New @ 95: Volante’s New Farm Kitchen: Grow It, Cook It, Live It!

By Todd:

Todd, in his new kitchen, trying to see where all his new toys will fit. Like Volante's he thinks big!

Hello loyal readers.   My name is Todd Heberlein and I am the new Chef at Volante Farms. I’ve been cooking for just over 20 years, with the last 9 at Wilson Farm in Lexington.  I have been lucky enough to experience so many great people, kitchens, and meals, from cooking for the Emmys to cooking for my family. And all of this has led me here, to 292 Forest Street.

Since the beginning of my career, I have gravitated towards kitchens that focused on using fresh ingredients.  I  just don’t think I realized it at the time.  Cutting my culinary teeth in some great restaurants in California, I saw menus change daily.  If a farmer cut a new crop or the fisherman had a new catch, it was brought to the kitchen with great honor.  As time went on, this seemed to be the right way to cook to me:  using fresh, local food, seasonally.  I even started my own gardens so I could enjoy the freshest ingredients when I cooked at home. I never would have guessed that when I was buying plants at Volante’s for my garden 10 years ago that I would become the chef.   Now, as I enter my 10^thyear of being a chef on a farm, I know I have found my calling and at Volante’s, a home.

The Farm Kitchen is at the end of the new Farmstand, on the Central Avenue side of the building right under the Flag, for those of you making a beeline for the lunchtime rush.

Prepared Foods

As I sit here over my shiny box (that’s what I call my computer.  Hey, I belong behind a stove, not a desk), my mind wanders to the possibilities ahead of me.  Every edible crop grown here will pass through the kitchen at one point or another.  I’m like a kid in a candy shop!  This means that you, o’loyal patron, will have many ways to enjoy some of the best produce in New England.  You’ll see dishes like Sweet Pea Ravioli with Spring Vegetables, Southwestern Corn Chowder, Heirloom Tomato Flatbread with Arugula Pesto, and Roasted Squash with Chestnuts and Caramelized onions, just to name a few.  Each season will bring new inspiration. And just to tempt your taste buds, I plan on spending time sampling these new dishes so you get familiar with our prepared foods.  But I won’t stop there!  Down the road we will provide recipes of our new dishes so you can try them out on your own.  We want you to enjoy our produce whether you cook it or you let us do it for you.

Sandwich Shop

This is the deli case, soon to be home to tasty meats, cheeses and more of your lunch and dinner time favorites. Just a few days and wires separate us now.

Looking for a great new deli and sandwich shop?  Here we are!  Not only will we carry everyone’s favorite, Boar’s Head meats and cheeses, but we will have a fantastic variety of Italian meats.  We took on the daunting task of finding the best meats we could (ok, we loved every slice of it!) so you have plenty to choose from.  This leads us to sandwiches, which are Steve’s real passion.  We have come up with our list of sandwiches, our “Farm Standards”, and we think you will easily find your own favorite.  Want to make up your own favorite?  We will have a condiment list like no one else around.  Who else can say they are using their own produce to offer you new ways to enjoy your lunch?  And when we start our sandwich specials, be ready.  We will dip into the same inspiration well to offer you local Beef Bulgogi with our own Brussel Sprout Kim Chi and Garam Masala Spiced Greens with Pumpkin Hummus on Warm Naan.  Just want a simple turkey sandwich?  Our pleasure.

Salads

Any one of these dozen types of lettuce might show up in your salad in any given day, it all depends on having the best of the best available as usual, but now ready to eat as well!

“Ok” you say, “But what if I want a salad”? So glad you asked. Tired of the same old packaged salads?  Questioning the freshness of the good old salad bar?  Have we got a change for you!  Introducing our build your own salad bar!  We will have a selection of our favorites for you to choose from, but that’s just the beginning.  You can come up to the salad bar and ask our salad whiz to make something really exciting from the large list of changing ingredients.  Like I learned so many years ago in restaurants, a daily changing menu focusing on what’s best that day will yield the best results.  Lettuces and other vegetables could change daily.   If Lee brings in some beets one morning, they will be an option for you that day.  If Ryan brings in the first-pick of green beans, well, you get the picture.  And no processed dressings here with hard-to-pronounce ingredients.  We will make them all from scratch.  “But what will happen during the lean winter months?” you ask.  We are dedicated to bringing you the best of what’s available then too.

Bakery

Are you ready for the bakery?  Yeah, me too.  Don’t you just love the smell of freshly baked bread?  What about the unmistakable sound of breaking off a piece of warm bread?  There is nothing like it.  We will be bringing in some of the best bakeries around to offer a little something for everyone.  Got a sweet tooth (come on, don’t we all)?  We have eaten cookie after cookie and pie after pie (at this point, you can tell we love our job) to procure treats to tempt even the finest palette. Gluten-free and vegan goodies will be available as well.  Once we have our feet wet, we will be offering our own selection of baked goods to herald in the glorious spring, summer, and fall bounty that New England has to give.  Think Rhubarb and Lavender Bread Pudding, Peach and Blueberry Tarts, and Spiced Pear Cakes.  I can’t wait!

Sunnycrest Orchard's peaches will hopefully make their way into one of the bakery's treats this summer. We would show you some of the dozens of pastries we have already decided to carry from local bakeries, but unfortunately none lasted long enough to be photographed.

Aside from all of this, we still have a long list of goals to accomplish.  To help to get to know you, I will be doing sampling and cooking demos in the store.  From there we will start doing cooking classes, to give you some ideas on how to use our great produce. Finally, something near and dear to my heart: dinners in the field. We will create a menu using what is at its peak in the fields while you sit at elegant tables right at the center of it all.  This is truly a great way to enjoy local at its core.  Stay tuned for more information on all of these events.  Who knows, maybe we will even ask some local chefs to have a friendly round of “Iron Chef” using a basket of our produce!  Let us know what you think.

Thank you, weary reader, for making it this far.  Who would have thought a chef was so full of hot air! Now I must ask of you one favor: please do not compare us to any supermarket or anything else remotely similar. We are truly unique and have so much more to offer.  This family is committed to making your visit here a memorable experience, which is why I am proud to be here.  Think of me as your personal chef, Needham.  Need help with dinner?  Head to the prepared food case.  Have a cooking question?  Come to our open kitchen and ask me.  Want to know about upcoming new dishes? Just ask, that’s why I’m here.  I’m ready to get cooking!

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, so let’s get started!

