Virginia Berry Farm, Inc.,  began in 1984 to produce and distribute container grown highbush blueberry plants  Much has changed much since that initial season. The scope of our operation has expanded greatly to include an extensive line of container grown small fruits, specialty fruits, native plants and fruit and during 2004 we introduced a line of decorative ornamentals.  Although people are accustomed to think of fruit plants as food production plants only, they are also very beautiful when they are flowering and during the season as the foliage changes.

The farm, initially a 2 acre clearing  done in 1910 by Maurice and Estelle Quarles, consisted of 160 acres  During the ensuing years many parcels were created for family and long-time employees, so the farm itself was reduced to a smaller size, largely pictured below.;  The remaining parcel, 90.4 acres,  was then purchased by Jane Warner and Bill Harwood in 1984. 

During it's early decades the farm was used as a produce farm, with many immigrants to our area from North Carolina beginning their days in Virginia on this farm or Magnolia Farm, our neighbor to the east.  For more than twenty years It was the custom of the Quarles family to have dances each Saturday night, a tradition which has endeared this farm to many.  You have to listen to a parade of grey-haired people, with the light of youth shinning in their eyes to truly grasp what this had meant to them.  Many marriages, which have produced literally hundreds if not thousands of people, were begun at these simple dances held in what is now our office (pictured below.).

In 1947 the Quarles succeeded in securing the contract to clear the power line right-of-ways for Rural Electric Association and our farm house, pictured above, became the first house wired for electricity under REA on the Eastern Seaboard.  The process of clearing the rights-of-way for REA became a business of operating sawmills for the family which, along with the real estate that accompanied this lumber business, sustained them to the end of their days in Caroline County.  We purchased the farm from Stella, daughter of the original owners,  when she was 76 and began to transform it into a wholesale production nursery.  Stella lived on the farm virtually all of her life from age 3, when the family moved into the house.

It all seems like a dream now.  We had only a 31 foot "dug well."   We found it was possible to pump this well dry with a hose in 7 1/2 minutes during dry periods.  We did have an 8 1/2 acre lake but  were far from tapping it's potential or  realizing it's limitations as we began to grow and became relatively heavy water users.  We grew only 22,000 plants our first year, concentrating our efforts on; restoring the house, purchasing equipment and boring our first deep well.  We were not so fortunate that time, striking water four times in 600 feet but only yielding 22 gallons per minute. 

Perhaps water is a good example of our history.  Presently the farm's nursery operation encompasses about 25 acres, with an additional set of growing zones under construction.  These are irrigated from the lake by 5 irrigations pumps which are capable of pumping about 500 gallons per minute more or less indefinitely.  Water is now carried in 4 inch lines and this system is backed up, in case of power failure, by a tractor driven pump capable of pumping more water than these pumps combined.  Presently we are able irrigate during normal conditions using less than three pumps, with the system providing us with much flexibility.

A second water system consisting entirely of deep well water feeds our greenhouse ranges and flat zones as well as serving as a backup to the irrigation system and a primary source of water for our farm buildings and the residences on our farm.  Added to our initial well are two from hundred feet wells which supply 45 and 60 gallon per minute with Jacuzzi Sand-handler pumps making the system capable of delivering 160 gallons per minute to either nursery or resource buildings.  Backup power to this system, as well as to your office and other critical systems, are provided by emergency generators.  Both systems now have sophisticated, self-flushing filtration systems which remove everything which practical from these waters.                                                                           

We are modern nurserymen which means that we grow in soiless culture since soil is the source of many disease and other problems.  For this reason it is our process to remove all top soil and grade the remaining subsoil to the proper grade to insure drainage and also to return all runoff into our lake.  These nursery zones are then covered with a layer of gravel and overhead irrigation systems are installed which provide our container plants with adequate water.  We note that during the past few drought season our water sources have proven adequate,  though careful management has been a key here.  We are a far cry from those initial days, as the saying goes.

Although ours is a relatively labor intensive business we employ many labor saving devices and methods.  We presently have 12 modern greenhouses which serve as production houses for many of our liners (the small plants which are transplanted into larger containers to be grown out and sold as finished plants. ) We are finished plant growers and do not sell liners or bare root plants. 

One key to our approach lies in state of the art production equipment, from Bouldin and Lawson (our flat filler and cell grown plant production line,) Gleason (our bare root production line) and H D Davis (our soils mixer) which makes our business possible.  It is incomprehensible that we could produce the volume of plants we presently do in any other manner.  Thinking outside the box has also made many labor saving devices such as our modified golf carts.  These transport plants anywhere, easily and cheaply and also serve in endless other ways in our nursery.

We presently have five freight docks, three of which are in a covered, modern building which serves as both shipping and production area.  Our growing fleet of trucks and tractors are only symbolic of our growth.  Today the most important aspect of our growth is shown in our people.  We are proud of our plants, our farm, our equipment but we are most proud of our staff whose dedication, creativity and stubbornness make this place possible.  (^_^)

The original farm house now serves as our primary office (we have offices in two other buildings now) and we operate no less than 11 computer systems and serve some of our customers through EDI.  We produce custom tags for the industry and a range of services and products which are unparalleled.  In spite of this we still think of ourselves as a family farm and of our customers as cousins.  We are all in the same business and our business is growing. 

In 1986-87 the "barn" of the farm (a classic Dutch barn design built to Virginia Polytechnic plans, pictured above across our lake) was transformed into a residence and personal office space by the former owners Bill Harwood & Jane Warner.  This building has proven to be a wonderful house to live in and is now the residence of nursery owner Scott Smythe.