In 1978, Allyn Brown established Maple Lane Farm. Formerly a landscaper, Allyn decided to give pick-your-own fruit a try and successfully transformed his hobby into a rewarding career. In its first years, Maple Lane Farm offered pick-your-own strawberries and blueberries to the public. Now, in its 29th year, you can pick an even wider variety of berries on the farm, as well as apples, peaches, pumpkins, and Christmas trees. Be sure to visit Maple Lane farm to pick the freshest, carefully grown fruit right from the branch!

Aside from being a pick-your-own operation well loved by families across Connecticut, Maple Lane Farms is also the largest grower of black currants in North America. If you ask Allyn Brown, “Why black currants?” he’ll tell you a snippet of the black currant’s interesting history.

In the early 1900’s, black currant cultivation was all together banned because the plant was a host for a disease that killed white pines and in turn threatened the lumber industry. While Allyn was researching ways to supplement his pick-your-own operation, he stumbled upon the black currant and was compelled by its tremendous health benefits; the black currant contains three times the amount of vitamin C as oranges and twice the amount of antioxidants as blueberries. When the ban on the fruit was lifted in the 1983, Allyn didn’t waste any time planting a crop of this super berry, and ever since, his passion for black currants has helped to restore a previously forbidden fruit.

Maple Lane Black Currant Juice is bottled right on the farm and can be found in many farm markets, grocery stores, and health food stores throughout Connecticut.

Click here for a chart of seasonality.

Vegetable

Pumpkins

Fruit

Blueberries

Apples

Raspberries

Black Currants