The Elderberry Farm: Cultivating Care from Berry to Bottle

For Brianna Timmers, manufacturing grew naturally out of her life as a farmer. Today, through The Elderberry Farm, a family-run operation in Niagara, she produces elderberry syrup by combining the skills and values she’s learned from both farming and hands-on production.

As both a farmer and a manufacturer, Brianna’s work is deeply rooted in agriculture. Over the past few years, she has come to appreciate how closely farming and manufacturing are connected. The patience, care, and commitment to quality required to grow food have carried seamlessly into how she produces each batch of syrup.

What started as a simple idea - making elderberry syrup for friends and family - quickly gained momentum as more people began asking for it. For Brianna, this marked a turning point. She saw an opportunity to create something more authentic than what was commonly available, choosing to work with pressed elderberries rather than concentrates or extracts, and staying as close to the natural ingredient as possible.

As demand for her syrup grew, so did Brianna’s role as a manufacturer. Yet she has remained committed to a hands-on approach, carefully producing, filling, and labelling every batch by hand on the farm. This close involvement gives her a deep appreciation for the full journey of a product- from raw ingredients to the finished bottle - and a strong connection to her local community.

Being able to see every stage of the process allows Brianna to understand the impact of each decision along the way. It also creates opportunities to support local retailers, connect people to where their food comes from, and contribute to Ontario’s thriving manufacturing sector.

One of the most rewarding parts of her work is seeing something that began as a hobby evolve into a product that shares health, enjoyment, and meaning with her community. For Brianna, the experience goes beyond production; it’s about contributing to local agriculture and making a positive impact in people’s lives.