Wickham's Fruit Farm, a Beloved Family Business for Generations, Looks to Future, Holds Deep Ties to Past

Cutchogue, NY — There's nothing that symbolizes the official start of the July 4 weekend celebration better than a stop at Wickham's Fruit Farm for a still-warm strawberry rhubarb pie.

Or perhaps a jar of the delicious Patriotic Jam, made with red raspberries, white apple and blueberries.

For generations, Wickham’s Fruit Farm has stood on the Main Road in Cutchogue, its rich bounty bursting forth in a symphony of color and abundance — rich, ruby strawberries, the sweetest of cherries, juiciest of peaches, tender, crisp asparagus — and the tantalizing aroma of freshly made donuts that draws hungry visitors eager for a delicious taste of North Fork life.

Customers lining up at the farm stand are greeted with a smile, the warmth of personal interaction, conversation and laughter as stories told over generations ring through the sweet summer air.

A bastion of the North Fork for 11 generations, the Wickham family's ownership of the land and historic, bicentennial farm stretches back to the 1600s.

Crops offered began with salt hay, then evolved into potatoes and later, the journey into fruit farming. Today, Wickham's Fruit Farm is known for its work with Cornell Cooperative Extension to fine tune new techniques and move forward with conservation initiatives.

The farm is filled with clientele old and new who come for the chance to pick their own or just scoop up baskets full of fresh peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, strawberries, cucumbers, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, currant, rhubarb, sweet corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe, asparagus, mesclun, sweet and tart cherries, donuts and apple cider.

And, of course, crowds head to the farm for a tradition as old as time — apple picking in the fall.

The farm features the oldest cider mill on the North Fork, dating back to 1902, as well as the earliest farm stand, which opened in the 1940s. Group tours are also available.

All fruits sold are grown on the farm's lush 200-plus acreage, which sits beside the glistening bay. "We don't bring in pineapple from Costa Rica," owner Jonathan Wickham said.

Today, Jonathan Wickham, son of Thomas and Gekee Wickham — whose familiar faces are still smiling as they manage the farm every day — sits at the helm of the family business, shaping its future with thoughtful, careful foresight and the wisdom of knowing how to balance longtime small-town values with emerging technology and the advent of social media.

Customers can keep up with the farm's advances by checking out its Facebook page, which details news, including photos of a new hillside cultivator, mouthwatering recipes to guide customers on how to prepare their produce and posts about other North Fork businesses and landmarks.

Wickham, who divides his time between Cutchogue and North Texas, also owns a heavy-equipment company, Jon Wickham & Associates, and writes a column for Tow Times, an international trade publication.
His business savvy is coupled with a deep and abiding respect for the North Fork values that he instills in every decision about Wickham's Fruit Farm.

Certain challenges exist inherently in farming, such as planting varieties that ripen at carefully timed intervals as the year progresses, Wickham said. "Certain varieties of sweet corn take a longer time to mature," he said. "Ideally, there will be a continuous supply of fruit, and that's a challenge, because some varieties take 90 days to harvest and others, 85 days."

Wickham's Fruit Farm also supplies the wholesale retail market, with produce found in specialty high-end retail shops on the South Fork and in supermarkets at points west. In addition, a vibrant selection of fresh produce is also sold at farmers' markets in East Hampton and Northport.

Over the past years, Wickham's has seen its produce featured in specialty grocers in New York City, including Dean & DeLuca, Balducci's and Grace's Marketplace. Fruits are also supplied to FreshDirect, which offers online shopping and food delivery, Wickham said.

A tangible sign of the farm's march into the future are the large trucks seen in New York City, with the words "Cutchogue, NY" announcing the North Fork's emergence onto the metropolitan canvas.

Even visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's cafeteria can find North Fork fare, including North Fork Potato Chips, Wickham said.

"It's astonishing and encouraging to see how often the name 'Cutchogue' appears in New York City in relation to specialty products," he said. "That's a positive. I don't remember seeing that 30 years ago."

A region united
The success of the region can be credited to individual growers who invest time and money into building a quality brand, one with name recognition, Wickham said. "That builds the brand of Cutchogue, and the North Fork, for everyone. When individual people do a good job of branding, it benefits everyone. That's something the wine industry understands."

Louisa and Alex Hargrave, of the Hargrave Vineyard, were pioneers, Wickham said, examples of individuals who have successfully put the North Fork and Cutchogue "on the mental map" of so many and paved the way for the emergence of the North Fork on the international culinary canvas. "It's astonishingly positive that you can hardly avoid the Cutchogue brand, walking around Manhattan," Wickham said.

