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18th Century Purity Farms, 154-156 Plainfield Pike Road, Plainfield, CT (2026)

05/23/2026

Farm update May 23: Mother Nature is up to her usual tricks, I see. Four days 90 degrees or above, then Thursday was 59, followed by 2 days with morning temps in the 40's. Interesting. The hot weather really pushed growth on all of the fruit crops, and did not do much harm to the veggies. We have had sufficient well timed rain to keep things growing pretty well without a lot of stress, so we will live with the tricks (not much choice there anyway). I have been focusing on planting summer crops and weeding (not my fav.) the spring crops. So far, I am pleased with what I have been seeing for fruit set, apples look good, and I see peaches most everywhere, although they will probably need quite a bit of hand thinning. I have been mowing as I get the time, but there is a lot more to do, but that time thing is getting to be an issue. The darn asparagus harvest is crazy big this year, and during the heat wave I had to pick twice a day because growth was so rapid. That is settling down now to once a day. I planted a new strawberry field this year and, although it needs to be weeded now, it looks like just about every plant grew. Again, the rain was well timed. I also like what I am seeing in the older strawberry field, but I am not sure when harvest will actually begin. I did see a few already starting to turn color, so I think there will be at least some before June. That's it for today, time to load up and head to the Stonington market. Have a great day!

05/06/2026

Farm update May 6: Not a lot to say today, except IT'S APPLE BLPOSSOM TIME!!! A time of hope, a time of cautious optimism, a time to sweat out, frost, are the pollinizers ready, diseases, and more. Actually, quite a bit more happening here. I finished planting a new strawberry field, considerably larger than the old one. I don't know how I will get them picked yet, but, what the heck, why not. The plants have started growing already, and look good so far, There is a pretty good bloom on the old field, and I am hoping for some early berries. I have been working on the blueberry field as time allows, got sort of neglected late in the season last year, so it really needs to be cleaned up. The blueberries are also in bloom, at least the early varieties. The onions and lettuce are also doing well, but not so much the overwintered spinach, but I will have some. Too early to evaluate fruit set on the peaches, but I did see some sugar plums and apricots growing. That's all I can think of right now, so enjoy a few pictures of the blossoms.

04/16/2026

Farm update April 16, 2026: It was a very long and harsh winter for me, with hard decisions on a personal and financial level. Do I continue to farm? Can I even be able to farm on a financial level? Input costs have skyrocketed to a level where I have to ask myself if I can make a profit, even a small one. As much as I love farming, I still have to make a living (although not a fancy one) doing it. As much as I hate to do it, I will have to raise some prices, while trying to keep in mind that other people (namely my customers) are also feeling the financial pinch. With all that in mind, I guess I will be going at it again this year, and hope for the best. I have been planting a lot already, with lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots and radishes already up. I spent the day yesterday putting in about an acre of potatoes, with a couple of new varieties that I liked the looks of. This warm weather has pushed tree development very fast (too fast?), with peaches and plums in full bloom, and apricots already past full bloom. My winter work never really got finished. 3 feet of snow at times sort of stopped that. Inclination and age prevented me from slogging through that. O.K., I will shut up now, wish me luck (I will probably need it!), and have a great warm day.

09/02/2025

Farm update Sept. 2: A lot happening, I can barely keep up with it. As of today, the Moosup farm is sold. I will miss the heirloom apples there, but maybe I will plant some at the Hall Homestead. That's out of the way now. More importantly, PYO will be opening this Friday, Sept. 5. Macs are ready, and Cortland taste good although not very colorful yet. Price is the same as it has been, $10 per peck bag. Hours are 1pm - 6pm, 7 days per week. If JoAnn is not out there, just ring the doorbell on the house. If she is asleep in the tent, WAKE HER UP!!! In other farm news, I am already picking broccoli, and I did see one head of the yellow cauliflower getting ready. I have harvested over 100 cantaloupes so far, but the cooler weather is slowing ripening of the rest. The sweet corn is also doing well, and selling well (of course, we are eating our share). I still have 2 varieties of peaches yet to ripen, not a lot because they are on the new trees. I hope they will be ready this week, but I am not familiar with these new varieties. I'm sure more is happening on the farm, but my brain can only hold so much information. I have reached the point in life where my brain is at capacity, and if I learn something new, I have to make room for it by tossing some useless piece of information out. That's it, have a great day everyone.

08/07/2025

Farm update Aug. 7: I have been away in my own world for a long time. I thought that I had cut back on my work load this season to spend more time with JoAnn, but apparently that is not the case. My days are full. First, the sad news for me is that I put the Moosup farm up for sale on Tuesday. Didn't want to do it, but I found that I simply could not handle both farms anymore, and Moosup was not getting the attention it deserved, not looking nice, sort of overgrown. We also had a severe hail storm 3 weeks ago (the first hail we have had there in nearly 30 years), and the apples took a full hit. That's enough on that subject. I have finally gotten my harvest in full swing. There are a lot of peaches on the new orchard at the Hall Homestead, amazing since the trees are only 3 years old. Also had a nice harvest of apricots, tasted great and makes me hopeful for the future. My experiment with watermelons and cantaloupe seems to be working well, with a nice harvest of watermelons, and cantaloupes are looking good, but not quite ready yet. I focused more on sweet corn this year, and I just started picking this week. It has been wonderful, nice big ears, filled to the tips and very flavorful. JoAnn's favorite vegetable. Of course, I think that corn is just her excuse for earing butter. My fall/early winter broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts are looking good, had a nive 1 inch rainfall last Thursday which helped them. I like to grow them into cool weather because I think they taste better. I have started preparing the Hall Homestead apple orchard for PYO, hoping that JoAnn can handle it. She wants to do it, but we shall see. I am thinking that with help from our customers she will be able to do it. That's it for this long-winded post, so have a great day today (looks like a nice one), and I will try to update more often (I know, I've said that before).

