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.