Frequently Asked Questions about Our Crops

	A wide variety of apples for cooking, eating and cider
	You can buy blueberries from us in our store, at a local farmers' market, or come and pick your own. Bring the kids.
	There is nothing better for you than fresh vegetables
	When Late July and August rolls around, so does our healthy hearty and flavorful corn.
	Peaches. Ripe and sweet. Delicious!
	More fabulous fruit from the garden. Strawberries!
	Things get really big in our Fall harvest

Is Cider Hill Farm organic?
What is integrated pest management?
Do pumpkins grow on trees?
What is a CSA, and is Cider Hill Farm involved with any?
What do we do in the winter?
Are dogs allowed at the farm?
What is Glenn’s favorite apple?

Q: Is Cider Hill Farm organic?

A: This is probably our most frequently asked question of all time. We are not certified organic. We grow our fruit and sweet corn using IPM (see next question) and most of the rest of our vegetable production is pesticide free. We have tried experimenting with organic orchard production, and after five years, determined that the quality of that fruit was unacceptable. Our climate encourages high populations of insects and diseases to build in New England, making organic control of perennial crops such as fruits to be quite a struggle.

Q: What is integrated pest management?

A: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) requires scouting, trapping and monitoring of insect and disease populations coupled with degree day data, weather data and knowledge of damage thresholds allowed to make decisions on whether controls will be applied to specific crops. Materials used are carefully selected which are not harmful to natural predator populations (insects that eat bad insects).

We find that in a wet spring, when we apply fungicide to strawberries in bloom, there is no need to spray fruit at all. This simple step allows our fruit to have no absolutely no chance of residue, while we have knocked botrytis (gray mold) innoculum out of the picture. We actually allow many insects to have their day here without the need for us to spray, because we know they do nothing more than a little cosmetic damage to a crop.

Q: Do pumpkins grow on trees?

A: While we have been asked this question more than once, and last year we did "make" a pumpkin tree, the truth must be told that pumpkins are a vine crop and grow on the ground.

Q: What is a CSA, and is Cider Hill Farm involved with any?

A: CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture and is certainly a very popular concept these days. Basically, you prepay for a season's share of fruits and vegetables (usually about $600) and take your share of the harvest from a weekly pickup at the farm for 20 to 25 weeks. This gives the farmer starting capital, and brings you into a relationship of risk when it is a true model CSA. There a many variations to the original model, and many local farms are developing CSA's of their own. Cider Hill Farm supports 3 CSA's at this time, and now we have just taken the step and will start our own program this year, 2010!

Q: What do we do in the winter?

A: Well, we actually keep quite busy year round. Winter is the season for pruning our entire orchard, ordering seeds, plants trees and products for the store, and no sooner are we finishing these tasks when we are firing up the greenhouses mid February for the start of another growing season.

Q: Are dogs allowed at the farm?

A: Due to the pick your own nature of our business, we have been asked by our local Board of Health to not allow animals to be part of our customer base. Sorry! We do love animals, but we try to respect this request.

Q: What is Glenn’s favorite apple?

A: This changes almost every year. It has been Mutsu, Honeycrisp, Gala and even Empire. Last year, I just loved the Braeburn - so crisp and tart!