Today we’d like to introduce you to The Berry Patch Stephanie Willis.
Hi The Berry Patch , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In 1975, Thompson Willis and wife, Penny, purchased the land that is now The Berry Patch. No water, barns, electricity or driveway, they started with a piece of land and many different ideas on how to use it. By 1980, they had tried multiple fruit’s on the land, including apples, raspberries, and blackberries, with very little luck. Tom worked both at IBM and operated his own irrigation business, During his time installing and repairing irrigation he came across another blueberry farmer and decided to try his hand at growing them himself. Blueberries, not native to Missouri, and difficult to grow in clay soil, required special attention year round. Tom loved a challenge and enjoyed the process of figuring out the proper fertilizing formulations and irrigation set up around the farm.
They started with 1 acre but continued to plant and expand their operation. At the beginning, Penny’s mother and father sold strawberries, planted and grown next door to The Berry Patch alone with the blueberries from our farm. Close friends and church groups would were the first to support the farm and helped The Berry Patch to get its start.
Overtime the farm has grown to just under 30 acres of you-pick blueberries, with about 1.5 acres of blackberries. We have a small country store where we sell canned jams, preserves, vegetables, salsa and more. We have a small bakery where we offer fresh thundermountain muffins (our take on the bluberry muffin) and giant oatmeal cookies. Our blueberry lemonade is one of our best sellers, sweet and refreshing on a hot summer day,. We sell frozen we-pick blueberries year round to customers, and offer amenities for kids, including a small country playground complete with a haybale jungle gym, and a barrel train ride that is referred to as “The Berry Train”.
In 2021, Tom and Penny sold the farm to their son and daughter-in-law, David and Stephanie Willis. The Berry Patch just celebrated breaking ground 50 years ago in 2025. We continue to remain a family-run business and plan to add to the farm over time. In the last four years we updated and remodeled the store, completed a new bakery addition, added a few additions to the playground, planted two new blueberrry patches, replanted one patch, and added a blackberry patch (that should be ready summer of 2026!).
One of our favorite things about the farm is the families that we see year after year, and the new faces we get to encounter each season. We have families that visit our farm that have been coming for generations, and it is heartwarming to see the memories that are being made each summer among our customers and friends. We love being able to share the blessings the farm has to offer with others and allow for them to enjoy the beauty of nature, and the delicious fruit that God has provided here at our farm.
We host many school groups, camps, church groups, birthday parties and more during the summer season. Our berry picking season can run anywhere from early June to mid-August, depending on the year.
For additional details, my father-in-law posted the story of the farm on our webpage, and you are welcome to read that to see his perspective as well.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Anything but smooth! To start out, my father-in-law built a barn that was to be their house until he had the money and time to build a house, and it burned down shortly after they built it. Tom also experimented with several other fruits before landing on blueberries, and even after deciding on blueberries, it wasn’t always easy.
Blueberries don’t naturally grow in Missouri, so the soil has to be amended quite a bit to get it to where they will grow successfully. They also require irrigation daily, especially when small, and Missouri’s late freezes took some of the crop over the years as well. Each year we fight fungus, disease, root rot, birds, deer, rabbits, and drought to keep them alive. This is in addition to bi-yearly soil testing, yearly amending of the soil, and yearly pruning of each plant on the farm.
As farmers, we encounter daily problems with equipment, weather, wildlife, and more. I constantly joke that I come in every morning with a to-do list and at the end of the day, if I have been able to cross one thing off its a successful day. So much of the day-to-day is fixing old and broken equipment, repairing irrigation lines, addressing wildlife or diseases (Japanese beetles have been a severe problem the last couple years).
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
While Tom had experience with irrigation and working on a farm previously (he worked on a Christmas Tree farm as a teenager), Penny did not come from a farming background. They had to learn together how to properly care for and maintain blueberries, and then how to operate a you-pick business. As it grew, Tom handled many of the farming duties, while Penny would assist, but was fully running and operating the business portion of the farm.
Tom and Penny had three children, all of whom grew up on the farm and helped with the daily tasks and chores. Their oldest son, David, would assist with irrigation, planting, potting, mowing, etc. In 2021, Penny and Tom both unable to run the farm anymore, sold the farm to David and his wife Stephanie, who at the time were working as government consultants in Jefferson City. David and Stephanie moved back to Kansas City to run the farm, with the help of neighbors and staff that have been involved for years. While David grew up on the farm, his career had led him away from it for many years. Thankful for the expertise of Tom and Penny, David and Stephanie continue to work to improve farming processes and business operations every day.
We are most known for blueberries, of course, but also for our love for Jesus. This business started only from a desire to share the land that Tom and Penny had been blessed enough to buy, and to offer a place for families to share in fellowship and good food. Many of our customers remember Tom for his expertise in not only blueberries, but also in Creation Sciences. He loved to talk to people about his faith and saw the farm as a way to invite others to enjoy the blessing of nature and good fruit! We are proud to continue that legacy and share the beauty of the farm and fruit with our many customers from all over the region.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
The number of third generation visitors we have is incredible. Every single day during our season we have someone share with us that they have been coming since they were kids, and are now bringing children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren.
Pricing:
- You-pick blueberries $5.50/lb
- We-pick blueberries $6.50/lb
- No entry fee*
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theberrypatchonline.com
- Instagram: theberrypatch.missouri
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBerryPatch.Missouri/
