Three Springs Fruit Farm

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In mid February, we drove up through the dormant fruit orchards of northern Adams County near Gettysburg to peruse seed catalogs and start planning our growing season with Three Springs Fruit Farm. The farm contains approximately 500 acres of primarily orchards nestled in the heart of fruit country in Adams County.

We met with Ben Wenk who is the 7^th generation of his family to farm over the past 100 years and works with his father, John, and uncle, David Wenk. Ben is a recent graduate from Penn State’s Agro ecology program with a minor in Horticulture. After unloading a few skids of empty peach crates from 2009 we sat down at a table on the ground floor of an old farmhouse in the middle of acres of orchards. Johnny’s Select, and Baker’s Creek seed catalogs spread about and there is something about this time of year when looking through catalogs you get high hopes. Everything looks so good in the catalogs and every growing season is a clean slate filled with endless possibilities.

It was really enjoyable sitting down with Ben and discussing the upcoming season. Asking ourselves what worked, what didn't, what is going to be worth our efforts this upcoming season. He is how I would envision the New Farmer from an article I just read in Edible Shenandoah. He is aimed at discovering and cultivating a new niche for his established family farm. Whether it is through finding a new product, new method of production, or new way to reach potential customers, you get this sense from Ben that he is someone who enjoys what he does and wants to combine the wisdom from the past with the technology of the future. A nice sense of ambition tampered with a degree of humbleness. On the afternoon of our meeting, Ben was preparing for a seminar which he was giving at the PASA Conference the following day. The seminar had to do with small farms utilizing the internet and social networking to reach new customers.

We combed through the catalogs and developed a nice wish list for items we would like to see this summer in terms of specialty produce items. On that list we have some unique varieties of artichokes, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and squash. We look forward to doing some business with Ben and Three Springs Fruit Farms this summer and maybe even getting up to Gettysburg to jam at an open mic hosted by Ben Wenk.

Cheers,

John Norman