2011 Apple Season Off to a Good Start

Honey Bees are working the blossoms extra hard to produce Benjamin's Orchard All - Natural "Grade A" Honey!  This year's favorable spring weather and our meticous growing practices have come together to give us one of the best fruit sets on record.  A lot can happen before harvest, but if we duck out of the occasional hail storm and survive a few large Nor'easters, expect a great crop of apples to make it to your kitchen table, starting late August or early September! 

 

Benjamin and Mary Beth help Colchester celebrate #57

Since 2005, when Money Magazine selected the Town of Colchester as the 57th best place to live and raise a family in the United States, the residents have had just another reason celebrate their sense of community.  They do so with the "57 Fest", now held annually during Harvest Season, and Benjamin's Orchard has been invited to pitch in as part of the very vibrant Farmer's Market that's a little bit of what makes Colchester so special. 

See a complete article on the event in the Reminder News at:

http://www.remindernews.com/node/7/&url=COL-2010-09-30-15-Ar01500

For more information about the Colchester Farmer's Market:

http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farmersmarkets_details.php?market=236

 

Benjamin and Family visit John Deere Headquarters

With the apple crop under control and a few weeks left before the start to the harvest season, the Lombardi’s took a trip to the mid-west to experience agriculture in a different region, as an alternative to participating in this year’s local fairs, which has been a tradition for well over a decade.

 This vacation included attending the great Illinois State Fair, and a visit John Deere headquarters in Moline, right across Mississippi River from Davenport, Iowa, where both towns produce some of the most impressive machinery ever built for agriculture, construction and forestry. Ben’s long term interests include a career in agricultural engineering, and John Deere recruitment executive Lynn Toney was a gracious host at John Deere World Headquarters, where Ben and Lynn spoke about the most important courses of study Ben should master as he readies himself to apply for a coveted John Deere internship.

The stay in Moline also included stop at the John Deere Visitor’s Center, and a tour of Deere’s Harvesterworks production facility, where the most advanced agricultural combines in the world are built to incredible quality standards.   The factory tour was lead by semi-retired employees who worked at the plant their entire career, staring over half a century ago.  Not only did they explain the modern, “cutting edge” production process very well, but they added contrast by talking about how manufacturing technology has progressed over time, along with the global market for John Deere products.

At Benjamin’s Orchard, we’re known for our collection of antique Jacobsen tractors and the 1945 Farmall A that appears at local fairs, but two of the hardest working tractors on the farm are modern John Deeres. After this experience, Ben wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

Benjamin's Orchard  Apples Win Blue Ribbons for Fourth Consecutive Year!

 Submitting enough variety to occupy the equivalent of an entire shelf in the Fruit and Vegetable section at a major fair is a task that requires both skill as a grower, and a focus on excellence.

 At the 2009 Brooklyn Fair, Benjamin's Orchard apples won first place for the fourth consecutive year; this season for two varieties at the same time, McIntosh and Cortland.

But this isn't all - every entry from Benjamin's Orchard took home a ribbon, for a total of 11 awards of recognition, with nine First Place awards, actually exceeding 2008's record of five!

Entries winning First Place (in addition to apples) included: Blueberries, Sweet Corn, Green Bell Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Beef Steak Tomatoes, Best Zucchinis and Largest Single Zucchini.

Entries winning a Second Place Red Ribbon were Field Pumpkins and Cherry Tomatoes.

Also at this year's event, Ben unveiled our newly restored 1945 Farmall "A", which has been put into service as a harvest wagon hauler, after a much tougher life dragging a disc harrow and skidding logs.

 

 

Benjamin and "Potato Man" Dick Staples interview on WILI AM Radio

To mark the 2009 seasonal re-opening of the decades old Willimantic, Connecticut Farmer's Market, WILI radio personality Wayne Norman hosted the oldest (Dick Staples) and youngest (Ben Lombardi) participating farmers.  Dick and Ben talk about crop production, weather, and the rewards of selling their locally grown produce directly to grateful consumers, every Saturday morning during the harvest season.

   

Download the interview audio file:

http://www.wili-am.com/images/audio/willimantic_farmers_market_june_4_2009-1.wma

For more information about the Willimantic Farmer's Market:

http://www.buyctgrown.com/willimanticfarmersmarket

 

View Ben's Orchard on CNN Headline NEWS

 

Benjamin's Orchard Offers More Varieties

Benjamin's Orchard continues to add variety to please new and existing customers with great tasting, fresh produce.  In addition to the staple "Old Fashion" McIntosh and Cortland apples, Ben and his family have grown Empire, Red Delicious, Macoun, and an outstanding heirloom variety know as Winesap, which is as good for eating as it is for baking pies. 

More recent additions to the orchard are now producing Honey Crisp, Royal Cortland, Crown Empire, Pioneer McIntosh, Summer McIntosh, and the Mac-Free variety which is a tarter late season Mac that stays firmer longer, and is a great fruit for lunch.

Fresh in-season vegetables continue to be popular, and Blueberries, which recently started to produce, are outstanding.  Benjamin's Orchard grows a mixture of varieties that now produce large, table quality blueberries from late June to late August.

Nothing tastes as good or can be better for you than fresh produce!

 

2008 Agricultural Blue Ribbons!