June 12, 2020
Dear Friends,
I don't even know how to begin this letter in these difficult times - except to send love and wishes for good health to everyone.
The winter was mild, the mildest in my memory, but the cold air lingered into a long spring and life became surreal for all of us.
Everyone's been changed, and some have suffered great losses, and I think we all suffer from a collective heartbreak.
I'm lucky that I get to spend my time in the gardens and greenhouse and kitchen, and my life in the natural world hasn't changed as much has it has for most people. Deeply rooted, I gather strength from the earth, and send healing energy out to all.
In the greenhouse I started my favorite tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, and flowers. It doesn't even feel like work to me - mixing soil, planting seeds, potting up baby seedlings in a sun-filled room with birdsong all around. I potted up far more than I needed and happily gave away a lot.
We planted early vegetables outdoors - peas, onions, romaine lettuce, and a new bed of strawberries for next season. We also put in three new peach trees and another apple.
When Memorial Day came around, we put in all the sun-loving vegetables and lots of sunflowers and other flowers for cutting for bouquets.
The mild weather was kind to our fruits, and it looks like a very promising season.
Strawberries are getting bigger and redder and are nearly ready! We've covered them with netting, so we'll have a chance of getting them before the chipmunks and avian marauders (the catbirds scold as the netting goes up). We're picking strawberries from two beds so we'll be very busy beginning in about a week. Raspberries look very healthy too and I'm excited about my favorite fruit. Red Currants are loaded; Black Currants are still setting fruit. Blueberries look amazing - it was a huge bloom and the bumblebees have been all over the blossoms, promising lots of fruits to come. Blackberry blossoms have swollen and are about ready to burst into bloom. The European elderberries (Sambucca nigra) are flowering now; the Native American (Sambucca canadensis) are just beginning to form buds.
Peaches have set fruit, but we're down to just a few trees so there won't be a huge crop. Damson plums have set fruit - we won't count on them though until we're sure they won't be ravaged by porcupines.
Markets and Shows won't be happening for us this year. Our shows have pretty much been cancelled, and I just have to admit I'm too old to do markets in these times.
BUT THE EXCITING NEWS IS...
We WILL be open here at home!
Ralph has built a Tiny Farmstand for contact-free local pickup.
Just place your order online and select the local pickup option - it's that easy! You can pay via PayPal (just use your regular credit card), and just let me know when you'd like to come and I'll put up your order and have it all ready for you in the Farmstand with your name on it. You're welcome to come any day of the week from 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
To say a special thank you, I'll choose a gift for EVERYONE ordering online and choosing local pickup - a plant, or a bouquet, or a jar of something yummy I know you'll love.
In addition to our regular catalogue offerings of our Organic Farmstead Preserves, Mustards, Vinegars, and Pizza Sauce, our local pickup option will also include PattiPops and Bouquets. We will be adding pies - 5" PattiPies, and generously-sized large pies baked in Pyrex, and cobblers too.
Tiny Farmstand will also be open to the general public weekends beginning June 20 for self-service sales by cash or check for most of our regular products, plus fresh berries (Blackberries and Blueberries) and bouquets as available.
The following items are available for local pickup only. Place your order online and let me know in the order comments when you will stop by to pick them up. Add these to your pickup order for any of our other delicious items! (T-shirts too, though they're only delicious to look at and wear!)
PattiPops, AKA "Frosty Fruit Pops" are made from our own organic fruits slightly sweetened with a little simple syrup (made from our deep well water and organic cane sugar) and are absolutely the best pops you'll ever taste - they explode with fruit flavor and goodness. Blackberry, Red Currant, Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Peach. $3.00 each; 4/$10.00; 10/$20.00. Choose your favorite flavors and let me know if I can substitute if I'm out of one of them.
Bouquets - For decades I brought bouquets of flowers and herbs to my farmers' markets in Boston. They give us such joy that this year we really planted a lot - zinnias, cosmos, ageratum, amaranth, sunflowers, verbena bonariensis, yarrow, anise hyssop....and more! Bouquets will be ready in Tiny Farmstand for opening June 20 and every weekend. If you want a bouquet during the week, just order online and tell me when you'd like to come, and I'll make one for you. Price is $12.00, plus $2.00 for the mason jar if you'd like to keep it. (I'll have bags and wrap if you don't want the jar.)
It's a glorious summer day here and the gardens are vibrant after the soaking rains of yesterday. The long days are full of birdsong and buzzing insects. Trilling toads and croaking frogs serenade us into night when the owls take over and the fireflies flicker like shooting stars. Ralph, Abbey and I are all doing well, and we wish all the best for you and your loved ones.
Sending love and light.