The first frost always marks a turning point on the farm.
The tomatoes and peppers that carried us through summer are gone, the squash and roots are tucked away, and the hardy greens are ready. This year the frost marks a turning point for me, too.
For most of my life I’ve been a teacher and a farmer, not a retailer. My days were spent in the fields: planting, weeding, harvesting, hauling crates of vegetables back to the barn.
Now, with the opening of the Farm Store, I’m in a new role. Instead of being out in the beds every day, I’m inside the store, stocking shelves, setting up displays and talking with you, our customers.
The best conversations happen right here at the counter, where community and good food come together.
Sarah has taken on the lion’s share of the farming, and she does it with her usual strength and grace. My job now is to make sure the store serves you well. Farming has always been a team effort. These days Sarah is steering the fields while I keep things running at the Market.
That’s a humbling shift. I have no background in retail.
We built this store on a vision: our community deserves a place to reconnect with good food. A place where you can pick up a week’s worth of fresh vegetables, ask how to cook fresh ginger, or swing by on your way home for a gallon of High Lawn milk and a frozen Baba Louie’s pizza.
We want it to be a hub that showcases other local farms and food makers, a place for workshops on canning, fermenting, sourdough baking and global cuisines, and a place you can count on for everyday staples grown and made with care.
We know we don’t have everything right. Our shelves still have gaps, and we may be missing things you’d like us to carry. This is your store as much as it is ours. Tell us what’s working, what’s missing and what we could do better. Ask at the counter.
As we head into fall and winter, our greenhouses will keep producing a steady supply of greens: spinach, arugula, lettuce, Asian greens, kale, chard and tatsoi. We’ll have roots like potatoes, onions, garlic, daikon, watermelon radishes and turnips, and winter squash through the colder months. We’ll add fruit from small organic farms (apples, pears and citrus) so you can do your shopping here without turning to the industrial food system.
We’re also expanding what the store offers. You’ll soon see Danish-inspired baked goods from Ky Lea Gerbush, and we’ll be opening earlier on weekdays so you can grab a coffee and something to eat on your way to work. Betsy Kyle has been filling the cooler with comfort-food classics, chicken salad, egg salad, mac and cheese, meatballs and meatloaf, and soon we’ll add soups, salads and sandwiches.
This is still a work in progress, and we’re learning as we go. Stop by the farm store and tell us what you think.
If you’ve wondered about our prices, read The Real Cost of Real Food. More from the farm is in Field Notes.
