Don and Louisa McClellan once saw themselves as the unlikeliest of farmers.

Globe hopping with the Canadian Armed Forces, they lived in corners of the Earth most North Americans rarely see. But, it was that time away, and the start of a family, that brought a military pilot and his self-professed “B.C. hippie” bride back to the Comox Valley to take a long-running conventional strawberry farm down the road back to going organic.

The owners of ASHBerry Farm, the McClellans run one of the few berry farms in the region that remain U-Pick, what I refer to as a Family-style Farm. While they are not yet certified organic, this team is all about sustainable farming. So their berries have no insecticides or herbicides – a really important factor since strawberries are among the most heavily sprayed fruits in the world (and it’s nearly impossible to wash off pesticides from berries).

For a few weeks every year, Valley families pack the rows and rows of strawberries on their Royston Road property to get their fill of what are arguably the best strawberries in terms of taste and value in the region. This year they also have pickling cucumbers too.

When it comes to kids, a day of digging in the dirt and coming home with buckets full of freshness makes U-Pick food of any kind one of the best ways to plug in to literally knowing from where your food comes.  Since most of us aren’t lucky enough to have a backyard capable of housing a giant berry patch – a day at ASHBerry letting the kiddos loose to muck it up in the fields is made all the better. Food always seems to taste better when you have to work a bit for it.

While strawberries are surely the main event at ASHBerry, there’s so much more to this fantastic farm experience. The McClellans are all about family – with their kiddos helping out and puppies greeting visitors with piles of kisses and cold noses. They even have a crew of pigs and this year, the pigs that have normally been out back are in a more accessible space for families.

This is truly an adventure in farming for the McClellans as they retool and experiment with running a farm the was once Dudnik’s Show Garden. Getting back to the land has been an evolving process for them and I love that when you get the chance to catch up with Louisa and Don you instantly see their spark and passion for local food.

Don will tell you that life on the farm requires a wee bit of patience and an ongoing dilogue with Mother Nature, which is why they can only give a rough estimate of when the strawberries will be ready for the picking this year. Right now they expect to be open starting the week of June 21. But, be sure to keep up with the latest strawberry info at the the Farm’s website.

If you’d like to visit the farm before then, call ahead as they do have fresh rhubarb (recipe in the side bar) and evergreen shrubs available right now.

ASH Berry Farm is at 3210 Royston Road, about a 10-minute haul up the road from the turn off the Old Island Highway (at the lights in Royston) and is open at the discretion of the McClellans depending on what’s happening with the berries.

Grab a bucket, wear shoes and pants that are in the mood for some serious dirt, and watch the smiles blossom on your family’s faces.

ASH Berry Farm is definitely a family-friendly treat not to miss.