Killer Veggies?

"4 deaths tied to bacteria at food processing plant" in Texas. What was the food in question? Celery. What was celery doing in a processing plant?

We've seen the same story before, with eggs, luncheon meats, organic tomatoes, spinach, and so on. It seems like the frequency of these crises is increasing.

Are these foods all inherently risky?

I think that's beside the point.

The problem is that when food is processed on a large scale by people who really don't care, trouble is around the corner. Government oversight is not enough, because (a) the interests of the regulatory agencies are often not aligned with individuals' (in fact, sometimes they are diametrically opposed!); (b) even when their interests are aligned with ours, the agencies are spread too thin to actually do their putative jobs; and (c) they often step in only after the fact, if at all.

Your best defense against getting sick from industrial supply chain food is to avoid it when you can. Rather than buying pre-cut, plastic-wrapped, packaged, processed food from a supermarket, convenience store, or bad restaurant, consider buying whole, unmolested food from a small-scale food producer such as a local farmer. It's not always possible, but it's something to aim for.

While Chuck and I don’t sell there, I read this morning that the Easton Farmer’s Market is closing for the season.  They come back in May of next year.  Chuck and I will be in Saylorsburg, New Hope, and Williams Township next May for a three location selling spots. 

Lucky 16 on the homestretch

  We managed to get between the raindrops this weekend of the October 2nd and 3rd for a great fall weekend of selling.  The product line is far different in just a few short weeks.  I have a wish that if I could sell cantaloupes and corn all season I would move around like a migrant farm worker and just sell.  Maybe think of going to sell in Florida and Texas for the winters.   I don’t think it is a real viable idea, but it makes sense in my warped concept of what I would like to do. 

  Last week saw some of the worst rainstorms in a long long time.   We had rain from Wed-Fri. That made for a ‘wait and see’ attitude about what to do for selling last weekend.  We got the weekend in, but it started raining again on Sunday night and is raining this week as well.  This week should not be nearly as bad, if you listen to the predictions.

  What we had this weekend were pumpkins of many variety.   Part of our vision of selling is to educate and engage our customer as well.  We started that with only selling locally grown, in season, picked fresh, pesticide and chemical free vegetables and produce.  It has taken a bit of time to get across to some that is what we do.  We may not and are not the cheapest produce, but we are a fair price for what we sell.  There is a competitor at the market that is very up front about the fact he goes to the Philadelphia docks for his product.  He buys as floor prices produce that has not been accepted by the distributors or wholesalers or markets.  He buys items that have very little shelf life left.  He buys regardless of country of origin or method of growing.  He can sell for the lowest price because by Sunday much of his product is rotting on the stand.  We chose NEVER to be that type of operation, even if it means always being a bit smaller.

   The second area we hope to engage and educate is that there are hundreds of varieties of most vegetables.  The easiest one this season to do that with is pumpkins.  Everyone, given the first glimpse, sees a pumpkin as the one we grew up with making Jack-O-Lanterns out of.  However, that is only one type.  There are pumpkins of all colors, sizes, shapes, textures.  Much like the potatoes which have the same variety, the U.S. market has focused on only selling one or two types with mass production and advertising and marketing so that we all believe that is the only type of pumpkin or potato we want.  We have blue pumpkins, pumpkins with what looks like peanuts attached to them, long neck pumpkins, goose neck pumpkins, Cinderella pumpkins and more.  We don’t even scratch the surface of what is available in variety.  That is a goal for 2011 and beyond to do more of that.

   We have only two more weekends to go for the market, but are already planning for next year.  This Saturday, at the T&R Farm Shack, Chuck will be demonstrating weaving techniques.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

The 12th Weekend and the Countdown Begins

  We start weekend #12, The Labor Day weekend and plan a really great weekend of fresh produce sales.  The weather is forecast as being as nearly perfect as weather gets.  They highs are going to be in the mid – 70’s and the overnight lows near 60.  There is little to no forecast of rain, though the remaining part of Hurricane Earl is making its way up the coast toward New England tonight and tomorrow.

  Bought in both Kutztown and Lancaster this week.  Tough buying.  The prevailing wisdom is that buyers from the “Jersey Shore” are buying where they can retail corn back out for $10.00 dozen.  A seller told me today she sells corn this season for $1.00 ear and $10.00 dozen.  She can buy wholesale higher than we can sell retail.  That makes it tough on the local sellers.

  We do have some corn and cantaloupes.  If I could sell just corn and cantaloupes all season, that is all I would carry.  We do better on those two items then anything else.  Not even close third to these two items.

  We have three variety of apples.  Macintosh, Gala and Free Red.  All are great apples and we will do well for the season of apples.  We have squash, cucumber, corn, cantaloupes, peppers, tomatoes. 

   Many of these items are likely the last week we will have them.   For those wanting farm fresh, in season produce, picked to fresh sale and NO chemicals or pesticides….. THIS IS THE WEEKEND. 

   Buy Fresh, Buy Local, Buy from US !!!!

… and then the rains came !

  We had a great weekend, even with the ending rain.  We had the largest selection of PA locally grown, freshly picked, chemical free produce we have had all summer.  13 varieties in all.  We had corn, watermelons, tomatoes, several types of squash, eggplants, onions, potatoes, peaches, apples, zucchini, cucumbers.  I think that is it.

  Friday at T&R  Farms we had a great day.  That very small farm market has picked up very well for being pretty much its first year.  We go in there with low expectations, but are always surprised at the number of people that show up to buy.  It is not the easiest place to find in Kunkletown.

  Saturday was decent.  No records set, but a great day at Saylorsburg.  We went into Sunday in the profit margin which is always how we like hitting Sunday.

  We expected big things on Sunday and we were not disappointed.  The problem became that it started to rain just before noon.  That is right before out end of day push where we do really well.

  We were OK with ending a little early as we had to go to a party for our nephew, Josh, who is home from Pakistan and the Navy for 15 days.  His father gave a really great “Seafood Boil” party.  WOW, the food.

   Still have a couple good weekends left.  So we are set for them.  It is all to quickly coming to an end.

It ain’t over until it’s over

  This has been a strange selling weekend.  I guess we got a little cocky after Chuck did so well on Friday.  We never do that well on a Friday, so, of course, we were sure it would last all weekend. WRONG !

