A car crash 11 years ago left Terry Brake with a brain injury and forced him to quit his job as a mechanical engineer. He had to relearn how to walk and talk, and was unable to work longer than two hour stretches.
As part of his therapy, Brake was given a banana plant from his South African doctor to help him relax. That gesture planted an idea. When his longtime caregiver Laurie Macpherson bought a 40-hectare farm in Huron County, the idea took seed. They became business partners and started a tropical fruit farm.
Growing bananas and papayas in Ontario’s climate would appear to be an impossible endeavor without a sophisticated laboratory and team of horticulturalists. However, the two simply started seeding and graphing plants on their own and with lots of trial and error, it took root.
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