- Nestled in the countryside Near Napanee, Ontario is a farm where every season brings a new reason together.

What began as a pick your own orchard has grown into something far greater.

From fields of sunflowers to rows of apple trees, it has become more than a place to pick produce.

It's a place to make memories, and at the center of it all is a family, continuing the work of generations.

- I grew up on the farm my whole life and helping out and things like that, learning different trades.

My father and grandfather started a small vegetable farm out on 33 highway on the lake here, and yeah, started from there and grew.

Ended up growing tomatoes that were canned over in Prince Edward County, but that closed down and they pivoted to cash crop farming and in the eighties planted the apple orchard that Sarah and I look after now.

My grandfather actually came to us one day and asked if we wanted to look after the orchard, and so we kind of took it on as like, for fun, see how it goes, but really fell in love with it.

- Apples were just the beginning.

Today Wynn Farms has embraced a agritourism, welcoming families to wander sunflower fields, pick pumpkins, and get lost in a corn maze that celebrates the best of each season.

Much of that creativity came from Sarah, who brought a fresh perspective to the farm's future.

- But, and the interesting thing, Sarah, being from Peterborough from the city, she came with a lot of new ideas, which we thought some of 'em were a little crazy, but in the end they proved out really good like a corn maze that, you know, as farmers, you wouldn't think, why would somebody wanna go get lost in the cornfield?

So we started at the orchard.

There's a property there and yeah, I think first came the corn maze and it was a big change 'cause the public really, really liked it.

And then she had this idea of doing night mazes, which again, none of us would've thought of, but people love being lost in the dark in corn.

So yeah, that's even better.

- From getting lost in the dark to picking your own bouquet of flowers.

Wynn Farms has continued to evolve.

Together, Jim and Sarah have brought diversity to the farm, extending the season and opening their fields to people who might not otherwise have the chance to enjoy a true breath of fresh air.

- So when we ended up turning into apple growers back in 2012, we fell in love with not just the farming aspect of it, but but the tourism aspect and being able to work with people.

So we really enjoyed it and then we just wanted to keep kind of adding on to it.

I've always loved flowers and sunflowers are beautiful.

And again, when dreaming and thinking about how can you keep staff longer and employed, you look at summer months, 'cause we already full-time with Fall, so Spring and Summer.

So the Summer was, it was seemed like a good idea for flowers in the summertime.

Yeah, so it lengthens the season and just gives other people different opportunities to enjoy different aspects of the farm.

- Extending the season also means extending the hours.

And on a family farm work-life balance usually means work on the farm, and then more work on the farm.

- There are a lot of parts of the year that there is not a lot of work-life balance.

It's a lot of work, work, work and go, go, go.

But that's just the way it is with farming realistically.

And then there's gonna be, you know, a short season in the off season that we can kind of have our family time and enjoy it.

But we, the idea is we do our best when we can.

'cause you never know when you're gonna have a drought or frost or things like that.

So, so you work hard when you have to.

- And then there are other kids who've grown up right alongside the apples and sunflowers.

Their chores look a little different than most, but the rewards do too.

- That's an interesting part of farming.

The kids, it's a different lifestyle.

They see what their friends are doing, what they're doing.

Sometimes it seems unfair, sometimes it seems great.

It depends on the day, but they get a lot of responsibility early and not much time for some of the stuff that might be not so good for mental health.

And we try to, we reward them, you know, we believe that in trying to reward them for what they do, they really, you know, getting to experience the public too at a young age, like difficult people, but also really nice people and kind of like balancing that out.

Yeah, they do a great job.

- For the Wynn family.

It isn't just about the work they share today, it's about the legacy of tomorrow with three kids already pitching in on the farm.

Succession planning feels less like a question of if and more like a matter of when.

- I think one of the biggest challenges with all farmers these days is the succession planning.

So trying to figure out how do you incorporate your kids?

How do you... like, they're young now, but Abigail, who's, she's just starting high school, we're trying to figure out like, what's her heart in?

'cause we might need to pivot.

Like maybe she doesn't like growing strawberries.

And my son, Thomas, he's 11 and he seems to like livestock.

So we've got a couple horses, we've got a few chickens at home and yeah, so I think it's trying to learn what they're into, and then trying to see how we can incorporate that so that the farm can be passed on.

- At the end of the day, Wynn Farms is about family, community and the joy of opening their fields so others can share in it too.

That's why they do what they do, because the harvest isn't just theirs, it belongs to everyone who walks through these rows.

- What I really enjoy is, is some people will come and they've moved to the city or something, but they grew up on a farm.

So it's kinda like they're circling back.

- I hope they remember, you know, the people they were with, the experience, the, you know, hopefully sunshine and rainbows out here.

But like, I just hope that they remember how good of a time it was and just how enjoyable the outdoors can be.

Especially in a world where, you know, there's a lot of often indoor time with office work and school and things like that.

Just being able to under like, really get used to being in, in a fresh air.

Right?

- For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.