About us
Canadian Oak Farm is located at 254 German School Rd, St George, Ontario.
Canadian Oak Farm was started up in 2004 when Dr Jim Hedges purchased what was formerly the T.M.Spratt broiler chicken farm on German School Rd just south of St George.
Jim lives next door to this farm and decided to use the roughly 10 acres of flat, cleared land on the farm to start growing organic vegetables for family and friends. His grandchildren now look forward to the farm visits, especially during strawberry season!
On the farm there is also a sawmill and several woodshops. For over 20 years Jim has been making barrels from our local Canadian oak and they are being used not only by local wineries and distillers in Ontario but also internationally in places like France, Mexico, Italy, Australia and even South Korea. Many amateur wine and spirits makers also have great success with the smaller sizes. Lots of interesting furniture and crafts are made in the woodshops in concert with local, talented woodworkers and cabinetmakers.
Jim had little experience with horticulture, although his father, Hank, was a well-known horticulturalist and community member here in St George. Hank, and his wife, Jean, moved to this farm when they were in their eighties and enjoyed some wonderful years here prior to their passing a few years ago.
Through the years of learning, a lot of it trial and error, the farm developed and was well known for wonderful yields of Italian heirloom tomatoes, huge watermelons, tasty asparagus and other edible delights.
Roopchan (known to others as Rupert or simply "Roop"), joined the farm as a seasonal worker in 2011. Rupert has been a regular seasonal worker every year, coming up from Trinidad in March. Since 2013, Rupert's wife, Enid, also has joined in and these two have become well known to many in the local area as "family".
When Roop joined the farm operations were expanded and vegetables were now grown not only for family and friends but also for local fresh markets (including the Brantford Farmers' Market) and nearby Elberta Farms, Brantwood Farms, MacGregor Farm, Taylor farm and also for local restaurants. Roop became well known for growing the world's hottest peppers...the Moruga Scorpion, aptly named after the Province of Moruga, Trinidad, where Roop and Enid live while we Canadians suffer through the cold and snow. We now grow hot peppers for Lord's Hot Sauce company...you can see an amusing video about this here: https://vimeo.com/616341562
Nothing quite like fresh Ontario strawberries.
