Liz and I took a little road trip this Wednesday. First stop was Berlin, MA to meet Charlie at Village Power and Equipment. Charlie is the man to go to if you’re in the market for used farm equipment, or if your used farm equipment has broken down. His knowledge about old tractors is encyclopedic. We looked at his tractors: Cubs and Super As, 148s, 149s, Gs,Ns, Hs and tractors with letter/number names that went in one ear and out the other. We examined manure spreaders, plows, flail mowers, rotary mowers, tool bars, sweeps, shovels, shanks, shoes and ….. you get the picture. Charlie’s got a lot of equipment. And he likes to talk about it. It was the most interesting window shopping I’ve ever done.

Our next stop was Picadilly Farm, just across the Massachusetts border in Winchester, New Hampshire. Picadilly provides the bulk of our winter share. Farmer Jenny gave us a tour of the fields, greenhouses, washing station, walk-in cooler, equipment barn and CSA area. We met the farm crew: Antonio, Adelina, Lucio and Susie. We worked with Jenny and the crew to harvest spinach and celeriac. Bruce fed us lunch. Beckley, Bruce and Jenny’s two year old daughter, introduced us to farm kittens, butternut and sweetie, and dazzled us with her ability to count celeriac as we harvested.

Picadilly is a sweet little farm. Jenny and Bruce are excellent land stewards and skilled farmers. The farm staff are a wonderful bunch of hard working and fun loving folks. What a great road trip!