Next Week, The Grand Opening

New @ 95: Meat, Cheese, and More for the Locavore

New @ 95: Week 7, Meat, Cheese, and More for the Locavore, or

Steve has an uncomfortable discussion with kitchen appliances.

If you hadn’t noticed, we’re big on local. Obsessive really. This obsession has always meant that from the moment you walk onto our farm, you’re confronted with a selection of products hand-picked to be the best of the best, the most local of the local. In the old farmstand (R.I.P.) this local theme was not forgotten in the modest three-door refrigerator that would purr away on the hot summer days, keeping fresh a small amount of marinated steak tips from Malden, jersey cow milk from Lee, dips from Concord, and a couple other heat-shy local items. In spite of the attention so many of you gave our humble refrigerator, it complained of a persistent loneliness for several years. Eager to solve the problem, we adopted a small freezer to cheer up our sad three-door (and also to fill with that delicious local ice cream, gelato, and pie), but this proved unsatisfactory.

“I want more!” it cried.

“But how much more!?” I cried back at the inanimate object, much to the chagrin of my sane co-workers.

“Thirty-four feet more!”

“Wow seriously? That’s a really specific request coming from a fridge…”

As one of the area's first sellers of High Lawn Milk from all Jersey cows in Lee, MA, we are thrilled to be offering their outstanding products in the new stand as well.

Long story short we gave in, and with a planned 34 feet of refrigerated display we had to come up with some way to fill it while staying true to our local roots. Good news: we did just that. We’ve made it nearly impossible for you to glance at the case and not end up leaving with something locally produced. Don’t worry though, we’ve kept all the old offerings too (as per the three-door’s request).

Robinson Family Farm is going to provide us with their excellent artisanal cheese direct from Hardwick, MA along with many other local cheese makers.

For starters, we’ve got milk. Were carrying High Lawn’s incredible all-jersey milk from Lee, alongside Shaw Farm’s delicious organic milk from Dracut. So close you can hear the cows moo…among other things. Moving through the list of bovine bliss we have our expanded cheese lineup. In addition to Mozzarella House out of Everett and their unbeatable products, we’re going to showcase cheese from Jasper Hill, Blue Ledge, Vermont Creamery (all from Vermont), Robinson Family Farm, Berkshire Farms, and Westfield Creamery (all from Massachusetts) to name a few. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t find a genuine parmigiano reggiano produced in New England (go figure) so you’ll have to settle for the best Italian cheese we’ve ever eaten that comes straight from the homeland (so sorry). You can tell us yourselves how much you like it during our grand opening when we’ll be sampling out all of this stuff by the wheel-full.

Be an instant gourmet by treating your guests to these decadent dips and spreads from To Die For.

For those of you who can’t get enough of those lovely dips from our friends at To Die For, or those addictive marinated meats from Dom’s, you’ll be happy to know that with all of this new space we will be able to carry an even wider selection and variety, which means no more high-speed shopping cart showdowns over the last of tub of mango chutney (see? It’s a safety thing too).

In the rest of the space, it starts to get really exciting. We’ve gotten together with the folks at Hillcrest Farm in Auburn (some of you may know it as “The Farmers Daughter”) to bring you a selection of locally raised beef available in our freezer. It’s amazing how much better beef tastes when it’s free of antibiotics, hormones, and additives. It’s really like a whole new food.

Over in the refrigerator you’ll find individual cuts of meat from Aspen Ridge, a humane, all natural, 100% Angus beef brand, and Brandt Beef, which is the best darn steak we’ve had in a long time. For those of you who don’t eat red meat seven days a week we have whole and portioned chickens from Misty Knoll (New Haven, VT), which might be the best tasting meat we sell. But then there’s the pork from American Homestead that apparently tastes like pork used to. I haven’t been around long enough to know what this means, or what it was like to walk up hill to school both ways, but I do know that it’s really good pork. It’s also the same pork used to make Bianco Sausages (also in our case) which is a very happy coincidence. For the local pork option we’ve got hog from Brambly Farm in Norfolk, MA, and much like the Hillcrest beef, this product comes from very happy animals who live right next door. Dig the oink.

This lovely pastured pig from Brambly Farms in nearby Norfolk MA is just one of the many options in tasty, local, and responsible meat options available at our new Farmstand.

If you find yourself stuck walking up and down the refrigerated aisle, drooling over the aforementioned spread, but wondering where you can find yourself a turkey and local eggs we will point you down the road to our friends at Owens poultry farm. If you find yourself out of time to make a meal for the evening, or just don’t feel like cooking, then we will happily point you to the vast selection of prepared foods down at the end of our refrigerated case. We figured the best way to welcome aboard our new chef Todd Heberlein, who some of you may know from Wilson’s Farm over in Lexington, was to give him ample space to prove his talents as a farm savvy, culinary guru. I don’t want to spoil next week’s blog post (which will be written by the man in the chef coat), but the menu is chock full of incredibly appealing items that are sure to become a staple on your kitchen table.

Consider this tour a brief one. I have tried to mention all of the items that are of significant interest but more often than not I get carried away thinking about all the great things that can be done with all of the local products we are going to have for you all, and end up missing something that you’ll just end up discovering yourself. I wasn’t kidding when I said we were obsessive about this stuff, and I sincerely can’t wait to open the front doors of our new farmstand for the first time and blow you away. This stuff is great and we really can’t wait for you all to try it.

See you in two weeks!

Next week: Our Farm Kitchen, inside the menu of the new kitchen, deli and bakery.

Spring is a week away and opening day just a bit further,

and the place is starting to pop with life and color. While we have been updating you on our past, present, and future in our New @ 95 series the last several weeks, Spring at the farm has been coming along with speed.

Geraniums now fill an entire bay of the greenhouse, ready to be stalwart garden performers in just a month or so.

The greenhouses are about half full. Pansies and violas are looking lush and starting to color up. The greenhouse crew has been transplanting impatiens, geraniums, and begonias this week and seeding peppers and eggplant. Most of our early spring hangers are planted and starting to branch out.

You might have noticed some green shoots popping up around your yard, crocuses are blooming around Needham now, and if you were able to plant some in the fall you might see the fruits of your labor soon. Or even better you took advantage of the trendy late fall pansy crop and put some Snow Angel pansies in your yard. With the mild weather I’ve had blooms straight through the winter at my house, though nothing as vibrant as the one here on the left.

Our custom-made weather vane is now adorning the farmstand cupola.

