Today Donald and I decided to peruse around Adams County and visit some markets we had never been to before. We always go to the Adams County Farmers Market at the Outlets on Saturdays, you’ll see me in the straw cowboy hat frequently. But today we decided to also take a ride over to Boyer Nursery & Orchards, then to Willow Pond Herbs and Everlastings for their Lavender Festival, and then over to The Family Cow to try our first RAW organic milk. What a fantastic day with some fantastic local businesses!
Strawberries from Five Points Farm
Adams County Farmers Market:
We always stop by Five Points Farm‘s tent to get their fresh picked strawberries when in season. My next visit I might have to pick up some of their variety of herbs as well. The only problem I have with this vendor, is their strawberries are so good, Donald and I never go more than 2 miles after leaving the market before we devour an entire quart of them. So we generally have to buy at least two quarts, sometimes three….
Also Beevia Farm and Bakery tantalizes our visit with fresh cooked kettle corn, an assortment of pies and breads, jams, jelly’s, BBQ sauce, and our favorite, local unpasteurized honey.
Local Honey from Beevia Farm
We have also been visiting Woollyboogers Icelandic Lamb & Fibre our last two trips, and have not been disappointed about how friendly the owner is, and of course how fantastic the lamb shanks are. I made an amazing stew last weekend with his lamb shanks, Donald made me pick some more up this week to make again tomorrow. I also talked to the owner about some possible web development, since that is my trade, so not only did we get some local lamb, but I might have a new freelance connection, BONUS.
Maybe I can talk to Beevia about a website for her wonderful wares as well?
Where else can you shop from all these local farms in one spot? Take advantage of having them all in one location by visiting the Farmers Market. I’ll have a sign in my yard next week 🙂
Boyer Nursery:
After we left the farmers market, we ran over to Boyer Nurseries since fresh cherries just came into season. Their “pick your own cherries” doesn’t start until next weekend, but the cherries they picked today were pure ambrosia, we’ve already eaten a quart of them. Maybe I should have picked up more than two..
The drive out to Boyer was absolutely stunning, I think the scenery for a beautiful weekend drive alone was worth it.
Scenery around Biglerville and Ardentsville.
Donald and I eating our icecream at the Lavender Festival
Willow Pond Farm:
Since moving up to Gettysburg, and even before, I’ve always wanted to attend the annual Lavender Festival at Willow Pond Farms where you can cut your own lavender bundles. This year I took the step to go and will never miss out on this event again. The Festival is low-key, but still brings in a variety of visitors from all over. Brusters Icecream was there selling various flavors of lavender icecream. I got the chocolate lavender and Donald got the peach lavender, and both were insanely good.
We then visited the little shop where they sell herb satchels, books, soaps, and I picked up some of their organic scented soaps, their soup herb mixture which will go well with the lamb shank stew I’m making tomorrow, some dipping herbs, and a herbal cheese satchel that will go in some raw milk cheese I’m making here in a bit. This was by far my favorite part of the day. It was so relaxing sitting on one of the benches under a shade tree smelling herbs, feeling the cool breeze, watching people walk by. This is not an event to be missed.
Lavender at Willow Pond Farm
Raw milk and Raw Cheese from The Family Cow
The Family Cow:
Once we left the Festival, we drove over to Chambersburg on a whim to check out The Family Cow. Neither one of us had ever had RAW milk before, and I know some people are skeptical about trying it due to what nonsense the FDA tries to instill in our naive brains. However, I had done quite a bit of research on it and decided I was going to try it.
When we arrived we were greeted by the owner, Edwin, who was very welcoming and friendly. We picked out a gallon of raw milk, a pint of raw milk to try on the way home, and a garlic and chive mix of raw cheese. They also had a slew of meat cuts of beef, chicken, and pork that we will likely come back to check out as I’ve been looking for a good source of local chicken and pork.
We chatted with Edwin and told him about Gettysburg Wire here, spoke about how my dad was a farmer, and told him this was our first time trying raw milk. He gave us our pint for free to try for being new! Needless to say we were very grateful, and opened it up the second we got into the car.
Let me tell you, raw milk is heavenly. It’s like a sweet creamy nectar that so many people are missing out on. When we got home we tried some with chocolate in it, and it’s like drinking chocolate icecream it is so good. I am a convert to raw milk for certain.
So all in all we had a very exciting and locally supported day in Adams County. I hope that others will venture out and support more local businesses and farmers. We’re going to start listing as many as we can here under our Local Business section, with a rating/review system for you to give your feedback and support to YOUR community of local food.
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