Obituary: Marion Inksetter was brains behind popular bakery at Carluke Orchards
When Marion Inksetter applied for a licence in 1984 to open a bakery at the Ancaster orchard she ran with her husband, Robert, she said she was asked who would drive all the way out to the country to buy a pie.
Turns out, a lot of people.
Within nine years of opening the bakery shop as part of Carluke Orchards, the family built a larger building to meet customer demand.
Marion began with apple pies and muffins. By 2003, the shop at Shaver Road and Carluke Road West was selling 14 varieties of pies, breads, sweets and lots of other baked goods. People were particularly drawn to Marion's apple pie, Country apple pie and the Dutch apple, made with a walnut crumb topping.
The pies were sold in stores at other farms, but pies were also couriered out west and even smuggled overseas. By 2013, the bakery represented half of the orchard's overall operation.
The Inksetters co-founded Carluke Orchards in 1965. Marion - who died March 13 at age 89 - first sold pies in an honour system from a stand at the end of the farm laneway starting in 1980. She had an inkling she was onto something when she and her husband decided to add the bakery.
Men love apple pie," Marion told The Spectator in 1997. When a couple comes in to buy a pie, 90 per cent of the men want apple."
The pies were made from recipes that dated back four generations in Marion's family. But, she also got recipes from other family members and her country neighbours.
My neighbours were very helpful with their recipes," the former CIBC bank teller, told The Spec in 2003.
Marion served as head baker in the kitchen. She ran the farm/bakery with her son, Alan, and daughter-in-law, Cherie, after Robert died of cancer in 1994. Cherie eventually became head baker. That job is now held by Marion's daughter, Cathy Wegman. The orchard is now run by Alan and his daughter, Michelle.
Michelle, who is set to take over the orchard one day, said her grandmother still came into the kitchen up until a few years ago.
She'd come and bake some cookies," said Michelle. She was a tough old bird."
She said her grandmother loved talking to the customers.
She was a very kind lady," Michelle said. She was soft spoken, unless she had something to say. She remembered everybody. She was always asking about your family. She was always willing to help."
Marion was born May 10, 1932 to James and Catherine Morton. Her parents ran a chicken, egg and cash-crop farm on Butter Road in Ancaster. She attended high school in downtown Hamilton and met her future husband at a Junior Farmers Dance.
Robert Inksetter was a member of a family that first settled in the Copetown area more than 200 years ago. A road now bears the family's name.
At first, Robert and Marion worked at his family's dairy farm in Copetown. They branched out in 1962 when they bought their own 24-hectare cash-crop farm on Shaver Road. Three years later, they decided to make it an apple orchard and a pick-your-own operation.
The reason why was because it was something different," said Michelle.
Marion was an active member of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Carluke, The Carluke Ladies Aid and the Ancaster Horticultural Society.
Carluke Orchards employs about 15 people. It won the Small Business Award for 2009 from the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and the Agri-Tourism Business of the Year Award for 2010 from Tourism Hamilton. In 2010, Alan and Cherie Inksetter received the Hamilton-Wentworth Federation of Agriculture Farm Family of the Year Award. The couple planted a pumpkin patch in 2006.
Carluke Orchards donate to such charities as Good Shepherd and Neighbour to Neighbour and it has sponsored a pie eating contest at the Ancaster Fair.
Marion Inksetter is survived by her children, Alan, James and Catherine, nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband Robert in 1994. She is also predeceased by brothers Alan and Gavin Morton.
Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com