 

The new farmstand is also coming together. We have slated March 31st as opening day, and it seems like we will be in right in the nick of time. This week we have taken advantage of the great weather and finished off some of the landscaping around the new building. filling planters with arborvitae and planting trees around the parking lot, which also got a fresh striping today. The gardens are getting a brand new irrigation system and a lot more lighting as part of the renovation too.

We have been moving in freezers, refrigerator cases, ovens, salad stations, and ice cream chests all week and starting to get a feel for the layout while finishing touches to the lighting and HVAC systems go on overhead. It is getting down to the details very quickly, with a chalkboard for the deli and tables and chairs arriving this week.

Several truckloads of refrigerator chests arrived this week, ready to cool down local meat, cheese, ice cream and more!

Speaking of the details, we should have a sneak peek at the menu very soon. Stay tuned here for that and more on other exciting new products soon to be available.

Don’t forget to follow our progress a little more closely you can catch us on Twitter @volantefarms, and get to know our new chef @VolanteFarmChef as he develops a whole new side to the farm you  love.

A bright bit of Guara on a foggy morning, heralding blossoms and butterflies to come.

 

 

 

 

New @ 95: Keeping it Local

New @ 95, week 6: Keeping it local

Being a family-owned farm in Massachusetts, it has always been important for us to offer our community the freshest local produce on a daily basis. At times when the weather cooperates in the summer and fall, this task is easier. However, when poor weather, pests, or seasonal factors get in the way, accessing the best local products can become quite tricky. Through the nearly 100 years we’ve been in business, we’ve been fortunate enough to build some great relationships with many local partners, and we’re happy to share them with you. Whether we’re selling our homegrown produce to restaurants, purchasing other farmers’ produce, or we’re deciding which grocery products to carry, we’re constantly thinking about where the food is coming from and when that food was picked or packaged.

Stone Hearth Pizza Cooking Demo, Summer 2011

Dining Locally

We work with a wonderful lineup of restaurants here in Needham. We sell our homegrown produce to Stone Hearth Pizza, Spiga Restaurant, Sweet Basil, Blue on Highland and Center Café on a regular basis throughout our growing season. The relationships we hold with these partners are important ones, and it is from creative cross-marketing that we both draw success. Throughout the summer, we invite each restaurant’s head chef to partake in cooking demonstrations with our produce. While each chef cooks up a tasty meal, they not only promote themselves and the restaurant they represent, but they promote the use of our homegrown produce. They provide a tasty example of why fresh ingredients make a huge difference in cooking. Year after year, these cooking demos prove to be very popular events at the farm for our customers. Of course, the free food doesn’t hurt either!

Giving Locally

In addition to our connections with Needham restaurants, we also love to give back to the community. Tracy Firth from the organization Plant A Row for the Hungry is behind it all – she picks up donations from the farm three times a week and brings them to area food pantries. She has been at it since 2009 – sorting and weighing the produce, ensuring that each item is acceptable before loading each box into her car and delivering them personally. The donations consist largely of fruits and vegetables with minor imperfections that get taken off of the farmstand along with any bread that wasn’t sold the prior day. From June through October in 2011 alone, we donated over 8,400 pounds of fruits and veggies to local food pantries.

On Mondays and Wednesdays Tracy takes our donations to Rosie’s Place in Boston. Rosie’s serves approximately 1,250 women each month through their pantry and about 150 women and children each meal (lunch and dinner) seven days a week. That translates to about 109,500 meals per year.  Each Friday Tracy splits our donation between the Norwood and Walpole food pantries. Norwood regularly serves 250 families and Walpole’s pantry serves 150 families. We are proud to be connected in this way to Rosie’s Place and the area food pantries, and we are forever grateful to Tracy for her relentless hard work. It is exciting to think of how much more we’ll be able to donate this year when we’re open year-round. Whatever we don’t use in our kitchen will be promptly donated to one of these stellar local organizations to help those around us.

Growing Locally

In our greenhouses we grow a wide variety of plants for the home gardener. From annuals to vegetable plants to hangers to mixed patio pots, we have it all. While we grow a fair amount of the plants that leave our greenhouse ourselves, we also buy plants from various wholesalers in our community. Over time we have developed strong relationships with many of the growers in our area as we continue to cultivate new connections within the industry whenever we can. Some of our oldest growing friends are Cavicchio Greenhouses and J.P. Bartlett in Sudbury, D&D in Stow, Olson’s in Taunton, King Farms in Townsend, Standard Orchards in Hudson, J. Gilson Greenhouses in Groton, Berry’s Greenhouses in Medway, and Pioneer Farms in Walpole. In the past few years we have started new relationships with The Flower Hutch in Townsend, Atypical Farms in Norton, Glover Perennials in Cutchogue, NY and Judge’s Perennials in Old Lyme, CT. We get weekly plant deliveries from spring through fall which ensures that you’ll always find something new on our benches. We only accept the highest quality plants for your gardens and containers, so you can trust that the plants you buy from us will flourish. Now that we will remain open year-round, we are excited to explore new possibilities with what we can offer our customers from our greenhouses. With the help of our growing partners we hope to bring you the best variety and quality available in the area all year long!

Farming Locally

Throughout the year we do business with many area farmers. Their years of expertise in sustainable farming practices allow us to stock our shelves with produce of the highest quality while continuing to preserve the environment. When we aren’t able to grow a crop due to space constrictions or simply the climate, the search begins for the best alternative. Usually that search ends on a small farm like ours that specializes in producing high-quality, great-tasting fruits and vegetables.

Blue Pearmain apples from Sunnycrest

Since we don’t have enough space to grow our own tree fruit, we turn to expert farmers who have years of experience. For many years we have been working with multiple orchards that grow a wide variety of fresh apples, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, and other tree fruit. Our peaches, nectarines, plums, and most of our apples come from Sunnycrest Orchards in Sterling. We also receive tree fruit from Brookdale Fruit Farms in Hollis, NH and Carlson Orchards out of Harvard, MA. Just like us, all the local orchards we buy from use Integrated Pest Management as the foundation of their sustainable farming plan. To learn more about IPM, click here to visit Ryan’s post from week four of our blog series.

In order to fill in gaps in our product offerings, we turn to our neighbors who specialize in growing specific crops. This past fall we started bringing in fresh and dried cranberries from The Berry Guys out of Carver. Throughout the summer and fall we are able to source delicious berries from Pell Farm in Somers, CT, winter squash and pumpkins from Araujo Farms in Dighton, and various other crops from Marini Farms in Ipswich and Verrill Farms in Concord. These farmers help us provide consistent, high-quality products for our customers all season long.

