Maria getting her way again

In 1956, Dario and Maria Grisonich along with their two children emigrated to Canada from an area called Istria. It is unique to history books. During the last few centuries this area was under changing rule. This included Italy, Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spanish rule. Grandparents were under Austrian rule, father and mother under Italian rule, elder siblings under Yugoslavian rule, and cousins under Slovenian Rule.

Dario and Maria arrived in Canada with jobs on a farm that was pre-arranged for them by their church back in the old country. This farm was located in Beamsville, Ontario. They both, for a time worked at the Beamsville basket factory. To make ends meet they took on extra jobs working on local farms.

After a few years they decided to purchase a farm in Jordan Station. This was an obvious choice as they both grew up on family farms back in Europe.

Still holding down their day jobs, they managed to juggle their fulltime jobs with their obligations on their farm and raise their expanding family.

By 1968, they had their fourth child and decided to purchase a second farm. They were acquiring a reputation for quality fruit. Over the next 10 years they acquired another 3 farms. Their farm business grew from just 13 1/2 acres to over 120 acres.

Maria would drive the truck to market and sell at the Ontario Food Terminal [OFT] the second largest produce terminal in North America. She also would deliver to retailers and wholesalers. Dario would work on the farm. Together, they would work at the barn to sort, pack and fill orders that were coming in via the wholesale market, retail sales and phone sales. They were also a part of Vineland Growers farmers’ co-operative.

Through the years the children went on to learn the various languages which were unique to our heritage. The reason for this would be that Dario and Maria both spoke 7 languages each. They learned Italian, Slovenian, and in some cases Spanish, French, a little Chinese and a pinch of Greek. The youngest daughter has certification in Italian and Spanish. She has done some translation work for farmers and their workers when there were health scares. We even try and dabble in some of the other Slavic languages as there is quite the similarity to Slovenian.

Not only would the children work on the farm and markets, three of their children even worked as fruit inspectors with the Provincial and Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

In the 90’s Dario felt it was time to diversify and began to focus on Floriculture.

Dario had his diploma in horticulture from the old country and reignited his passion he had since his childhood. He started by selling potted garden mums growing upwards of 100,000 per season. In the end they had over 90,000 square feet of greenhouse not to mention their outdoor growing area.

In 2005, Maria was diagnosed with cancer and as she finished her course of treatment Dario passed away. Soon after that the family stepped away from the family business. In a couple of years, away from the farm, the siblings realized that they too had a passion for agriculture. The children are united in working towards a goal of life back to the farm.