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.