“A fantastic apple orchard with a diverse and well-stocked garden nursery. The view from the orchard is that of Monument Mountain; spectacular to say the least. We travel here from Long Island, and this place is a welcome respite from the overcrowded orchards and roadways that are the norm…”
— Eric J, local guide
Sitting in the sun-drenched kitchen of their farmhouse on top of the hill at Windy Hill Farm, owners Dennis and Judy Mareb reminisce about how their great adventure took root. Both grew up south of Boston (Dennis still retains his Brockton accent) and attended Bridgewater State until Dennis left to pursue a degree in horticulture. “My parents loved gardening,” he notes.
Transforming a dairy farm into a dynamic business
The couple moved to this exact spot 50 years ago. “I had just graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a degree in environmental design/ornamental horticulture, and Judy was working at the UMass library when I took a job as a horticulturist on a large estate in Great Barrington, and Judy took a job teaching first grade at Stockbridge Elementary,” Dennis continues.
While the couple loved living in Amherst and engaging with the community, they initially found being in the Berkshires a bit isolating. “I just worked on the estate, but I liked what I was doing and saved my money over the years. When we first thought about starting our own farm, we considered Maine or Prince Edward Island because they were more affordable, but we were lucky enough to secure this abandoned dairy farm,” he explains.
It took five years to open the business, using their own savings and a no-interest loan from the Lotta Crabtree Fund, which was established to help UMass agriculture school grads set up their own businesses. “It was the 1980s—no one was borrowing the money or interested in farming at the time,” Dennis recalls. They started buying trees and fencing for the orchard, and secured a second loan to add the garden store (a handcrafted timberframe barn by Phil Newey) in 1985—at which point Judy, who was raising two young girls, decided to stop teaching and help full-time with the farm.
The pair began adding staff soon after, including Eddie Baczek (whom they met through the Monument Mountain Regional High School greenhouse program) and Howard Wilson (a classmate from UMass). “We’ve gotten a tremendous amount of help from them both over the years,” the Marebs are quick to acknowledge.
Testing—and fine-tuning—offerings and operations
They started growing raspberries below the front hill along Great Barrington-Stockbridge Road, where the brilliant bursts of red winterberry bushes now grow. “That was a difficult crop to harvest without refrigeration,” Dennis admits. Turning to nursery crops, they set out to grow lilac, viburnum, and other ornamental shrubs, which proved to be a big success. “Everyone who bought plants wanted design and installation services, so we began offering that in addition to producing trees, shrubs, and perennials,” he continues, adding, “That’s what has carried the business for the bulk of time.”
Windy Hill now boasts a diverse horticulture operation—known throughout Berkshire, Litchfield, and Columbia counties—consisting of six acres of apple orchards, two acres of blueberry fields, five acres of field-grown specialty ornamental nursery stock, a retail garden center, and a full-service landscape department. Locally, the operation is also known as the crowd favorite for pick-your-own blueberries and apples, as well as a great resource for cut Christmas trees.
“Our u-pick blueberry fields are another highlight for Windy Hill customers each summer,” Judy points out. Come early July (or thereabouts), the orchard is known for having an abundant crop of beautiful, unsprayed highbush blueberries. Since its inception, Windy Hill has also offered a diverse range of apples each year. “Our season begins around late August with our tart, crunchy Paulared, Ginger Gold, and Zestar varieties. We typically have over 25 varieties that follow, including several heirlooms, as well as our own fresh-pressed, all-natural, unpasteurized sweet cider blend,” Dennis notes.
Discovering a niche crop—and building out the varieties
The Marebs take special pride, however, in their vast selection of winterberry (15 varieties in all!), grown out front and in the moist soil at the base of the hill out back. Like most things we’re discussing this morning, the winterberries have a backstory. “They go back to where I grew up in West Bridgewater,” Judy says. We used to cut them in the wild, along with American holly, and sell them for extra money as kids.” When Dennis worked on the estate, he planted a large number of winterberry bushes, both for their color and for their use as cut flowers. They now grow three to four acres of winterberry—including red, yellow, orange, gold, and peach.
Not many nearby farms produce winterberry to the degree Windy Hill does, Dennis notes, though winterberry grows in the wild in the Berkshires. “It’s just like any other ornamental. You can’t plant it and forget about it,” he admits. “There’s a lot of nutritional management, weed control, and insect and disease management involved.” Judy adds, “The birds also love them. The migratory flocks (up to 300, mostly robins and cedar waxwings) will be coming soon, looking for a food source like this.” Acknowledging their love of birds—bluebirds, in particular—the Marebs spray a harmless substance that smells like grape juice, and block and net the most susceptible varieties to protect their investment.
While winterberries are a small percentage of their overall business, it’s a niche crop that obviously brings the couple much joy. “One thing we learned over the years was that there’s a huge fall market for winterberry,” Judy says. Initially, they would cut the stems before Thanksgiving, but now they’ve started selling them a month earlier—a shift that requires removing the leaves before they are sold. Since none of this is done by machine, they wrap the branches with rotten apples (which contain natural ethylene gas) to force the leaves to fall off.
Winterberries are also hand-harvested, then packed onto wagons, and stored and processed in a hoop house for cutting. “By mid-December, we’ve processed enough,” Judy says, noting that when the temperature drops to below 18 degrees, the berries become less marketable. “It’s nice to share the remaining berries with the birds then and delight in seeing the bluebirds enjoying them—sometimes they take them right out of our window boxes.”
Windy Hill sells the winterberries in clear sleeves and in buckets, both at their garden shop and to wholesale businesses (including garden centers, garden clubs, and repeat customers). Competition in the East is scarce, and the bulk coming from the West Coast doesn’t match in quality. “Most people around here prefer to buy local anyway,” Dennis notes.
Caretakers of the land, the community, and the future
Many young people are getting into farming these days, but making it sustainable remains a challenge. Dennis admits, “It’s a consuming lifestyle. You have to really like it, enjoy teaching and mentoring your employees (younger and older), and love your customers. The biggest hurdle is fighting complacency. We always strove to create a culture that’s unique in the Berkshires—developing our crops, employees, and customer base to sustain a strong business.”
“Where we live is so beautiful,” Judy says with awe and appreciation. To ensure its permanence in farming, in 2017, the Marebs completed the sale of an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR), with assistance from the Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Town of Great Barrington Community Preservation Committee.
Dennis adds, “We’ve been so lucky that we’ve been able to make a living on the land and support so many families who work with us and for us. I’m really proud of that—it’s been a real joy.”
Visiting Windy Hill’s holiday shop (open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day) is a tradition for many area families—whether buying a fresh-cut Christmas tree, a handmade wreath or other greenery, ornaments, gifts, or festive decorations. Go early for the best selection—and grab some winterberry sleeves for your Thanksgiving table!!
