Strawberry fields bear fruit for keen university students

Bobbie Jo Sheriff
Staff Reporter
  The Camrose Canadian 2003 
 


 
 

Enterprising young organic straw-berry farmers, Erin Hamilton and Matt Paulson, both 18, have a bright future ahead of them.

Two years ago the couple was looking for a way to pay for college when they decided to go into business for themselves. They saved their money for two years before starting their venture, Blush Berries.

Hamilton’s parents own Sunworks Farm just west of Armena, a certified organic farm where they raise chickens, turkeys, pigs and cattle.

With years of experience, they provided the guidance the young entrepreneurs needed to get Blush Berries started and also leased them the three acres on which to farm.

This year they planted 36,000 plants in the snow in early April and employed four staff, two part-time.

They grow organically and when the inspector makes it out to the farm they will be certified organic. Although the berries are smaller than those you’d get from California, they are also sweeter, like wild strawberries.

“As soon as people taste them, they fall in love with them,” said Hamilton.
     
The strawberries are sold at the farm gate, at the Big Fresh health food store in Edmonton and at the farmer’s market in Red Deer.

Next year the partners will head off to Taylor University, a Baptist college, where they’ll pursue the one-year certificate Discovery Christian program.

Following their formal education, they’ll return to the farm and continue their practical education, which has already been abundant.

“We’ve learned how to deal with people, how to research and how to deal with money, things that we could have never learned from any job. Having a business sometimes means working until two in the morning. “

Future plans include expanding their crop and traveling to New Zealand to explore how they farm organically in other countries.

“We want to travel and run our business and just experience life.”