We are open on Labor day. Overstock on grape tomatoes and watermelon

At the moment we are overstocked on grape tomatoes. I have them on sale @ $1 pint for any quantity. There are also several extra bins of watermelon and cantaloupe priced @2.50 each mix or match. Last evening I was in the lettuce field harvesting some of the nicest lettuce I have ever grown. The heads are big, sweet and tender. There is getting to be a nice selection of winter squash here. (best selection in late September)The boys weighed a few of the biggest butternut squash- over 10 lbs each! The next planting of beans are ready to pick. ($15 per box) My Dad makes a really good homemade vinegar. This is made with pure apple juice from our no- spray apples with nothing added. It is still raw so you get all the benefits that God has put in living vinegar. The new batch from last years apples is 12 months old and ready for your table. This is the time of abundance.
On the disappointing side it looks like there will not be organic beef available as we expected. There was a problem at the USDA plant that the cows were sent to with no inspector being available on the day we were scheduled. They called us and said to come pick our cows back up. It appears that there are no replacement openings available till sometime next year. This is a really bad deal for us with us paying for the trucking twice. We are not prepared to feed them for another winter so they got sent to the sale barn with us having little expectation of getting any reasonable price for them. Some aspects of the the food system are just broken. Daniel

Watermelon and sweet corn by the bag

This is peak season for melons. We have several hundred melons that should be moved in the next few days. The best thing that can happen to a watermelon is to have someone eat it! Today ( and probably Monday) we are planning to cut and serve watermelon and cantaloupe samples to anyone that wishes for some. There will be little pieces for a taste and bigger pieces that make a meaningful serving. It is fine with me if you eat several pieces. A little watermelon secret is that there is quite a bit of difference between the seeded and seedless choices in flavor with the seeded one tending to be sweeter and richer in taste. I also am of the opinion that our melons tend to be better than most store melons and our melons are guaranteed. We have little personal melons for as little as $2.50 each and larger melons for $4 to $8 each. Come and get them.
Today we also have about 20 bags of sweet corn for sale by the bag ($15 per bag) and oodles of beans ($15 per box). Daniel

The lettuce and bean story

This stand is still packed to the gills with good food. Abundant items at this moment are grape tomatoes, beans, lettuce, corn, and melons. (watermelon $5-$8 each and cantaloupe @ $2.50 each). Some of the cantaloupe are over 10 lbs each and they have excellent flavor. We look at the pictures in the seed catalog and at moments we really do not expect things to grow that well for us. However in some cases crops do grow wonderfully. I planted lettuce and beans at the old farm in a spot that I was worried about as they are vulnerable to the deer and rabbits and in freshly plowed sod that was not really ready for gardening. I did this because of the severe drought and that was the only choice that had enough water available. (The ponds here were almost empty).I hoped to get some return for our efforts. From the first four rows of beans we picked 35 bushels of beans already this week. From the same plants last week we picked about 500 lbs. We have a wonderful abundance of beautiful beans to sell. ($15 per half bushel) The lettuce is also really nice and so much of it. Almost every seed gave a lovely head of lettuce. So there is not much to the bean and lettuce story beyond a story of abundance. God is good.

Help wanted. My wife and I judge that we should have more help to manage and run the Farmstand. The old saying is that all work and no play make Jack a dull boy. We are looking for help (either part time or a full time year around person or family) that is interested and capable to assist us in running the farm stands everyday operation so I would be free to focus more on the actual growing side of things and also to just take a slower pace with more family time. This position could be an hourly (part or full) position but for the right person I would be leaning towards it being a year around salaried position. (There is more to do in the winter than you might think. If needed on farm housing and farm grown food could also be part of the package. We are planning to move to the house at the back of the farm here when it is finished sometime this winter which will leave a vacancy in the front house.
Qualifications would require the person to be healthy enough to be on their feet and active. There needs to be good bright mind that can learn and make good judgments along with an excitement about being around good food. Life experience, especially in any kind of retail or management position, gardening, cooking etc would be useful. Willingness to be helpful and pleasant with customers is essential.
If you are interested in being part of the team here send us a letter telling about yourself and why you would like the job. Daniel

Overstock of sweet corn, yellow beans, lettuce and good cantaloupe

We are overstocked. There is about 100 dozen corn, 200 cantaloupe, 1,000 heads of lettuce, cabbage and lots of yellow beans that need a good home in the stand and in the fields ready for harvest. In addition the whole stand is bursting full of almost everything. Can you use some of this? I am open to taking offers. Sale prices on big cantaloupe are $2.50 each retail or $2 each wholesale (10 +) Cabbage $15 per bushel, Sweet corn $15 per 5 dozen bag, yellow beans $15 per half bushel. Daniel

Lower prices- It is the season of abundance

We are coming towards late summer. This is the season of abundance and with that goes lower prices along with a wonderful selection of very high quality product. A few highlights of the moment are a hundred heads of big cabbage, piles of sweet corn,( $5 doz/ $20 bagful) lots of organic eggs, cantaloupe, watermelon, sweet onions, peppers, tomatoes and so much more. We are getting enough tomatoes now that we are starting to sell canners (slicers and romas.) This warm dry summer means that the tomato plants are nice and healthy and I see a bumper crop of tomatoes ripening over the next month or so.

