Verrill Farm's Corn and Tomato Festival, Concord MA

11 Wheeler Road, Concord MA 01742

978.369.4494

verrillfarm.com

Today was Verrill Farm's Corn and Tomato Festival, which I highly recommend. This is our second time going and it was as delicious as ever. Imagine about 20 different kinds of tomatoes, plus just-picked corn on the cob. You can try them as is, or in an assortment of different recipes. All outside in the sunshine while listening to live bluegrass music. For those so inclined, they also offer their own pit BBQ, as well as standard hot dog and hamburger fare.

What a wonderful day.

Cherry tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes from my garden! This is one of those foods that taste best when actually eaten in the garden. In our house, they rarely make it inside. If you want to eat them, you just go outside and pick yourself a snack.

I don't have a good setup to start things early from seed, so I get my tomato seedlings from Verrill Farm in Concord, MA. You can order them in March/Arpil each year for pick-up in May. This is my fourth year buying from them and I haven't had a bad tomato season yet. The first year, I lived in a semi-urban neighborhood and was concerned with the lack of bees for pollination.Since tomatoes are self-pollinating, and really only need a little vibration to get things rolling, I went out to my front yard, where all my potted tomatoes lived, electric toothbrush in hand. A little vibration to the back of each tiny yellow flower, and--magic! Baby tomatoes!

It might have been a bit crazy, and my former neighbors may have breathed a sigh of relief when I moved (with my full-grown tomato plants) late that summer, but I had a bumper crop that year!

Verrill Farm, Concord MA

Verrill Farm

11 Wheeler Road, Concord MA 01742

www.verrillfarm.com

978.369.4494

This year, I kicked off maple season with a pancake breakfast at Verrill Farm in Concord, MA. I was meeting friends I hadn't seen in a while and it was a great place for it. The breakfast was held in their large new greenhouse and it was a beautiful sunny day. So nice that they even opened the roof a bit to let in a gentle breeze.

This farm is a great place, open year-round, to pick up local vegetables, dairy products, and bakery items. They also had samples of delicious Massachusetts-made cinnamon chocolate. Of course, I forgot what it was called, but I'm going to have to pick some up the next time I'm there.

Another wonderful thing about Verrill Farm is that they hold festivals throughout the year. So far, I've been to the Asparagus Festival (which is coming up again soon) and the Corn and Tomato Festival and I'll be back again to both. Check their website or the localgrub calendar for upcoming festival dates. Additionally, they have a kitchen that cooks up delicious meals--both for the festivals and for every day eating. You can stop by to pick up some food to go, or order ahead. They also hold occasional cooking classes.

In the spring, they also take orders for tomato seedlings. I've been buying them for a couple of years and have been really happy with them. This year's deadline is April 2nd. Seedlings can be ordered at the farm or you can download the order form and fax/mail it with your payment. They have 29 varieties this year--a large number of them are heirloom tomatoes. If you don't get any seedlings, you can always go to the Corn and Tomato Festival and sample them all. Last year they had more corn and tomatoes than you could eat, plus a number of dishes prepared with their corn and tomatoes, plus real BBQ smoked outside. All that and a live bluegrass band--it was a late summer's day well-spent for me last year.