A4O-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 1, 1999
Organic Farm
(Continued from Page A3B)
market is working on attracting
customers from Lancaster city.
Boyer lives the farthest away
from the auction. The market is
geared to the smaller producers
who seek an alternative outlet for
their crops.
Growers are livestock or poultry
farmers tending a few acres of veg
etables on the side, Boyer noted.
For the stand, farm market
members try to have com ready for
the July 4 holiday. But Boyer
plants a wide variety of heirloom
and ethnic vegetables for the mark
et and the CSA.
For the market, the Boyers try to
provide continuous com, toma
toes, potatoes, and other veget
ables. The market has had slow but
steady growth.
The CSA is positioned the same
way, Boyer noted.
“We have seen the bottom line
go up each year," she said.
The market is perfect for the
small grower, she said, and pro
vides an alterative outlet from the
standard run of auctions or typical
roadside stands.
One customer was
looking for Italian egg
plant one day, and was
so impressed with what
Boyer was offering that
she handed her a large
sum of money and
didn’t want the change.
The customer told Boy
er that they hadn’t seen
anything “as good or as
fresh as this,” she said.
“They don’t quarrel.
They just hand you the
money.”
For Boyer, she names
the three most important
things to satisfying
customers
1. Present the pro
duce in an attractive
manner. “Really show it
off,” she said, with color
and variety.
2. Offer free samples.
She said that many peo
ple became set on yel
low watermelon if
offered the chance to
taste it.
3. Keep recipes at the
stand. “It’s part of my
repertoire ,” she said. “I
collect cookbooks. I
have gone out of my
way to gather recipes.”
She gathers informa
tion on heirloom, organ
ic vegetables from
Mother Earth News and
other publications. She
also pointed to several
catalogs, including:
• Seeds of - Change,
P.O. Box 15700, Santa
Fe, NM 87506-5700.
• Seed Savers, 3076
N. Winn Rd., Decorah,
IA 52101.
•Fox Hollow Seed
Company, P. O. Box
148, McGrann, PA
16236-0148.
• Heirloom Seeds,
P.O. Box 245, W. Eli
zabeth, PA 15088-0245.
• The Cook’s Gar
den, P.O. Box 535, Lon
donderry, VT 05148.
Boyer uses poultry
and cow manure. She
also makes a manure/
compost barrel “tea”
with other ingredients,
including egg shells and
compost materials, for
garden fertilizer.
All weeds are hand-hoed. Boyer
extensively uses biological insec
ts, including praying mantis, lady
bugs, and wasps. “I release them
every year,” she said.
For the first time this year, Boy
er will be allowing beehives at the
farm to aid in vegetable and fruit
pollination.
“I also cultivate my birds,” she
said. They include bluebirds, spar
rows, wrens, swifts, bam swal
lows, orioles, and woodpeckers.
She maintains bird feeders and
boxes. She plants flowers to draw
butterflies.
Recently Linda and Leon (who
works down the toad at Conestoga
Custom Kitchens) planted a
60-tree antique orchard, with stan
dard and dwarf-sized trees, includ
ing apricots, peaches, apples,
sweet and sour cherries, plums,
and nectarines. Cherries are big
sellers, but the Boyers also sell dif
ferent varieties of blueberries,
raspberries, and strawberries.
For the CSA, the Boyers are
willing to be flexible to customer’s
demand. The CSA will holds its
first member meeting on Tuesday,
ATTENTION
DAIRY PRODUCERS
May 4, at 6 p.m. at the Lambert
Farm.
Members will be allowed to
pick up their produce every Tues
days in the evening, from 5 p.m.-9
p.m., noted Linda.
CSAs, Boyer said, allow the
family to spend time together and
relax in a healthy atmosphere. It
also provides an educational
experience for the entire family.
Boyer keeps a wide variety of
farm animals, including mini-
Southdown sheep, a donkey, heir
loom geese and ducks, and a
200-hen layer operation with white
and brown eggs for customers.
Eventually, as part of the Lam
bert Farm plan, the Boyers hope to
eventually operate a greenhouse
and grow hydroponic tomatoes.
She noted that the
CSA is one way to keep
the heritage of working
the land, growing food
for the table, alive.
Eventually, she believes
the CSA itself can feed
SO families and that
would be enough so the
Boyers can retire from
other work and devote
all their time to the
CSA.
poi iry
part, growing a few acres of vegetables on the side, Boyer
noted.
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