Fred and Marilyn Finney are first generation owners of Moreland Fruit Farm Ltd. Steve, our oldest son, is part owner and a full-time second generation farmer. His brothers, Chris and Brian, an attorney and a teacher respectively, help out part time. Our young grandchildren love to eat apples and pick blueberries. 

The farm consists of 110 acres, of which 70 acres are in production at any given time. Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are available for 

pick your own in the summer while grapes and apples can be picked in September and October. Some other fruits such as peaches, pears, and plums; and vegetables including zucchini, yellow squash, pickles, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and onions can be purchased in our Farm Market, and also at the Downtown Wooster Farmers Market, or at Local Roots. Everyone’s favorites: Pumpkins, winter squash, gourds, and fall decoratives are available in the fall. 

Buying local is important to the consumer and several area schools and colleges take advantage of the availability of our fresh produce. We have three greenhouses for raising our vegetable plants along with our beautiful hanging baskets and container plantings. Stacy Wilkinson has been with us for a number of years and is the person who makes our lovely flowers “happen”. She is able to create planters using unique containers which draw much interest from our customers. Several thousand potted mums are growing on a bed near the flower greenhouses. 

Three high tunnel greenhouses allow us to extend the produce season by having some crops available earlier or later than the normal growing season. The orchard was planted in 1935 by Dr. Harry Young from the Ohio Experiment Station (OARDC). When we moved to the farm in September of 1971, the main crops grown here were apples, peaches, cherries, black raspberries, and grapes and all sales were seasonal. After buying the farm in 1985, we continued to add other fruit crops and in the 1990s began raising mums and vegetables. Spring flowers were added in 2005. Today we are a very diverse fruit, vegetable, and flower operation. Our Farm Market has fruits and vegetables and fresh cider in season, baked goods, jam made from our own fruit and a variety of other products.

Marie Shetler is our very capable salesroom manager, and in 2011 we were named the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year. We have recently expanded our Farm Market salesroom and paved our parking lot to serve our customers better. One of the new trends we are using is to plant apple trees on trellises. The trees are smaller and planted closer together than we have done previously. The yield per tree is less, but with the trees planted closer together we can have more trees per acre which equals more yield per acre.  On October 10th from 11 am to 6pm and October 11th from 1pm to 6pm, our farm will be a stop on the Wayne County Farm Tour planned by the Wayne County Farm Bureau. 

You can stop in anytime at 1558 Moreland Road Wooster, OH 44691 or visit us on line at www.morelandfruitfarm.com. Open 9am-7pm Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm Saturday and 1pm-5pm Sunday beginning September 20th.