Headhouse
Hi, hey, and hello!
It’s the last day of April and looking mighty nice outside. We will have temps in the 70s over the next three days with thunderstorms possibly dampening our first day in Towson, MD. That’s right-we have our season kickoff tomorrow at The Shoppes at Kenilworth in Towson from 3:30 to 6:30 PM! It’s a lovely little market with phenomenal produce, delicious grass raised meats, herbs, flowers, and the tastiest treats by Ruth (our market neighbor) I have looked upon in my short and silly life.
The Kenilworth market runs from May 1 to the week of Thanksgiving in the parking lot of the Kenilworth Mall. I really like the feel of this market-the vendors are all friendly and enjoy good relationships. It has a small town feel. Dog and kid friendly-what a deal. But to top it all off, Atwater’s Bakery and Restaurant is nearby and makes use of the available produce every week! They incorporate the fresh finds into their menu and strive to accomplish this at their many locations. Since I can diminish the swell of my Black & White in mere seconds, and eat there almost weekly, I heartily encourage you to sample their wares when you pass through. They even have a bread stand at the market-it also appears at our Silver Spring, MD location, too! You can visit their website here: http://atwaters.biz/
One of our good friends and neighboring vendor is One Straw Farm and CSA. They should arrive at our market the second week of June and have a smorgasbord of options. Joan and Drew Norman work diligently to uphold their personal and professional standard of organic practices, and push that standard when they find innovative technology in the field. Ben speaks very highly of them and I am impressed with Joan’s tenacity and warmth every time I see her. Visit their site at: http://www.onestrawfarm.com/index.html
In other GREAT NEWS: We open our season at Headhouse in Philly this Sunday (May 6th) at 10am! It is a packed market with a long list of stellar vendors, a wide range of products, and a great downtown location. It’s a great place to shop for fruits, veggies, canned goods, flowers, pastries, and then eat at one of the food trucks/stands! It’s in the heart of historic Philly, with gorgeous brick houses leading out to the waterfront if you are the wandering type. This is Ben’s baby and a huge reason for him returning to the farm and starting these markets. It you want to catch a family affair, join him this Sunday and meet his charming mother, Emily, his soon-to-be brother in law, Russ, and family friend, Erica! The market hours are 10 AM to 2 PM, but the best produce is yours for the picking when you arrive at the START of market. Always keep this in mind at the peak of summer-all soft fleshed fruit should be snatched immediately so you can wash and cool it! We tried to ask our customers to bring Tupperware to market last year to store their berries…it works better than jostling around in the display cartons we use. I plan on writing a blog in the future about canning since it’s staging a comeback among the younger generation-YAY! Even washing and freezing your fruits when you get home increases its staying power and offers you tasty summery options in the dark days of winter.
Alrighty then-we covered this week’s new markets but what about the second week of May? I have answers! May 9th marks the start of Farmers on the Square OUTSIDE market in Carlisle, PA. Running from 3 PM to 7 PM, we will be taking over the front courtyard of the gorgeous stone Presbyterian Church on Carlisle Square. Very kid friendly, with activities for them and space to run around, parents, grandparents, and young alike can browse to their heart’s content. We have the Dickenson Farm, Pretty Meadow, Roots (cut flowers), pastries, chicken and eggs and jars of goodies from the Otterbeins, and several more vendors! This market runs outside until late October and then moves inside on the Dickenson Campus.