   Saturday was average or even a bit below average.  The weather was near perfect, the produce was fresh, had a variety, priced to sell, and ready to go.  So, what went wrong?  Who knows, but folks just were lukewarm about buying.

   We sold Sunday, though we thought on Friday if Saturday did really well, we would be sold out on Sunday.  The market was so full of vendors, they were turning them away.  Problem there becomes you may have twice the vendors, but not twice the buyers.

  Produce seems to be saved some from that, as there aren’t that many of us and very few who just come on nice days.  By the end of the day and the end of the weekend we were sold out.  Didn’t happen as cleanly as we hoped but it did happen.

First Full Weekend of August – WEEKEND #8

This is turning out to be a very odd and strange selling weekend.  We opted to only use farmers in Kutztown area on Thursday.  A gamble as the Amish of Lancaster had much better prices last week, than the Mennonite farmers did.  May end up a gamble that pays off.  We did exceptionally well on Thursday.

  Chuck sold Friday in Kunkletown (I took off first day in six weeks.  Needed a mental health day alone. )  Sold corn, squash, tomatoes, cantaloupes, potatoes.

  Surprisingly he nearly sold out on FRIDAY !!!!!  Means we head out on Saturday with everything we have left.  The stuff we were going to sell on Saturday, plus the hold back we normally keep for Sunday.  Plan is that if we do well tomorrow, we will not be selling on Sunday and take the day off. 

  Not exactly what we planned, but makes for a great plan if it works that way. 

Just When you thought it couldn’t get any better

We just ended selling for Weekend 7 and it was fantastic.  We had a decent day at T&R Farms on Friday.  We certainly didn’t set any records there, but was a quiet way to start the weekend.

  We had purchased on Thursday in Kutztown and on Friday hit Lancaster.  Chuck sold while my father and I drove to Lancaster to by Amish produce at Leola.  We came back from Leola with another 50 dozen corn and added 160 cantaloupe to the mix.

   Saturday at Saylorsburg was a good day.  The weather was really nice, not too humid.  We took half the cantaloupes and only had bi-color corn along.  We had the white and bi-color on Friday.

  Sunday became a HUGE ‘if’ day.  The weather had turned to possible rain and thunderstorms.  We took the chance that it would only rain in the PM.  We were right (for a change)

   Loading the rest of everything we owned for the weekend, we headed off.

   It could not have been better.  By the end of the weekend we had sold 86 dozen corn, 160 cantaloupes, all the beets, cucumbers, that we owned.  We had a box of hot peppers, a box of plums and a box of zucchini left out of two very full trucks.  

   The gross income was a definite record along with the weekend net income.  If this could only last for 52 weekends a year !!!!!!

WEEKEND 7, Near the Height of the Produce Season

  We are closing in on the end of July and for that mark, some of the items we have carried and sold all season are nearing an end.  The bright side is, however, some of our very best sellers are just making it to their stride; name cantaloupes and corn.

   We are pleased to be selling two different types of corn this weekend.  We have Avalon White which is a triple sweet corn.  Also as triple sweet is our Providence Bi-Color Corn.  So, which every is your favorite we have it a4t a remarkable $4.00 dozen.

   For the first time this season we have hot peppers ($1.00 quart)  and hot banana peppers at just 4/$1.00.  We have a seasonal favorite beets for $1.00 bunch, cucumbers and/or zucchini 2/$1.00, potatoes at $3.00 basket, heart plums at $2.00 quart, eggplants at $1.00 each.  It is likely the widest variety of items we have had all season. 

   The weather projections for this weekend are absolutely fantastic.  It is going to be seasonably hot, unlike VERY hot weekends of last few.  The humidity is projected to be moderate.  This is the perfect weekend to go to the markets and buy.

   We will be in Kunkletown at the T&R Farm on Kunkletown Road on Friday from 12-6 and at the Blue Ridge Flea Market on Saturday and Sunday from about 7:30 AM – 2:30 PM.  For the last 3 weeks we have sold out around noon on Sunday, so you want to get to us early for best selection.

   Buy local, Buy fresh, Buy from US !

You say tomato, I say tomato

That sounds so much better sung than seeing it written.  I wonder how they figured out the lyrics.  Now I am going to have to google and find out.

This was the weekend of tomatoes !!!!!!   We sold 1500 plus tomatoes in three days.  That is 20 boxes of 25 lbs each.  500 pounds of tomatoes.  That is a lot of sauce, sandwiches and salads.

Plus 360 ears of corn, over 200 peppers, 200 cucumbers, 150 zucchini, 45 cantaloupes, 100 onions, and dozens of eggplant.  A total of two truck loads of produce sold in one weekend.  It might be some sort of personal record for us.  Not exactly sure, but it was a great weekend.

The temperature on Friday and Saturday was near 100 and it ‘lowered’ to lower 90’s on Sunday.  The heat was brutal. 

Friday we started selling at T&R Farms.  What a great place and great energy that is.  Horses, cool music, plants, greenhouse, farm shack, and other like minded people.  We made some money, but that seemed almost secondary to having a really good time.  I didn’t get there to later than Chuck, because I went to Lancaster and bought tomatoes with my father.  We got carried away and bought 20 boxes.

On Saturday it really cut down on the number of other vendors selling.  That helped us a lot.  Many of the produce vendors simply didn’t show up.  The buys may have been less, but those buying came to us.

Sunday was just a great Sunday all the way around.  We had a buyer take tomatoes from us on Saturday and came back for more, only to turn them down, as ‘they aren’t the same as yesterday’..  HUH?  We bought them the same day.  They were exactly the same tomatoes as the day before.  No bid deal, a restaurant owner came in and bought two full boxes and we sold many of the rest by the basket, rather than by the quart container.  

Corn sold out fast, as did most everything.

Makes it all like fun!!!!

Yet Another Weekend of Near 100 degrees, WEEKEND 6

  As we move into the sixth strong weekend of locally grown, pesticide and chemical free farm produce sales we make a geographic change.  Starting TODAY we are no longer selling directly from the farm in Williams Township.  The traffic this summer simply doesn’t warrant the time expended there.   Instead, we have a great opportunity to join with other local farmers and artisans and sell at the J&T Farm on Kunkletown Road, just west of Saylorsburg.   Very easy to find.  Take Route 33 North to Saylorsburg Exit.  Right off the Exit to Route 115, Right on 115 to gas station (Kunkletown Road intersection) Right and 2.2 miles is J&T Farms.  We will be there on Fridays from noon – 6.  Still will be at the Blue Ridge Market in Saylorsburg on Saturdays and Sundays, as we have all summer.

