Mother’s Day on the Farm

Featured

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Connie

A week from today is Mother’s Day and Yellow Stonehouse Farm is celebrating with an Open Farm day on Saturday, May 11^th starting at 10:00 am. It’s a day to tour and learn about the farm, pick-up some fresh Spring vegetables including, weather permitting, fresh asparagus, ramps, and greens, and celebrate all the Mother’s in our lives. We will have a variety of flowering pots, vegetable and herb transplants, other flowering perennials and shrubs, plus locally crafted and organic food items in our farm store for a perfect Mother’s Day gift.

Mom’s and Families are very important to Yellow Stonehouse Farm. So much of what do here is about supporting our local community – growing organically, providing freshly picked produce to members along with easy family friendly recipes, offering Pick-Your-Own vegetables, flowers and herbs as a fun family activity plus our friendly and supportive farm community.

Life is busy for today’s families and we know Mothers are the organizers, nurturers, and caretakers of the family – responsible for everything from ferrying kids from one activity to another, to making sure food gets on the table that is tasty, nutritious and healthy. Making the right food choices is complicated, with a bewildering array of foods making a variety of claims. It’s scary to learn about the pesticides and herbicides used in conventional farming – and the growing evidence of impacts on human health of a diet that contains these substances.

The impact of pesticides and herbicides are linked to everything from immunity related disorders to cancer and learning disabilities and have led to a huge increase in the popularity of organic food. Eating organically is one of the fastest growing food trends in the US and a good way to protect the health of children, the elderly, pregnant and nursing mother’s and the immune suppressed such as cancer patients.

Joining Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s USDA certified organic CSA is a good way to ensure that the produce you eat every day is organic. It is truly one stop produce shopping! Your CSA share provides all the vegetables along with delicious recipes you need to feed your family of four for a week. And the cost of a full weekly share works out to be just $32.50 per week – a bargain when you factor in the weekly PYO privileges!

Something new we are adding to the farm this year – and focused especially on Mom’s and making their lives easier – is an expanded product line in our farm store. We have decided that one thing we can do to simplify the lives of our members is to save them a trip to another store. So, we are going to carry a variety of grocery items to help busy mom’s make delicious meals as well as every day items such as milk, eggs and bread. The best thing is, most of the items are going to be organic and locally crafted from farms throughout Western, MA allowing us to support other farmers in our area.

We look forward to seeing you on May 11^th. If you can’t make it, you can contact us at the farm at 413-562-2164 or email us at yellowstonehousefarmcsa@gmail.com to arrange a visit that’s convenient for you.

Join a CSA and have a farm to call your own.

Featured

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Connie

One of the reasons that John & I decided to start Yellow Stonehouse Organic Farm & CSA was to share the farm and beautiful natural landscape with neighbors and local community members. We realized farms were disappearing from our area and the availability of locally grown vegetables was decreasing. We started our Organic CSA to keep Yellow Stonehouse Farm in operation and we think belonging to our organic farm CSA is important because:

Picking beans

Massachusetts is losing farms: Losing agricultural land impacts our ability to feed ourselves locally with increasing dependence on large factory farms located in the Midwest, California and Southern states – all areas that are being impacted by climate change damaging their agricultural productivity. Most of these farms also use conventional factory farming practices which impact food safety, taste and nutrition.
Local food is the better for you: When food is transported long distances to grocery stores, it loses freshness & wholesomeness. Often, food grown for transport are varieties that are designed to last longer but sacrifice flavor and nutrients. Eating locally grown food is the best of all worlds – vegetables taste best at peak freshness as well as being most nutritious.
USDA certified organic food is healthy: Conventionally grown food is often grown with chemicals and fertilizers that we believe to be harmful to human health – especially children. Feeding children organic food when they are young is a great start to lifelong health and wellness. Not only are they getting the best nutrition, children also learn to like vegetables and develop good eating habits that last a lifetime.
YSF farm is fun for families and children: It’s important for children to learn about and appreciate how food happens. Children who are exposed to farming are more likely to enjoy eating vegetables. They also develop an appreciation and understanding of the importance of farming, nature and open space. Plus, kids love being outside in the sunshine, playing in the dirt, and having a hands-on experience picking vegetables and flowers.
YSF Farm is a stress reducer – relaxing and refreshing: Spending time at the farm outside in the sunshine, absorbing a little vitamin D on our beautiful organic farm is a wonderful healthy way to spend a few hours – experiencing the beauty of nature among a myriad of flowers, trees, berries, birds, butterflies, bees, not to mention turtles, frogs, and grasshoppers. We plant flowers, vegetables and berries for members to pick their own and take great pleasure in the fun children have in filling their baskets (and tummies).

