Wickham's Fruit Farm Welcomes New Manager to Longtime Family Business

CUTCHOGUE, NY — Customers heading to Wickham's Fruit Farm in Cutchogue for a delicious taste of still-warm blueberry pie, fresh, crisp asparagus, or a delicious donut will find a new, smiling face at the farmstand this season.

Laurie McBride, of Cutchogue, has been hired as the new farmstand/office manager at Wickham's; she commenced her duties last week and couldn't be more thrilled.

For generations, Wickham’s Fruit Farm, a longtime North Fork family business, 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.

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.

The farm has a long and rich history, and McBride is eager to add her own vision to the next chapter.

McBride has spent the last ten-and-a-half years at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Riverhead, working in the agricultural stewardship program, primarily focused upon tree, fruit, greenhouse and nursery commodities, she said.

The focus of her work was on working with growers on pesticide and nutrient management plans, helping to grow and adapt best management practices, she said.

For McBride, a love of the land runs deep; she represents the fourth generation of the Cichanowicz family in Riverhead, which has ties deeply rooted in the farming community. Her family, although no longer farmers, spent years cultivating crops such as potatoes and cauliflower, their farm woven into the area's agricultural canvas.

Memories of farming have colored McBride's life. "It was a great experience, growing up in the agricultural community," she said. "You learn the value of hard work. And it's a very close-knit industry."

Although she initially studied to be a math teacher, farming, she's a farm girl at heart. "Farming pulled me back in. It's in my blood," she said.

Today, McBride said, farmers face new challenges. "The more traditional growers are having to branch out to do more crops in order to compete nowadays. People are looking to offer more variety."

While in the past, traditional farmers grew perhaps one or two specialty crops, today, farming has evolved, with growers offering between 10 and 30 different varieties, she said.

Looking ahead to her new journey with the Wickhams, McBride said she hopes to develop a couple of new crops.

In addition, she hopes to stock the farmstand not only with a wide array of produce grown on the farm, as well as value-added products such as jams, jellies and pies, but also, to "promote the entire North Fork," offering an assortment of products grown and created by North Fork residents.

Down the line, she hopes to expand on the educational aspect of the farm tours offered by Wickham's, teaching visitors what goes into growing the apples they're picking from the trees.

That's especially meaningful when opening the eyes of children to the growing process, she said.

"You have to relate the farm on a personal level in order to make an attachment," she said. "If you can teach a five-year-old where something came from and what went into growing it, they're more apt to continue to come back for the produce," she said.

McBride said she still plans to team up with Cornell Cooperative Extension for events and workshops, hopefully hosting some at Wickham's.

She's especially excited to be working at Wickham's Fruit Farm. "Wickham's is a vital farm for Cutchogue because of its long history. They've been here for so long, weathered the ups and downs, and been able to keep the business going. I would like to take the business to the next generation," she said.

The way to do that, she said, is through adapting and embracing new technologies, as well as introducing new plant breeds. "It's an eternal learning event," McBride said. "It's taking what you did this year, figuring out what worked and what didn't, and how to change it for the next season. That's just farming in general."

The Wickhams are pleased to welcome McBride into the proverbial fold.

"Laurie's knowledge of horticulture will be valuable to the business," said owner Jonathan Wickham.

"Laurie's background is a great fit for us — a farm girl who worked for 10 years at Cornell Cooperative Extension advising me and other farmers on integrated pest management in our orchards. And she has experience growing flowers and managing a farmstand — all this, with a great personality, too. Our family is delighted to have her with us," said Tom Wickham, who's run the farm for decades.