Vegetables – Catching Marbles

On our way back from the Moore Manor Lavendar Farm we happened upon an old fixture, the Bradstreet farm stand. My mother grew up in these parts and remembers fondly going to school as a child with some of the members of the family that owns this farm.

We had stopped by on this day to see good things we could get to eat and we were not disappointed! Although it was still early in the season they still had quite a bit to offer. I grabbed a bag of fresh peas, some pickling cucumbers, two plump tomatoes, some beets still connected to their greens, and a couple zucchini. Later against the wishes of my body I’d eat the most delicious cucumber and tomato sandwhich with boiled beet greens for dinner later on. No complaints here! Well, aside from my gall bladderless digestive system which now believes cucumbers to be poison. Still worth it. The peas also served for a fun snack for me as I like them raw.

These veggies were pricier than the super market but much fresher and I can’t help but want to support these local ventures as much as I can, especially seeing how old most of our farmers are these days. On this day it was no different as a grandmotherly lady took our money at the counter and quietly laughed at our conversation.

I was so insistent this year to have a garden that I planted a ton of tomatoes and peppers months ago indoors. But in my typical distracted ADHD way the tomatoes were only cherry tomatoes (as I kept getting distracted before planting the sandwich tomatoes) and I also forgot to plant … well, everything else. So I sewed a bunch of seeds directly into the ground which resulted in one very fat chipmunk who ate all my goddamn seeds.

I know I’m late in getting this all together but I thought there’d be SOMETHING for plants left in shops! No, everywhere I went had tomatoes and hot peppers and literally nothing else. *cries*

That’s how I ended up trying the Mason Brook Plant Nursery. It was an adventure to get to. My GPS decided to be a jerk and bring me to a random residential neighborhood nearby and signs aside the road were less than clear to me. Honestly, when I drove in I thought I was either on my way to a dead end road or maybe someone’s driveway as I didn’t see a nursery but after I passed a couple houses I found it tucked in the woods.

This is not a huge nursery but it had a whole greenhouse dedicated to vegetables and although they too were fairly cleaned out I did manage to get my hands on some cucumbers, pumpkins, and a summer squash. They also had more hot peppers, spaghetti squash, rhubarb, strawberries, and an impressive selection of herbs.

Outside there was a very nice selection of fruit and ornamental trees I tried my best to ignore (as I really want my own orchard!) There was another larger greenhouse full of flowers and a weird mini antique shed?? I looked around for someone to pay halfway expecting to find an honor box but alas there was a sweet old lady wandering around and giving off only the chillest of vibes. She found my choice of sugar pumpkins interesting. I’m not sure why. My hair is orange.. I love pumpkins!

Sadly, I did not find any watermelon, peas, or winter squash but I was thankful for what I did find and paid my $21 in cash before wandering off.

Would I suggest this place? Absolutely! It had lovely rural country vibes and a few unusual options I hadn’t seen at the bigger places like rhubarb. If you happen to live nearby I’d say it’s well worth a poke.

Tag: Vegetables

Bradstreet Farmstand – Newport Maine

Mason Brook Plant Nursery – Mason New Hampshire