2020 Plans III — The Nitty Gritty

WE HAVE NOW BEGUN TO ATEND THE PORTLAND FARMERS MARKET. PLEASE SEE

WE ARE ALSO OPEN FOR SALES AT THE FARM UNDER THE FOLLOWING POLICIES.  

I. ENSURING OUR MUTUAL SAFETY AND YOUR SATISFACTION

•  I Will Be Wearing A Face Shield Or Mask And Request You Do The Same
•  Please Observe A Safe Distance of 6-8 Feet
•  You Will Select Your Plants: Please Shop First With Your Eyes So You Only Handle The Ones You Take
• Personal Service:I want to give you what you really want;  therefore variety lists for most popular plant types will be posted on our website one week before availability and listed on clipboards in the Sales area. Please do not handle the clipboards.
• Pre-orders Are Not Possible At This Time. But check our Available Now page to help with your planning. Please study plant lists to be prepared for our conversations. 
• Please Bring Enough Boxes/Bags To Transport Your Choices.

 II. HOW WE WILL DO THINGS

• At the Farm in Harrison: We will be open SUN 10-3; MON 12-4; Thurs 12-4.
•  Plants Only Available Outdoors: Do Not Enter the Greenhouses
•  I’ll be Available To Answer Questions 
• You Will Place Your Chosen Plants In Your Containers
• Payment Methods: Check, Credit/Debit Card, PAYPAL,  Cash.  (Please Pay Close Enough To Be Satisfied Because No Change Can Be Given).

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR SHOPPING AT OUR FARM AND FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

2020 Plans — Part II

Our Crops this Season As It Appears Now 

1. Already growing in our greenhouse are all the following types of plants, as well as smaller numbers of others:

Flowers: flowering geraniums, miniature petunias for hanging pots and window boxes, edible marigolds, edible nasturtiums, aromatic/culinary geraniums.

Herbs: Basil (7 types), Bay Laurel, chives. perennial scallions, lavender (2 types), mints (5 types), rosemary (2types), sage, French tarragon, Creeping Thyme (3 types);

Cole crops : Broccoli (4 varieties), cabbage (4 varieties), Kale (1 heirloom variety);

Cucumbers: multiple varieties including slicers, salad/pickling, white, and “seedless;”

Lettuce: 5 varieties/3 types of modern and heirloom lettuces;

Fruiting Vegetables:

Eggplant: Italian (2 types), miniature, Oriental (2 varieties)

Peppers: 15 varieties of sweet and 13 varieties of hot (varying heat)

Squash: multiple varieties of both summer and winter types

Tomatoes: about 60 varieties, including cherry, plum, slicers; each type includes both heirloom and flavorful modern varieties

2. We have made commitments to continue our long-standing relationships with three groups of customers:

• We plan to attend the Portland Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays until about the third week in June — as long as neither weather nor public health concerns shorten the season.
• If you also wish to patronize other local folks who help sustain a vibrant local economy, you will be able to find our plants at the list of local businesses in my preceding post or on the Our Partners page of this blog. Purchasing from these partners multiplies the effects of each dollar by recirculating it multiple times to other local businesses and households . Our wholesale customers will, of course, do their best to ensure safe, healthy and convenient access to our plants and those of other local suppliers.

3. In my next post I will sketch the ideas we are currently considering to make our crops easily and safely available to customers at the Portland Farmers Markets and at the farm.

 

 

 

2020 Plans — Part I

The General Shape of Our Season As It Appears Now

I. We have an extremely small crew available and must select every commitment for the season in light of that basic limit.

• We must very carefully choose crops, quantities, venues and hours of operation, as well as length of our season;
• Then, too, there are purely personal dimensions such as my increasing age and decreasing energy, as well as new grandsons to get to know.

II. We have made commitments to continue our long-standing relationships with three distinct groups of customers.

• Customers at the Portland Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We plan to attend these markets through the young-plant season — approximately until the third week of June — pending no huge weather or further public health disruptions.
• Wholesale customers who sell our plants through their own storefront businesses: Hayes Hardware (Bridgton), Paris Farmers Union (Bridgton), Paris Farmers Union (Conway, NH) and Paris Farmers Union (Portland).
• Individual customers who purchase directly from us at the farm.

III. The current public health issues have further implications for all these, of course: they directly affect basic matters such as how to interact with customers at the Market and at the farm. We want to continue to give great personalized recommendations and service, and yet still preserve sanitary conditions for people, plants and produce, facilities and methods of payment.

In my next post I will sketch the crops we are already growing to sell as plants: vegetables, herbs and edible flowers, houseplants and heirloom perennials.

Please Watch this Space

April 7, 2020

I know the farm has not posted anything in quite a while, but we are still here, still planning for the upcoming season, and already working in the greenhouses and High Tunnel.

And now I am starting to work on giving you a picture of our plans for the upcoming 2020 season. Clearly this is going to be a challenge for us and for you. But my intention is to figure out, with you, how to survive it together.

In the next couple of days I will have enough information posted here for you to begin to see a picture emerging. And then you’ll be able to see what we’re confident we can do and I’ll invite your feedback for how best to shape our efforts for your benefit.

Vegetable seedlings, interesting young perennial plants, herbs, flowering plants, succulents and other house plants are already on site. And we are beginning to harvest edible crops such as pea shoots, beet greens and baby chard, with radishes following soon.

Our next decisions involve which other edible crops you would like to get from us and that we will be able to grow, and for what length of season.

Thanks for visiting. Please come back soon.

And take care.

 

One More Day at the Farmstand

September 20, 2019

WE DO STILL HAVE A SMALL QUANTITY OF THE CT PEACHES and so we will be open on Sunday, Sept 22, from 9 until 4.

