Fall Hours (8am to 6pm every day until we have a frost)
PYO Beta is here. We have put together a self serve and self checkout system so that you can get the best veggies at the best prices. Like a grocery store self checkout, credit cards and phone payments like Apple pay work fine. You can still use cash or check but we want to make it as easy for you as we can. Because this is a pretty new thing in general, and for us specifically, we are asking for beta testers to help us work the bugs out of the system before we advertise and put out signs.
What to know:
1) Park on the north side of the house (the Meriden village side, the old road goes between the Lilac hedge and the Forsythias by the Maples). This is for easier parking.
2) Bring your own containers, we will try to have some plastic bags on hand if you forget but the idea is to have one less cost to pass along and have less single use plastic in the operation. It’s easy to tare out the container weight at checkout so you just pay for the food.
3) Pick when it’s cool that is why our hours are so wide, some days it will only be cool enough to be out there early or late.
4) You are welcome to bring your own harvesting tools but we will have some tools available.
5) If the checkout is giving you a problem, just take the food you want, leave me a message and we’ll figure it out later.
6) We need feedback, both good and bad for this to be a useful service to you.
Here is what is available in the garden to pick right now 9/21/23.
Basil
Beets, red and orange types, These are “multi sown” so they are growing in bunches. You can easily pull a bigger one out from the bunch with one hand while holding the rest down in the ground with your other hand so they can continue growing.
Carrots. The second sowing (to the north of the high tunnel). There are 2 types.
Chard. Big leaves but with great colors and nice flavor, great for brazing.
Eggs are not pick your own ’cause the chickens are not in the garden but we’ll keep a couple dozen in a cooler by the checkout.
Kale (dinosaur type)
Onions, both red and white. These are also multi sown so only grab the whole bunch if you want all of them.)
Parsley
Peppers, jalapeños (both green and red have some heat, on east side of high tunnel), purple, and Banana (the yellow ones are not hot even when they turn red, just good pepper crunch and flavor)
Tomatoes, grape type (fresh eating or drying), paste ( for all kinds of preserving) , and Heirlooms for the best sandwiches ever are ready. We have 2 Heirloom types, a pink Brandywine and Purple Cherokee, both taste amazing but are not the round red hybrid globes you see in the store. Even when fully ripe the shoulders of these heirlooms don’t fully change color. We often pick them a couple days before they get fully ripe and they finish ripening up in the house.