  This is a going to be a great weekend, I predict.  Weather is HOT, HOT, HOT, but dry.  We have a magic C/C combination.  Corn and Cantaloupes that is.  Last year those were the two most sought after items we carried.  This weekend we have both. 

   The corn is a bi-color corn for a lowered price of just $4.00 dozen.   We were able to get a better deal from the Mennonite Farmers we deal with, so that deal is being passed on to our customers.

   Add to that, some of the BIGGEST cantaloupes I have ever seen.  They are bigger than soccer balls.  For the amazing price of just $3.00 you get one that was picked fresh for sale.

   That is only the top of the line of produce.  We have zucchini 2 for $1.00 and cucumbers at 2/$1.00.  We were able have fantastic tomatoes for only $2.00 quart container.  Onions are on the list this weekend at 2/$1.00 as well as beautiful eggplants at $1.00 each.  

   These are all non certified organic produce, grown locally and fresh in season.  Still you get a lot for ‘dollars’.  You don’t have to spend a lot to eat healthy and eat well.

   Buy local, Buy Fresh, Buy from US !!!!

Making a lot, from what seemed like a little

  Again, a truly HOT July weekend.  Both days at Blue Ridge were well into the 90’s, but heck, it is July, that is what it is supposed to be like.  The foot traffic on Saturday was very light.  Many of the regulars and vendors suggested that since there was a show at “Jacktown”, near Bangor that many of the usual people we see on Saturday opted for that venue.  I guess it may be correct.

   We had a decent day.  Not setting any sales records with Saturday, but was pleased.  Sunday we did remarkably better than Chuck or I had hoped.  I had gauged Sunday on what I had done on Saturday.  The foot traffic was steady but not overwhelming.  By the end of the day, when Chuck tallied everything, we had more than met the goal for the weekend.  Great !

    Sold totally out of red beets again.  This is the summer of beets.  Last year we had beets left all the time.  We sold some, but never got carried away.  This year there are at least 3 customers who come to us every Saturday or Sunday and ask if we have beets today. 

    Virtually all the tomatoes are gone too.  We only have 4 left.  Out of the dozens we had, that is ‘sold out’  Most people wont buy the last of anything on the table.  They use the logic that this must be the worst we had, if they are still left.  That may be true sometimes, but not always.  It may simply be the way they were pulled from the boxes and put on the table.

    The dried flowers looked fantastic on the table.  Added a lot to the presentation.  We will make sure to do more of that.

   The added surprise this weekend was to find a farmers market that is looking for farmers to sell on Friday.  It is near the Blue Ridge Market in Saylorsburg.  Chuck and I went over to it after Sunday and met the owner, Trish, who is a really great person.  We liked the way the farm looked.  We liked the way she has plans for her market, so we are going to begin to sell with her next Friday.

   Selling at J & T Farms also means we are not going to be selling at our own farm anymore this year.  That is sad in one way, as that is the place we are banking the future on being able to farm, but we have to market it differently.  There is not enough sales or traffic to warrant Chuck being there for three days.  Take another look at if after we have more animals and advertise it better.

   Remember, Buy Fresh, Buy Local, Buy from Us ! 

WEEKEND 5, a HOT and HUMID July 15-18

   This weekend is predicted to be in the 90’s for the whole thing and humid.  Perfect time for in season, locally grown, and organic (pesticide and chemical free) produce and farm products.

   We made some excellent deals with our farmers this week.  We have fresh picked cucumbers at just 3/$1.00, basketball size cabbages for only $2.00 each, large onions at 2/$1.00, immense zucchini $1.00, CANTALOUPES are in at $1.00 each, fresh beets (continued fav @ the markets) $1.00 a bunch.  Finally we have some great tomatoes at just 2/$1.00 for these large beauties picked early this AM.  Peaches are 6/$1.00 (lower than two weeks ago, crops are in).

   Additionally we have fantastic dry floral arrangements for your picnic tables or for gift giving this summer at just $5.00 each. 

   It rained last weekend;  no new news there, but what that does give us is a fantastic opportunity to have freshly home canned apricots, apricot butter, pickled broccoli, pickled beets, bread and butter pickles and organic granola trail mix.  All were crafted in small batch with our continued no chemicals or artificial additives.

   We remind you to Buy Local, Buy Fresh, Buy from Us.   See you this weekend.

When it rains, it pours !

  Woke up ready to hit Saturday sales.  Sure to be a good day.  Wasn’t up 5 minutes and heard the rain start.  Then get worse, Then get even worse. 

   Decided it would pass by looking at AccuWeather.  By 7 AM would pass and maybe another cell at 10 AM and possible 1 PM on the hour by hour.  It rained at 6.  It rained at 7.  It rained at 8.  It rained at 9.  It rained at 10.  It is still raining at 11:30.  Day is a total wash, as is the weekend.

   OK, now plan B.  We are making ‘Bread and Butter’ pickles today.  Plan is to can apricots, dry apricots and make apricot jelly.  Bread and Butter pickles and likely some dill ones.  Pickled beets (which did remarkably well last year). 

   Try again next week !!!!!!

July 10th Weekend, WEEKEND 4

   Before I note what we are selling this weekend, must wish my parents, Art and Joy Verba, a very happy 56TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY on July 10th.  56 isn’t quite the party we had for 55 but that will pale in comparison to 60.

   This weekend we are selling on an abbreviated schedule.  The farm stand will not be open at all for the weekend and we will be selling at the Blue Ridge Flea Market in Saylorsburg on Saturday ONLY.  We will not be there on Sunday the 11th.  Chuck and I both have personal commitments for this one weekend.  We apologize and we will be back in force for the full weekend, next week.

   Just because we are shortening our selling hours doesn’t mean we don’t have great stuff.  We have farm freshly picked apricots for just $1.00 pint, broccoli at  $1.00 a head, cucumbers 3 for $1.00, beets at $2.00 bunch (with the greens still attached).

