Nothing says summer in Harvard like a fresh ear of bicolor corn or a deep red Big Beef tomato from Willard Farm. But sadly, residents have tasted the last of those treasures. Paul Willard, owner of Willard Farm, announced that the farm will cease operations, and vegetables will not be sold from the stand at 218 Still River Road this summer for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Wendell Willard told the Press that his brother Paul has been doing most of the farming since their father died in 1983, but he has had some health setbacks and won’t be able to be “bouncing around on a tractor” this summer. Wendell also said, “None of us is getting any younger.” Their brother-in-law Matt, who worked on the farm in recent years, died unexpectedly in January.
Paul Willard empties a bin of fresh corn at the farmstand. (Photo by Jen Manell)
Paul, who has no children, told the Press, “When there’s no succession, that’s it.” According to Elizabeth Cooper, Wendell’s wife, Paul owns the business, but the land is owned by Paul, Wendell, and their sister Martha. Wendell’s only child, Eleanor, lives out of state and has no plans “to continue the farm in its present form.” Martha, who has not been involved in the farm since she was a girl, lives in Connecticut with her husband, David, and they have no children.
The earliest version of the farmstand appeared in the early 1980s, when Paul and Wendell’s father set up a table in front of the house and sold small chestnuts and bittersweet berries in coffee cans. Wendell said his dad called it “selling weeds to the tourists.” Neither brother remembered precisely what year the stand was built, but it was shortly after their dad died in 1983.
Since then, residents have counted on the stand every summer for their sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants, and all manner of sweet and hot peppers. Customers weighed their own produce on the scale next to the honor system cash box, and even in recent years when nearly everyone had access to calculators on their phones, the yellow legal pad and pencil next to the cash box were always used for longhand multiplications and additions. In the spring, vegetable plants from Willard Farm’s greenhouse found new homes in gardens all across town, and in the fall, the stand’s bounty of winter squashes, pumpkins, and gourds kept customers coming back until closing day each year, which Paul always told the Press would be “the day we run out of stuff to sell.”
Wendell said vegetable plant sales were brisk this year, and there is a chance that part of the business might be able to continue. He said growing the plants in the greenhouse and selling them is not strenuous, and it’s “nice work.”
“It’s been quite an adventure all these years,” Paul said, but he’s looking forward to retiring. He said he’s hoping to find a farmer to put the fields on the 17-acre property back into hay. “Let someone else take care of it,” Willard said. “It’s time. Why not?”
The farmstand on Still River Road. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
