Get to Know Us

Our roots take us back to Agincourt when farming wasn't a business but rather it was life.  Paul Chepack Sr. and his wife Mary, both children of Ukranian immigrants,  had a plot of land at Birchmount Rd. and Sheppard Ave. where they were raising their family.  As a way to make a little extra money to sustain the family, they started selling their extra produce.  Gradually this became a sustainable business and the original farm was born.  In 1972 their eldest son, Paul Jr., aka "Bud", and his wife Myra decided they needed more room to farm and they came to Markham where they started farming the 200 acres the farm currently resides on today.  Bud and Myra originally grew mainly strawberries for pick your own but they soon expanded to their largest crop being sweet corn.  Buds sweet corn was famous across Southern Ontario.  With the growth of the business along with their family the farm was ever evolving.  After a few name changes the farm became known as Chepack's Country Market.  With help from their three daughters, the family ran both the Markham location and the original farm stand on Birchmount Rd.  The farm operated until 2010 when Bud's declining health forced a closure.  Fast forward 10 years to the opening of Carma Farms.  Bud and Myra's youngest daughter, Andrea, along with her husband Mick took the leap and reopened the farm under Carma Farms.  Once upon a time Mick had worked for Bud and he grew to love the land and way of life as though he were born to it.  Now Mick and Andrea along with their three kids continue the tradition of the family farm.