   Additionally we have a really great organic granola for $1.00 snack size.  The stuff is fantastic.  I am addicted to it.  Oats, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, and other good tasting stuff.  It is better than anything I ever found in a grocery store.  Chuck concocted the stuff himself with trial and error.  You NEED to try this stuff.

   It is going to be hot again this weekend so take is slow and hydrate.  See you at the market for farm fresh produce that is locally grown and chemical free. 

   Buy Fresh, Buy Local, Buy from US !

Independence Day

Another weekend of selling in 90 degree weather.  I guess that is what is to be expected, as it is July.  Chuck had a soft sale day on Thursday, better on Friday.  That did cause some concern as we were gambling on a really big Holiday Sales Weekend.  The corn was the biggest gamble, as we paid out the maximum we were allowing ourselves on that and bought a bit more than we planned.

Saturday it all turned around.  The sales were higher than expected and the corn turned out to be a really big seller even at the $5.00/dozen price point, which is higher than we like to sell it.  The winning element was that we were the only vendors at Blue Ridge to have corn this weekend, so anyone who wanted it, bought it from us.

Saturday I was able to make a deal on some peaches, grown locally, pesticide and chemical free.  A slight gamble, as we only would have Sunday to sell them.  It was a make or break sales day for peaches.

Sunday started out strong and by 10:00 AM we were sold out of corn. YEAH !   Soon after we sold out of the peaches.  Not long after that the plums went, as did the zucchini and squash.  Onions were in that mix somewhere.  

When we looked at what we had a noon, we realized that after bringing a full truck load of locally grown, pesticide and chemical free produce to market we were left with 20 cabbages and 4- 1/2 peck baskets of new potatoes.  When we decided to call it a day at 1:00 (two hours early, as we had so little) we had just 8 cabbages and 2 baskets of potatoes. 

We gifted our neighbors, Todd and Shirley, at the market, with a cabbage and basket of potatoes, and did the same for my sister, Nancy, on the way home.  So we ended the day with 3 cabbages.  Not bad at all (btw, called cousin Diane who will buy the other three cabbages tomorrow, when I see her)

The percentage profit margin we did this weekend was nearly the highest, if not THE highest.  I have to check last years cantaloupe and corn weekends when we were high.  The dollar gross wasn’t bad either.

End result was that the corn gamble was a winner and the peach gamble was also a winner.  WEEKEND 3 is now history and we are on to a shortened WEEKEND 4, as we will be closed on July 11th for a personal day off.

The 4th of July Weekend AKA WEEKEND 3

   We are half way through 2010 and celebrating Independence Day.  What better way to celebrate this All American Holiday than with All American Fresh Produce.   Much of what we have today was picked this morning and as the weekend progresses you will have ONLY the freshest produce, raised locally, chemical and pesticide free.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

   We have CORN.  Everyone wanted corn for the 4th and we got it.  Our Bi-color corn is 2/$1.00 or $5.00/dozen,  while it lasts.  We don’t have that much.

   We have great white potatoes $2.00/half peck basket, Large Cabbage (basket ball size) for just $2.00, local purple plums $1.00 / pint, Yellow Squash are 2 for $1.00, Extra Large Zucchini are 2 for $1.00 and onions at $1.00 bunch.

   Please have a safe Holiday and remember to Buy Local, Buy Fresh and Buy from US !!!!!

HOT HOT HOT

Another extraordinarily hot weekend to end June.  The temperatures were in the mid to high 90’s and the humidity not far behind.  Sunday morning a cell or rain came through the sales area around 8:30 but was gone as quickly as it came.

Chuck and I had a fantastic weekend of sales.  We were concerned as we had not gotten as much as we would have liked to get, but prices on some items were not going to make it easy to sell in our market.

We had a decent Saturday, but Sunday was really excellent.  By 9:00 AM we were sold out of potatoes, by 1:00 the zucchini and cucumbers were totally gone.  Requests for lettuce and beets had to go unanswered, as we never had either this weekend.  We did face the age old sales dilemma of ‘what we had last week, people wanted this week and what he had this week was what people asked for last week’.

By the end of the weekend we had about 12 apples, 10 heads of cabbage and three boxes of beans left.  Not at all bad from what was a truck load on Thursday afternoon.

An added note is that we saved all the scraps of dropped beans, bruised apples, browning cabbage leaves etc for the chickens.  I was surprised to see how fast they attacked the apples when we gave them out for their lunch.  Also noted they are beginning to have a pecking order.  Some ate first while others waited.

Next week we hit the 4th of July Holiday weekend.

Weekend of 6/24-27/2010 AKA WEEKEND 2

If this weekend is anything like last weekend, we will be sold out Sunday morning for all intents and purposes.  We had about a basket of stuff by the end of the day on Sunday and most of the really good items were gone early in the morning.  So, if you are going to get in season, locally grown produce with no chemicals or pesticides, then I suggest you shop at the farm early.  Chuck is there today, tomorrow and Saturday.

This week we have fantastic fresh Zucchini just 2/$1.00, Crinkle Cabbages for $1.00 each, Green Beans at $2.00 a quart, Cucumbers (greatly asked for last weekend) 2/$1.00, and a great surprise of early apples at just $2.00 quart.

Father’s Day Weekend

  We made it through Father’s Day Weekend… our opening of the farm markets.  The sales at the farm site were not what we had hoped.  There is a big difference there this year… THE DETOUR.   In 2009 Island Park/Lower Saucon Road was detoured for bridge construction and the one detour was on Buttermilk Road.  That put 4 or 5 times the amount of traffic past the farm stand as it does this year.  To be fair, however, we may not be comparing apples to apples here.  We are looking at the first weekend and comparing to the entire 2009 season.  Opening day in 2009 was a rainy Father’s Day at the ‘old’ stand.  I am not sure how many people ventured in that first opening day.  The crowds got bigger as the season progressed.

   However, at the Blue Ridge Flea Market we had another story.  We totally sold out of beets, rhubarb, squash, and potatoes.  We had only one head of cauliflower left and two heads of cabbage, along with maybe 4 zucchini.  So for all intents and purposes we actually were sold out of those items as well.

