Vendor Spotlight: Howe Family Farms

You can trace the roots of Howe Family Farms all the way back to the late 1800s, when the first generation settled into the quiet concessions of Elgin County. They grew what the land gave them, probably without imagining that, over a century later, their great-great-grandchildren would be farming those very same fields—with a few modern updates, of course.

Today, brothers Ryan, Rick, and Kevin Howe are still growing many of those classic crops—strawberries, melons, pumpkins, sweetcorn—but the way they do it has shifted in a big way. They’ve adapted, trialed new techniques, changed with the seasons and the times. And while the core of the farm remains rooted in tradition, sustainability is front and centre.
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You see it not just in the soil management or the crop rotation, but in the wild edges of their fields—where monarch butterflies flutter through clusters of pollinator plants. Some years, they’ve even tagged butterflies by the hundreds to track their migratory paths. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t make headlines, but still matters.

For the past several years Howe's has been working with Farms at Work to improve the habitat and population of the integral Squash Bees which are crucial for growing the staple autumn pumpkin crop. In the process they created a truly unique and diverse "Farm Garden"  intentionally planted with the pollinators in mind. It’s all part of the long game: make the land better than you found it. Grow food people actually want to eat. Protect the ecosystem that makes it all possible.

And people do want to eat what Howe Family Farms is growing. Whether it’s the iconic strawberries—available from May right through to November—or the raspberries they’ve been slowly perfecting year after year, customers return because the flavour tells its own story. Theirs is a farm that’s obsessed with taste. It's not marketing fluff. You can taste it in the first bite of roasted sweet corn, still in its husk, smoky from the fire. You can taste it in the strawberries—so ripe they practically perfume the air.

You’ll find Howe produce at both of their market locations (11143 Highbury Ave, St. Thomas, and 48556 John Wise Line in Aylmer) and at the Horton Farmers' Market every Saturday, where they’ve built a loyal following of produce-loving regulars. The team loves talking to people who care just as much about food as they do—who notice the nuance in each variety, who ask how something was grown, who remember the taste of last year’s corn.

And if you ask them what keeps them going? It’s the community. The customer who brings a friend. The review left after a long day. The family who shows up every Saturday for berries and a chat. That kind of support hits deeper than a sales report. It's the reason they keep expanding, keep experimenting. This year, it’s more raspberries than ever. Next year? Who knows. But you can bet it'll be something grown with care.
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Visit Howe Family Farms at the Horton Market or drop by their farm markets in St. Thomas and Aylmer. Ask about the raspberries. Or the butterfly tagging. Or just let the strawberries speak for themselves.