If you like the vendors and feel of Farmers on the Square, then please come out this Thursday (May 3rd) to the Farmers on Walnut interest meeting held at the Cleve J. Fredricksen Library in Camp Hill at 6:30 PM. We have been pursuing a market at the Library in Camp Hill with resistance from a small number of residents, who believe that we will bring large crowds, large farm equipment, and a lack of safety to their quiet neighborhood. We have been feverishly working to dispel these fears (to limited success) at monthly Council meetings, but if you haven’t made it before, please attend the Library meeting to get a general idea of what is offered at a farmer’s market, chip in your opinion, and support fresh local produce in Camp Hill in a safe neighborhood. We also need experience farmer market attendees to speak up because some people are saying that baked goods and other non-fresh items have “no place or purpose” at a farmers market. Say whaaaaaaaaat??! Please visit the Library website for more info and the address: http://www.cumberlandcountylibraries.org/index.aspx?nid=88
If you live in the Camp Hill area and would like to attend a Thursday market from 3 PM to 7 PM from May 24th until November, show up and speak up! Our main goal is for a market to happen in Camp Hill, with baked goods and a variety of vendors. Please help us achieve that goal-one that adds to the health and happiness of Camp Hill’s residents.
On May 12th, we begin our weekly trip to Fell’s Point in Baltimore, MD! It’s the 2nd annual Fell’s Point Farmer’s Market running 7:30 AM to Noon , May through October! You can visit their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fells-Point-Farmers-Market/177166742337662 to see the impressive vendor list, check out nearby restaurants (it’s so worth it), and see the gorgeous view of the waterfront! Our stand is run by Josh, a long term stellar employee, Shane (2 years of air-guitar EXCELLENCE), and Pam (a very lovely lady poached from our Towson market). Check out the good looks and better tasting produce in two weeks! Extra incentive: the genius popcorn vendor from Silver Spring (Capitol Kettle Corn) will be at the market with his amazing Ethiopian mix. I ate 2 bags. 2 BAGS. I haven’t eaten popcorn like that since the Lion King, folks. I ate it. All. Ohhh, drool.
If that doesn’t bring you in, then I’m out of ideas. Wait, no I’m not. Because it’s Apple Blossom Festival on May 5th and 6th!!! If you love apples and supporting the industry that works hard to provide tasty and beautiful apples, join us at the South Mountain Fairgrounds this weekend to eat too many delicious items, shop handcrafted gifts for Mama, watch clogging, local musicians (BLUEGRASS-YES.), and cheer on the Apple Queen candidates. Shout out to the Baugher clan-OO Yeah! For a full list of vendors, activities, and a description of our orchard tours, go to the festival site: http://www.appleblossomfestival.info/. Dave Wenk will be hosting Orchard tours on Sunday, I shall be there helping with my pet project, Crunch Quest, and if those aren’t great reasons to attend-besides oodles of free parking, I am at a loss. If you have kids or just love scavenger hunts, come out for Crunch Quest-a scavenger hunt for all ages-but particularly those 4-11-and learn about Apples For Health. This is the second year that the Adams County Fruit Growers Associate, Penn State Extension, and WellSpan have partnered to design and host this activity for children to become more aware about apples and their own health. I had the lucky opportunity to design (with many necessary and appreciated suggestions) the Quest and I sure as heck hope that it learns ya good.
Well. That was a lot of info and I bet your reeling. No? Well then, aren’t you a smarty?
Yes you sure are-because you’re following a farm blog and becoming more informed about what you eat and how it gets to your table. Good for you! Now get out there, conquer the day and the carp, and attend some community festivities this weekend!
Toodles!
Alana
The year 2010 was one for the books! It had its ups and downs and tested our mettle in a lot of ways, but we're all the better for it. There was plenty doing on the farm, where a new building project, drought conditions, lightning strikes, and stink bugs kept us manically occupied. Market wise, we tried new market endeavors at Silver Spring, H&HS building, Crossroads, Greensgrow Farms, and, briefly, The Piazza at Schmidts (was that all?). In other news, our apples were eaten by the President of the United States of America and we became our local industry's first Food Alliance certified fruit farm. Relive all this and more in our Blog Highlights 2010, farm photos, and press clippings from 2010. We'll also update you on our offseason and have a peek ahead into what to expect in 2011. Enjoy!
The Year in Blog!
Crunchberry and Schnozberry Planting Season
Random 3Springs YouTube sightings!
Growing Greener: Lower Toxicity Materials
FAQ: Clingstone vs. Freestone peaches
FAQ: Are White Peaches Sweeter?