   We were disappointed in peas.  We thought we had a really good bargain for customers at just $2.00 a quart.  I guess they thought differently.  We have a lot of peas left.   They will be dried and sold dehydrated for stews and soups later in the season.

  The two gambles were Calla Lillies and Chocolate Mint.  Neither did exceptionally well, but both drew a lot of comments and people to the stand.  That, in itself, is sometimes enough.

  The weather didn’t help.  It was over 90 degrees both Saturday and Sunday with above average humidity.  It was uncomfortable to be there.  To some degree, I can understand people not wanting to linger.  Some were really just browsing fast and kept moving.  Other Sundays, they stop at almost every booth and look with more detail.

   Starting in two weeks (JULY) we will have a permanent spot at the market, rather than move from spot to spot.  We try to be near the same space everytime we set up, but that is tough.  Sunday we were across from where we were on Saturday, as those were already filled by the time we got there at 6:45 AM.   The spot we were in was a “RESERVED” spot, but the vendor next to us said the women has not been there in several weeks due to health and likely wasn’t going to be there that day.  We took the gamble and set up on that space and it was OK, she didn’t show up.  We would have had to move, if she showed by 8:00 AM.

   So, now Monday is dehydrate day and look to Thursday when we get ready for the next weekend.  We were so hoping to have something like strawberries this weekend.  We hope to have some next weekend.  Fruit always sells well.

    “BUY LOCAL, BUY FRESH”.  We ONLY sell locally grown, chemical and pesticide free, and in season produce and farm items.  It may not be the cheapest, but it is the best.

2010 Opening Weekend

Finally, it is like waiting for Christmas and your birthday and the end of school all at the same time, but finally the 2010 Produce selling season is here. We have a pretty decent opening weekend. I didn’t think we would have as much as we do. We have:

Shell Peas for $2.00 quart, Red beets (with the greens) for $1.00 bunch, Cabbages (the size of soccer balls) for just $2.00 each, Zucchini (both yellow and green) at a bargain 2 for $1.00, Rhubarb is still in season for $2.00 bunch (which makes more than an ample pie), Cauliflower at just $2.00. We also have great chocolate mint for making an amazing infused tea or as a garnish. The smell is fantastic. The mint is $1.00 a bunch. We also have gorgeous Calla Lillies that we just couldn’t pass up. Finish off that table of locally grown, pesticide free and in season produce with these cream white stems at just $1.00 each.

The farm stand, 600 Buttermilk Road, Williams Township, Hellertown, is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week and we will be at the Blue Ridge Flea Market in Saylorsburg on Saturday (also Sunday if it doesn’t rain)

Hope to see you all soon. We missed all of you over the long winter.

Sometimes there are just no words

We are getting ready to start our 3rd or 4th year of selling, depending on how you count the first year which we did primarily from the town house and not from the farm at all.

Since we started we have met, talked to, read stories about and heard stories about thousands of people.  Some are very touching, some sad and some are just plain funny.

Last summer a really nice women came up to me to buy produce.  From her speech pattern I would guess her to be from the greater New York City area, which is a lot of our weekend customers.  Dressed casually and very friendly.

I gave her the mantra… “We sell locally grown, pesticide free and in season produce.”  She looked at what I had to offer and then asked, “Do you have mangoes?”  I stopped and looked an politely said that mangoes don’t grow locally, so no we don’t carry them, as we only sell what is ‘locally grown, pesticide free and in season”.  She was fine with that, but then the comment to which I had almost no reply was when she asked, “Are you going to have them next week?”.   At the risk of insulting her, I merely said no that they would likely not grow locally next week either.  She walked away.

Chuck tells an even better story about college students;  our leaders of tomorrow !

A group of college students were had been buying free range farm eggs.  They knew the health benefits of buying free range and buying locally grown produce.  They had done it for awhile.  Then one of the young ladies suggest that they had stopped buying the farm eggs.

Asked why she noted that she had just learned that chicken lay eggs from the same escape route that they ‘poop’.  She could not imagine every eating another farm egg that she KNEW was produced that way.

Taking it one step further, for information purposes, really, was the apology that she was no longer going to eat eggs.  Eggs are a great source of a lot of vitamins, minerals and protein. 

She was quick to respond that she was not stopping the practice of eating eggs.  She was stopping the practice of eating FREE RANGE FARM eggs.  She was going to stick to the ones that are “sold in supermarkets.  The ones produced in the Styrofoam cartons.  They would be OK”

There could clearly be no response to that comment.  This, by the way, was no slow or dumb person.  She, like many we  deal with on a regular basis are so far removed from the farms and how food is produced that they have been overlooked.

Chuck and I watched a TV program (though we don’t own a TV and haven’t for over 7 years, we do sneak shows we want to see with friends or on the computer)  TV celeb chef Jamie Oliver was in West Virginia at a school and quizzed first graders on simple veggies.  Held up thing like potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, egg plant etc.  I truly don’t remember if they got any correct.  I know they had potato wrong and called a tomato a potato.  They had no clue what the egg plant was nor the radishes.  They may have gotten carrots right.

Now, these kids are not from center city.  You might, sadly, understand that if a child lived at 45th St and 8th Ave in Manhattan, then perhaps they don’t know where all the food they eat comes from.

It is scary when people who make it a point to buy at the VERBA FARM @ WILLIAMS POINT or any other farm stand or farmers market don’t know what grows locally and what does not, nor do they know where all eggs come from.  Sad when kids don’t know what the raw basic vegetables look like and can identify them.

Now on the flip side, I am amazed when I sell tomatoes that there are customers that tell me exactly which variety I am selling.  I admit, I don’t know all 200 or 300 varieties of tomatoes that grow locally (and maybe I should).

There is a learning curve to buying local.  When you shop at any of the big grocery stores and the bananas are next to the apples which are next to oranges and next to peaches and they are that way all year round, it is easy to forget what grows locally, what is in season and even if they are genetically engineered (didn’t even go to pesticide free.  US markets are not obligated to tell you if produce is genetically engineered)

We all need to educate ourselves about what we eat.   My suggestion is to BUY LOCALLY.   BUY IN SEASON.   BUY PESTICIDE FREE.  Since that does describe what we sell, the easiest way is to buy from us. 

