Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery is one of the most beloved stops in cottage country, and it earns the affection honestly. This is Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh, a working family farm in Bala that has been growing cranberries since 1950 — and today it’s Ontario’s last remaining cranberry farm, with 27 acres of marsh producing some 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of berries each year.
Fall is the headline season. The Cranberry Harvest runs from late September into late October, and it’s pure theatre: the marshes are flooded, the berries float to the surface in a sea of red, and visitors can take wagon tours, join a Bog to Bottle Discovery walk, or brave the famous Cranberry Plunge — wading into the harvest in waders for the photo of a lifetime. The farm’s winery turns the crop into award-winning cranberry, blueberry and maple wines, ciders and spritzers, with tutored tastings for the grown-ups.
But the farm is a year-round affair — open 363 days a year, in fact. Spring brings maple syrup demonstrations, summer offers hiking through the marsh trails, and winter transforms the property with over ten kilometres of snowshoe trails and a 1.3-kilometre ice skating trail, Zamboni-smoothed and lit at night. The café, farm store and boutique gift shop stock everything from fresh cranberries to chocolate-covered berries. Whether you come for the wine, the harvest or a winter skate, this is Muskoka agritourism at its finest.