We are always trying different colored vegetables…

These are some other, unique reasons why belonging to Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s CSA is especially rewarding:

Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s CSA is limited to no more than 200 members – we want to
make sure we know every member so we can provide a personal touch like remembering your favorite vegetable and saving you an extra or letting you know when your favorite flower is in bloom.
CSA members are Yellow Stonehouse Farm’s first priority – we make sure members get first dibs on all produce before we sell to drop in customers. We also do our best to fulfill special requests like a glorious bouquet of flowers for a special occasion or the blackberry leaves one member uses to make a special soothing tea.
YSF is flexible – there are a variety of share options, payment plans and pick-up days so every member can conveniently fit their trip to the farm in their schedule. And if something comes up, or you have a vacation scheduled, we will work with you to make sure you don’t miss a share.
YSF is accessible – we have convenient parking close to the pick-up area and then additional parking near the PYO fields along with a U-shaped driveway to minimize congestion. We are open Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 am till 6:30 pm for Pick-Your Own members. PYO crops are planted on the near side of the fields for member convenience and we have shaded picnic tables nearby for family members to relax while watching the pickers.
YSF has an additional 65 acres of fields and meadows for members to enjoy. We keep paths mowed for easy access and provide maps for various features of the area including the Manhan River and turtle nesting area and will conduct tours upon prior arrangement.
One of the farmer’s – Connie or John – is always at the pick-up area to help members – review that week’s recipe, explain what a particular vegetable is and why its good for you, or to just spend a few minutes talking about your day. Socializing at the farm is something many members enjoy.
PYO vegetables, flowers, berries and herbs are included with every share. The flower bouquets are especially popular with many of our members. Perennial & herb gardens along with Fairy gardens are located near the pick-up area for member’s to enjoy.
To increase convenience for our members, the farm store will be carrying a carrying a curated selection of local, organic grocery items and condiments including eggs, bread, jams & jellies, freshy roasted coffee and more.

Healthy Eating To Improve You and Your family’s health January 20, 2018

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Connie

Continuing a Family Farm into the future

Yellow Stonehouse Farm is an Organic Farm and CSA located on the Westfield-Southampton border, which is part of the Eastern Farms section of Westfield, MA. Historically a Dairy Farm operated by my husband John’s family (the Hutkoski’s) and their predecessors back to the early 1800’s, John and I took over the farm in 2009 and opened the CSA in 2012. Today, we have a thriving USDA certified Organic CSA whose members enjoy the farm’s fresh vegetables, herbs, & flowers from June – February.

What is a CSA

A CSA is a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal produce directly from a farmer in their community in the form of a “farm share”. Yellow Stonehouse Farm offers a limited number of “shares” to the public so that they may share in the bounty grown on the farm’s cultivated fields. CSA members buy a share of the farm – and in exchange, during the growing season, members receive abundant shares of local, fresh, and seasonal produce directly from the farm at an affordable price.

A Commitment to Health

When John and I first took over the farm in 2009, we spent a lot of time on a Farm Plan that would allow us to continue the farm as an agricultural enterprise – keeping the farm a farm for the long term – as well as selecting the best way for us as a couple to take on the work of the farm in a way that kept us happy, healthy and able to support the farm.

Healthy Living was one of our most important goals – and from the very start we decided we weren’t going to use any unwholesome pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. We both grew up in family farm-based and chemical free agricultural communities and felt that doing so led to our overall good health, which we didn’t want to squander using chemically dependent farming practices. Besides, we both loved wildlife and didn’t want to hurt any of the other residents on our land such as the birds and bees, beavers, bobcats – and turtles! Happily, we found the CSA model of farming and were able to complete the USDA approved Organic Certification process in 2015 to become Hampden Counties’ first, and to this day – only, USDA Certified Organic Vegetable Farm and CSA.

Healthy Eating Movement

As we’ve became more involved in Yellow Stonehouse Farm we have pursued many educational opportunities – I completed an eight-month farming program and we’ve both attended seminars and classes offered by NOFA – the Northeast Organic Farming Association and MDAR – the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. I feel lucky to be able to pursue my life-long interest in growing and using flowers and herbs for both culinary and medicinal use, which help me to develop the healthy and delicious recipes that go together with the the CSA shares each week.

What is more interesting, however, is how popular Healthy Eating has become throughout our local community, the Pioneer Valley. Of course, Western Massachusetts has been a leader of the Organic Food and CSA movement since the 1960’s – and we are blessed to be part of today’s healthy eating movement in Hamden County, contributing to our communities’ well-being.