This morning we also have 10 boxes of nice little pickler cucumbers along with beets, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, and beans at bulk prices. Daniel
We are still doing the free u-cut flowers. The sunflowers, glads etc across the driveway are included in this so enjoy them. Daniel

Beautiful lettuce in midsummer

What a relief to have rain finally. May June and July were very very dry. In spite of that (and because of Gods sunshine and farmers that were diligently irrigating) the stand is packed full of lots of good food. A few highlights are lots of really nice romaine, leafy lettuce, spinach and cilantro. The garlic bulbs are harvested and the sweet and red onions are big enough that we are pulling them as needed. We have limited amounts of beans now but it looks like the next planting is set to give hundreds of lbs starting in about a week. The carrots are also big enough that we have started pulling them. It is peak season for blueberries and cucumbers.
On the Locally grown website (martinsfarmstand.locallygrown.net) you will see some items with zero as available number. This normally means the item is in season with an active flow coming through the stand but the supply at the stand is intermittent for some reason. Daniel

Summer abundance

It is summer and the stand is full of good food. Blueberries, corn, onions, garlic and so much more. Come and get it.
Organic eggs are back in stock. At the moment they are from young chickens that are just starting to lay so the eggs are small and we are selling two dozen for the price of one.
We were finally able to get a processing slot for two of Mose Yoders organic cows for late August. We should have beef at the stand then.
As a whole crops are doing well in spite of the drought. We have not run out of irrigation water yet. I did shift most of the later plantings of crops like lettuce to the old farm where there is more water available to lighten the load on the well and ponds here. One does what one can and harvests all the bounty that God chooses the bless us with. That said pray for rain- it would be such a relief to have a deep soaking rain!
This applies both in the physical sense and to us as people- we need showers of blessing from above. Daniel

Time for pesto

It is time to make pesto. I have a lots of basil and parsley that needs to be harvested to keep the plants fresh. I can cut a whole tub full (mix or match) of herbs for you for $20 or half a tubful for $10. We have both garlic scapes and fresh bulb garlic to make that pesto complete. Green and yellow beans and new red skin potatoes are waiting for you. Cucumbers are becoming abundant and the first dill heads are ready. Number 1 grade zucchini and summer squash are available by the box at $16 each. The first sweet corn is ready also. Henry grew this corn from plants that he started indoors early in the spring then he covered it with a row cover- these corn plants were babied.
The black raspberries are in there peak season right now. They are giving a bumper crop which amazes me. (I am not a first grader) I was expecting a small crop because of the terrible dry weather. We can use a few more people in the u-pick schedule tomorrow. Daniel

Farmstand and u-pick open July 4 Last u-pick strawberry day

The farm stand and u-pick strawberries will be open on July 4 starting at 7 am. A few highlights in the farm stand that are especially abundant and nice at the moment are cilantro, basil, lettuce, kale spinach and scallions. The first early green cabbage (no red yet) is ready along with the first summer squash and zucchini. I expect the squash prices to drop to summer prices with in the next week or so. We are overstocked on lettuce at the moment and are giving one head free to each customer today and tomorrow. (as supplies last July 3-4). Strawberries are almost over and raspberries are just starting. There is a few rows of the Prelude raspberries that need picked. These are available for u-pick along with strawberries in the morning (July 4). There are still quite a few strawberries out there but they are small and the picking is slow. This is the last regular u-pick strawberry day for 2020. Starting Monday the patch will be in half price self service gleaning status. (same hours as the stand Mon-Sat 12:30- 6 PM) Gleaning status lasts till they not much left then I renovate the patch Daniel

Still more berries U-pick Wednesday July 1

As I walked the fields this evening I was eating strawberries. There are only a few things in this world better than those little very ripe strawberries late in the season. They are so rich flavored and sweet. We are opening tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday July 1) at 2 pm for u-pick and again on Saturday July 4th at 7 am. This is the late part of strawberry season. I am am impressed at how well the patch is holding up. They are small as is normal towards the end of season but some areas have them laying in by the handfuls. These very ripe berries need to be picked in the next day or so or we will lose them. We need many hands to get this task done. Come and help pick.

The picking pattern we are using is a random one to allow for the best possible social distancing. I do not care which patch you pick in or where you start even if it is smack in the middle somewhere. What I do care about is that you give other groups of pickers reasonable space and that wherever you start picking that you pick all the ripe berries that are in the section of row you work. A section of row needs to be either picked clean or it should not be picked at all. Roaming, grazing type picking is not OK. We will be keeping track of which parts of the patch have ripe berries and be helping incoming pickers find good spots throughout the day. Daniel