Cheap food is anything but cheap

EVERYONE can eat well.  There is more than enough money in the food system for everyone to enjoy safe,
nutrient dense food generally from local sources. Let’s be clear about that.  At the Verba Farm at Williams Point a family can eat quality food for less than when the same family buys at the local grocery store. When you look at the price per pound of candy, potato chips, or cereal you will find that they are NOT cheap. And if you factor in nutrition, they are definitely not cheap. If you took the money currently spent on Coca-Cola, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and McDonald's and spent it instead on local
nutrient-dense direct-from-the-farm food, the
system contains plenty of money to eat well.

Your don’t need to be a gourmet chef to eat well. Most of the problem is a lack of domestic culinary skills. This can be from ignorance, negligence, or laziness, none of which has anything to do with money. Plenty of busy people cook unprocessed food. Locally, if you go into the Wegman’s Market you will find Premium Idaho baking potatoes occupy a tiny box in the produce section and sell for 10 cents a pound. Two aisles over, microwavable frozen
premade French fries occupy 150 feet of freezer space, and sell for $1.25 per pound. A couple more aisles over, potato chips in bags occupy another 150 feet of shelf space and sell for $4 a pound.

You can make do on a lot less if you look, just like scrounging for anything. If you ask for seconds on tomatoes, or can the mountain of tomatoes local farmers are throwing away just before frost when the
plants explode with end-of-season premonitional bounty, you can get premium local vegetables by the bushel for very little money. Eating well does not require you to eat organic tomatoes shipped air freight from Peru in January. You can eat better
by canning, drying, or freezing local seasonal bounty
and enjoying it in the off season. But that means getting busy, refusing to be a victim, and being responsible.

Chuck and I have put locally grown, pesticide free and in season produce at the hands of all people for the past 3 years.  The trend is doing nothing but grow.  It amazes me when people will walk up to me and tell me that our food is expensive.  It is anything but expensive.  I would venture to say that you could buy enough food for a full meal for 4 or so for the same price you might pay for just one meal at any fast food chain.  The calories are healthier, the food is better and the price is more economical.  It is a win-win-win situation. 

What we have the toughest time doing is educate folks to understand what we are selling and what we are doing.  The quality of the food is not even in the same sphere as buying processed food.  I guess there is an argument that beef and hot dogs both come from a cow, but the difference is night and day.  Buying a potato to bake and buying some processed ‘tater meal both may be near or have seen a potato at one time, but they are not the same thing.

We sell wholesome fresh (often picked and sold the same day) produce.  How does that get any fresher.  If we don’t grow it ourselves we buy it from farmers we know.  The ones we have relationships with have the same philosophy we do.  They use no chemicals or pesticides to grow their crops.  They are local.

2010 is the season to realize you can eat better and save money at the same time.

Fresh, The Movie

  Last night Chuck and I headed off the newly renovated Eastonian (old Hotel Easton) for a screening of the documentary FRESH, THE MOVIE (http://www.freshthemovie.com/). We both were impressed with the way the hotel has been renovated.  I had been in the old hotel several times and showed Chuck how it used to be compared to the new look.

  The screening was hosted by the Easton Farmers Market with funding from Lehigh Valley Chapter of Buy Fresh, Buy Local (http://www.buylocalpa.org/lehighvalley), which the Verba Farm at William Point is a member.  We were somewhat surprised at the number of people who showed up for the screening.  I would venture to say it was about 70 and were more than the number of chairs set up (excellent marketing technique even if it was accidental).

  The movie is about how our food is produced.  I am not sure there was a lot I hadn’t already read about or known about in theory, but to see it in documentary form was a real eye opener.  The more graphic parts showed how chickens are crammed into houses to the point there is absolutely no room between them.  The same holds true for cows and pigs. 

  On the veggie side it details how midwestern farms have gone from being full service farms to ones that only grow one crop.  In order to sustain either the animal method of high production or the veggie one, the farmer is forced to use large quantities of fertilizer, antibiotics, pesticides and chemicals to keep the system functioning.  This differs greatly from the sustainable method of a century ago that relied on crop rotation and intertwined animals groups to keep the farm healthy without any chemicals.

  The movie showcases about 6 farmers who have gone back to the older methods and show that not only is it profitable to do it that way, but it is far more profitable than the corporation method.

  Chuck and I both took the message of the movie as confirmation of what we knew was right for us.  Our vision and method is farming without any use of fertilizers or pesticides.  The animal waste from the chickens (and someday the sheep, goats, alpacas, etc) is used to naturally fertilize the gardens and fields.  They waste products from the gardens and fields are used to feed the animals.  It is a perfect and natural balance.

  We have used the mantra… “Locally grown, pesticide free and in season” so often it is like a greeting.  I think I say it in my sleep.  It is the educational component of the sales marketing used for selling our vegetables and produce.  It is the same marketing we are using for our baked products and canned products.  As we move into selling artisan cheeses, soaps and honey we will use the same vision. 

  We are a non-certified organic farm.  We know that is the way we can sustain our 45 acre farming operation well beyond our lifetimes.  The farm belonged to my grandparents and it is the way they farmed.  It passed to my parents and for the most part was the way they attempted to farm.  It seems almost natural on all levels that we should be doing the same thing.  Face it… It is what grammy would be wanting me to do.

Guess you can never plan and dream too much

  Walked the farm today (45 acres).  Chuck and I did it to re-evaluate, at least on a temporary basis, where to put the gardens.  The area we have used for the past 3 years has way too much standing water on it.  The conditions are markedly different from past springs.  We really doubt it is going to dry up enough in the next week or so to make is viable to start planting. 

  The really nice thing about having a larger farm that is basically unused is that we aren’t cornered or obligated to keep it where it is.  So we trekked up the hill a bit to check out what was an old corn field that has not been planted in some time.  We mow it during the season to keep it ‘meadow like’, but that is about all we do to it.  It looks like there is where it is going.

  While on the walk about we did plan out where the new briar patch is going.  We have 63 raspberry bushes that need almost immediate planting (at least have to be done this week).  We wanted an area that is easily accessible and wont interfere with any other future plans.  This was not a tough decision.  We pretty much knew where it was going, but needed to confirm we were both on the same page.

  Agreeing that we need to get fruit trees it only makes sense to put them where my grandparents had their orchard.  Worked a hundred years ago, looks like a good choice now too. 

