Farmstand is Open Today

The farmstand is open today and tommorow, (Tuesday and Wednesday Nov 21,22, 2023). While the selection is smaller than it was there is still all sorts of farm fresh food to nourish you and your families. In addition to all the root crops such as onions, beets and carrots there are still spinach, kale, napa and regular cabbage, leeks, brussel sprouts, apples etc. I plan to set up a free table to move some excess items that need to be used. On this table will be various kinds of hot peppers along with spagetti and festival squash and cull onions. There may be other things as well. There will be no limits as to how much you can take- the goal is to get this stuff used rather than composted.

The stand will reopen again on Friday December 1st. December hours are Friday and Saturday afternoons noon- 5 pm. Closed Christmas week. After New Year till spring open times are Saturday afternoons. Daniel

Farmstand is open Late fall bounty

The farmstand is open and still full of late fall bounty. Carrots, beets, cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic, kale, spinach, apples, brussel sprouts, leeks, winter squash and much more. The bulk food room is stocked with spices and baking supplies etc. Come and get it! Fall hours (till Thanksgiving) Tuesday-saturday noon till 5 pm. December 1-23 open Friday and Saturday afternoons noon-5 pm. After new year till spring we plan to be open Saturday afternoons (weather permitting.) The fall storage crops yielded well as a whole so we are going into winter with a nicely balanced selection of winter veggies so I anticipate good selection well into the winter. Spinach and kale will last till it gets real cold. Daniel

Leeks and Brussels Sprouts

The stand is still open and is still packed with all sorts good food. The fall harvest has been good. The storage spaces are getting full of a well balanced selection of crops such as potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, horseradish and lots more. When it warms up again this afternoon we will resume the root crop harvest. Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, etc. are still ok in the fields for a few more weeks. I do not know if the lettuce is damaged or not. I have lots of leeks, brussel sprouts and napa cabbage still out there. Come and get it! The last day for summer hours is this Saturday November 4th (when time changes). After that till Thanksgiving we will be open Tuesday through Saturday from noon till 5 PM. December we will be open Fridays and Saturdays from noon till 5 PM. We are closed between Christmas and New Year. The rest of the winter will be open Saturdays (noon- 5 PM). During the winter call ahead if the weather is very severe. Daniel

Potato Harvest is Complete

The potato rooms are full of potatoes again! Bulk potato price is 60 cents per lb ($30 for 50 lbs) for field run potatoes. ( we sort out cut potatoes and serious blemishes before they go into storage when we wash them) Have you ever wondered if it is best to store potatoes with the dirt on or to wash them first? My experiance says it makes little differance as long as they are well dried before putting them away. We wash at harvest time because we do not have good facilities to wash in the winter and most of us prefer less dirt in the kitchen sink. Next we move on to harvest of the late fall crops. We have an abundance of leeks, brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots beets and much more. There are still hot peppers out on the plants which I intend to pick today. We have still not had a frost. The latest first frost date I personally remember was back in the 90s sometime when we made it to October 31st with out frost. This year is close to that record. No, this does not suggest that we should be slow in harvesting the root crops. The year that we had no frost till the end of October had snow that stayed for the winter in early November. Daniel

Garlic planting and winter hours schedule

Welcome again to the busy swirl of activity that is called Martin Farmstand. This time of the year we are harvesting and washing produce for what seems like most of the time. As a whole the fall harvest is the normal abundance. It is awesome how much food is in the gardens and orchards.
The sweet potatoes are cured and ready for storage now. Sweet potatoes like to be stored warm and dry- above 55 degrees is best. Light does not hurt them like it does other potatoes.
We dug about 25% of the late Irish potato crop so far this week (mostly red). The rest will have to wait longer in the field as they are not dead enough yet to have as thick of a skin as is desirable for good storage. It looks like there is a good chance of frost on Monday. Frost will kill the rest of the potato vines (which is good at this point).
The last day for summer hours is Saturday November 4th (when time changes). After that till Thanksgiving we will be open Tuesday through Saturday from noon till 5 PM. December we will be open Fridays and Saturdays from noon till 5 PM. We are closed between Christmas and New Year. The rest of the winter will be open Saturdays (noon- 5 PM). During the winter call ahead if the weather is very severe. Daniel

