News and blog
Happy Holidays to all our customers, internet followers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers and the like! Thanks for a great season. Before we start getting geared up for another one, we wanted to wish all the best to you and your family and friends from everyone here and all of the Wenks.
Farmer Ben
The Year in Blog! (in case you missed an educational nugget/silly entry along the way)
P.S. as always, on the farm updates on a semi-regular basis available on Twitter
Growing Greener (a blog series focusing on our sustainable ag practices)
Ask a Grower (submit a question, get a real grower's response!)
Video Blog! Machine Harvested Tart Cherries
FAQ: Choosing the Right Fresh Peaches
The Hows and Whys of Controlled Atmosphere Apple Storage (great pictoral history!)
Press
- Recognized as one of Philadelphia's 50 "Must Eats"
- Interviewed in Philadelphia Style Magazine
- "Farmer, Blogger, Apple Grower" - Relish Magazine
Miscellaneous
- Three Springs Fruit Farm flickr album - Shelby Silvernell
- Kosher Certification
- 2009 Philadelphia Phillies Apple Lineup
- Love Letter to Chase Utley
Thanksgiving is coming early at Three Springs as we take time to thank all of you for your patronage this year. What a wild year it was - lots of rain and temperatures that didn't follow any season or schedule particularly well. Please read on as I express my gratitude and detail a few more specials we hope you'll find helpful as you stock up for Thanksgiving and stuff your coffers as we bid adieu to the 2009 Farmers Market Season! Thanks for your patronage, thanks for being great customers we could look forward to each week, and thanks for reading your weekly Three Springs Market updates!
Schedule - last week for all markets! See you all again in May!
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm
Market Produce
- Jonagold - bring a ton so you can mix a few into your crates
- Fuji - usually a terrific keeper, these appear to be keeping not as well
- Staymen/Winesap - much much better than meets the eye! Tart and yummy
- Mutsu - sweet, tangy and very large!
- Golden Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY! Staying very firm!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - you're still in luck for the last week of markets, we will have enough
- Rome Beauty - excellent keepers for your crate deal and pie pursuits
- Cameo - still one of my favorites! If you haven't tried them, you're missing out!
- Bartlett Pears - can't believe we'll have them 'till the end, but here they are!
- Bosc Pears - sweetest of all our fruits, close in texture to asian pears
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versatile for baked, fried, and mashed! 7 pound sacks to take with you!
- Winter Squash - finally getting picked!!!!
"A Reason to Give Thanks"
It's hard to believe it's over! After 148 markets and all the picking, sorting, sweat, stacking, and late night/early morning combinations that went into it all, the 2009 Farmers Market Season at Three Springs Fruit Farm is coming to a close. 
In this, our last regular correspondence with our loyal customers till May, I want to express our gratitude on behalf of all of the Wenks and all of our market staff for taking the time to shop with us. Thanks for making our markets fun events to attend. We're thankful that you've chosen to put a value on local foods in general and on our local foods specifically. Knowing that we are working to make food for people is part of what draws us to this line of work and being able to put faces to and build relationships with those people makes it all the more rewarding for us.
To show our thanks, we're offering a couple additional discounts at all of our final markets. First, we have the seven pound sack-o-potatoes. If you like spuds like I like spuds, you can go through seven pounds with little difficulty - especially if you're mashing some for friends and family this week. Also, our popular canned peaches and jars of fruit butters do make a few trips back and forth to and from market. During their journey, a few labels get roughed up. Check our display for cans and jars with inferior labels marked at $3 for big discounts on these items. Feel free to reply to this email to order a case of any of these at a time for even bigger discounts. Also, because our cider freezes well with a little removed to leave expansion space, help yourself to 2 gallons of cider for $10 in our final weekend at market. All these, in addition to your $0.80/lb bulk apple deal should allow you to stock up for cheap. It's the least we owe you folks for being excellent customers all year long. Thanks again and we'll be in touch again for a mid-offseason update later on!
From Our Farm, to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! The Spartans!
The leaves are falling and our supplies are starting to give way. As many have you have already learned, the Honeycrisp are history for another year. I'm emphasized it before, but we really wish we did have them and we'd rather have them than not. Some folks are really upset by this news, and while we understand, we did everything in our power to have them as long as we could. Could we have done better? Perhaps, but we'll know better 'till next year. In the meantime, we've got Gala to get us "darn close" to Thanksgiving, and popular choices like Jonagold, Fuji, and Staymen continue to be readily available now and well beyond this week's Three Springs Market update.
