Rockville Market Farm

We will be slaughtering 2500 chickens throughtout the month of August. The birds weigh out between 4.5# to 6.5#, are Vermont State Inspected and cryovaced for optimal storage. We often feel that this is the single best item we produce on our farm. The flavor is outstanding. If you've never tasted pasture raised chickens before you are in for a huge treat. The birds can be ordered through the web site and picked up here at the farm or at the Burlington Farmer's Market. Contact us to make arrangements.

CSA is up and going, join us if you haven't already!!

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:16:14 -0500

Our first CSA pick-up was last night. We have five locations in South Burlington, one in Bristol and a Thursday pick-up here at the farm. We accept new members throughout the season, using a pro-rated formula. Feel free to contact us if you have questions and are thinking of joining. We can put you in touch with some of our membership if you are looking for feedback. We are very proud of our CSA and our connection to the community. "Vote with your fork!".

Poultry in Motion, Greenhouse Open and a Moment in Time

Thu, 06 May 2010 00:52:11 -0500

Congrats to Ann Kowalaski for winning our name the eggmobile contest! We liked the name "poultry in motion" so much that we decided to use it as the tag line for our new egg labels. Just as exciting (to us at least), the birds arrived this week. 500 layers are happily running around, out on pasture, living as good a life as a chicken can live.

Our greenhouse will be open for retail sales this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as for the following four weekends. Buy direct from the farm at considerable savings. Good starts make good gardens, it's that simple.

This last Sunday CSA member and professional photographer Natalie Stultz came to the farm and snapped some photos for the New York Times project "a moment in time". Click here to be directed to her blog and check out the photo she submitted. Thanks Natalie!!

Slow money and Stone Leaf Teas

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:13:23 -0500

Four or five years ago we employed John Wetzel for the summer. Smart and motivated he proved to be a great addition to the farm. Farm laboring paid the bills, but John's real passion was teas. He had traveled the world as an employee of the Dobra Tea House, and every day during lunch he broke out his stash and introduced us to the world of teas. We were hooked, and to this day drink tea all day everyday. John went on to start Stone Leaf Teas in the Marble Works in Middelbury. You can check him out on the net at www.stoneleaftea.com, but we recommend that you visit his store next time you're in Middlebury.

We find inspration in all aspects of our work, it's not a stetch to say that learning about teas has changed our lives. On a seperate but combined note, last year while attending the Vermont Fresh Network annual event we listened to Woody Tirsh, founder of Slow Money, give the keynote address. We'd never heard of him before, but we liked what he had to say. Somebody in the audience asked "what is slow money?". Woody responded by explaining that slow money is an investment where the return is so small that you can actually understand it. That's how and why we lent John $500 to buy teas for his shop during his recent travels to China. It's a simple concept, lend a small amount of money, get paid back in a year and collect a little interest in the form of world class teas. Nobody's getting rich, but then again micro loans have never been blamed for world wide economic meltdowns.

Cochon 555, grafting tomatoes and overwintered spinach

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:56:28 -0500

We are honored to be supplying a pig for the Cochon 555 event in Boston. This is a world class event featuring 5 chefs, 5 wines and 5 pigs. Click here to link to their website or better yet, join us this Sunday in Boston for what promises to be a great time.

Keenann has been busy starting seeds of all types. For the last several years she has grafted our greenhouse tomatoes. In much the same way that apple growers graft apple trees, we take tasty tomatoes and graft them on to hardy, disease resistant root stock.

Speaking of greenhouse tomatoes. Last year, as I'm sure you all remember, was a very challenging tomato year with widespread blight throughout the state. We fought the blight for many months with continual copper treatments but eventually pulled our tomato plants out early. What to do with all that valuable greenhouse space? We overwintered spinach which is currently being sold at City Market, Healthy Living and Mountain Greens. So if you need a greens fix after a long winter go get a bag.

Last Call For Early Discount and Seedling Shares

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:15:30 -0600

March 15th is the cut off date to save $25 off of your CSA share. It is also the last date that you can place an order for seedling shares. Checks can be postmarked and mailed the 15th and still count.

Veggie CSA

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:43:38 -0600

What is a CSA and how does it work?

CSA stands for Community-Supported Agriculture. It works like this: our farm offers "shares" to the public. Members pre-buy these shares and pick-up their box of certified organic vegetables once a week for twenty weeks. A typical share consist of a box of 5-7 seasonal items. In addition to vegetable shares our farm offers a Meat CSA, Chicken and Pork shares.

Where do I pick up my share?

Our convenient pick-up locations and hours make the farm-to-table experience easier for busy folks to support local agriculture. Click here for a complete list of drop sites. Pick-up times are from 3 to 6 pm on Wednesdays from June through October. We do one last pick-up the week before Thanksgiving. Looking for the on-farm experience? Join us instead on Thursdays at the farm for your CSA pick-up. Visit the animals , pick some herbs and flowers, hang-out on the farm. We are always looking for neighborhood captains to help us expand our reach. This is a great way to connect with your community, save money and eat well. If we use your house as a drop spot and you're able to host at least 5 members you'll save 15% on your total membership, if you host 10 members you'll save 30% and if you host over 15 members you'll save 50%. If this is of interest to you contact us and we can go over the details.

Can I still purchase a share?

Yes! The easiest way is to use the on-line check out. You can also send a check to the farm. We accept members throughout the season, if you miss the first pick-ups we can do a pro-rated share.

What do I get?

A lot depends on the season and the time of year. We generally say that a small share is sufficient for a couple and a large share is designed to feed a family of four to five. Another way of looking at it is a small share consist of smaller portions of five to seven items while a large share consist of larger portions of seven to nine items. Click here to reference our CSA product availability chart.

Sample shares (mid-July)

Small share

.5# mesclun

1 bunch of beets

1# tomatoes

1 bunch carrots

1 bunch basil

1 bunch sunflowers

Large share

1# mesclun

2 heads lettuce

1.5# tomatoes

2 pints cherry tomatoes

1 bunch carrots

1 bunch basil

1 garlic

1 bunch sunflowers

Why join our CSA?

Health: Eat local and organic

Food that travels fewer miles and days between harvest and consumption has a higher nutritional value. Our vegetables are fresh, certified organic and completely pesticide free!

Support local farms and economy

CSA's keep our dollars local and give community support to family farms. By sharing the risk and the harvest, members help keep farms in production and support farming as a viable family business.

Affordable foods for all income levels

By partnering with our friends at Common Roots we are able to raise funds to offer reduced-rate memberships in our community. The goal is to help make locally grown food accessible to families of all income levels. We also offer payment plans, contact us for details.

New Product Graph: CSA product graph

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:22:51 -0600

Click here to view the graph.