Winter Tomatoes and “Stuff”

Good afternoon friends,

It’s time for a quick blog post update. The seasons are changing and so our schedule on the farm is changing as well…

Here is what we want to cover in this post.

• End of the Fall Season
• Start of “Winter Hours”
• What’s Available during “Winter Hours”
  • Vine ripened Tomatoes
  • Local Apples
  • Jams/Jellies
  • Some baked stuff
  • Baking pumpkins for a few weeks
• Foreshadowing of the next season – Spring

Fall Season is Over

First off thanks to each of you who helped make our Fall Corn Maze and Pumpkin season a success. This year was the second year we’ve done the Corn Maze and third for the Pumpkin Patch, so we are still trying to figure out exactly how all its supposed to go.

At the end of the day though we are keenly aware of the fact that running a local family farm in a manner that is profitable depends a lot on our customers. Without each of you the equation doesn’t work.

So thanks for your support. It means a lot to us.

Winter Hours Have Started

One of the most difficult things for us to communicate clearly is how our hours change here on the farm. We continue to try to do better at communicating that… hopefully this will help.

From the end of our Fall Season till the start of Strawberry Season next Spring, the Farm Store is open for what we call “Winter Hours.” What does that mean exactly? Winter Hours are as follows…

• Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. till 5:30 p.m.
• Saturday 10 a.m. till 2:00 p.m.
• Closed Sunday and Monday

If you plan to come out to the farm to pick up some of the following goods, we’d really appreciate if you try to come during our scheduled hours of business. We do live here on the farm but having set hours allows us to focus on things other than the Farm Store outside of these hours.

Of course the biggest thing you are going to want to know is what exactly is going to be available when you come out to the farm during the winter hours. Let’s talk a bit about that.

• Vine Ripened Tomatoes – We’ve started to pick a few hydroponic tomatoes from our greenhouses already. In the next couple of weeks we should see a larger quantity starting to ripen. We should have tomatoes from now until next summer when field and garden tomatoes start to come in.

• Local Apples – Thinking about baking an Apple pie? We have you covered! Right now we have Gala, Golden Delicious, Fuji, and Pink Lady apples available at the Farm Store. Our apples come from Seamans’ Orchard near Crabtree Falls. (We also have some Apple Cider for the next week or so – while supplies last.)

• Jams/Jellies – One of the main stays of Farm Store has been the Jams and Jellies. If you are looking for something special for a gift or just need something to spread on your buttered toast each morning, I bet there is something here that would fit your needs. 🙂
• Some baked stuff – While we won’t have as many baked items available as we did during the Fall Season, we will generally have Whoopie Pies and some Sweet breads available. If you need something in particular you can give mom (Barbara) a call (434)-332-6657.

• Baking pumpkins for all of your holiday baking needs – There were quite a few really good baking pumpkins left at the end of last week. We will have those available as well for the next couple of weeks.

A Bit About Spring?

Finally let’s talk just a bit about what the Spring looks like from here. The big product of course will be our Pick Your Own Strawberries.

We’ve planted all the strawberries (actually finished a month and a half ago or so) and are now keeping them watered and watching them grow.

Of course its a bit difficult to predict what exactly the Winter will bring but from the look of things the plants are doing their part and putting down roots and developing well.

If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for our email newsletter (easiest place to do it is on the home page of our website) and we will be sure to let you know about the changes in the seasons.

Thanks everyone!