Schedule - just 2 weeks remain!
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm now extended through Nov
Market Produce
- Gala - now moves to the top of the "best sellers" list for Three Springs
- Jonagold - still staff consensus "best Honeycrisp impression"
- Fuji - following closely behind Jonagold in Honeycrisp similarity
- Staymen/Winesap - cult classic!
- Nittany - it takes more than 3 1/2 dismal hours on a Saturday to damage our Nittany pride!
- Mutsu - Yellow and "Sweetang-y" grower inside joke! Am I allowed to go there?
- Golden Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - supplies still looking good for now
- Rome Beauty - firm and yummy for all your culinary pursuits
- Cameo - tastes terrific and has that "market apple" look to it - becoming rarer in store shelves because it doesn't look like a "supermarket" apple. Who cares?
- Bartlett Pears - clinging to life!
- Bosc Pears - sweetest of all our fruits, close in texture to asian pears
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versatile for baked, fried, and mashed!
- Winter Squash - finally getting picked!!!!
"Traveling Without Moving"
No fun trips this week, just the day to day routine of a fruit farm that is stuck between the rapid pace of a growing season and the big exhale that signals the start of a little bit of down time. Perhaps as a way to look forward for me, I'm making "down time" the subject of this entry, since we're asked about it frequently.
So what does the farm, meaning "you guys", do in the winter? Well, the work doesn't really end, it's more the pace at which we work and the kind of work being done. There are a number of vital things that we must do every winter that we either can't do during the growing season or do not make time to do during our growing season. The first of which is tree pruning. Nearly all of our fruit trees are pruned every year. A few blocks of processing apples might only be pruned every other year, but it's likely going to be every single tree pruned every year. Most of our larger pruning jobs are handled by our dillegent harvesting crew who do a pretty good job of recieving instruction and pruning the trees the way we like them to be pruned. We pick and choose which crew would be right for which blocks based on their level of skill at the job. We, as farm managers, will cover the delicate jobs ourselves - younger trees, mostly. At its youngest stages, trees are less able to recover from a blotched pruning job, so we insure that this isn't the case by establishing the tree architecture ourselves. Furthermore, there's always a decent amount of machine shop work - patchy repairs that get "fixed", making new equipment, building projects, etc. that are good winter work. We'll be building a cold storage this winter which will be another huge asset for us.
Another significant thing is planning. Farmers know that there is no real point in having a "5 year plan" or something of that nature, because things will always come up, new opportunities arise, new regulations, changing markets etc. - it's a fruitless endeavor, so to speak. We do come together to talk about the general direction or general goals we have and do some nuts and bolts planning at least a year or two in advance - crops we'll grow, trees we'll plant and where, buildings/equipment that might need purchased etc.
Last, but not the least of which is attending meetings and staying on the cutting edge of research and marketing in our industry. We take this very seriously and devote a large amount of time to it. Just for example, meetings we'll currently plan on attending (without the aid of a calendar to catch the ones I can't remember now):
- Great Lakes Fruit Expo Conference, MI
- Mid Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Conference (State Hort. Assoc. of PA)
- Pennsylvania Assoc. for Sustainable Ag (PASA) Conference
- Adams County Fruit Growers Mtg
- P.R.O.F.I.T. PSU Organic Apple Research Update
- Intensive Fruit School PSU
Plus the likelihood of a good Ag Issues breakfast/Ag Innovations demonstration or two along the way, in addition to our frequent private meetings with our local PSU research/extension professionals, private business consultant, vendor meetings for markets, and marketing excursions. I'm hoping to catch FutureHarvest this year too. I don't bring this up as a testimony our devotion to growing - we hope that comes out in our products. It's just an illustration that our farm maybe isn't as different from where you work in a lot of ways that you maybe hadn't considered. The difference is, we do all of our travelling, meeting, and marketing seasonally - and why wouldn't we, we're a farm afterall!
And of course, we do find some time for rest and relaxation!
From Our Farm, to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! The Hooisers!
