A few things coming up on us quickly that warrant a little attention:

First, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to speak about one of my favorite subjects: apple cider.  The Chemical Heritage Foundation, located at 315 Chestnut Street in Center City Philadelphia was kind enough to ask me to provide an informative presentation on the making of apple cider, it's history, origins, and everything else related to this celebrated beverage.  The event runs between the hours of 5-8pm and is open and free to the public.  Samples will be handed out featuring cider pressed that very morning so come by and learn how this stuff is made!

Secondly, we're very proud to contribute to this year's Farmland Feast Online Auction, benefitting FRESHFarm Markets.  As many of you know, FRESHFarm maintains and operates farmers markets in the DC/MD area including two of the markets we attend.  They also operate several other charitable programs benefitting both local agriculture and the communities we, as local producers, serve.  In order to operate and maintain these programs, they depend on the charitable gifts of folks who are behind the local food movement and envision a better community in urban areas through local agriculture.  If this sounds like you, we've provided a great way to contribute - a weekend travel package to nearby historic Gettysburg that includes a personalized, private tour of our farm, two nights accomodations at the Historic Gettysburg Hotel, and an evening of dinner and music provided by me, Farmer Ben, and his Garryowen Irish Pub jam night brethren.  Bids for this experience can be made at this website and I'm putting my reputation as a farmer and performer on the line to assure you, you'll get your money's worth out of this weekend!  Thanks for your support!

UPDATE MAY 26TH!

The PASA Field day at Three Springs June 1 has been cancelled!  Apparently all our fellow PASA farmers are as busy and behind as we are as a result of excessive rains.  Keep in tune with us for new tour opportunities (and I'm not just blowin' smoke here)!

Three Springs Fruit Farm and the Wenk family are excited to host our second PASA Field Day Wednesday June 1st!  From their site: 

Join PASA, Three Springs Fruit Farm and Penn State University‘s Fruit Research and Extension Center to talk stink bugs, pollinators and beneficial insects. In 2009 & 2010, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) significantly damaged many fruit and vegetable crops in Pennsylvania in spite of both biological and chemical control efforts. As far as researchers know, there are about 100 species of stink bugs present in PA, many of which are native, beneficial species. While some stink bugs are pests, in well functioning fruit systems, most do not pose a serious threat. The BMSB, however, is an exotic, invasive species that has the potential to destroy crops and disrupt integrated pest management (IPM) programs in fruit operations.

Dr. David Biddinger and Dr. Greg Krawczyk will discuss pollinators and beneficial insects in fruit systems, the current research on the BMSB’s life cycle and its presence as an invasive species in fruit systems. We will discuss biological and chemical control methods that are being researched and utilized, as well as potential impacts of some proposed chemical controls on biological control programs. Attention will be paid to considerations for short and long-term financial and environmental sustainability in stink bug control. Throughout the day, discussions will center around biological controls, including beneficial insects and pollinators, and IPM strategies for fruit operations.

Held in collaboration with Penn State University; funds provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Region III).

To view all the details and sign up to reserve your spot, please refer to this website.  We look forward to seeing you all there!

PASA & Three Springs Fruit Farm team up for a Farm Tour and Q&A session about Food Alliance Certification!

Click to register for our Nov. 10th Farm Tour!

We get asked all the time "can we come out to the farm"?  "Can we pick your own at your farm"?  First of all, we're very flattered and we appreciate your interest.  We're still new at the farmers market game and we're not trying to bite off more than we can chew.  However, it did occur to me that it might be nice to invite all of our awesome customers out for a yearly tour - that folks would appreciate seeing exactly where their food comes from.  Already having that notion in my head, when we were honored with the opportunity to host a PASA Field Day on our farm I thought it would be a great chance to invite everyone out, see how things went and see if it's something folks would be into.  In the the case of this tour, your $25 registration fee will support one of the landmark Local & Sustainable Food Advocacy groups on the whole East Coast, PASA.  They are the voice of so many small, family-owned farms in the Mid-Atlantic and they host a terrific annual conference that I've attended regularly since starting our farmers market venture.  I hope you'll consider joining us on this tour.  It's catered by some great local food purveyors in our backyard, PLUS... by attending, you'll get an awesome, behind the scenes glimpse into the new and exciting crops you can expect to see at farmers markets in the future, such as the mysterious cruchberries and schnozberries of blogs past!  Please comment or email with any questions about this fun day in rural Adams County!