  The toughest decision of the day and one we still aren’t quite set on is where the new chicken coop will go.  We have 61 chicks at the Easton house under heat lamps, but that is only for a few weeks.  The coops have to be in place and ready by Memorial Day.  We have it narrowed to about 2 locations. 

  Where we have the pair of Polish buffs is not long term.  It was created only to house them temporarily.  It is actually the old garden we used for the past two years that is now too wet to plant.  We put them there because it was fenced in and could be ready to go in hours rather than days.  They too need to be moved to a more permanent home.   Problem there is that the rooster has left the caged area and now resides in the old nursery stock just outside the caged area keeping an eye on his hen and protecting her, but staying far enough away from us that he lets us know who is in charge.

  We mapped out the new apiary (new?  we don’t have an old one, but it is new to us) and making sure there is still enough space to expand the retail produce area.  Produce that is locally grown, in season and pesticide free is still our ‘bread and butter’ income source on the farm and we don’t want to underplay that.

  We are today pricing fencing so the goats can be added.  We would like to have them in the next weeks to months, so we need to get the fencing we want.  We are looking for portable fencing about 200 feet.  I like the type you see around construction sites.  6’ high in 6-10’ sections.  That would allow us to put the goats in a movable 50 square foot area and move it as we need it.

  Tomorrow will clean out the cold cellar and white wash it for the upcoming season.

The first chicks and chickens have arrived

  Chuck and I headed off to the Kutztown Produce Auction for a consignment auction to benefit the Kutztown schools.  It was amazingly crowded.  Fields that are never used for anything except crops had cars parked in them today.  We got there about 45 minutes before the sale began and parked at least 1/3 mile away.  It was exciting to see all the people.

  We walked the rows of farm equipment.  Most of it was for large tractors and really serious crops and fields.  There were smaller things too, but that was not on the shopping list for the day.

  We moved through some prefabricated out building that were pretty nice.  One was a garage type and a couple were sizable 14X10’s and similar. 

  From there through the shrubbery that was going to be sold and then we found the rabbits and fowl.

  Chuck was the first to spot the small chicks and we decided that if they didn’t go ‘too high’ we might consider buying a few.  We also spotted some Buff colored Polish breed chickens.  I had admired them while at the PA Farm Show and again at the Bloomsburg and the Allentown Farm shows.  I think I like their exotic look.

  I stood back and before we knew it, Chuck had purchased 63 Americana chicks in dozen or near dozen lots and the two Polish chickens.  The prices were great.

  OK, now what to do with them.  We headed over to Weaver’s Hardware outside of Fleetwood and Kutztown and purchased the necessary waterers and feeders, though they didn’t have feed.

  From there it was over the mountain and back to Lehigh Valley to Richlandtown Feed for the chicken feed for the big chickens and the chicks.

  Home to Easton to get the chicks up to 98 degrees after a cool morning before they got a chill and to temporarily house the two adult chickens in our bathroom. (They are only mildly pleased to be in there at the moment, but they will be at the farm in a couple hours, after we get the chicks settled in)

  Our chicken adventure has begun. 

We weren’t born knowing how to do this !!!!

I grew up on the farm and Chuck has loads of summer time experience on gardens and farms, but neither of us has ever truly done this on a full time basis where we used a farm as an income source.  It is a new experience.

  Over the past two years we have learned so much about how to do this and what we need to change.  The biggest thing I think we both learned is to minimize loss.  The first season we had so much produce that we just threw away after the weekend sales were over.  Face it, we can only eat so many cantaloupes or eat so much corn.  We were faced with the weekly Sunday night ritual of throwing food away.  We did not have a viable plan for being better stewards of the resource.

  Last year we go much better at it.  We began to look at having a track record to knowing how much we might sell in one weekend.  We also realized that is was OK to buy less and sell out.  Granted, that means we do miss some revenue as we sell out before the end of the weekend, but that beats losing the product.

  Another addition last year was canning and drying.  The old proverb of ‘problems being the mother of invention’ is right.  We started to can some of the vegetables and dehydrate the fruits and vegetables for sale the following weekend.  I admit I had reservations that would ever work, but I was surprised how well the canned and dehydrated foods sold.  We still insured that what we were selling was locally grown, in season, and pesticide free.  The small difference was that is was in a preserved state.  Our friends and customers really like that.  We kept the costs down by offering a ‘deposit return’ on jars, which gave us the added help of not having to constantly looking for canning jars.  We do the same thing for egg boxes as well.

  This year we have built into the plan the canning and dehydrating, as it isn’t just a ‘Plan B’  income source.  Friends and customers have shown up for the canned and pickled beets and red beet eggs (by far the most popular item).  It didn’t take being smacked upside the head to know we needed to have that more and more often.

  More formally this year, in fact in two weeks, Chuck will be in the Harrisburg area for a two weekend course in bee keeping.  With the addition of our apiary we will have our own honey produced on site rather than buying it from local bee keepers.  This will allow us to be a little more in charge of quality control.  We use only apiary farmers that we know and trust, but even with that caveat we still rely on them for the quality and quantity of our honey.  We soon will not have to do that.

  Couple with that the addition of our chickens for our own free range eggs we have two areas that are new to 2010 and beyond.

   Looking ahead to 2012 and beyond is the planting of our orchards and educational center for school children.

   See you all in JUNE !!!

Pulled in Many Directions

As much as I like to see winter over so we can get busy selling again and meeting new people again and trying new projects again and being outside again and sustaining last years projects again and, and and….  That is the point, there is so much to do in April and May it is hard to decide minute by minute what needs to be done, let alone day by day or week by week. 

We have a weekly schedule of what we hope to accomplish on any given week throughout the spring.  While we are decently successful at accomplishing our goals there are a lot of things that just plain get in the way of it.  The weather is probably one of the worse.  The best laid plans are scrapped in an instant when it rains too hard or has rained for a couple days and made mud of everything.

It is always helpful to have a Plan B and Plan C.  We try to plan for bad weather so that we can get other projects that can be done in the rain or are done inside during those times, but there are only so many of them at one time.

Another factor is where to expand.  The market requests for what our customers want us to provide is limitless as times.  We evaluate every request, regardless of how small, to see if it meets our vision and business plan.  It either does or it does not.  In rare instances, we suggest it doesn’t but question whether it is important enough to revisit the vision and business plan.

