Applefield Farm at the ABFM

Let me tell you a little about one of our regular ABFM farm vendors, Applefield Farm in nearby Stow, MA.  Applefield started coming to our market in our first season--2009.  Ray Mong has owned and operated the 25-acre farm and farm stand for twenty-seven years.  He sells at three farmers markets:  Harvard, Maynard and Acton.

The process of coming to market, Ray tells me, takes place over the course of several days.  He and his team of two, with sometimes up to four, pick the produce, wash it all (the potatoes, the onions, the garlic, the carrots), and pack it into crates.  Early on the morning of the market, the crates are loaded onto a truck and driven to market.  Unloading and setting up the stall, the canopies and umbrellas, the tables laden with freshly harvested produce and attractively displayed, the heavy weights needed to hold everything down in case of a storm or a sudden gust of wind, all takes about an hour and a half;  Ray's team pretty much has it down.  Packing it all up, takes a little less.

But back at the farm, there's the entire process in reverse, and it all needs to be handled carefully. 

Is it worth it, I wanted to know? 

“It’s huge,” Mong says.  “We sell more at a farmers market in three hours than all day at the farm stand.”   

Selling at farmers markets drives what he’ll plant.  “I grow more items that I know will sell at farmers markets.”  

There's a formula for success in small farming these days. Farmers markets provide great visibility, Ray says. But farmers need to sell at multiple farmers markets, and also to retail food shops and restaurants. And you can’t just sell veggies.  “A big part of our business is the stuff you can’t eat,” -- the flowers, hanging baskets, gardening supplies, cards, etc.   To be profitable “you kinda have to have it all.” 

Fall is a great time of year to experience all that our farmers have to offer. So this Sunday, come to the farmers market and feast your eyes on the farmers' displays, appreciate what it took to get all that bounty to you, and buy a few fresh items for dinner!