Fresh eggs from Morning Beckons Farm

But we don’t just deal with local produce farmers. We have also developed great connections with dairy farmers throughout the state. High Lawn Farms milk, cream, and butter come to us from the western part of the state in Lee. Another western friend is Morning Beckons Farm which delivers fresh eggs from Uxbridge that we can’t keep on the shelves! Fresh mozzarella comes from Mozzarella House in Everett which sources all its milk and cream from local farmers.

We’ve had our own beehives on the farm for years – right at the base of blueberry hill at our home field. Because of the hives’ close proximity to our blueberry bushes, our honey always had delicious blueberry undertones. In the interest of our beloved bees, we had to relocate our hives during construction and were forced to look for alternatives. While we were sad to see our hives go temporarily, we found Reseska Apiaries out in Holliston that proved to be an outstanding source of honey. Thankfully, throughout last year we were able to continue to offer a delicious local honey with all its great health and allergy benefits.

I can’t wrap up this section without mentioning our fisherman friends at Cape Ann Fresh Catch in Gloucester. Their Community Supported Fishery (CSF) has become a booming success since its start in Needham last fall. If you’re interested (trust us, you’re interested!) just click here to check out their website and sign up to become a part of the tasty buzz. You simply can’t beat a homemade dinner with homegrown vegetables beside today’s fresh catch.

Giovanna Gelato & Sorbet

Baking Locally

Aside from all of our locally-sourced produce offerings, we also offer a great selection of local baked goods and other grocery items. In our refrigerator case we have To Die For dips that come to us from Concord, and Dom’s Marinated Meats and Sausages that come from Malden. In the freezers we have more products that are made locally. We purchase tasty stuffed ravioli, tortellini, and pasta from Deano’s Pastacia in Somerville. All of the frosty dessert treats we sell are from local companies, too – Giovanna’s gelato and sorbet is made in small batches in Newton. Toscanini’s ice cream and sorbet comes from their shop in Cambridge, and Chilly Cow frozen custard is delivered fresh from Arlington. Since a scoop of ice cream goes best with pie, we also carry locally-crafted frozen pies and crisps to round out the perfect dessert! With our new farmstand, we’ll be scooping Crescent Ridge ice cream during the warmer months. This ice cream is a local favorite hailing from Sharon. We will also carry their half gallon tubs in our freezer along with our current icy treats!

Lark's Fine Foods cookies

There is no shortage of talented bakers in our area, but when we taste a product that we can’t live without, we want to share it with all of our customers! For years we have sold cookies from local bakers such as Effie’s Homemade in Hyde Park, Fancypants Baking Co. in Walpole, Lark’s Fine Foods in Essex, Boston Biscotti in Westwood, and the all-buttery Tate’s Bakeshop out of Southampton, NY. In addition to cookies, Ever So Humble Pie Company bakes delicious fruit and cream pies, whoopie pies, and cakes out of their Walpole location. Fudge and other sugary treats come from Eaton Farms Confectioners in Sutton, while Kathy Mahoney bakes her tasty butter cream biscuits in Natick which combine with our homegrown strawberries to make that perfect summer strawberry shortcake. As you can see, we have plenty of options to satisfy your local sweet tooth!

One item that has quickly grown in popularity is Amour Creation’s T’ART mix. This dry mix requires only a few ingredients and our fresh berries to make a simple, impressive fruit tart! It is made in Brookline and is often sampled out at the farm by its creator Linda. On a more savory note, Our Favorite salad dressings and barbecue sauces are made locally and pair nicely with a fresh mixed salad or sandwich.

And then there is bread. Fresh, crusty bread. In the past we have received daily shipments of bread from Nashoba Brook Bakery in Concord, Clearflour Bakery in Brookline and Iggy’s in Cambridge. We get traditional challah from Cheryl Anne’s in Brookline, and our newest addition is Susie’s challah which is baked right here in Needham! We are happy to share that we’ll also be baking our own bread in our new farm kitchen! That means you’ll be able to get all your favorite breads from the companies listed above, plus new choices as well.

A bustling day at one of our summer events

In general, we will be able to sell many more local products since we’ll have more retail space. We will offer a selection of gluten-free, organic, and vegan bakery options in addition to more local breads and pastries. That’s not to mention the huge selection of unbelievably tasty homemade food from our farm kitchen and bakery – but there will be more on that in a later blog entry. We have also been hard at work scoping out the best sources for local meats and cheeses. Massachusetts and Maine dried beans are also on the list of new things to come. We will have a better variety of holiday and seasonal specialties as well.

We are proud to be involved in the community in so many different ways. Every aspect of our business has a local tie – the plants in our greenhouses, the produce in our coolers, the baked goods on our shelves, and even the places we donate to. It has always been our goal to offer the best products from the best sources in our area, and this new farmstand will provide us with a better location in which to display these products. In just a few short weeks you’ll be able to see for yourself the difference a little space can make.

We are thrilled to invite you to our Grand Opening on March 31^st at 9am!

Next Week: Holy Cow, New Offerings from the Butcher and Cheese Shop for the Locavore

New @ 95: Volante’s Fields: Our Soil, Our Strength

New @ 95, week 5, Volante’s Fields: Our Soil, Our Strength

Just ten miles from downtown Boston, minutes from the Pike, 128 and route 9, Volante Farms’ garden center and farmstand has

The home field hosts many of our small crops. In this section of field radishes and spinach give way to lettuces. A small crop of beans flanks either side of the photo.

provided homegrown plants, vegetables, and fruits to a steady and growing base of customers for generations. Our 30 acres of suburban fields produce bushel upon bushel of produce every season, picked fresh daily.

We farm three separate fields within Needham. Our main field, and location of our stand and greenhouse is at 292 Forest St. The Volante family has farmed this field since it was purchased from the Fletchers in 1962. It provides a foothold for most of our small crops and those that benefit from a quick trip to the farmstand.

This is an aerial shot of the main farm at 292 Forest, before last year's construction project.

Standish is our largest field, located off 135 on the site of the old Winslow’s Nursery. This is where we plant most of our larger long-term crops like tomatoes, peppers, and squashes. We grow much of our corn here as well, all surrounded by an old man-made pond used for irrigation.

We also farm acreage belonging to the Greenway family off Charles River Street. This field is the furthest away and as such we can’t keep as close an eye on it. Hence, recent pressure from deer and wild turkeys inhibit growing much more than corn there. Last spring, however, we added an acre of asparagus to this field, in an attempt to extend our season a little more spring-ward. We will start harvesting green and purple homegrown asparagus from this field in early 2013.

