Spring has Sprung

Spring, 2009. Day One. Friday was the first day of spring, but we started our spring cleaning and greenhouse growing weeks ago. John placed an ad on Craigslist for a plant nurturer and has been dealing with the deluge of applicants for the part-time, minimum wage job. The job does come with some perks, though, like getting to spend the day in the greenhouse with wonderful, fragrant, growing things. We found someone who seems to be a perfect fit and she will be starting on Wednesday. I made a video of everything in the greenhouse on Friday. I am not a cinematographer but the Flip Video that Selene gave me for Christmas is a lot of fun and so easy to use. The video came out pretty well, but I have been struggling for the last few days to upload it, without success. I am guessing it may be too big. So, instead, I am inserting a link to the Proven Winners web site, where you can see photos of many of the plants we are growing, sign up for the 'winner's circle' and get a free idea book. If I ever discover how to post the video, I will.

Here's the link:

http://www.provenwinners.com/winnerscircle/ce_winnerscircle.cfm?winnerscircle

The Gift Shop

For the last couple of years, we have had people stop at the farm and come in to the store and say, "I have been driving by here for years and I never knew you had such great stuff in addition to the beautiful plants in the yard". Part of the problem, we know, is the sign. It is pretty, but we had it made years ago when we were just about to open the store, and had a bit of a different vision of what we would be. Last year, we had our friend, Ed Radding, of Radding Associates(http://www.raddingassociates.com)/ design a new sign for us. Ed makes great signs, for any situation. Check him out. We love the sign that Ed designed for us, but we wanted to get the landscaping finished and the new retail greenhouse built before we put up the new sign. We are putting off the retail greenhouse for another year but hope to have our new sign up in 2008. This is a mock-up of what the sign will look like. And, we will have the option to let folks know what we are selling.

Many of the people who read this blog are not able to visit Northampton very often. I have been asked many times to post photos of the interior of the store. Our inventory and the look of the store changes with the seasons. We always have local milk, eggs, cheese, honey, maple syrup, dressings, tea blends, coffee, salsa and nuts. Our gift items are carefully selected and we make every effort to have something wonderful for anyone on your list. If you want to see what is in the store this month, click on this link

http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A4BAAA2C6B2&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW

I am inserting a 'teaser' photo here, in case you don't have time to look at all.

This is a view of the store from back to front. We love having an open, airy feel - almost like a gallery, as opposed to the cluttered, too-much-to-look-at feel of many gift shops.