Beth-Neil Farms to provide families with a fun agricultural experience throughout the fall

September 2, 2021 · 0 Comments

By Rob Paul

As the leaves change colour and the summer weather cools with fall on the horizon, Beth-Neil Farms in Caledon is planning to be the place to stop in at with family on weekends in autumn.

The family-run farm located at 12933 Bramalea Road in Caledon East, will transform into a kid-friendly fun and educational agricultural experience every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (and holiday Mondays) starting September 4 all the way through October.

The seed for this idea was planted in Archie Armstrong’s mind a few years ago when he began selling crops at a roadside market on his family farm.

The success of that endeavour motivated him to take it a step further.

“The idea kind of just came together over time,” he said. “I wanted to try and be a bit of an entrepreneur, and so I started selling sweet corn just at the side of the road to local farmers about four years ago. I’d been having more success each year and then I thought, ‘why don’t I try doing a bit more?’ I’d seen some other farmers that had gone this route and so I decided we should try something new and try to economically grow while providing entertainment for people and give a good time to people who maybe want to get out of the city and learn about farming and see what agriculture is all about.”

Armstrong and his family wanted to provide those in the community and beyond a reason to get out of the house this fall and have some fun. Not only will they be selling crops, but with Thanksgiving and Halloween around the corner, the pumpkin picking aspect should be a hit.

“We’re going to sell sweet corn and we’re hoping to get more produce as well,” he said. “We’ve got some flowers—we do bouquets—and zucchinis from some other local farmers. That will be sort of a market area and then on top of that we’ll be doing pick your own pumpkins and squash. We’ll also do nature walks, and we have some animals and educational stuff. Then there’s a few other things we’re hoping to get together. It’s a lot of fun family-oriented stuff.”

Part of the idea behind the project was to show not just kids, but everybody how important Canada’s rich agricultural history is while providing a fun family experience.

“Growing up as a farmer, I see the value in agriculture, but I think a lot of people don’t necessarily understand much about farming and why it’s important,” he said. “Farming teaches just so many great life skills and I think it’s great for people to learn about the importance of it at any age, especially for young kids.”

One of the most eye-popping features at Beth-Neil Farms are the hay bale sculptures Armstrong’s mother Marilyn put together.

“We talked a lot about decorating the place and we were brainstorming ideas on how we should do it and what the best way would be,” he said. “We thought about different ways to layout pumpkins and decorate pumpkins and then my mom came across online other hay bale sculptures. We thought it looked like a lot of fun and we thought it could be really fun for people to see and take photos with.

“Part of that too is that everyone really likes Instagram and we wanted to make it aesthetically pleasing for people to have fun and post and share while having some smiles with their friends and family. It was all a part of making it a really fun experience for everyone. I’m very excited, a little scared, but I can’t wait to hopefully bring some smiles to people’s faces.”