We are committed to providing a healthy start to our communities’ children and families. Research shows that eating Healthy Nutritious food contributes to the positive physical and cognitive development of children and prevents the onset of disease – both in childhood and adulthood. Research and our experience has been that children who are exposed to the farm and farming practices, learn where their food comes from, how it grows, end up eating and enjoying vegetables earlier and then for the rest of their lives. Plus having children enjoying the farm is a great joy and keeps us young too!

What’s so Healthy about Organic Local Vegetables

Fresh local produce is better for you – because nutritional value is at its’ peak when food is freshest. Much of the food in your local grocery store has travelled for days before reaching store shelves and thus lacks freshness.
Organic produce doesn’t have any of the toxic chemicals of industrialized foods that researchers suggest may be contributing to today’s chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease plus a broad spectrum of modern childhood maladies such as allergies, asthma, ADHD and Autism.
Organic food really is healthier for you – and more delicious. This is because the soil used in Organic Farming includes more microbes and minerals, which become part of the vegetables that grow in that soil. These microbes and minerals contribute to immune system, gastrointestinal, and cellular health. There is also some research that suggests that these same microbes and minerals add flavor and depth to the taste of organic vegetables making them more delicious.
Preparing meals at home allows you, the cook, to use healthier, chemical-free ingredient and preparation choices – decreasing salt & sugar, using healthy food preparation techniques such as roasting and baking instead of frying, and increasing healthy food choices to include more plant based foods. It also makes a goal of eating the five servings of plant based foods easier to accomplish.
Increasing the amount of whole plant based foods in your diet is recommended for everyone – with corresponding decreases in animal based products, processed foods high in sugar, salt, fat and chemical additives and less healthy forms of plant based foods such as fruit juices. Most Americans do NOT get enough of many vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber – which can be addressed by adding dark, leafy greens, legumes and other nutrient rich vegetables and lean proteins to the diet.

Upcoming Blogs

Over the next few months, Yellow Stonehouse Farm will be writing and posting our Blog – Farming Matters – on our Website – www.yellowstonehousefarmcsa.com/ and also on our Facebook Page of the same name . We may also link to other Community Facebook pages. Please feel free to share with your own Facebook Community and to respond with questions and comments. We’d like to start a dialogue on Healthy Eating and Living with the community here in Western MA and would appreciate your input. I’ll be posting about our CSA and other ideas we think are important regarding Healthy Eating and Organic Farming but would like your suggestions on topics you are interested in.

For more information on Yellow Stonehouse Farm and our CSA memberships go to www.yellowstnehousefarmcsa.com/ or call the farm at 413-562-2164.

Looking foward to Spring

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Connie

Farming Matters March 11, 2017 Looking forward to Spring

A blog by Connie Adams – co-owner, with husband John, of Yellow Stonehouse Farm, an USDA Certified Organic Vegetable CSA located in Westfield, MA.

I hope this picture of our farm from last May helps ward off the persistant winter chill we are experiencing in New England this March. It’s unsatisfactory after the warm weather teased in February. It’s true what they say about New England weather – the only thing you can count on is it’s unpredicatability.

Thankfully, most farm activities this time of year happen in-doors. We’re getting ready for the growing season, deciding what to plant, laying out the rows and deciding where we are going to grow the different crops, figuring out how much of any one thing to grow, and studying dozens of catalogs to pick new and different, as well as tried and true, varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs. We are even starting seeds for plants that have a long propogation time – like leeks and kohlrabi.

This is also the time of year for members to sign up for our Spring/Summer CSA. CSA members are the ones we are planting for, and we try very hard to make sure that we have enough variety to satisfy the most adventuresome of eaters. If there is a vegetable (or flower or herb) you would like us to grow for you as part of your membership, please email us to let us know.

Regarding Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA memberships – we are delighted to welcome a number of new CSA members! Welcome all, we are very happy to have your join our farm family. We look forward to sharing the bounty of our harvest and the beauty of our farm with you and yours.

Many of these new CSA shareholders were referred to us by our present members – thanks to all for being so supportive. Providing the best experience possible to our members is our primary mission – and your recommendations validate our efforts.

For those considering 2017 CSA membership in our farm, we urge you to sign up soon. Some popular pick-up days (Wednesday and Saturday) are fast becoming fully subscribed, and we only have a fixed number of shares available.

Providing fresh, local, and USDA certified organic vegetables to the local community is something that John and I are both committed to – but it’s the CSA community that we’ve become a part of that makes the work so rewarding for us and our members. We look forward to expanding our farm family to include many more neighbors and friends from Westfield, Southampton, the Hill Towns and surrounding area during the upcoming 2017 season.

For more information call the farm at 413-562-2164 or email us at yellowstonehousefarmcsa@gmail.com. You can also get membership information and applciations at our website at www.yellowstonehousefarmcsa.com/

Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA

Coexisting Harmoniously with the Native Wildlife

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