As we tarry on, drawing closer to our market finales, we're pleased to announce more bulk deals should you want to stock up to last through the offseason. The baseball offseason came too soon to Phillies and Yankee haters alike. As someone who's passion has been continuously crushed by this sports team, I urge all like-minded folks not to be bitter, enraged, or philosophically downtrodden. I've experienced all of these - it's really best to re-double the pride you have in your team since any person can be/likely is a Yankees fan. For the rest of us, there's pride in not being front runners or bandwagoners. Read on to check out some pics from an awesome orchard tour I attended Thursday in this week's Three Springs Market update.
Schedule - just 3 weeks remain!
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm now extended through Nov
Market Produce
- Honeycrisp - likely last call! Sorry!
- Gala - If we're out of Honeycrisp, Gala and the next five varieties should "take the edge off"
- Jonagold - My personal quasi Honeycrisp replacement
- Fuji - great storage apples if you need to stock up
- Staymen/Winesap - the tartest of the "pick 6" Honeycrisp subs
- Nittany - We've got big time Nittany pride this week!
- Mutsu - Big, sweet, tangy
- Golden Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - I think it's just one more week after this one
- Rome Beauty - pie makers delight
- Cameo - officially Ben's new favorite apple. Probably the only one I'm eating regularly right now
- Bartlett Pears - don't blink!
- Bosc Pears - sweeter yet, closest in texture to asian pears
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versatile for baked, fried, and mashed!
- Winter Squash - finally getting picked!!!!
"YGA Tour: Milburn Orchards and Adams County Nursery"
I'll cut to the chase on weekly specials and follow that up with my fun day on the road this week.
Starting this week and for the remainder of market season, you can take a case of any of our canned products home with you for a big bulk discount! Canned Peaches are available at $75/24 can case, a savings of 30% off our regular price. Apple Sauce is sold in cases of 12 jars for $35 bulk, a savings of 17%. Twelve jars of apple and pear butter at the same price gives you a 27% discount. We'd prefer these bulk sales be preordered by simply replying to this email or by contacting us through our website, though if you forget, it never hurts to ask at market. We can split up mixed cases of apple butter, if you wanted a few different recipes, mix in some pear butter too! Great gifts for the foodies and locavores on your shopping list!
Now, on to the tour! I'm very fortunate as a young person in the fruit business to be able to travel and network with an inspiring organization called the Mid Atlantic Young Growers Alliance. Those of you with whom I've spoken about my love of travelling have heard me talk about a trip we made to New Zealand in 2008 under the guidance of the awesome folks at Chesley Vegetable Farm in Smithsburg, MD. This past Thursday, our group of young growers travelled to a top drawer U-Pick and retail operation in Elkton, MD and to the production site of Adams County Nursery.
Nathan Milburn (pic, right) of Milburn Orchards is not only certain to blow you away with enthusiasm and honesty when you talk to him, he's also likely to downplay what a great grower he truly is. He and his father Evan, in addition to the numerous other family members operating the farm, farmstand, restaurant etc. have attracted an incredible following of loyal customers. In 2008, Evan and Nathan were honored as Apple Grower of the Year and having seen this farm, I can see the hard work they have both put into making Milburn Orchards what it is now. Definately a destination for pick-your-own folks.
From the PA/DE/MD tri-state area to a little south of Dover, DE our group of 20+ young growers and University personnel trekked to the sandy soils of the Adams County Nursery Delaware production site to see where and how the trees we plant are grown. The Baugher Family (pictured below John, Jen Baugher Snavely - 3Springs alum!) has owned and operated their commerical tree fruit nursery since 1905. It's digging season at the nursery and we were there to see the trees being dug up, cleaned, wetted down and stacked by the thousands on wagons (pic) and put into storage until we can plant them this spring. At a mere eighteen inches between trees and only "20-couple" (pardon my local vernacular) between rows, they're growing over 8,000 trees in every acre (production orchards are between 110 - 600 trees per acre on the east coast, approximately). Very neat for me to check out how all this is done. 
From Our Farm, to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! The Buckeyes!