The Drought Breaks, Hear The People Singing!
Oddball Apple & Tomato Anomolies
The History of the much-malligned Red Delicious <check out a commenter from Spain!>
Barack Obama: Leader of the Free World, Eater of our Fruit
Ask A Grower: What's a cider, what's a juice?
2010 Baltimore Orioles Apple Lineup
2010 NL East Champion Philadelphia Phillies Apple Lineup
Three Springs' 1st PASA Field Day
The Year in Pictures
- Yfrog acct twitter photos - I see concerts in the offseason!
- plixi pics including apple anomolies and the famous US-15 northbound Zebra!
- PASA's slideshow of our Field Day
- H&HS Market open slideshow from H&HS - Ben meets Sect. Sebelius
Press Clippings
- Several plugs on All We Can Eat farmers market report in Washington Post - great for DC foodies
- FarmPlate had a nice write-up on Headhouse Farmers Market
- Our Food Alliance press release gets picked up by Food CEO and Philly Food Feed
- Metro Philly on Offseason Activities
- Talkin' Social Media with Greensgrow on Farm to Table
Offseason review: Nov. '10 - April '11
We take offseason education very seriously around here, as this story suggests. This year, I wanted to spend some time quantifying that fact. Below is a listing of all the leadership meetings and educations meetings we attended this offseason between Thanksgiving and the first Silver Spring Market.
- Haygrove High Tunnels Mtg, Dec (Lancaster)
- Future Harvest CASA, Reisterstown (presenter)
- PA Farm Show (54 man hours - Harrisburg)
- 3 Vendors Meetings for Farmers Markets
- FarmCredit Ag Business Class - Webinar, 3 meetings
- State Horticultural Assoc. of PA - 5 meetings combined
- Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Convention (Hershey - 3 days, presenter)
- Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (State College, 2 days, presenter)
- Adams County Fruit Growers Association Ann'l Meeting
- County Ag Summit
- half day meeting with our tree fruit extension educators (stink bug preparedness)
- Pennsylvania Apple Marketing Board (2 mtgs)
- Wholesale Marketing Seminar (Syria, VA)
We spend a lot of time fixing equipment as well, in addition to long term business planning (including planting plans) and getting our signs ready for market season - all those details. There's all kinds of training and permits to achieve before markets start as well. We do have time for leisure as well including events like Fair Food Philly's "Brewer's Plate" and the occasional music performance in the area. I like to play a little music too - I crammed over 20 performances into this little offseason window and visited some out of town friends.
Looking Ahead to 2011
A formal announcement of our market schedule for 2011 is forthcoming, but I'm willing to get the details out to those folks brave enough to keep reading this far down! We were doing too much last year, so there are a few changes. Here's the preliminary plan:
- FRESHFarm's Silver Spring Market - back starting April 2nd (at the Panera location) and staying every week 'till Christmas
- Headhouse Farmers Market - back and better than ever! Market starts May 1.
- Kenilworth Farmers Market - back at a new, larger area of the same parking lot! Come "down the hill" from Stebbins to shop with us starting May 3rd!
- Greenbelt Farmers Market - back in our corner stand again in 2011! Opening week is May 8th!
- FRESHFarm's Health & Human Services Market - back with new times! Join us every Wednesday from 11am to 2pm over your lunch break under our new, shady tent! Market starts May 18th!
We made the decision not to return to Crossroads Farmers Market and Greensgrow Farmers Market in 2011. We like those markets a lot and we especially like the people operating them who are top notch and true, geniune local food advocates. It was a hard decision for us to make, but we felt we were over-extended and needing to cut back on our markets for this year. PLEASE, if you were a customer there, please continue to patronize these markets because they are terrific and run by some pretty special people. There are a couple other options we are considering for markets in 2011, but what you see could be what you get for us this year.
And with that, we're only 12 days away from the first Silver Spring market of 2011! It's about that time, folks!