The Fresh Picked

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

Vote Norman's Farm Market for Farmers Market

2010-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

Vote Norman's Farm Market for Farmers Market

Maryland’s Best Buyer-Grower Seminar

2010-02-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

On January 21, Norman’s Farm Market attended Maryland Department of Agriculture’s 2010 Buyer-Grower Meeting in Annapolis. We had a blast meeting all the producers and sampling their products. Also it was great catching up with many of the key players in the local foods movement. Kate Mason, the agricultural marketing specialist for Maryland’s Department of Agriculture, did a great job of organizing the event. She also puts together many other events geared towards helping Maryland’s producers develop a customer base. The 2010 Buyer-Grower Meeting was attended by vegetable farms, fruit orchards, meat & dairy farms, seafood producers, wineries, and more. Area chefs, some larger buyers such as Wegman’s & Wholefoods, and of course Maryland’s premier local food advocate Norman’s Farm Market attended the meeting as prospective buyers.

The first wall of the auditorium was lined with seafood producers and watermen from the Chesapeake Bay. We spoke to Ernie Nichols of Uncle Ernie’s Tangier Sound Oysters and sampled his delicious Oysters. Ernie’s mission statement is, “To provide a sustainable source of excellent Tangier Sound oysters while working to help restore the wild oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay.” His farm provides literally billions of disease resistant oyster larvae to help restore the bay’s population. This is important because oysters function as living filters and play an important role restoring the ecosystem of the bay.

Next we spoke to Mike Koch and Pablo Solanet of Firefly Farms in Maryland’s Allegheny plateau. We were pleased to discover that Mike & Pablo frequent our Chevy Chase location and we loved their artisan goat cheeses. As we sampled their cheeses we discussed our recent trip to Wisp which is not far from their farm. FireFly farms is committed to “…sustainable agriculture and the preservation of small family farms, respect for the environment, humane treatment of animals, and world class cheese!” We discussed our dairy CSA program with the possibility of working together in the future. They would be a great addition to our program with such excellent quality cheese and sustainable values.

It is always great catching up with Renee Catacalos, a freelance writer and consultant specializing in the farm to table movement and formerly the publisher and editor of Edible Chesapeake. Currently Renee maintains her own blog. Aside from giving us some great ideas and feedback concerning Norman’s Farm Market, Renee also told us about the 2010 Future Harvest, Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (CASA) Conference she had recently attended.

After spending a few hours meeting and speaking with many more producers and local food advocates we headed home. All in all, we found our excursion to Annapolis for the 2010 Buyer Grower meeting to be productive and fruitful.

Sharps At Waterford Farm

2010-01-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

My brother, Jeff Norman, and I had a meeting yesterday with Alan Sharp of Sharp’s at Waterford Farm in western Howard County. It is located just down the road from our farm in Woodbine, Maryland. Sharp’s at Waterford is a 530 acre working farm, family owned and operated since 1903. This will be Alan’s first year back to the farm after completing college and through the help and mentorship of his parents, Chuck and Denise, will start working towards running the operation. Alan is the fourth generation of the Sharp family to do so.

It was a gorgeous sunny hour of an otherwise overcast and rainy day, perhaps the warmest moment of 2010. As we drove up the long winding driveway off Jennings Chapel Road, through some woods, we arrived to a clearing which revealed beautiful rolling green pasture and blue skies. We could see the house where we were to meet Alan, overlooking a few barns, greenhouses and a pair of ponds as well.

The reason of our meeting was to discuss having Sharp’s at Waterford Farm grow vegetables for our summer and fall CSA Program. We are practically neighbors and believe this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Sharp’s Farm is a great place to learn and experience farming. The Sharp family has been farming for over 100 years and has been offering educational programs since 1980 to schools, daycares, scout groups, homeschoolers and families through out the Maryland area. They offer many packages for school field trips, private events, fall festivals, and even volunteer opportunities.

As Jeff, Alan , and I sat down at a large rustic kitchen table off the kitchen of the Sharp’s home, I was immediately impressed with a panoramic view of the farm. I thought how nice it must be to watch the sun rise from here over a cup of coffee. Alan flipped open a pad of paper as Jeff and I began listing off items which we think would make the most sense to grow on the farm. We came up with corn, tomatoes (heirloom and otherwise), melons, squash, cucumbers, peppers, beans, and pumpkins.

This year we heard of a particular variety of white corn being grown in Adams County, PA which is head and shoulders above the rest in flavor and texture. Also we were hoping to create a more steady supply in sweet yellow and bicolor corn as well. Even though white corn is definitely more popular in Maryland, we are seeing a slow but steady increase in popularity of its yellow and bicolor counterparts, and we are all about encouraging our customers to try something different.

We continued to go item by item narrowing down what varieties and quantities we are interested in. For each item there is the question of how difficult, disease resistance and prolific it is to grow. What does it entail in terms of planting, maintaining, and harvesting? On the other end of the process is how popular is it at the stands and in the CSA.

At the end of the hour we had a solid list of possibilities to move forward. Nothing is set in stone at this point but wheels are in motion. As we drive out the long winding driveway I look at the horizon and the rolling pasture like a blank canvas. I am hopeful and envisioning it in the peak of summer with rows of soldiering corn, and curling vines of cantaloupes.

John Norman

New Year Resolution

2010-01-26T06:37:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe we are at the end of January already. One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010 was to start blogging for Norman’s Farm Market, so here it goes...

In 1987 I began what has amassed to a career in selling local fruits and vegetables along the roadsides of Montgomery County, Maryland. In the early 1990’s, my two brothers and I developed the name Norman’s Farm Markets. Along with a small army of of talented high school and college students seeking summer jobs, and a fleet of a few of the ugliest used pick-up trucks ever assembled, my brothers and I opened and operated as many as ten produce stands on a daily basis. Over the next twenty years we continued to forge relationships with many local farmers, customers, local food enthusiasts, and colleagues. We opened and closed a gourmet market in Bethesda; a garden center and country store in Reston, Virginia, and farm markets in Potomac and Olney. The current state of Norman’s Farm Market, however is a streamlined family owned and operated business running two roadside stands in Chevy Chase and Bethesda as well as a rapidly growing CSA, (community supported agriculture) Program. In 2001 I met my wife, Eris, who along with my brother, Jeff, and myself are the principals and operators of Norman’s Farm Market. We are dedicated to supporting local farmers and are extremely proud of the network of farms that we have established.

My goal for this blog is to create a journal of a small family owned business, the opportunities and obstacles we encounter, the faces we meet, and the relationships we develop. I would like to do this from farm planning and seed ordering, through the operations of our stands and CSA pickups, to the meals that grace my family’s table. To take our readers on tours of area farms as well as organizations such as DC Central Kitchen, A Wider Circle, and Bread For The City with whom we work with to create channels to supply local food for the less fortunate. Lastly, I would like this blog to provide a vehicle to explore the opportunities and challenges which face today’s small family farms, area restaurants and markets, and consumers when it comes to paving the way and offering solutions for bridging the gap of farm to table.

-John Norman