The peaches are still in excellent condition  — thanks to the walk-in cooler we built a few years ago — and should be throughly pleasurable. But quantities are limited, so we will have to limit each purchase to no more than 5 lbs.

This week we have some of our own unsprayed Bartlett pears which are sometimes ugly and misshapen but taste great.

In addition, we still have excellent slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers and 6 varieties of garlic for eating and/or planting.

Finally, this week I am also going to be selling the remaining succulents that make wonderful houseplants but in many cases will not survive outside over the winter. (The Hens and Chicks varieties, though, are fully hardy and available at a very low price 🙂 .)

Come see what we have and say “auf wiedersehen” for the winter.

PEACHES 2 SUCCESSFUL

September 13, 2019

The trip to pick up the peaches, pears and Gala apples has been successfully completed as scheduled.

The fruit will be available at the farm on Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15 — both days from 8 – 4:30.

If you did not pre-order a whole box, smaller quantities will be available on a walk-in basis.

We will also have cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, ripe sweet peppers, several kind of hot peppers (siome are just barely warm) and 6 kinds of garlic.

Thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you soon.

2019: PEACHES 2 — AND MORE

Connecticut peaches, apples and Bartlett pears will be available again.

THEREFORE I will go to Connecticut to pick up the fruit on September 13, unless unforeseen problems arise.

If you wish to order a whole box of peaches (approximately 24 lbs) YOU MAY ORDER ONE BOX. For this second shipment the price will be the same as for the first: $41 for a 24-lb. box. We expect supplies of peaches to be good, so you may invite friends to order their own box.

In addition, we will also be offering boxes of Bartlett pears (approximately 40 lbs) for $45 and Macintosh or Gala apples (approximately 40 lbs) for $60. Supplies for these fruits are limited so we may be able to accept only the earliest orders. You will be notified if we cannot get what you ordered.

As in previous years, advance payment is not necessary. We trust you to purchase what you have ordered.

If you do not wish to order a whole box of a fruit, you may purchase FROM ONE PIECE OF FRUIT UP TO ONE PECK (10-12 LBS) at the farm on a walk-in basis, until they are gone.

PLEASE HELP US SERVE YOU BETTER BY ALSO INDICATING THE QUANTITIES OF THESE FRUITS YOU EXPECT TO PURCHASE SO THAT WE CAN HAVE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE WHO WANTS SOME.

The price list for these purchases is as follows:

2019 PRICES FOR CT FRUIT
APPLES
	LOOSE	$1.89/LB
	1/4 PK	$5.50
	1/2 PK	$10.00
	1 PK	$16.50
	1 BOX	$60.00
PEACHES
	LOOSE	$2.29 / LB
	1/4 PK	$7.50
	1/2 PK	$12.00
	1 PK	$19.00
	1 BOX	$41.00
PEARS
	LOOSE	$1.59/LB
	1/4 PK	$4.50
	1/2 PK	$8.00
	1 PK	$14.00
	1 BOX	$45.00

An email to the farm is the safest way to order: see the Contact Us link on the right side of this page. Or you may leave a phone message at the farm phone. also listed on the Contact Us page. Please speak slowly and clearly and leave your name and contact information.

ALL ORDERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 6 PM ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9.

I expect the fruit to be available at the farm beginning Saturday morning, September 14; we will open early at 8 AM and stay open until 4:30 AND  WE WILL BE OPEN FOR THE SAME HOURS on Sunday, September 15.

Check this website or call our recorded farm message line (207-583-4698) to verify fruit arrival.

OUR COLD STORAGE SPACE IS  LIMITED, so for best fruit quality you should plan to pick it up during these two days.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

2019: Peaches 2 –And More

I just spoke with the orchard.

Peaches will be available for the weekend of Sept 14-15. There will be some Bartlett pears and some apples, probably Macs and Galas. (Look up Gala apples if you’re not familiar with them !).

I hope to post the details of that conversation — what I believe i can get for us and the terms/prices — on the phone message and website tonight or tomorrow morning, and get emails out tomorrow. (I still have to work out some of the details.)

Notice I said “hope” (i.e. “plan, not “promise”).

Thanks!

Peach Project a Success

August 27, 2019

This year’s Peach Project was a great and pleasurable success, thanks to your enthusiastic participation!

In conversation with many folks, there appears to be considerable interest (appetite?) for a second helping of fruit pleasure.

It seems that it may well be possible to get more peaches, and  — as in other years — also Bartlett pears and several kinds of apples. These would be apple varieties not yet generally ripe up here, or varieties not commonly grown here, perhaps for climate reasons.

I hope to confirm the availability of these fruits by mid week after Labor Day. I plan to be able to identify which fruits can be obtained and establish package sizes and prices. Then I will announce the results here, on the phone line, and via email fto people for whom I have valid email addresses.

I would expect that I would need firm orders by Monday, September 9 with fruits available beginning Saturday, Sept 14.

Thanks for your interest and support.

PEACHES ARE HERE :)

The peaches from CT have arrived safely at the farm this afternoon.

Therefore we will be open and the peaches available for pickup on Saturday and Sunday, August 24 and 25.

If you did not pre-order a whole box, peaches will also be available in smaller quantities — anything from a single peach to a 1/2 peck bag (about 9-10 lbs).

We will also have available for sale our i-pint cherry tomatoes mix of 8-10 varieties, slicing tomatoes of about a dozen varieties, slicing cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, and sweet peppers; tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are sold by the pound.

Thanks for your support.

See you tomorrow or Sunday.