The farm stand is staffed this week!

Farm to-do lists this time of year can look a bit out of control. They usually read something to the effect of “plant and weed everything!” We can also add to that list “irrigate everything,” as well as picking Colorado potato beetles off the potato plants (it takes the whole week to get through all the beds, only to need to restart again the next week). Next week, we’ll be adding “harvest everything” to the list, as the CSA starts up Tuesday June 7th! We are pretty proud that we’ve come as close as we ever have to keeping up with the non-stop tasks, thanks in large part to having so many returning crew members able to jump right into familiar tasks.

The farm stand is staffed this week, so we spent a large portion of our Monday organizing, cleaning and setting up the farm stand. This now means that in addition to Barrett’s Bucks and checks we can take credit card and EBT payments, and we can also make change for cash purchases. We will continue to have online pre-ordering as well. Pick-ups will be available for Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with ordering opening the day before pick-up starting at 6pm (so if you are ordering for Friday pick-up, ordering will open at 6pm on Thursday).

Farm Store Hours:

Tuesday-Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 3pm

To order online visit: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop

Available this week:

• Asparagus - this is probably the last week that we’ll be harvesting.

• Sugar snap peas

• Salanova lettuce mix

• Spinach

• Salad turnips

• Strawberries - We’ve had a high percentage of deformed fruit in the patch that we planted for the store, possibly from the flowers being exposed to colder than expected overnight temperatures several weeks ago (the CSA PYO strawberry patch was not flowering during this cold snap, so doesn’t appear to have this problem). We’re hoping that this week we’ll start to see more fruit coming from flowers that were not blooming during this period and that we will be able to harvest again for the store. We unfortunately do not know which days we will have strawberries available.

• Bok Choi - available later in the week

• Fat Moon Mushrooms - Farmers’ Mix 8oz bags and shiitake pints.

• Flowers - Stock (a beautiful fragrant flower grown in our high tunnel) and Sweet William.

• Herb seedlings: Basil, oregano, thyme. All suitable for container or garden planting. $4/plant

• Other seedlings: Cherry tomatoes (Jasper, Cherry Bomb, Sungold, Red Pearl grape), Slicing tomatoes (Big Beef), Heirloom tomatoes (Pineapple and Pruden’s Purple), Hot peppers (Red Ember cayenne, Jalapeño) and Eggplant (Michal).

Spring Mushroom CSA Week 6: It is week 6 of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm and this week’s mushrooms are a Farmer’s Mix! Now that the farm store is staffed you may come anytime the farm store is open: Tuesday- Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm. Just check in with the shopkeeper at the farm stand when you arrive and they will retrieve them from our cooler for you! We do still suggest a Tuesday or Wednesday pick-up for the freshest possible mushrooms.

This week in the farm stand

The heat over the weekend was intense, but thanks to some focused work setting up irrigation over the course of several days, we were able to run irrigation all day Sunday to keep our lettuce, greens and spinach from withering. While we don’t particularly enjoy that type of hot weather, there is an upside. Those of you who came to the farm stand Friday late morning were in for a treat - we had the first strawberries of the season, and the sun and heat of the weekend ripened up more for this week! Strawberries are one of our most popular items, with demand always outstripping supply, so we ask customers to respect posted limits on berries this week so that we can ensure as many people as possible can enjoy them!

The farm stand continues to be self-serve, so please bring exact change or your checkbook if you are not a Barrett’s Bucks member. This will be the last week of self-serve. Starting May 31st the farm stand will be fully staffed and we will be able to make change and accept credit card and EBT payments. In the meantime, in order to make it easier for cash customers to bring exact change we are posting the prices below.

We will also continue to have pre-ordering available this week. Going forward, pick-ups will be available for Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with ordering opening the day before pick-up starting at 6pm (so if you are ordering for Friday pick-up, ordering will open at 6pm on Thursday).

To order visit: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop

Walk-up sales available Tuesday-Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm

Available for in-person and pre-orders:

• Asparagus - Harvests have been solid, so we anticipate having plenty for everyone most of the week! $5/bunch

• Strawberries - Because it is hard to predict quantities for the following day, these will mostly be available for walk-up sales, but we may also make a limited supply available for pre-order. Please respect the posted limit. Our online ordering system doesn’t automatically cut you off if you order above the limit, so we will only honor orders up to that posted limit. $6/pint

• Spinach - $6/half pound bag

• Mini daikon - $3/bunch

• Bok Choi - $3/head

• Fat Moon Mushrooms - Farmers’ Mix 8oz bags. Available Thursday after 2pm. $9.50/bag

• Flowers - Stock (a beautiful fragrant flower grown in our high tunnel). $15/bouquet

• Herb seedlings: Basil, oregano, sage, thyme. All suitable for container or garden planting. $4/plant

• Other seedlings: Cherry tomatoes (Jasper and Cherry Bomb, with some Sungolds available at the end of the week), Slicing tomatoes (Big Beef), Heirloom tomatoes (Pineapple and Pruden’s Purple), Eggplant (Michal). $5/plant

Spring Mushroom CSA Week 5: It is week 5 of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm! Mushroom CSA pick up is Tuesday 11am-6pm. Please email Melissa if you would like us to leave out your mushrooms after 6pm or if you would like us to leave them out for you on a different day this week. This week’s mushrooms are Lion’s Mane! The

Update on walk-up and online ordering hours for this week

With the upcoming weekend heat we are adjusting our Saturday hours (for May 21st). For walk up sales for the remainder of the week we are open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-Noon. Right now for walk-up sales we have asparagus bunches, tulip bunches, bags of spinach (the first of the season!), and assorted herb and tomato seedlings. Our farm stand is currently self-serve so please bring exact change.

