is flying, drivers on the country road begin to slow down. They pull into the driveway - some on impulse, others making a planned detour. Each one is lured by the hope of fresh strawberry tarts, or a prize pie to bring home. One by one, they’re snapped up by hungry customers eager for a few sweet bites of summer.

 

Vacationers know the drill, too. Some visitors stop by year after year - for many, popping by Morrison Berries to pick up a strawberry pie or a box of tarts on their way to the family cottage. The familiarity of the ritual - stopping at the store and leaving with a tart bursting with ripe berries marks the return of summer in a way that nothing else quite does. That’s the kind of memory you just don’t get without the freshest berries and a whole lot of care.