So, it was brought to my attention that I neglected to include Chase Utley, hero of Game 1, in this year's Apple Lineup. Now, I could sit here and try to come up with excuses or try to explain how this happened but I won't. It's unacceptable. Heck, even the New York press has gone out of its way to honor the guy. To try to make up for my error, I'm going to go to the heartfelt, albeit completely unoriginal, lengths of writing him a creepy love letter:
Dear Chase,
I feel like I can call you Chase because... its your name. Chase Utley, you're a guy who's really good at baseball. You play baseball better than... well, everyone I know! Awesome! Someday, I would like to sell you some fruit. I think that maybe you would like the fruit and in eating my fruit, nourish yourself to hit the ball even further and harder than you already do. You run fast, too. Maybe after you're done hitting mammoth home runs and running fast, we could get together and talk about fruit... and baseball, ya know - whatever. Because that's what friends do... when one's an awesome and fast baseball player with cool hair and the other friend grows fruit. I hope you write me back because you are like the Honeycrisp... of my heart.
Go Phils!
From Our Farm, to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Is it too much to ask for a little sun to go with this welcomed dry weather? Perhaps I should just be satisfied with seasonal temps and parking our canoes at this point. Apple harvest is drawing to a close here at Three Springs and we're looking forward to finally getting out from under that sizeable load. If I can get into town tomorrow, I'll be sure to grab some batteries and take some pictures because it's too pretty this fall to have no pictures in this week's Three Springs market update.
Schedule - just 4 weeks remain!
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm now extended through Nov
- Wednesday - Wakefield Park Farmers Market 2pm-6pm
Market Produce
- Honeycrisp - the situation is more dire than my early prognosis. Barely 2 weeks of Honeycrisp left.
- Gala - sweet and crunchy as always
- Jonagold - holdin' on strong
- Fuji - great apples if you want to take advantage of the crate deal
- Staymen/Winesap - likewise these yummy tart apples
- Nittany - apologies for loosing these in the shuffle - they're back again this week
- Mutsu - Big, sweet, tangy
- Golden Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - two weeks left to get your Empires!
- Rome Beauty - pie makers delight
- Cameo - the more I snack, the more quickly I put them up there with Jonagold
- Bartlett Pears - supplies getting a little shorter now
- Bosc Pears - sweeter yet, closest in texture to asian pears
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versatile for baked, fried, and mashed!
- Winter Squash - finally getting picked!!!! Butternuts and Queensland Blue Pie Pumpkins are finally here!
"Leaves That Are Green Turn To Brown"
Regular blog readers going back to previous years will remember that I tend to listen to a lot more Simon and Garfunkle in the autumn weeks leading up to winter. A lot of those tunes have a really autumn feel to them.
Well, it's been a long, hard couple of weeks now as I recounted to Lem, our "cider man" today. He's finally into "exhale" mode and I see I've got about 5-10 days left before I'm able to exhale and step back from the madness a little bit. I've started getting a little bit zany at market lately so by all means laugh at me because I know I'm laughing at myself already.
Thanks to all of our customers who shop with us at Wakefield. I know it stinks, your market it is the first on our roster to close for the season. However, I know a lot of you folks stocked up on the crate deal and are all set 'till May. Hopefully it will sneak up on you all like I know it does each spring for me.
I'm still coming up with a costume for Harbor East this Saturday (yes, this means I'll be there!)... I'm open for suggestions, although, I'm really comin' down to the wire at this point. I wanted to be Capt. Crunch but I don't think they make sea captain costumes in that shade of blue.
Without wandering too far off topic, this cider batch we've got going tomorrow is one part Staymen, two parts mixed so I think this might be the best one yet. We'll see, but I'm definately anxious to try it. 'Till next time, folks!
From Our Farm, to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! The Wildcats!
Relief! Finally some good weather to follow up the misery that was last week! All the raw, rainy, coldness has been driven away and replaced by the awesome, seasonal temps that make fall so great! Add to that some spectacular foliage in our neck of the woods and we're smack dab in my favorite time of year. Sure we're busy with apples to the point of dizziness, sure - but it's football and apple cider, your favorite hoodie/sweater and some playoff baseball and this Three Springs Market update!
Schedule
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm now extended through Nov
- Wednesday - Wakefield Park Farmers Market 2pm-6pm last market this week, thanks to all of our great N'rn VA customers!
Market Produce
- Honeycrisp - still chugging along... might not make it to Thanksgiving though
- Gala - still a go-to option for lunches and sandwiches
- Jonagold - probably my second favorite next to Honeycrisp
- Fuji - The Fuji gap has been bridged! Eat up!
- Staymen/Winesap - One of those you can only find at your farmers market - very sought after fruits this time of year
- Cortland - last week for sure!