Ordering is open now for Friday May 20th and Saturday May 21st pick-ups! Pick up options are Friday 2pm-4pm and 4pm-6pm and Saturday 10am-Noon (earlier than usual to beat the heat!). Online ordering is available for asparagus, spinach, mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm, and herb and tomato seedlings. Ordering is open to the public and is a great way to make sure we have what you want available when you arrive to pick-up! To order visit: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop

Lots of Asparagus this week for walk-up sales and online orders!

With the recent heat the asparagus harvest has really picked up! This week we will begin our regular store hours Tuesday-Friday 11am - 6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm! Pre-ordering is also available for Tuesday and Friday pick-up this week (pick-ups are 2pm-6pm). Walk-up sales remain self-serve until May 31st so remember to bring exact change! Ordering will open today, Monday May 16th at noon for pick-up Tuesday May 17th (2pm - 4pm and 4pm - 6pm). We will open ordering for Friday on Wednesday at noon and we will likely have our first field spinach to add to the ordering options!

To order visit: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop

Available for pre-orders for Tuesday pick-up 2-6pm:

• Asparagus - The recent weather has it growing great so we anticipate having plenty for everyone!

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon: Farmer’s Mix, 8 oz bags. Certified organic, grown in Chelmsford, MA.

• Menton tulips - A single blooming type. Rose pink with apricot-pink edges.

• Fancy Daffodils

• Herb seedlings: Basil, parsley, oregano, sage, thyme. All suitable for container or garden planting.

• Tomato seedlings: Right now we have Chefs Choice Orange, a productive and tasty orange slicing tomato and Striped German, a yellow heirloom with pink streaks. We will have additional varieties in a couple of weeks including red slicers, more heirlooms, and cherry tomatoes. Keep indoors or covered until the chance of frost has passed.

Spring Mushroom CSA Week 4: It is week 4 of our 10-week spring Mushroom CSA from Fat Moon Farm! Mushroom CSA pick up is Tuesday 11am-6pm. Mushrooms this week will either be chestnuts or yellow oysters. We heard from the mushroom farmers that the mushrooms matured fast in this weekend’s heat so these are more delicate than usual and should be picked up and used within couple of days. If members order additional items from the online store then their entire pick-up will be ready at the time selected for online pick-up on Tuesday (2pm-4pm or 4pm-6pm). Any uncollected orders will be put away at 6pm on Tuesday evening and put out again Wednesday morning at 7am. Please email Melissa if you would like to arrange a different pick up day or time.

Online ordering tips and reminders:

• Orders are open to everyone! You do not need to be a member to purchase.

• You do not need to create an account to place an order.

• Be sure to choose your pick-up time (there is a red drop-down menu in the upper right-hand of the screen). If you don’t choose a time, you won’t be able to see the items in the shop.

• Once an item is sold out for the day, it disappears from the online shop.

• Payments are made by credit card unless you are a Barrett’s Bucks member. Barrett’s Bucks members may select the “Bucks” payment option. (it says “free” in parentheses behind both payment options - this just means that it is free to use that payment option, not that the product is free!).

Online and walk-up sales schedule for asparagus this week!

This week we will be open Friday 2pm-6pm and Saturday 11am-3pm for walk-up self-serve asparagus sales at the farm stand (we will close early if we have sold out for the day). Pre-ordering is also available both days for tulips, daffodils, mushrooms, seedlings, and asparagus. This may be the last of the tulips and daffodils for the season! Both online and walk-up sales have a limit of 2 bunches of asparagus per customer this week.

Next week we will be open for walk-up self-serve asparagus sales our regular hours Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday 9am-3pm (we will close early if we have sold out for the day). We continue to offer pre-ordering for Tuesday and Friday 2pm-6pm pick-ups for asparagus as well as mushrooms and seedlings.

If you have any questions regarding your order emailing is the best way to contact us. Please email Melissa and shopkeeper@barrettsmillfarm.com with any order issues or to reschedule a forgotten order. May is planting month so it can be hard for us to get to the phone but we will see your email when we are processing orders!

Ordering will open today, Wednesday May 11th at noon for pick-up Friday May 13th 2pm - 4pm and 4pm - 6pm and Saturday May 14th from 11am-1pm. Ordering for Friday pick-ups will close at 6am on Friday and Saturday ordering will close at 6am Saturday.

To order visit: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop

Available for pre-orders (starting at Noon Wednesday May 11th):

• Asparagus: Limit 2 bunches per customer please!

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon: Farmer’s Mix, 8 oz bags. Certified organic, grown in Chelmsford, MA.

• Tulips: Most bunches available are Menton (rose pink with apricot-pink edges, single blooming type) or Blue Spectacle (deep purple, double blooming with tall stems). These are the last tulip varieties for the season!

• Daffodils - Our last fancy tulip varieties are now blooming!

• Herb seedlings: Basil and parsley as well as a few oregano and sage (more thyme and sage will be ready in a couple of weeks). All suitable for container or garden planting.

• Tomato seedlings: Right now we have Chefs Choice Orange, a productive and tasty orange slicing tomato. We will have additional varieties in a couple of weeks including red slicers, more heirlooms, and cherry tomatoes. Keep indoors or covered until the chance of frost has passed.

Online ordering tips and reminders:

• Orders are open to everyone! You do not need to be a member to purchase.

• You do not need to create an account to place an order.

• Be sure to choose your pick-up time (there is a red drop-down menu in the upper right-hand of the screen). If you don’t choose a time, you won’t be able to see the items in the shop.

• Once an item is sold out for the day, it disappears from the online shop.

• Payments are made by credit card unless you are a Barrett’s Bucks member. Barrett’s Bucks members may select the “Bucks” payment option. (it says “free” in parentheses behind both payment options - this just means that it is free to use that payment option, not that the product is free!).