Welcome to "What’s New"!
Here’s where you’ll be linked to current picking conditions and pictures of the week, and find information on other activiies that we would like to highlight.

Projects and New Plantings for 2006.
One improvement which we hope to make in the farm store before summer heat arrives is the addition of air conditioning, particularly in the "harvest room" area at the rear of the barn where the fruits and vegetables are displayed. This would allow greater comfort in shopping as well as helping to keep the produce in a 'just-picked' condition.

Another project of great interest is a new strawberry planting system that was implemented late last summer. This should advance picking by about ten days , opening up the prospect for an early June beginning to the strawberry season.

This spring we will also get started on a relocated blueberry field which will feature some new wonder varieties from Oregon, as well as many of the favorite New England blueberries. We have taken two years to build up the soil in the new field with many loads of compost, all the while adjusting the pH with sulfur so that the young plants will love their new home. They should settle in and thrive.

This would have been the year to harvest our first sweet and sour cherries, but those trees turned out to be a favorite of the deer. They took advantage of a downed electric fence and demolished our 90 tree planting in one night. All of the trees will be replanted this spring and a ten foot high stone wall and 30 foot wide moat added for protection.

Become a member.
On the contact page, you’ll notice that we invite you to become a member.  What does this mean?  Well, we’d love to build an e-mail address book of our customers as a way of contacting you about specials, peak-picking conditions, and new crops (believe it or not, but most people don’t know when apricots are ready). What’s more, we’re going to have a drawing among our ‘electronic’ members the last day of each month we’re open, and award a $50.00 gift certificate towards purchases at Cider Hill Farm!

Cider Hill on the road.
We’re involved with the Amesbury CSA, and the 225-member Marblehead Co-op, providing fruits and sweet corn to their groups weekly throughout the growing season.

Cider Hill Farm also travels to three farmers markets each week. These include a Tuesday market in Saugus, a Thursday market in Framingham, and a Saturday market in Marblehead. These are demanding on the crew, but serve a great purpose of bringing quality product to new customers.

Our international staff.
We have awesome employees who love what they do. Each one really thrives when the pace around here cranks up. They’re so important to our success, which is why we appreciate them so much.

The field crew is an interesting bunch of guys. We’ve been hosting international exchange students out of universities worldwide for almost 15 years, and have now brought over 40 of these interns over into our home and business. They work hard while they stay, but find their experience invaluable when they return home.  Many go home to take over family farms, start new businesses, or work for large companies, where their English language and understanding of agriculture opens many doors. We’ve stayed in touch with many of our "friends" over the years. This year, our interns all come from the Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and the country of Latvia. It seems that almost no one knows where Latvia is. Do you?

We look forward to our growing experience with you!