The Standish Fields look isolated but they are actually surrounded by the Needham and Wellesley transfer stations and many neighborhood homes.

These fields offer a variety of terrains and soil-types which allow us to move crops around to the land that will help them to grow best. The home field is rich and muddy at one end and dry and bony on the high parts and sandy around the edges. Standish is nearly rock-free and ranges from a dusty sandy clay in the center to an unworkable muck at the edges as it approaches pond side.  Greenway’s is always the driest field, and its placement among hundred-year-old pines gives it a unique microclimate. With decades of experience in these spaces we have developed a feeling for what will grow best where, and ways to rotate crops that will promote nutrient usage and retention.

Greenway's Field is nestled among some nice forested land.

While the stable of vegetables at Volante’s relied on farmstand standards like corn, tomatoes, and zucchini to get people in the door, it has expanded its array greatly over the years. Volante’s now offers a wide variety of vegetables and dozens of different varieties.

Homegrown strawberries are one of the first treats of early summer, and worth waiting for.

In the winter we go over the hits and misses of the previous year. Sometimes an expected failure is just the opposite and we decide to grow twice as much okra this year, or alternatively our parsnip crop is a huge miss because it is found by an errant tractor.  Through diversification in type and variety, we are able to ensure a solid selection for our customers. Which is why in the farmstand we not only sell corn by variety, but also tomatoes, and even green beans. On a given summer day you might find two dozen varieties of heirloom tomatoes sidled up to four different green beans. We watch what you buy, compare it with how well it grows and come up with a plan for the next season.

Fresh bunched onions, very different from dry storage. Give them a shot this summer.

Last year’s results have us planning to more than double our fresh onion crop, the biggest hit of 2011. Very few things got a response like those onions last year, they even played a role in the winning entry of our customer cooking contest. We will be adding Walla Walla to our red and white onions this year as well. In addition, we are increasing crop size for kale, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage as well as adding more crops of spinach, Swiss chard and radishes to stretch either end of the season.

We are going to try parsnips again this year, plus garlic, salad turnips, flower sprouts, iceberg lettuce, French radishes, cilantro, cayenne peppers and even a new type of basil. This will all fill in nicely around our standard array of summer and winter squashes, lettuces, scallions, peppers, tomatoes, and countless other vegetables.View our proposed crop list here.

With each daily harvest, the crew starts the morning with corn, lettuce, and zucchini as a group and then diversifies from there. Product arrives at stand is washed and sorted. Our commitment to quality product should be clear on the stand. Excess produce will make its way to either Rosie’s Place and area food kitchens or to our own kitchen for an immediate transformation. And as for produce that is ultimately unfit for the refined palates of Needham, it finds a welcome home with the livestock at Owen’s Poultry Farm down the street where while llamas hate tomatoes, they get very excited for rotten pumpkin season.

Colorful carrots will carry us into the fall.

As we learn to stretch our season from the traditional June through October to a year-round production we expect to make some interesting discoveries. We hope to grow a little further in each direction, through the addition of greenhouse-grown cucumbers and zucchini, and more cold-tolerant greens. We are considering the use of high and low tunnels to provide frost protection and heat retention during short, cold, winter days.

Some crops even taste better after a little snow.

One of the aspects of the field that is staying the same is that every day is a new challenge. The weather will always be unexpected, deer will usually find the lettuce crop, and frost will often fall a few days too early. It will also continue to provide challenges of advancement: how to grow more with less water, how to produce more fruit on fewer plants, and how to actually pick everything that is ripe in a few precious hours of daylight.

For our part we can’t wait to meet these challenges this year. And look forward to your input on how you’d like us to bring future taste to your plates.

Next Week: Keeping it Local, our local partners

New @ 95: Sustainable Farming with Biological Controls and IPM

New@95: week 4, Sustainable Farming with Biological Controls and IPM

Volante Farms maintains a sincere appreciation for the land and the grounds that have helped it provide for the community for 95 seasons. Despite the feeling that farming is a constant struggle against Nature, the agreement we have made with her is to be strong stewards of this wonderful spot in the middle of suburban Needham.

Pansies are just the first crop of the season to benefit from thousands of little helpers.

Part of our ability to remain a sustainable and active community force comes from our handling of the plants that we grow and sell. Growing attractive flowers and tasty fruit is only partially accomplished by proper water and sunlight. To grow a stress-free plant it is also necessary to protect against damage from insects and disease.

This packet contains a tiny colony of predatory mites, that feed on thrip larvae which would otherwise bring disease to our flowering crops.

Both in the greenhouse and out in our fields we practice what is known as IPM, or Integrated Pest Management. This is a system in which the growers educate themselves on the causes and effects of pests on the crops and the results of any controls that might be used against them, whether natural or chemical.

Though we are constantly watching our crops ourselves, part of a strong IPM program involves the employment of a certified and trained scout. Jim Musonni, private crop consultant, has scouted our fields and greenhouses for many years and is well attuned to both our traditional problem areas and any pests on the horizon we might not be prepared for.

Yellow sticky cards throughout the greenhouse attract insects so that they can be counted during weekly scouting.

After his weekly scouting he reports to us to let us know if we have exceeded thresholds that would result in damage or loss of crop of any certain type of insect or disease. If we are prepared for the diagnosis we might spray, or alternatively decide to abandon the crop to prevent cross contamination.

Recently we have been getting deeper into our third option, biological controls. We are in the third season of using beneficial insects and organisms to protect our crops against damage.

This barley plant "banks" aphids as hosts for predatory and parasitic wasps throughout the season.

We were thrilled last season to achieve total control in the greenhouse between February and June, our busiest months, without any chemical controls. Through the cultivation of beneficial wasps and other insects we were able to control pest populations to remain below threshold the entire spring season. The greenhouse has many “banker” or host plants placed around to provide a food source for pests such as cereal aphids, which predatory beneficial wasps then use as breeding grounds for their offspring.

Success at this level is uncommon and fairly novel in a greenhouse setting, where although we grow a vast majority of our own plants and bedding material, still much of our products arrives from other growers with any number of problems already attached.

We maintain a precocious balance in the greenhouse of having enough prey to keep predators alive so that they will be there to capture future prey. We are able to replicate how these plants would be treated in their true ecosystem. In fact, we have found that as the summer warms and local natural predators are available, plants that have been kept clean can remain healthier throughout the year.

This aphid is hollowed out and dead after a wasp has hatched from its abdomen.