- Nittany - have that creamy sweetness, touch of tart flavor
- Mutsu - Big, sweet, tangy
- Golden Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - snappy little versitile apples
- Rome Beauty - pie makers delight
- Cameo - your favorite this past spring is back and fresh off the tree
- Bartlett Pears - still soft and sweet
- Bosc Pears - sweeter yet, closest in texture to asian pears
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versatile for baked, fried, and mashed!
- Pumpkins - just a few remain!
- Winter Squash - They're out there, but they're not getting picked
"Drying Out"
The coldy rainy week that was is finally over! Grey, raw, windy, and wet - frankly, I don't care to say another word about it!
Besides, it's been really nice out for a few days now - it's my favorite time of year. Put on your favorite hoodie/sweater because it doesn't get much better than this - that autumn crispness in the air. Before winter sets in, it's time to appreciate fall and all it offers - especially when the transition from summer to winter seems to be so short.
This week is the first week in a while where we might have fewer varieties than the week before. Earlier varieties that we don't grow en masse such as Smokehouse, Cortland, and Jonathan are either past their prime, all sold, or on their way out.
Fortunately, we're not going anywhere anytime soon! With the exception of Wakefield Park (fare the well until next year), we'll be attending all of our markets 'till the week before Thanksgiving with plenty of these fall staples you've enjoyed over the past few weeks. As we near the end of the season, don't hesitate to respond to this email and order a whole crate of one variety or another for a large apple pie/sauce/butter etc. project, or just for eating over the winter months. We try our best to cater to these special requests and should be able to handle most of them for most varieties. So long as the weather remains on our side, that is!
From Our Farm, to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! Michigan!
First off in the interest of full disclosure, the Wenk family are all lifelong Orioles fans... since birth! However, in the three years we've been doing farmers markets in Philadelphia, the hometown Phillies have won three consecutive NL East crowns, topping it off with a World Series Championship just last year. So you're probably thinking, They aren't seriously taking credit for the Phillies success are they? Of course we're not (we're not going to turn any down if you're willing to go there)... But! The previous two years we've toasted the Phillies by describing our apple varieties by the Phillies player they most resemble or which player comes to mind... or vice versa. This year will be no different. Since the Orioles have long punted on the idea of playing postseason baseball, we're pulling for the next nearest team to vanguish all other playoff opponents, most especially, the New York Yankees (who we hate passionately). So without further adieu, a tradition unlike any other pairing fruit and baseball, a goofy, cheesy, zaney look at your 2009 NLCS Champion Phillies... in apple varieties!
Honeycrisp - Ryan Howard, 1B - Your 2009 NLCS MVP is as vital to the Phils as the Honeycrisp are to our apple stand. They are our MVP and, like Ryan, are large in stature and come up clutch when you need an apple (or a timely three run HR in his case).
Gala - Shane Victorino, CF - Danke, Shane! What else do you want the guy to do? Hit for average? Hit for power? A little speed on the basepaths? Chase down balls in the gap? Just a great all around, reliable player much like Gala are a great go-to eating apple
Jonagold - Jayson Werth, RF - Huge season for Jayson, huge season for Jonagold. This was Werth's best year statiscally and this is the best crop of Jonagold we've had. They are large (see Werth, Jayson) and are a huge part of our apple cornucopia.
Fuji - Cliff Lee, SP - Fuji came to us from Japan. Cliff came to us from the Cleveland Indians. On arrival, we marvelled at the sweetness of both! What's more, whether you need eight shutout innings or crispness at room temperature for months after harvest, both Fuji and Cliff Lee can go the distance!
Staymen/Winesap - Carlos Ruiz, C - CHOOCH! There's something about a firm, tart apple that says "catcher" to me. Plus, Ruiz has set records for run production from the eighth spot in the order. Staymen also ripen late... eh? Works for me!
Cortland - Joe Blanton, P - Coming in at 250lbs in your media guide, Blanton is a pretty big guy serving a pretty big role in your playoff rotation. Between Pedro, A.J., and Blanton, skipper Charlie Manual can hand pick which starter is best suited for which matchup. These Cortland are also huge and versitile. Make them your starting salad apple or bring 'em out of the pen for a tasty homemade apple sauce!
