Just a short note to let you all know that our annual bulk potato sign-ups will officially begin today, Sunday the 9th of October. We usually have a sign-up for carrots as well, but the difficult weather in July when we were seeding our end of season carrots resulted in poor germination and thin stands, and we’re not confident that we have sufficient carrots to do our usual 25 lb bulk bag order. We do have a reasonable carrot crop, however, so we are planning to offer bulk discounts on 10 lb bags of carrots during our last week for those who want to stock up, but there will be no advanced sign up.
So again, we will not be offering carrots in 25 lb bags this year.
Those interested in 50 pound potato bags can select from three varieties: ‘Kennebec’, our old standby, a great all-purpose, white flesh potato with good flavor and excellent storage; ‘Keuka Gold’, a new Cornell introduction with large size, good storage potential, and similar flavor and texture to ‘Yukon Gold’; and ‘Carola’, our favorite yellow-flesh variety, smaller on average than the others, with good flavor and firm texture. As always, we have finite quantities of all these varieties, and those who sign up earliest will be more assured of getting their potatoes. In case of shortages, we encourage you to include a second choice variety (and even a third choice) when you sign up. Sign-ups can happen in one of three ways:
- e-mail-send your order to info@hutchinsfarm.com. Please let us know how many 50 lb bags and of which variety (from those listed above).
- in person at the farmstand on our ‘official’ sign up sheets;
- or (our least preferred method) by phone at 978-369-5041, between 11 and 6, Tuesday through Sunday. We will not accept orders left on our voicemail, so please make sure and call during our open hours.
As we log orders received, we will confirm via e-mail (preferred) or phone, and when the bags are ready to be picked up (most likely the last week of October) we will contact people again. Those who wish to get bulk potatoes but are unable to pick up during the last week of October can make arrangements for pick up at a later date. The bags are 50 pounds for $40. Smaller sized bags (10 and 20 pound bags) are likely to be available the final week of the farmstand but are not available for advanced sign up.
Other crops available for bulk discount during the latter part of the month may include beets, parsnips, turnips and rutabagas, sweet potatoes, celeriac, and winter squash. These will be available to all customers who visit the stand, and we won’t be doing a sign up for them. We will announce details on our website when these discounts begin.
The last day our farmstand will be open this year is Sunday, October 30th. The stand is full to the brim right now, and it’s a relief to see our hard work all season pay off with such fall bounty. Although there is always a bit of sadness at the passing of the season, I think we’ll all be justifiably relieved to see the end of this hard one – hope we see all of you before then!
