We asked a dozen questions to these entrepreneurs who are passionate about their land. Here is what they said.
Stéphane Lamarre of Château De Cartes
chateaudecartes.com
| Ideal date for a visit or pick up | Early September |
| Your featured product | My wife. Joking aside, the Orange wine is the most requested. |
| Your most popular product | Petnat (a natural sparkling wine) |
| What sets you apart | The addition of the Pizzeria. Moreover, we have a real cellar. |
| A number | 58,000 bottles of wine per year |
| The achievement you are most proud of | I am trying a new 100% organic field. The first of its kind on a large scale |
| Your favorite product of the region | Gosselin’s salmon mousse is a great success |
| A well kept treasure in the region | The West Brome Inn’s restaurant |
| Few people know | For the pruning of the vines, in France they have 4 months to do it. Here: 3 weeks! We are farmers and not industrialists (who often transform products that come from elsewhere) |
| The future | We plan to have an automated robot to serve, using a touch screen. An investment of more than 100k$. |
Gisèle LaRocque of Domaine De Dunham
domainededunham.com
| Ideal date for a visit or pick up | End of August. Thursday is ideal and more quiet |
| Your featured product | We are the only ones in Quebec to have peaches and nectarines (there is no pick-your-own because they are fragile) |
| The 2 other most popular products | Apple-pear cocktail 355 ml. The fortified pear (Thousand and one pears, 500ml) |
| What sets you apart | We are ecological, but not organic. We use more natural solutions against predators |
| A number | 1.2M kilo harvested each year with 25 000 trees, |
| The achievement you are most proud of | It was an abandoned orchard in 2004. We have made it a model orchard. |
| Your favorite local products | The honey of « Once upon a time there was a flower |
| A well kept treasure in the region | Gaston Chamberland Antiques. Bread at Bernard’s. |
| Few people know | On the edge of the pond, we have 2 superb picnic sites |
| Your customers the farthest | 5-6 busloads of Japanese come to see us every year. The French are pleasantly surprised by the cider of Quebec which is much better than the cider of the farmer that we find in France. |
Isabelle Tougas of Vergers Tougas
| Ideal date for a visit or pick up | The last of September for apples |
| Your featured product | Honey Crisp |
| Your most popular product | Grillottes, a sour cherry for pies |
| What sets you apart | The beauty of the site, on a non-commercial farm |
| A number | 30,000 apple trees |
| Your favorite local products | Cherry Season Beer, Dunham Brewery |
| A well kept treasure in the region | At the top of Chemin Godbout, there is a picnic table. What a view! It is possible to see the Olympic Stadium of Montreal and on the other side the Green Mountains of Vermont. |
| Few people know | We make certified PFI products: It is an alternative process more natural without being 100% organic. |