Nittany - Pedro Feliz, 3B - It's easy to overlook Nittany, what with such delicious eating apples as Honeycrisp, Gala, Jonagold, and Fuji already lining the shelves. However, Gold Glove caliber defense and a few timely hits are not to be overlooked. Coming from Golden lineage (Golden Delicious, parent variety), Nittany, like Pedro Feliz, is not to be overlooked. Very vital part of any successful fruit stand/Championship baseball team.
Mutsu - Jimmy Rollins, SS - "J Roll" comes up huge when you need him and is noted for his speed on the bases... and also a great baserunning in general, for that matter. Mutsu comes off the tree huge every time! They just don't produce small fruit! And, due to their popularity, they're "going fast"! Same thing, right?!
Golden Delicious - Pedro Martinez, SP - There's this apple I know that is a delicious eating apple. It's been around a long time - been successful for many years yet, oddly, some people still take it for granted. They underestimate it because other versions of this apple are old and mushy. Guess the Dodgers won't make the same mistake with Pedro Martinez again, hmm?
Red Delicious - The Phanatic, mascot - Red Delicious are the same color as the Phillies uniforms.
Empire - Charlie Manual, "skipper" - Why is it geniuses from Bristol, CT think that anyone who talks with a southern accent is stupid, crotchedy or both. Charlie has led the Phillies to back to back National League pennants which hasn't happened since '95-'96! Wonder what these same folks would have to say if Charlie defeated their darlings in "The Evil Empire"? (Empire apples, while discovered and researched in New York, do not possess the same evil qualities as the presumed AL champion New York Yankees)
Rome Beauty - Paul Bako, C - Only so good for a "snacko", but terrific apples with which to Bako. (read: Bake-o... I know it's pronounced differently, Paul is a former Oriole afterall!)
Cameo - Ben Francisco, OF - Usually coming off the bench to start a rally from the pitcher's spot in the lineup, Francisco's cameo appearances can help the Phils start one of their legendary late inning rallies. When we need to rally in late apple season, the Cameo make an appearance to match Staymen as a dessert quality tart eating apple.
Bartlett Pears - Eric Bruntlett, IF - He swears up and down that these fruit are named after him, but I'm not buying it. Remember that time he recorded an unassisted triple play? That was pretty cool.
Bosc Pears - Matt Stairs, OF/PH - In case of emergency, use Pears.
Come on down! We're bringing Fuji and Staymen to market and we're coming down on the price of all 16 varieties of apples and two varieties of pearsat all of our markets starting this week. As always, you can fill a crate of apples (and pears) for $20, an absurd bargain! It's fall - time to take advantage of the peak of apple season! Cider is peaking now too as a little of all our varieties are joining in on the fun! All this and more in this week's market update!
Schedule
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm
- Wednesday - Wakefield Park Farmers Market 2pm-6pm only 2 left!
Market Produce
- Honeycrisp! - Still got 'em!
- Old Fashioned "Must Eat" Apple Cider - our award winning cider is chock full of Stayman and everything else! Should be dyn-o-mite!
- Jonagold - Second only to Honeycrisp
- Fuji - BAM! We're back in business. Nice looking crop of Fuji this year
- Stayman/Winesap- is probably the favorite apple of most fruitgrowers we know. It's tart and favorful; great for eating or baking
Smokehouse - Still going strong, tart apple fans
- Cortland - supplies dwindling!
Nittany - mention the PSU score (provided we win) and get a free apple! Offer good for the rest of the season!
- Rome - Pie makers rejoice!
- Mutsu - HUGE and yummy!
- Gold Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - a lot like Macintosh
- Jonathan - still the most underrated apple we grow! supplies dwindling
- Yellow Bartlett Pears - smooth and sweet
- Bosc Pears - firm and a little bit of grit to go with the sweetness!
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versatile for baked, fried, and mashed!
- Pumpkins - old fashioned Howdens for pies and jack-o-lanterns. Still working out the logistics of getting these hulking things to market (4-30 lbs/piece)
- Winter Squash - our mini acorns are ready, likewise dumpling and delicata squash. Still waiting on our butternuts and spaghetti squash!
"It's Coming Down"
We're down to the last 6 markets, everybody! Can you believe it? I cannot! Aint it funny, how time slips away?
