History
Established in 1932 in Andover, Massachusetts by Roger Lewis, the nursery was sold to the Nourse’s in 1968 and moved to its present site in Whately, Massachusetts. We are located in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts where we are blessed with very fertile, well-drained soils. These growing conditions provide an excellent environment for plant production, and the farming operations now encompass some 400 acres in the towns of Whately, Hatfield, and Montague, MA.
Tim and Mary Nourse have grown the business far beyond their expectations. Their son Nathan has been involved in the farm business for years, and is now the Sales Director, and his wife Betsy is the Financial Manager.
Tim has always been a forward thinker, and in 1980 he created a state of the art tissue culture laboratory and micropropagation facility at the farm. This was a bold step, and allowed for all foundation material to be produced and virus tested onsite.
In 1982, a customized cooling facility was built, which has allowed storage of dormant, bare root plants in ideal conditions. In 1987 a second, and larger storage facility was built.
We are currently in the process of expanding our shipping and packing facilities, and always stay on the leading edge of any technologies that help us produce the best plants for our customers.
What was once solely a strawberry nursery with annual sales less than 1 million plants has become a nationally recognized small fruit nursery, producing raspberries, ribes, blueberries, asparagus, rhubarb and horseradish, and now shipping more than 20 million plants a year.