  Our vision and plan is really pretty simple.  We try to make our friends better off by being healthier through a more simplistic lifestyle.  We used to just limit that to food items that are all grown locally, pesticide free and in season, but have expanded to see that there is a need beyond that.

  This season we are expanding with a hand made soap line that is really exciting.  I admit I had no idea how soap was made, what makes it good or bad.  The learning curve on this interesting.  I have quickly learned that the soap market, like the food market is filled with misrepresentations and half truths.  What the ‘big companies’ would have you believe is good for you, usually isn’t.

  We hope to have the earliest soaps and soap products that are all natural (really, not a marketing term) and safe.  Most soaps you find in the stores are not really even soaps, by classic definition.  The products being sold as ‘soap’ is actually detergents. That means that instead of being good for your skin they are really pretty damaging to you. 

  In keeping with the same way we have had to educate about eating locally grown produce, in season that is grown without pesticides, we have to educate about using natural product soaps.

  That is the project of the day, I guess.  Though I suspect that within an hour or so another pressing project will present itself.  Ahhhh, the fun of April and May.

Quality Control Testing

  Under the guise of quality control Chuck and I had a fantastic dinner. Many of you know we started making small batch artisan cheese just after Christmas. Well yesterday was our very first tasting of our very first batch made. It is a gouda. It was stronger than we anticipated. It has a taste not unlike a good Parmigiano-Reggiano or something like that. A few of our neighbors were given a sample as well, since we were eating outside on our porch, as we do a lot in the summer. We added to the dinner with a fresh salad made with the olive oil we bought at Season Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar Taproom in Bethlehem and an artisan bread from Wegman's. A co-worker and friend who has 2 glasses of wine a day, gave us wine for dinner that she knew we needed to try. She was right. So, wine, cheese, bread, and salad were the dinner we enjoyed outdoors tonight. All in all, a terrific day.

   Then today, not to leave anyone out, we took samples of the same cheese to church with us for our friends there.  We gave out 7 samples there and are looking for feedback. 

  When we got home, many of our longer time neighbors seemed to be enjoying the spring weather on a great Sunday afternoon sitting out.  During the several hours conversations, Chuck presented some more of the cheese samples to some of the same neighbors from last night and many new ones. 

  It is our hope to get as many feedbacks as possible for future batches.  As of this time, no one has had any negative comments about it.  They all seem to be amazed that we can actually make cheese that tastes so good.

  We have Cheddar, Farm Cheddar, and Monterey Jack to plug and sample soon.  We may have cheese to sell in very, very limited quantities by the middle of the summer and into the fall.

Our 2010 Year Begins

  If I hadn’t really thought about it until today, I realize that we are now in the full push for our THIRD season.  It is hard to believe we have been doing this for three years.  We have learned a lot in that short time and have much more to figure out. 

  This year we are expanded.  We are going to be at the farm (600 Buttermilk Road, Williams Township, Hellertown, PA) from Thursday-Saturday.  In addition we are going to be at the Blue Ridge Flea Market on weekends.  We had been at Blue Ridge ‘on and off’ the last two years, and did well.  This year we are going to be there a lot more and with a more permanent presence, near where we were the last two years.

  We took a visit to Blue Ridge (Saylorsburg, PA) today and saw a lot of our old friends from the past years.  The older couple who sell plants are in their place on the end of the row.  We enjoy being near their site, as we sell with a similar philosophy of plants and ecology.  It should be local, in season, and pesticide free.  They see the same logic to the plants they sell.  Last year there was another couple who were next to them and then we were often in the third spot on the row.  I did not see the other couple today, but the market has only been open one week.  It is early.

   We got to see Luba selling her jewelry and sports cards.  It is hard to believe that she is teaching her ‘little’ daughter to drive and she is picking out colleges already.  We saw Saul and his wife selling their jewelry and antiques on the far end of ‘our’ row (yes, since we set up there, it is OUR row).

   We bought a book on soap making.  The only soap we had real directions to make was not the type we wanted.  It was the glycerine style.  We were looking for a more natural style and got a really good book on it today. 

  So, come first week of June (there abouts) we will be open in both locations. 

  From Saylorsburg we headed to Bethlehem to check out a new store.  It is called Seasons.  It bills itself as an olive oil and vinegar taproom.  The owners, Soraya and Tim were there and they were beyond helpful.  Neither Chuck nor I know a lot about vinegars and olive oils, other than we know what we like.  We read an article in the Morning Call about this place and a quote struck me, that I believe was attributed to Tim (Balshi).  He said that good “olive oil is not like the grease you buy in the store”.  He is so right.  Chuck and I bought a bottle of his lighter olive oil (for $14.95 we got a nice 375 ml bottle).  The taste is extraordinary.  We also tasted chocolate and raspberry balsamic vinegars (we actually tried about 6 total).  I could not believe I was tasting vinegars.  This, too, was nothing like what you buy in the store. (Note: Tim suggested when Chuck’s bees are producing enough honey to sell commercially, he would be interested in having it their store.  That is exciting.)

  Before leaving north side of Bethlehem we stopped at the Magic Shop which is relocated from ‘the tunnel’ to Main Street as well.  I admit that I am lost in those places, but Chuck understand and enjoys the herbs, potions, and genre.

  After Seasons, we headed to South Side Bethlehem and checked in at several of our favorite places.  Loose Threads is owned by our friend Mike Jasorka’s sister.  She was there today and always her friendly self.  She noted that we need to come back on the first Friday of May when they are celebrating their 1st Anniversary with live music.  We plan to be there.

  Home and Planet is always worth the stop on South Side as well.  A wide, wide variety of unique items that are things you almost have to say “why didn’t I think of that”.  Great re-used and re-directed use of items like the chairs made from 25 gallon steel oil drums to the purses and wallets made from juice packs.

  The whole day had a theme of planning for the opening of the farm market this season.  We brought home a lot of new ideas, coupled with confirmations of ideas we already have going.

  Getting anxious to be selling again.  We miss our friends from the growing season that we haven’t seen since last October.  We hear, via emails and Facebook, that they are waiting for quality in season, locally grown and pesticide free vegetables and fruits too.