The various processes and methods employed to practice good biological greenhouse controls is complex and lengthy to explain. If you find yourself wanting to know more I suggest you look at the article I wrote on it last year here, http://volantefarms.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/beneficial-biological-controls/ , as it shows more microscopic photos and videos of some of the predators at work.

What all this means to you as a customer is that through our risk taking and success with this program we are sending you home with a product that is less chemically laden than those from other large growers. Likewise there are that many chemicals being kept out of the environment or being exposed to the crew working with the plants.

Additionally, we are limiting the likelihood that insects and disease pests will continue to develop resistance to the chemicals that do work on them, leaving entire crops at risk nationally and internationally. Many of the pests we fight today are already immune to the chemicals that have ben developed to kill them, so thankfully there are natural predators being found to help keep things in check.

Aphids, normally a greenhouse nemesis, are being farmed on this plant as an oasis for parasitic wasps.

We are thrilled our biological program has been successful so far and are looking to expand it further. As we extend our growing season this year we will also be using these methods on some of the zucchini and cucumbers available at either end of the summer season from our greenhouse. We have also released predatory wasps in our cornfields last year to help control early corn earworm.

We look at this program as a natural and responsible extension of our already successful IPM program and are pleased to be able to present you with plants, produce, and food gathered from sustainable and well-managed sources.

Next Week: Volante’s Fields, Our Soil is Our Strength.

Outstanding Response

Thank you to everyone who stopped in today for our  hiring event. We were thrilled with the response and enjoyed meeting all of you. Those were some long lines, thanks for your patience! With our exciting expansion it is good to know there are plenty of quality people who want to take this next step with us.

We look forward to getting in touch with many of you soon. In the meantime, interested parties who were unable to make it today should feel free to drop off an application with us during the week. You can find a link to the application on the right on the Now Hiring button.

 

New @ 95: A Modern Greenhouse

New @ 95, Week 3: A Modern Greenhouse

In 2008 Volante Farms opened its state of the art greenhouse, replacing a line of aging hoop houses with new technology and an easier use for employees and customers.  The glass house dwarfed the structures that preceded it and ushered in a new age of sustainability for the farm, while simultaneously creating a growing space that was more economical, more ecological, and also provided an enhanced beautiful canvas to display our plants upon.

Our Westbrook greenhouse creates paradise in the winter and invites it in when the climate improves.

Technological Advances

This main greenhouse is over 14,000 square feet of radiantly heated concrete, powered by a duo of 98% efficient gas boilers and covered with a glass, foam, steel and aluminum frame. It is divided into four inner bays that can be individually temperature controlled and one open bay that is used as a cold frame with a rolling curtain along one wall. This open bay welcomes customers into the building and can prepare plants for their trip from cozy confines to the harsh realities of New England weather.

The greenhouse is almost entirely computer controlled and monitored, via a brain in the utility room and various remote computers. The computer monitors weather conditions inside and outside, including sunlight, temperature, wind, and humidity and then adjusts how the greenhouse responds accordingly. Different zones can call for heat as needed or vent extra heat through the articulating roof vents. It can recognize that a cloudy day may not provide enough sunlight to help plants grow and therefore keep a heat curtain closed to conserve the ambient heat. It can recognize whether precipitation falling is snow or rain and turn on roof level radiator fins to aid rapid snow melt and prevent potential roof collapse.

In addition to these technological features, there are other environmentally sound aspects of the house that are impressive as well. As mentioned there are curtains built into the roof that draw closed to retain heat below the roofline at night. There are shade curtains as well, which provide minor heat retention when closed but are most useful on extremely hot and sunny days. Then they are drawn to 90 percent closed preventing sun wilt on plants and dropping the overall temperature by as much as ten degrees making the greenhouse cooler than many hot August days.

Water Conservation

Pansy hangers and flats prep to be the first out the door in the spring. The hangers are watered by micro irrigation and the floor is watered by hose, but both with recaptured rain water.

The glass roof of the greenhouse is built around a framework of gutters that collect and remove rainwater. This rainwater is collected in a 10,000-gallon tank in the back of the greenhouse. It only takes an inch of rain on the roof to fill the tank, which is approximately the amount of water we can use on the plants in the greenhouse and nursery in a week. This means that in an average year we can irrigate our greenhouse grown crops with very little need to draw water from the town service reducing costs and the strain on the water table. This water gets filtered and pumped to several locations. Some of it travels to our two bays of ebb and flow benches. These are the grey plastic pans sitting atop metal frame legs in the greenhouse. Plants grown on these benches are watered using a Venturi pump and an array of solenoid valves. This allows water to enter the bench from underneath to be absorbed by the roots of plants until the excess is vacuumed back away. This method of watering allows plants to get exactly the amount of water they need, without exposing disease prone leaves and blossoms to the dangers of overhead watering which can splash and transmit fungi and mildew rapidly. The water is then recaptured and retained for future irrigation, while wastewater on these benches is almost non-existent.

Another destination is the micro irrigation system that feeds the thousands of hanging plants that swing from the lines throughout the greenhouse.  Each hanger is placed at two-foot intervals along drip lines that measure out about a half-gallon in 15 minutes, one drop at a time. These lines have weighted tubes that put the water right on the soil level of the pots. These ensure that the water is where we want it, that plants are watered evenly, and disease spread is prevented.

Roses, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Hydrangeas and many more fill our beds every spring.

Dependable Plants

In addition to the main house, which is used for retail and cultivation, we have 4 growing houses. Two are older and smaller and will be upgraded in the foreseeable future, and two were completed just a year ago, to provide replacement space for the houses that came down with the recent farmstand construction.

In these houses we do the bulk of our propagation work, from filling flats and pots with soil to the entire seeding operation. Many of the annuals and vegetable plants you see for sale during the year are started here in our seeding area.

Fuchsia hangers are one of our specialties each spring, lending a pop of color to slightly shady porches and front doors.

Our plant material is one of the main reasons that we have had such staying power in the community. We are very proud of the product we can offer and of the paths we employ to get it to you. Many of the annuals and vegetable seedlings available are started here from seed beginning mid-January. We place seed into small-celled trays that hold a few hundred seedlings. The trays are sprouted in germination chambers and then brought out into the greenhouse where they are meticulously nursed into transplant ready stage.

Other plants come to us started as cuttings and seedlings from a variety of trusted local growers who we have partnered with over many years.

Still more plants arrive to us at ready-to-sell stage as we have learned to cultivate partnerships with growers who are specialists in their fields and not waste time providing an inferior product when we know how to procure the best for you.

