Applemanfarms Ltd. located on the banks of the beautiful St. John River at Gagetown. Over 50 years ago in September 1954 the Stirling Family started growing apples in New Brunswick at Gagetown. The man behind the farm was A R Stirling

The first fruit market opened by Alexander Robert Stirling in the 1940s

Just over 100 years ago, when he was still in his teens, Alexander Robert Stirling (1900-1996) took over the family farm in Greenwich and eventually devoting much of his life to growing fruit. Within a few years of taking over the farm, Sterling was operating a dairy – the Willow Hollow Dairy in Greenwich. On the same site he constructed a warehouse with an apple grader and this was his start in growing and marketing apples. Stirling soon was shipping apples to Maritime ports and as far away as England, all apparently within a decade or two of his taking over the family farm. In many ways Stirling was a pioneer, not only in the growing and marketing of fruit but in introducing many agricultural firsts to Nova Scotia. On the site of his dairy, Stirling built a warehouse with an apple grader and a cider press where he produced and marketed Red McIntosh Apple Juice. Nearby, Stirling set up a cannery under the brand name Annapolis Valley Canners, producing canned small fruits, salad dressing and chicken.**

Blair Stirling grew up in his family’s orchard and farming businesses in Wolfville, N.S. In 1976, shortly after graduating from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College’s agriculture business program, the family business deemed that he should go to Gagetown, N.B., and undertake management of the Stirling orchard operation there.

“I arrived at the orchard after I had just turned 20 years old,” said Stirling. “And when I met the manager, he immediately told me he was turning 65 in the autumn, and after that he would no longer be working. I had to deal with lots of challenges.”

His grandfather A.R. Stirling had purchased the Cossar Farm orchard and property in Gagetown in 1954 after Hurricane Edna left a good deal of their Nova Scotia apple crop on the ground. The Stirlings had many contracts for apples, including a substantial amount for Great Britain, and the New Brunswick orchard with a crop on the trees allowed them to honour their commitments.*In 2004 Blair started the creation of a direct marketing program, www.appleman.ca Internet Apple Market for Natural Nutritious Apples, apple juice/cider, apple wines/cider and apple sauce Shipped Direct from Our Farm To You. 

The Stirlings built a production facility, and currently market both sweet and hard cider, and other drink products through a combination of produce markets, food stores, liquor stores, and other on-farm stores. The AppleManFarms website promotes 44 distinct drink products.*

AppleManFarms is certainly not a one-man show. Blair’s wife Brenda and their two daughters Katherine and Jenny continue to take leadership roles in the operation. Stirling said he would like to see his children eventually take over the operation. “At this stage of my life, I would like to see myself working for them in the not too distant future,” he said.*

The Stirling family has come along way since A R Stirling started growing apples. Today they operate a number of business from producing cider to the Stirling Market.

*Atlantic Farm Focus
** Ed Coleman

Cider New Brunswick

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