Last week, with nearly a full complement of field crew, we were cruising through a long list of tasks. With the high heat forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, we removed thousands of feet of row covers on lettuce, greens, peas and spring brassicas. The bonus to the heat was that it created the perfect conditions for tractor cultivation of spring brassicas, peas, carrots, beets and asparagus. In addition, we trellised our high tunnel tomatoes; planted bok choi, celery, PYO flowers, high tunnel cucumbers, dahlias and heirloom tomatoes; set up high tunnel and field irrigation; and finished weeding an entire succession of carrots and beets!
Perhaps most exciting, Catherine and Lise installed a mesh deer fence around our peas and Maddie and Joe put the finishing touches on a new type of 8-foot tall deer fence encircling all of our lettuce. The 8-foot fence was a group effort over the last couple of weeks involving not just Maddie and Joe, but Theresa, Rebecca, Jake, Lise and Melissa. Many of you have probably heard about our ongoing troubles with deer, so we are very excited to get some sturdier protection on one of our most important crops, and to hopefully remove at least one major source of stress! This type of fence is very expensive, so we are trying it out on a small scale, but we have written a grant to build a fence of this type covering the entirety of our largest field.
After last week’s fencing triumph, Joe will be back in our fully-staffed store, along with some new and familiar faces! You can continue to pay by cash, Barrett’s Bucks and credit card, but you no longer need exact change, and credit card payments will be a little smoother with our card reader. We are now also back to being able to accept EBT cards in the farm stand!
Farm stand hours:
Tuesday thru Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 3pm
Available this week:
Asparagus - The drought and seesawing temperatures have not led to fantastic harvests, but we continue to hope for better yields this week!
Kale mix
Spinach - Available Tuesday in limited quantities.
Bok choi
Radishes - Round red “rover radishes” as well as “mini mak” mini daikon radishes
Green garlic (Tuesday only)
Herbs - Bunches of chives, thyme, sage, oregano
Flowers - Tuesday we will have mixed tulip bouquets including both double and single types. Later in the week (Wednesday or Thursday) we will have our first spring mixed flower bouquets with mathiola (stock), sweet William, matricaria and single tulips.
Salsa Verde - Made by Kenneth at Eastern Mass Provision from our own organic tomatillos, onions, garlic, jalapeños and cilantro. Mild.
Hot Sauce - Made by Kenneth at Eastern Mass Provision from our own organic habañeros, aji rico, fresno, cayenne, Hungarian hot wax and garlic. Hot.
Seasonal Medley Mushrooms - Starting Thursday! From Mycoterra Farm in Deerfield, MA. Certified organic.
Dried Mushrooms - 1 oz dried shiitake mushrooms from Mycoterra Farm in Deerfield, MA. Certified organic.
Baer’s Best Beans - Black Turtle, Italian Cranberry, and Cannellini are Certified Organic. Bumblebee and Black Coco are not organic. Grown by Charley Baer in South Berwick, ME.
Maple syrup - 12 oz. bottles from our friend Jim at Hollis Hills Farm in Fitchburg, MA. Not Organic.
Raspberry Vinegar Infusion -Silferleaf Farm in Concord, MA. Certified Organic.
Seedlings: herbs; tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos; flowers; summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers. See below for varieties, and our 2026 Seedling Sale Descriptions for more info about those varieties.
Specific seedling varieties we have as of 5/26:
Herbs: Oregano, thyme, parsley, basil, dill, calendula
Flowers: Zinnias (Aurora, Queeny mix and limited mixed giants ), Lion’s Mouth snapdragons, Sensation Blend cosmos (limited)
Tomato: Honey Bee, Moskvich, Pruden’s Purple, San Marzano, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Cherry Bomb, Sungold
Tomatillo: Toma Verde
Sweet Peppers: Red Picnic and Orange Picnic
Hot/Specialty Peppers: Early Jalapeño, Shishito, Hot Paper Lantern (new!)
Cucurbits: Dark Green Zucchini, Success PM Summer Squash, Marketmore Cucumber
Coming soon: Husk Cherry seedlings
Lise an Ruby harvesting our first radiesh of the aseason!