As we march proudly towards the finish, we're going to start rolling out some very cool "customer appreciation-type" specials for everyone! We're starting this week by coming down $0.20/lb on apples across the board! So stock up and get creative! We've heard back from some customers using apples in pretty outstanding ways! Baking them with a little caramel liqueur, sandwiches - a little goat cheese or artisian cheese from some of our lovely neighbors (be sure to ask for recommendations, we've had and enjoyed them all at this point)! Expect some very nice potato deals in the coming weeks as well as we roll out our red and white spuds in our handy 7 lb. sacks! As I mentioned earlier, we'll also hook you up with a 1/2 bushel (approx. 25 lb.) for $20 from here 'till the end of the season. As we approach November, it'll be time to start thinking about email ordering a few crates in advance to get you through the offseason. Varieties like Fuji, Rome, York, and Staymen can often last months is somewhere as cool as your basement! Think of it, local, tasty, IPM apples that don't suck... at your disposal for months after the bad weather comes. It's a good thing!
Am I allowed to use that line?
From Our Farm to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! The Gophers!
Wild state of flux! No Harbor East on Saturday due to the Baltimore Marathon - substitute instead a special stand at the Kennett Square Farmer's Market as they celebrate autumn with their Fermentation Festival. How's that for timing? This disruption of my schedule makes for a very "succinct" weekly market update (check out new apple varieties below)!
Schedule
- Friday - Kennett Square Farmer's Market 2-6pm *Fermentation Festival*
- Saturday - Harbor East Farmers Market 8am-12noon (Baltimore Marathon - we'll see you the following week)
- Sunday - Headhouse Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Sunday - Greenbelt Farmers Market 10am-2pm
- Tuesday - Kenilworth Farmers Market 3:30-6:30pm
- Wednesday - Wakefield Park Farmers Market 2pm-6pm
Market Produce
- Honeycrisp! - it's "the cat's pajamas" of eating apples
- Old Fashioned "Must Eat" Apple Cider - our award winning cider is finally up to the top of my discerning tastes. This week, the cider is as good as I've learned to make it!
- Jonagold - Check these out!
- Fuji Gap! the wait lingers on - forecasting next week arrival!
- Smokehouse - tartish and yummy
- Cortland - If you like Mac - you'll never go back! Try one!
- Nittany - worthy of it's fine name (maybe I'm biased...) baking and snacking, very firm
- Rome - pie maker no.1! Pair with Golds and experience the best pie blend ever!
- Mutsu - similarly to Smokehouse fans, the people who like Mutsu really like Mutsu
- Gold Delicious - STILL NOT MUSHY!
- Red Delicious - sweet. red. apples
- Empire - sought after - featured in Parade magazine!
- Jonathan - still the most underrated apple we grow!
- Yellow Bartlett Pears - smooth and sweet
- Bosc Pears - firm and a little bit of grit to go with the sweetness!
- Onions - Only 'Candy' yellow remain
- Potatoes - 'Eva' is the white and 'Villetta Rose' is the red. Very versitile for baked, fried, and mashed!
- Pumpkins - old fashioned Howdens for pies and jack-o-lanterns. Still working out the logistics of getting these hulking things to market (4-30 lbs/piece)
- Winter Squash - our mini acorns are ready, likewise dumpling and delicata squash. Still waiting on our butternuts and spaghetti squash!
"I Need A Moment to Ferment"
We're pretty pumped about Kennett Square's First-Ever Fermentation Festival and our involvement in it. Me and my uncle John are homebrew/winemaking enthusiasts, making this festival right up our alley! Though we're still novices in this realm, we look forward to meeting some brewers and winemakers in Kennett Square in addition to some new customers in this beautiful old town (Mushroom Capital USA, if you weren't aware).
Because we are asked frequently, I'll pass along that our apple cider is 100% brewer/winemaker approved. While it's true you need to use unpasteurized cider to make hard cider and wine, UV pasteurized (our sterilization method) does not hinder the cider's capacity for fermentation. It's the best of both worlds! So if you're keen to try a batch (it's really simple) or have a friend or relative you know has experimented in the past, we've got you covered! Additional cider, should you need a lot, can always be ordered from us through this email or by our website in advance of your favorite farmers market. This goes the same for (nearly) anything we carry that you might require in bulk. We are here to serve you!
From Our Farm to Your Home,
Farmer Ben
Go! State! Beat! The ... Eastern Illinois "Somethings"... !