Beans, Cauliflower and Peppers

The stand is packed full of good food today. We have over 200 lbs of really nice cauliflower and lots of every sort of peppers both sweet and hot. The last planting of beans got ready this week with the warm weather. They gave abundantly; we have over 100 lbs of beans to sell today. Get them now as this is the last batch of beans for this year. All the winter squash is harvested. Come and get them. Onions and garlic are finished curing and ready for storage. We plan to dig the rest of the sweet potatoes next week. They need to cure for about a week in a heated space and then they will be ready for storage. The big winter harvest of regular potatoes will be later in October when the vines are dead and the skins on the potatoes are thick enough for good storage. Daniel

Cauliflower and Mums

Here is an updated “available now” list from Martins Farm stand. Today we have some really good late sweet corn, lots of eggplant, green and yellow beans, and cauliflower. We also have limited amounts of broccoli. The pepper crop is really abundant and good this year. We are overstocked on lovely red peppers so I just changed the red pepper price to the same as green. This applies both to full boxes or retail amounts. The tomato plants are looking rough in the field which means that even though we have floods of tomatoes now that will change soon. If you want canning tomatoes this year sooner is better than later. We are digging sweet potatoes as needed for the stand for fresh eating. I will dig the whole field later either when we have frost or the soil temp gets too cold for farther growth. If you plan to stock up on storage sweet potatoes for the winter wait till after the main harvest. After digging them there is a 7 day curing process that makes a better storing potato. Daniel

U-Pick Grapes

It is autumn and harvest time. There are so many good things to eat at the farmstand. I have a tub of edamame (green soybeans) today and napa cabbage. Eggplant, tomatoes, onions and peppers (sweet and hot) are in their prime. The grapes on our trellis are ripening with peak quality next week and the following week. I have them by the quart or half bushel box ($20) U-pick grapes are $10 per half bushel. U-pick is available anytime the stand is open- Bring you own clippers. U-pick fall raspberries also are in season- the spotted wing fruit fly is limiting the crop quanity and quality though. The apple crop is really good this year. Yesterday we went over in the evening to the old farm and picked 40 bushels of sweet sixteen apples from just a few trees. We have both first quality and sauce/ cooking apples that are completly organic. Enjoy this season. Daniel

Canning tomatoes

This is the peak season for tomatoes with an abundance of of beautiful heirlooms, red beefsteaks and lots of romas. The warm weather earlier this week was good for maturing the winter squash and ripening tomatoes. This is also the peak season for abundant peppers both green and red, sweet and hot.
The onion harvest is complete. We have over 400 crates of onions stacked in the sheds and curing. They are mostly dry enough for bagging and storage. We will be working at this over the coming weeks as time permits. You can also just fill your own boxes and bags at the bulk price. Storage garlic is also available now and throughout the fall months. Fill your pantry and cellars with the autumn bounty for good eating in the winter. Daniel

Weblog Entry

The farmstand is packed with good food today. I have over 100 dozen sweet corn . This is available by each, dozens or the bagful. The onion harvest is about half finished. Thursday we filled 125 crates of mostly yellow storage onions. Bulk onion prices is the same as last year. Most kinds $20 per 25 lb bag or fill your own box from the display. Storage garlic is dry and ready to purchase ($6 LB for 5 plus lbs). This is the peak of watermelon and cantaloupe season. Enjoy them now as autumn comes quickly and with that another set of good foods to enjoy from the garden. We already have the first winter squash out for sale today. This year we plan to end summer hours (and start late fall hours) in early November when daylight savings time ends rather than at Thanksgiving. Late fall hours will continue till Christmas. You may have heard that I am thinking about retirement and selling this business. It is true. For more details see the letter that is at the farmstand and posted on facebook. At the moment there is no price set and no fixed timeline for this. I am still planting cover crops and preparing ground to plant strawberries and everything else in 2024. I bought lime to lime the fields this fall. If I am not still at the helm next year I hope to have passed it on to a capable successor. We have the full amount of young healthy strawberries planted and anticipate abundant strawberries in June of next year. We plan to keep the old farm over at Southville Corners for the forseeable future. Daniel