All of this requires somewhat of a juggling act for space and resources, but we have decades of experience providing the flowers and plants our community has come to expect.

Gazania seedlings pop up early in the season in our germination area. They will be garden ready in early May.

A Place for All Seasons

The vast variety of plants we offer is impossible to list conclusively, it changes by the week, month and season. In the early spring we grow hundreds of hangers in time for Mother’s Day. We grow pansies in hangers, patio pots, window boxes and individual flats to help get spring color to your yard as soon as possible.

As the year progresses we offer bay after bay of impatiens, marigolds, and geraniums: the classics. Additionally we offer an array of specialty plants from renowned specialists Proven Winners and similar growers.  We carry a wide selection of rose plants and flowering shrubs and perennials from several local growers specializing in native and adapted plants that are hardy and unique specimens for your garden.

We provide plenty of opportunity to get your home Victory Garden off on the right foot with strong tomato, summer squash, cucumber, pepper, eggplant, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and many more vegetable starters.

Lettuce thrives in the greenhouse, whether waiting transplant in our field, your garden, or cut at this stage for a tasty salad.

As summer rolls through fall we offer fully grown annuals and perennials to fill holes in the landscape that suffered from gaps of inclement weather or inconsistent care.  Any space in the greenhouse by now is filled with flats of baby lettuce and arugula primed for sale in the farmstand. Fall hardy mums are widely available to stretch the growing season a little further after the summer heat is done baking. And as the holiday season approaches the greenhouse not only houses a vast array of greenery but a huge selection of poinsettias and gift plants, perfect for sprucing up the indoors as well.

Poinsettias keep the greenhouse full of color through the holiday season.

Knowledgeable Growers

With all we offer we are closely tied to the consumer and try very hard to stay tuned to your needs. We can be depended on to have the classic and traditional varieties. We also recognize that there are trends in the garden and we try to stay abreast of them as well. If there is a plant we aren’t carrying that you would like us to, be sure to let us know so we can respond to your needs.

While you are discussing your garden needs with us be secure that you will receive knowledgeable and helpful advice. Many of our growers and greenhouse crew have been at Volante’s and in the industry for decades. If someone doesn’t have the answer to your question, we will do our best find the person who does. One of our greatest strengths as a business is our connection to the product and the area, something many large home improvement centers can’t compete with. We sell plants we trust to succeed and offer the knowledge to support their growth.

Even on the darkest December afternoon, our greenhouse provides a ray of light and a source of warmth.

As we transition into a year-round operation we expect the greenhouse to provide even more, if not especially a warm and sunny place to visit on a cold snowy winter day.  And spring is always around the corner.

Next Week: Biological Pest Control and Integrated Pest Management

New @ 95: The New Building, A Closer Look

Week 2: The New Building: A Closer Look

Sitting down to write this entry, I realized just how many small details have gone into the building process.  Trying to outline all of the steps that we have taken in the last three years is pretty daunting, and would also be a pretty boring read.  Burying our heads in the building code, the bylaws, and all of the design specifications was and continues to be a very educational and eye-opening experience.

First Stage construction, steel meets frame construction for the behind the scenes scene.

The current construction began with an aggressive five-year plan that was fully established once the new greenhouse was completed in 2008.  We knew we needed to upgrade our farmstand for a variety of reasons, and we had begun planning the details during greenhouse construction.  The plan for the final product was one complete facility that would be an enjoyable and easy-to-shop stop for all of our customers.

Each of us had a lot of ideas for the new farmstand, from types of structures to different overall site layouts.  As a family, we set out to visit and take notes on all the different farm stands in the Northeast, not in an effort to mimic any particular building, but to take aspects that were working for each farm and see if they would be applicable to ours.  We came to an agreement that the most important goal for our new building was to maintain the feel and experience of our original farmstand.

The timbers glow at night, these very early stages of construction hint at the eventual shopping experience.

We want you, our customers, to understand you are still shopping at a real working farm.  Therefore, the new stand needed to be an extension of the existing farm stand, just a more comprehensive offering of the same great products that our family has been growing and harvesting since 1917.

So, with that main goal in mind, we set out to find the right designer and company to build our dream for us.  We met with numerous architects and general contractors, and with some design build firms.  After learning the concept of “design build”, where the firm employees both the designers and architects along with general contractors and builders, we found ourselves connecting with that particular process.  After interviewing numerous firms, we selected Sage Engineering out of Westfield, MA to bring our collection of ideas to life.

Once Sage began the design process, they came to a couple of quick conclusions.  First, it would be best to move the parking lot entrance away from the intersection of Forest St. and Central Ave., increasing both parking lot flow efficiency and overall safety.  And, second, the corner view of the farm needed a makeover; the old green barn and farm-house really had to go!  From our end, the only strong guidance we gave to Sage for the look and feel of the actual building was to try to tie in some of the themes of the old stand.  Our main edict, as Frank, the president of Sage quotes, was “don’t pave the farm!”

The first glimpse of the true new shape of the farm stand. The barn like qualities are equal parts quaint and vast.

After eight months of back and forth decision-making, we settled on a design remarkably similar to the building you see today.  We decided to use three different types of construction.  The back area, where we do all of our vegetable washing and walk-in cooler storage, is a pre-engineered metal building system.  The main retail area is as we originally imagined it: a traditional post and beam barn.  The side section is regular wood construction, but using the same timbers as the post and beam portion.  Sage’s job was to find a way to join all three styles of construction together (no small task!).  Once the engineering was complete, and the appropriate steps were taken with the Town of Needham, we were ready to construct.

The metal building construction began first, behind the old farm stand while we were still using it this past summer.  Many of you must have noticed the huge hole behind our retail building, and then the metal posts rising out of it.  This whole portion of the building also has a storage basement underneath it.  We used to have small storage spaces in four different buildings; now, the basement will allow us to store everything in one space, easily accessible by fork truck.  By the time we were ready to demolish the farm stand, around mid August, the metal building was almost complete.

At this point we still had one more huge decision to make: who was going to be supplying the most

The main entrance to the new stand will have access from the greenhouse via ramp and at grade and stair access from the parking lot.

important part of the building, the post and beam.  Again, we set out to see other companies’ timber-framed structures.  From a barn in Northborough to Morning Glory Farm in Martha’s Vineyard, we looked at many beautiful examples of post and beam timber frame buildings.  Eventually we settled on Hardwick Post and Beam, a family owned company based in Hardwick, MA.  They carefully selected Hemlock timbers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, and brought them to their workshop in Hardwick.  From there, every single timber was hand cut, hand hewn, treated with a custom stain-and-linseed mix, and then carefully numbered.  The numbers were then used as a guide when the timbers were delivered to Needham and assembled.  With the use of a crane and a lot of wooden pegs, the timbers were lifted and fastened to each other.  It proved to be a popular show for both customers and employees.  There is something about seeing a modern-day building being constructed with amazingly antique methods that really catches your eye and your imagination!

