This is the final week for our farmstand column. It was certainly a bumpy year for Harvard’s farms and orchards. Record cold temperatures in the early morning hours of Feb. 4 destroyed this year’s peach crop. And when the temperature in much of Harvard dropped below freezing on the morning of May 18, some orchards lost portions of their apple crop. Mother Nature was not quite done, though, sending record rainfall during most of the summer and into the fall, resulting in more damage to the apple crop. Rainy weekends also kept berry and apple pickers away from the orchards, cutting further into their bottom line. Time to put this season to bed and hope for better times next year.
In the meantime, most of our farmstands remain open and still have apples and other produce. Carlson and Westward orchards also carry a variety of other edible and nonedible products, Doe Orchards will offer cut-your-own Christmas trees in November, and Good Spirits Farm will be selling holiday-themed indoor and outdoor decorative items later in the season. Check the listings below for farmstand hours going forward, and continue to patronize our local farms and orchards.
Carlson Orchards, 115 Oak Hill Road, 978-456-3916
115 Oak Hill Road, 978-456-3916
www.carlsonorchards.com
Pick-your-own apples will run through Sunday, Oct. 29. Apples available in the store include Golden Delicious, Cortland, Macoun, Gala, McIntosh, Honeycrisp, and Empire. Winter squash from Idylwilde Farms is available in the store, including acorn, carnival, delicata, buttercup, and butternut. Pumpkins and gourds are available outside the store. The store takes orders for holiday pies and remains open year-round.
Store is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Jan. 1; pick-your-own is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (ends Oct. 29)
Doe Orchards, 327 Ayer Road, 978-772-4139
The pick-your-own apple season is over for the year. The stand is stocked with Macoun, Cortland, Empire, Gala, Ruby Mac, McIntosh, Fuji, and Red and Golden Delicious apples, as well as apple cider and apple firewood.
The stand will remain open, weather permitting, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until Nov. 5; hours may change after that. Check Facebook or the website for updates. Choose-and-cut Christmas trees will open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Friday following Thanksgiving, and continue Saturdays and Sundays until trees are sold out (which usually happens quickly)
Good Spirits Farm, 106 East Bare Hill Road, 978-456-8291
At the self-service farmstand this week: raspberries, apples, pears, field tomatoes, spinach, kale, and winter squash, including butternut, honeynut, acorn, and Hubbard, along with the farm’s own honey, berry jams, herbal teas, dried spices and herbs, beeswax, lip balm and hand cream made with the farm’s honey, and the last dahlia bouquets of the season. Eggs from Harvard’s Goose and Hen farm are also available. Later in the season, the stand will have greenery and holiday decorations for outdoors, as well as holiday-themed vases and centerpieces for the table.
Stand is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
Old Frog Pond Farm, 38 Eldridge Road
Closed for the season.
Westward Orchards, 178 Massachusetts Avenue, 978-456-8363
Pick-your-own apples will run through Sunday, Oct. 29. Available in the store are Westward’s Honeycrisp, Gala, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Baldwin, Arkansas Black, Roxbury Russet, Empire, McIntosh, Cortland, Macoun, Red Delicious, and Ginger Gold apples; Seckel, Bartlett, and Bosc pears; tomatoes, mixed peppers, kale, kale sprouts, collard greens, eggplant, beets, carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, mixed winter squash, mixed herbs, pumpkins, and gourds. The store takes orders for holiday pies (Thanksgiving pie orders must be in by Nov. 2). The annual holiday open house will run from Dec. 1 through Dec. 3. The store will close Dec. 31 and reopen in June.
Store is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until Dec. 31, pick-your-own hours are 10 a.m to 4 p.m. daily (ends Oct. 29).
All produce listed is Harvard-grown unless otherwise noted.
—Compiled by Joan Eliyesil