The future of North Fork farming

With land values skyrocketing on the North Fork, many farmers have said that there's a need to evolve as a region, with value-added products critical to the success of any operation.

Wickham said that while the cost of land and doing business are high on the North Fork, the amount buyers are willing to pay for a tomato, for example, is infinitely higher than individuals would pay for a tomato in the central time zone, where land is inexpensive and the cost of living low.

"Buyers are willing to pay more for quality produce and value-added products,” he said. While it takes a significant investment in technology to produce value added products such as gourmet potato chips or a fine wine, Wickham said, creation of a niche product can equal success.

"But it's not enough to have a niche," he said. "To have a niche and be the best at what you do, that's what everyone wants. It's hard to find."

North Fork childhood memories

Wickham reflected on his North Fork childhood. "Our business is a family business. We all grew up there — my aunt and uncle and my cousins. We all grew up moving irrigation pipes and picking berries."

A universal truth, Wickham said, is those who've grown up in a time and place often take for granted what others travel for miles to experience. "If you grew up in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, chances are you would not want to go visit," he said.

And yet, memories of a North Fork childhood shaped the man Wickham has become.

"As a person born in the mid-1970s, I value having grown up in that time. We went outdoors and we got dirty. We drank water out of a garden hose. I think it's good for you."

Children of that generation, Wickham said, spent time outdoors, row boating in the creek and bay and savoring the sea and sky.

The values and work ethic instilled after a childhood on the farm have created a lifelong foundation, Wickham said.

"If you've ever made hay in June, if you've ever lifted an irrigation pipe full of water that's been heated by the sun above your head, and carried it across a cornfield, you know what work is. All of us grew up working very hard, and it was real work. I don't mean 'sitting in front of the computer' work."

Many local North Forkers found their first jobs on the farm, Wickham said.

"We had one gentleman who wanted their teenage son to have his first job working for us. He said, 'Whatever he does in life after this, it will never seem as hard.’"

Physical work, Wickham said, is good for you. Growing up, he said, he'd attend Mattituck High School all day then come home and work for two hours on the weekdays, as well as Saturdays, on the farm. "It's healthy for you," he said.

Watching a crop grow, he added, is satisfying, with tangible measurable results soon evident.

Family values upheld

As he takes the reins of the business, Wickham said he's always had the same philosophy of asset management that his father Tom and his grandfather, the late John Wickham, espoused. "We have all managed the assets for the long term," Wickham said, adding that he has made modest investments in fuel efficiency.

He's also shepherded the farm into the future with an engaging Facebook page, Instagram account and a lush blog, fruitfarmcommunity.com, rich with photos, stories and recipes.

Wickham also strives to highlight other North Fork destinations and attractions such as the Big Duck, and eateries such as the Hellenic Snack Bar & Restaurant, that give the East End its flavor, with the aim of giving readers ability to "experience the total package. If you come out to the East End, it makes for a better experience if, in addition to coming to our farm, you can also pick up North Fork Potato Chips, stop at a winery, maybe have dinner at the Modern Snack Bar. I try to be a bit more ecumenical with the farm's social media so people can partake in a more complete East End experience."

A harbinger of days past — and new tomorrows
One of the reasons why the Wickham farm holds such deep emotional meaning to so many is that it's one of the few waterfront parcels left; at one time, Long Island boasted many farms with expanses of land down to the bay. "That's an important part of why the property tends to be thought of as iconic," he said.

But no matter how far the future expands in the future with new technologies, equipment and business practices, Wickham said customers can always expect a personal touch.

"People coming to the farm stand and talking to neighbors they've known for years, buying fruit and talking about what to do with the fruit, and what's going on in town — it's that one-on-one, interpersonal relationship that was once a way of life in a small town but has become increasingly rare in the United States we live in," Wickham said.

Today, people often don't know their neighbors, and jobs are being outsourced to robots.

"What you still see at the fruit stand is a rare and valuable thing, very close to the heart of the business," he said. "I value that personal touch, and we're going to continue that. That's an important part of why people buy from us, and I'm committed to making sure customers still get that personal experience and relationship."

A Delicious Recipe
Here's a recipe from Wickham's Fruit Farm contributor Jane Cottrell, combining strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar:

Set aside equal amounts of sour cream and brown sugar, as well as the whole, washed berries you intend to eat. Holding each berry by the calyx, dip first in sour cream, then in brown sugar.

Photos by @ Jake Rajs 2016.

Wickham's Fruit Farm is located at 28700 Main Road in Cutchogue.