The best part of this shot is that insulation means cozy shopping year round. While the farm stand will still have that cozy barn feeling, climate control means shopping comfort in all four seasons.

Now, at this point in the construction project, there are five or six different sub contractors on site each and every day.  Electricians, fire suppression technicians and insulators all are working like mad to get our farm stand built on time; and we are pushing them to make sure they do!  We have been very happy with the decisions we have made, and our new farmstand is just as we had hoped for so far, both inside and out.  Thankfully, everyone involved in the process has understood that we are farmers, not builders!  We are so excited to show all of our loyal customers what we have been working on since June, and we are rapidly approaching our targeted grand opening date.  We look forward to showing you all around our new farmstand in the very near future!

**For more information on the construction project  look back at our Farmstand Renovation Updates**

***To view a slideshow of the project from the last 8 months click here.***

Next week: A Low Impact, High Yield Greenhouse

The view from Central Ave east bound. The fastest access to the deli, bakery, ice cream and coffee.

New @ 95: Still a Family Farm

New @ 95: week 1, Still a Family Farm

It goes without saying that our farm has changed quite a bit from its origin nearly 100 years ago. As we put the finishing touches on our new farmstand, I can’t help but reflect back on our roots. As a fourth generation Volante, I respect our history and feel the need to recognize those that have made this expansion a possibility. The following passage will serve as a snapshot of our past, a nod to our present, and a look to the future of our family business.

It all started with my great-grandparents Peter and Catarina. In the 1890s they left Italy, bound for a better life and a vision of opportunity in America. They purchased a plot of land on Dedham Street in Newton in 1917 and began growing celery, tomatoes and broccoli among other produce. In its infancy, Volante Farms operated as a truck farm delivering fresh hand-picked produce to the Boston Market every morning.

After World War II California’s produce export industry grew, and the need for Boston area truck farmers started to decline. In order to bridge this growing revenue gap, my great-great-aunt Margie opened the first roadside farmstand on the Newton Farm. In addition to produce, Margie started to sell annuals and perennials for the home gardener. While Margie’s retail farmstand was nothing more than a tent, it became the farm’s primary source of income by the end of the 1950s. Margie’s farmstand marked the beginning of the multi-generational push toward improvement and efficiency throughout our business history.

In 1962 my grandparents Ferdinand and Anne moved the farm to its current location in Needham, purchasing Arthur Fletcher’s farmland which had been in constant agricultural production since pre-colonial times. In this rich, fertile soil my grandfather expanded his crop offerings and constructed hot beds and cold frames in which to grow flower and vegetable plants. With his innovation came another farmstand, a green open-air wooden building. My grandfather ran the farm alongside his brother Eugenio while my grandmother Anne took care of the book work.

Al Volante, with his father Ferdinand and uncle Eugenio.

Only eleven years later, in 1973, my father Al took over everyday operations on the farm. Over the next fifteen years he built the farm that my brothers and I grew up with. He replaced my grandfather’s hot beds and cold frames with multiple hoop houses running along the edge of the farm like vertebrae. After marrying Melodie in 1976 our parents worked as a team to further improve their growing business. In 1981 they built the beloved farmstand that served as the face of the farm for the next thirty years. The stand’s updated barn-like structure brought greater efficiency while still remaining rustic and inviting. Eight years later, Greenhouse 14 was added as the last piece of the puzzle, serving as a retail greenhouse attached to the farmstand in an effort to make shopping easier.

My brothers and I make up the fourth generation of Volantes. We have worked on the farm since we were kids. After college, all three of us found ourselves back at the farm with the same common thread pushing us each day: the pride and drive of a multi-generational family business. We certainly weren’t going to let the tradition stop with us. With all three of us ready to take over the business, it was clear that expansion was in the near future. Together with our parents we started to envision the future of our business. We began by replacing our father’s hoop houses with a new energy-efficient, eco-friendly greenhouse. Opening in the spring of 2008, our new glass greenhouse once again changed the look of the farm and improved the overall shopping experience while conserving many natural resources.

Teri, Melodie, Al, Steve, and Dave Volante.

The second step to our plan has been in the works for many years: a farmstand expansion. There were countless reasons to expand. For example, with our new farmstand we will finally be able to remain open year-round, fulfilling our customers’ most common request. By doing this, we’ll also be able to extend our growing season and offer homegrown produce for a longer period of time. We have also noticed a strong customer desire for ready-to-eat snacks and meals, thus pushing us to add a deli, bakery and ice cream shop to the new farmstand. Our aim is to serve our customers something they can’t find anywhere else: a delicious sandwich or salad made with homegrown ingredients picked right outside in our fields.

Today our parents still remain as vital members of our everyday operations. Our father Al helps daily by giving us valuable advice and his honest opinion. Our mother Melodie works in the office with Dave’s wife Katie to keep the heart of our business beating. One thing is for certain; our family business would not be nearly the same without the contributions of our extended farm family. This includes our key employees who have been with us for years – some upwards of 20 years. Theirs are the familiar faces our customers enjoy seeing when they stop in to pick up fresh corn. Some of these relationships have proved to be multi-generational, too. Prior employees will often seek employment for their children to learn what they deem as “solid work experience”. These relationships take the definition of family farming to the next level. We realize that it’s not just our family farm, but others’ as well, and we’re privileged to have a hand in making those connections happen.

When I think of our predecessors and their success it can be quite daunting, but it breathes passion and pride into everything my brothers and I do each day at work. With the new farmstand comes new responsibility and learning experiences. As always, we appreciate our customers’ feedback. We know we’ll have to adapt and make changes along the way. While one could consider this farmstand to be our generation’s contribution to the long lineup of previous farmstands, that wouldn’t entirely be the case. This farmstand is a culmination of the support of our predecessors, past and present employees, and faithful customers. To us, it represents hope and growth in an ever-changing world. Our new farmstand stands as both a tribute and a clear reflection of one Italian’s humble hope for the American Dream.

**for more information, visit the history page of our blog…**

Next week: The New Building: A Closer Look.