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How it all began...

     Leonard W. Butt emigrated from England when he was 5 years old where he and the rest of his family settled in Toronto. At the age of 16 he bought a package of gladiola bulbs at a local Woolworth store, which he planted in his dad’s vegetable garden and fell in love with the beauty of the glorious bloom. The hobby grew and when he married his wife Emily in 1934, they bought a small farm in Highland Creek, Ont. However, they weren’t there for long as this hobby was getting bigger and bigger. So they bought a 100 acre farm in Huttonville, ON, just west of Brampton, where they grew glads and had a large herd of Jersey cattle.
   
     Len had made quite a name for himself as an expert on gladiolis in both the Canadian and American Gladioli Society. He was privileged to be the only president of both at the same time. He was world renowned for hybridizing hundreds of new varieties of gladioli’s. He was the originator of the first ruffled miniature gladioli. A few of the first were; Crinklette, Bo-Peep, Statuette, and his world famous large cultivar Red Charm. With all of his involvement with the gladioli society he was grateful for Emily, daughter Marilyn, and Emily’s parents to keep things running smoothly when he was away from the farm
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     Marilyn married her neighboring sweetheart, Ross Oldham in 1957. They joined Len and Emily in the operation of the flower business, and later started growing a family of their own. 
    
     In 1970, they decided to open up the business to the public. That was the first year they did Pick Your Own Strawberries, over the years the operations grew to 30 acres of strawberries, 20 acres of gladioli’s and over 80 acres of corn along with other seasonal fruits and vegetables. Local neighboring land was rented to increase production as demand for local produce was high. All three of Ross and Marilyn’s children had their duties of keeping the farm going.

     Stands at the farmers market in Brampton, Streetsville, Georgetown, Weston, Toronto, and Mississauga were all apart of the weekly summer sales as well as the store back at the farm where at one point there was an ice cream parlour and bake shop. And with a public school right beside the farm,  they were rather popular on those hot summer days, and more so when they would have baseball and t-ball held at the school baseball diamonds a few nights a week.

     After Len and Emily passed away, Marilyn & Ross sold the farm in Huttonville, and moved the operation to Rockwood, which is now the new home of “Butt’s Berry & Flower Farm” Located on 5th Line of Eramosa, just east of Guelph.

       





     

    
     While still operating as a family farm the third generation has played a large role over the years as being part of Len’s teenage hobby. The fourth generation also pulls through when needed, and in the summer time, that a lot! We are so blessed to work the fields where we grow the beautiful flowers, and quality healthy fruit and vegetables for our thousands of customers and most importantly our families.

     Today we still grow the gladiolis, strawberries, and corn. But we’ve added just a few crops: asparagus, apples, blueberries, raspberries, plums, pumpkins, squash, potatoes, dahlia’s…okay, maybe a little more than just a few.

     As for markets, we only go to the Brampton Farmers Market each Saturday from mid June till Thanksgiving and our roadside stand is open everyday of the week at the end of the lane from May till Halloween.

     On any given day during the summer we can be found either in the fields or in the packing room in the barn sorting and bunching our flowers that we supply many flower shops, wholesalers and the flower auction in Mississauga with. It’s not rare for us to have multiple truckloads of flowers going out in one day. We also do flower orders for both weddings and special occasions. In the fall we make our famous pumpkin arrangements and of course we have the Pick Your Own Pumpkins. 

     As a family of farmers who endeavour to carry on the legacy Len and Emily left to us, we count our many blessings to live and work in this beautiful county of Wellington. We encourage you to stop in and see us any day, we are always here and wouldn’t mind a little break to chat. No need to buy anything, just a friendly face every now and then sure does us some good.

     Thanks again for all patronage over the years, and we hope to serve you for years and years to come,

The Oldham Family.

Today...

The Oldham famiy at one of Len's great grandson's wedding in June 2014.

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