06/07/2025

farm update June 7: The past couple of weeks have been fairly busy, with strawberry harvest stating at least 7 days earlier than usual. It sort of compressed my work load, doing planting, weeding, mowing and a bunch of other farm chores in the morning (starting at first light), and picking strawberries in the afternoon (ending at last light). So far I have been able to somewhat keep up. I have a large crop of peaches coming (so far, so good), but they need to be hand thinned to produce decent peaches, One of the morning jobs. A first for me, I completed 2nd hilling on potatoes on May 30, never before have I done that before about June 7. I am hoping for early harvest, as I am just about out of my stored potatoes. Asparagus harvest is winding down, so that will free up a couple of hours daily for other chores. I have checked the apple crop, and they look generally abundant (again, so far, so good). My vegetable planting schedule is all messed up, with plenty of rain resultin in plenty of mud, not a condition where you would want to work the soil for planting. Okay, that's it for today, I will do a quick sanity check, then head off to market. Have a great day, and watch out for storms.

05/12/2025

farm update May 12: Things on the farm are moving very fast now. Apple blossom went as fast as it came, but we did have 2 good days of pollenizing weather, so I am hopeful for good fruit set. I will know better in about 10 days. Blueberries are now in full bloom, and the weather looks good for them for a couple of days. I was very surprised to see a good amount of apricots on the new trees at the Hall Homestead, since they bloomed early and the weather was really poor (cold and rainy) during bloom. Fruit set on peaches looks good right now. I have been busy picking overwintered kale and spinach, but they will only last a couple more weeks before they bolt. Asparagus harvest is well underway now, and they taste really good (field tested and field approved). I saw small strawberries growing yesterday, and it looks like a lot of them. Today and tomorrow are planting days for some of the summer veggies, so I should be fairly busy with land prep and planting. The melon, cantaloupe, and summer squash plants in my starter beds are up, and should be ready to go out into the fields by the beginning of June. Put it on the list. That's all for today, have a great one!

04/30/2025

Farm update April 30: Here it is, apple blossom time is upon us! A time of beauty and hope. Looks like an excellent bloom on almost everything. Now, we wait for the pollinizers, and hope for a good fruit set and no disasters.

04/28/2025

Farm update April 28: Our recent warm spell (except for Sunday) has pushed development of fruit buds on almost everything. Apricots are already done blooming, peaches are in full bloom, as well as pears, strawberries have started to blossom, and with the predicted warm weather, I expect that apples will be in full bloom by Thursday. This is all quite early, ahead of traditional normal, but there is no normal anymore. I have managed to do some planting, with potatoes all planted, some lettuce, onions, and a couple more things. Peas and radishes planted earlier finally came up (I had my doubts about them for a while. I am harvesting overwintered kale and spinach, but I don't think they will last long, the very warm weather will make them bolt. The first asparagus were harvested last Friday on a part of the field that I covered with black plastic, I tricked them into thinking it was warmer. Asparagus tips are showing on the field that was not covered, so I only gained a week on harvest. I have most of the brush from pruning flail mowed, and plan on finishing the job today. Still need to prune the peaches at the Moosup farm, but they will have to wait a couple more days. Everything else on the home front is going as well as can be expected. That's it for now, have a great day.

04/11/2025

Farm update April 11: I am sputtering into Spring, with lousy weather and quite a few unfinished jobs. I have finished pruning of apples (at least, all that I have time for - had to pick and choose and leave some for next year). My newest peach trees at the Hall Homestead are pruned, and are showing a lot of buds. The apricots are about ready to bloom, but with overnight lows in the 20's, I don't know how they will fare. I have planted peas and radishes, and onions should be going in today. Seed potatoes have arrived, but they will have to wait to be planted since soil conditions are a bit wet. I normally try to get them in by April 15, but right now I don't know. The season has advanced enough that I can evaluate fruit buds, and it looks like buds are abundant on almost everything. Long way to go. The blueberry field will be the biggest challenge this year, as we had a major problem last Fall. With JoAnn's issues, the netting was not taken down in time, and a wet snow destroyed the netting and broke many posts and wires. At this stage, I don't think replacement is in the cards. I have some weird thoughts about it, maybe try laser bird deterrents along with electronic bird scare devices and predator figures. Who knows, might work enough to get some crop. I keep telling myself to FOCUS, but sometimes I am not listening. That's it for today, so make the best of it. One more thing; UCONN WOMEN!!!!!

18th Century Purity Farms

05/23/2026

05/06/2026

04/16/2026

09/02/2025

08/07/2025

06/07/2025

05/12/2025

04/30/2025

04/28/2025

04/11/2025

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