Strawberries are ripening!

We have 64 quarts of picked strawberries at the stand today @ $6.75 per quart. Theese berries are from Melvin Hoover’s farm. They smell wonderful and the flavor is rich and full. He is one of the local, no spray growers that feed this farm stand. He used season extension techniques to get a patch to ripen early.
Strawberries are ripening fast!. The fruit set is excellent with millions of green berries every where one looks. I am seeing quite a few red with green tips berries in the fields so I anticipate that we may be opening for the first u-pick day as soon as next Saturday (June 12) (This is still a tentative date. I will walk the fields midweek and write again about what I see).

An unusual aspect of this year is that there has been less than a month between the first harvest of asparagus and the first strawberries. This spread is usually about 6 weeks. Farming is an interesting and sometimes stressful occupation- It is always a little different and never boring Daniel

Things to come

In the coming weeks more produce will begin to be available. We have had some questions at the stand as to the availability of certain produce and would like to take a moment to address those questions. First and foremost strawberries are on everyone’s minds. The berries in the fields are on track for picking around mid june. Greens such as lettuce, spinach and kale are becoming more abundant. We are picking greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers now (Expect intermittent supply in the stand). Asparagus will continue to be harvested for the next couple of weeks.
As we come into summer, more produce will become available and we will do our best to provide updates as everything becomes available. The farm is in full swing and we look forward to the growing year.

Celebration of 50th wedding anniversary on Sunday

Come Celebrate with us! Occasion: Luke and Rachel Martin’s 50th wedding anniversary. Date/Time: June 6, 2021, Noon to 3 pm Location: 11 Needham Rd, Potsdam, NY Join us for a potluck lunch or just drop by to congratulate them. Your presence will be gift enough, however if you decide to give a gift, please keep in mind their stage in life and small house. Bring your own chair. Outdoor event: Masks are not required.

We plan to be in the fields back near our new house. Park at the farm stand area and walk back the gravel lane like you would be going to the strawberry fields.
Sunday morning we will also be having our normal church service at the farm stand house starting 9:30 am You are welcome to come worship with us. Daniel

Open Memorial Day

Spring has taken a short detour and we are seeing cooler temps this weekend. The fields are planted with everything that should be planted now. Part of having a steady supply of produce through the whole season means that we continue to plant throughout most of the summer. Veggies in the greenhouse are getting closer to being harvested and the strawberries are healthy with a nice fruit set. The stand is stocked with Asparagus for the holiday weekend. We have a selection of greens and herbs available as well along with tomatoes from Nathan Zimmermans greenhouse. In addition to Meier’s Cheese we have also added Eden Coffee to the stands wares. It is a good daily drinking coffee (for those of us who drink coffee) and we are receiving positive feedback from customers. A reminder that we are open Memorial Day, and for anyone looking for larger orders of Asparagus please call ahead so that we can have the order bunched and ready to reduce waiting time.

Strawberry flowers and Asparagus

The strawberries are in full bloom now. Judging by this the timing on the strawberry season is likely to be somewhere near the normal time. Peak strawberry season is usually about 1 month after peak bloom. The plants are nice and healthy and in general all looks normal in the strawberry patch. We need rain though. We are irrigating them as needed.
This is the prime part of asparagus season. If you want to do any bulk purchases this year sooner is better than later. We normally stop cutting asparagus about the time strawberries start however we had severe drought last summer which weakened the crowns. I am watching the strength of the emerging spears and there is a chance we will stop cutting a bit sooner if warranted.
We are starting to pick the first few cucumbers. Greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers should become more abundant in mid June. Daniel

Fresh cheese curd and asparagus

Warm weather seems to have finally made it’s way to the north country and the Asparagus is growing fast. This afternoon we cut 11 tubs (about 400 lbs) off of2/3rds of the patch We now have an abundant amount and can accommodate larger orders for freezing/canning or just to eat. The rhubarb is also becoming abundant. We have plenty of chicken and duck eggs in stock and are also excited to announce that we are now carrying Meier’s Cheese in the stand. Dan Meier is a dairy farmer from up near fort Covington that is making his own cheese. We have several varieties of fresh cheese curd in addition to various kinds of hard cheese wedges.

Summer hours begin/ Asparagus ready

Asparagus is ready! Tomorrow morning (Wednesday, May 12, 2021) is the first day of summer hours for the 2021 season. Summer hours run from now till the day before Thanksgiving in late November. During the summer the stand opens at 10 am and closes at 6 pm Monday through Saturday. We are closed on Sunday. With the cool weather the asparagus is growing slowly and quantities are limited. We will have bulk asparagus for freezing in later May when it gives warm weather in the 70s or 80s. In addition to the asparagus, rhubarb is also ready along with assorted greens and scallions.

The group of us “No-spray” growers that feed this stand are busy planting a broad selection of many different kinds of produce as we normally do and with God’s blessing and help I anticipate a large selection of local produce will be flowing through this stand as each crop comes into season. Our heart is to provide the best food we know how to grow for you all to purchase and I hope to see you all many times through out this year. Daniel

Weblog Entry

The farm stand is open this afternoon from 12:30- 5 pm. We have an assortment of early spring vegetables- Kale, lettuce, both onion and garlic scallions, spinach and a few mushrooms. The bulk food room has goodies waiting for you and there is an abundance of eggs.
Also starting today we have Eden Select Coffee. This coffee is imported and roasted by a family right here in Stockholm. They get the beans from some Mennonites that live in Nicaragua. They told me that this coffee is grown without chemicals. With local growers I actually go and visit the farms that I buy from to see for myself how they are farming. In this case I have not seen the coffee plants in person as they grow far away.
We do not have asparagus today. There are many thousands of spears that are about 2-3 inches tall but the soil is still cold (43 degrees as of this morning) and it only grew about a half inch in the last 10 days. As soon as we have a few warm days or a warm rain there will be a lot all at once. The weather forecast looks like that is not till mid- late next week. I will post once we have asparagus. Daniel

Fiddle heads and mushrooms at Martins

The farm stand is open this afternoon from 12:30- 5 pm. Spring is here and we have received some much needed rain! ( don’t complain too much about the rain to me!) Peter is out harvesting fresh garlic scallions, overwintered spinach, kale and chives. Garrison just brought 10 lbs of wildcrafted fiddleheads, Leeks and 9 pints of his homegrown shitake mushrooms. There is another batch of green lettuce heads ready for harvest in the greenhouse. There are lots of eggs available (both chicken and duck eggs) All these goodies are at the stand for you today.
The asparagus is up and just waiting for a few warmer days. I am expecting that the first harvest should be by sometime later next week. At that point the stand will start summer hours. They are 10 am-6 pm Mon- Sat. Daniel

Garlic scallions and chives

The farm stand is open this afternoon from 12:30- 5 pm. Spring is here and we have received some much needed rain! We harvested fresh garlic scallions, overwintered spinach and chives this morning from the outdoor gardens. Next I will head over to the greenhouse for more greens and to our sugar bush to harvest ramps (wild leeks). This will all be at the stand along with assorted root crops from winter storage. The bulk food room is stocked with spices, beans, rice, oatmeal, flour and more. Asparagus harvest is coming soon. In 18 out of the 20 years I have been growing asparagus the first significant harvest was in the first week of May. This year feels like it could be on the early side but I would not bet on it. Daniel