June 25, 2026
It’s officially farm stand season, and we loved welcoming so many of you this past weekend! While our tables are already packed with an incredible selection of homegrown goodies like cucumbers, zucchini, and tomatoes, early season shopping always brings a few excellent questions.
The most common one? “How on earth do you have watermelon and cantaloupe right now?!”
We love this question because education is at the heart of what we do. Food doesn’t just magically appear on supermarket shelves. There are real, muddy hands behind the scenes turning tiny seeds into the dinner on your table. Real people stressing over every storm that rolls in, hoping it won’t disrupt the growing or damage something that is just about ready to harvest.
Let’s dive into how we decide what hits our stands, how it gets to you, and why shopping local matters more than ever.
The Farm Stand vs. The Grocery Store
At our farm stands, you’ll always find an amazing selection of homegrown products. But here is the golden rule of farm stand shopping: Shop often, because the selection changes fast!
Unlike a massive supermarket or big box store, we can’t just press a button and restock a shelf. We are entirely reliant on Mother Nature to help our crops grow and dictate when we can harvest them. We’ve all become so used to grocery stores having everything all year round that we forget to ask, “Is this actually in season?” Just because a tomato is on a shelf in January doesn’t mean it came from a farm down the road!
Don't worry, we love grocery stores just like you do! In fact, a select group of supermarkets make up a big part of our business because we sell our fresh, local items to them, too. But, we do things a little differently. Instead of shipping our produce to a massive, centralized warehouse where it sits for days, we deliver directly from our farm to the local store.
Yes, this method costs us a bit more, but it means the produce we supply to grocery stores often hits the shelves less than 24 hours after harvest. Talk about fresh! Next time you're at the supermarket, make sure to check the "locally grown" section for our goodies.
How Do You Have Tomatoes and Melons Already?
Let’s break down the mysteries behind two of your summertime favorites.
🍅 The Early Tomatoes: High Tunnel Magic
No, these aren't shipped in, and no, they aren't grown in a traditional greenhouse or hydroponically. We grow our early tomatoes in high tunnels.
- What they are: These are structures where the plants are grown directly in the ground, vine-ripened, but protected from the elements.
- The Benefit: They act like a cozy blanket, allowing us to plant in late March when the spring sun is powerful. This gets you delicious, local tomatoes a few weeks earlier than field-grown crops and keeps them growing a little longer into the fall. These structures also help to protect the crops from weather elements such as hard rains, winds, or even the dreaded hail.
Want to see them in action? Check out the video Paul did earlier this season!
🍉 The Melons & Fruit: The "Farmer-to-Farmer" Network
If you’re waiting for our homegrown Minnesota watermelons and cantaloupes, you know those won't be ready until late July. So, how do we have them now?
Instead of making you wait, we partner directly with independent growers across the U.S. who share our farming values, sustainability practices, and crop varieties. We’ve worked hard to cultivate strong relationships with these growers, resulting in the ability to bring our customers amazing options early in the season.
By skipping the corporate warehouses and middlemen, we truck the freshest produce straight from their fields to our stands. The same goes for the peaches and cherries you find on our shelves. We work directly with orchards to bring in top-grade fruit.
For example, we source extra-large cherries because we believe they have superior flavor. The size we carry at our stands is often a premium size most grocery chains won't touch because of the cost. And let me tell you, the cherries have been out of this world this season.
Why "Local" is a Flavor Game-Changer
In our eyes, local is always better. Local means less time sitting in a dark semi-truck and more time ripening naturally. Local means often enjoying the product less than 24 hours after harvest, and in the case of our strawberries, enjoying them the same day they were harvested.
While we aren't certified organic, we grow as sustainably as possible. We firmly believe that the nutrient density and flavor of produce picked at its peak beats an item that was harvested unripe and trucked 2,000 miles across the country.
There are also a lot of misconceptions out there when it comes to grocery labels, so let's clear the air.
- The Organic Label: Just because a product is labeled organic does not mean it has never been sprayed. Organic farming simply uses a different set of approved products.
- The Conventional Label: In the same breath, just because a product is conventionally grown does not mean it has been exposed to harsh chemicals.
For us, it's all about mindful, sustainable practices that respect the land and protect your food. If you're curious about how we do things, check out several of our blog posts related to our growing practices.
Let’s Talk Money: Why are Farm Stands Sometimes More Expensive?
It’s the elephant in the field, and we want to be completely transparent about it. It boils down to a few major factors.
- One Season vs. Four: Warm southern or western states can often grow crops 3 to 4 times a year. In Minnesota? We get one shot at a growing season.
- No "Loss Leaders": Grocery stores can sell milk or lettuce at a loss because they know you’ll buy a cart full of boxed, processed foods with high profit margins. We don't have aisles of cereal to fall back on. Our livelihood depends entirely on the crops we grow.
- An Investment in Your Community: When you buy from local farmers, your dollar stays right here. It pays local hands, supports local land, and keeps your neighborhood food system resilient. You aren't paying for corporate logistics; you're paying for peak freshness.
Perfect Imperfections & Keeping It Fresh
Supporting local agriculture is about connecting to the land without doing the backbreaking labor yourself. It connects you to the seasons and the community.
Because we work with nature, we always encourage our shoppers to embrace the unexpected. Not all produce is going to look picture-perfect, and that’s the beauty of farming! Sometimes, that slightly ugly, misshapen heirloom tomato or scarred peach packs twice the flavor of a pristine, factory-grown alternative.
The same goes for availability. Sometimes you may go to the farm stand expecting to find a certain product, but reasons outside our control make it unavailable for a day or two. Remember, we can’t flip a switch to make the produce ripen, although sometimes that would be nice!
Thank you for supporting our farm and eating with the seasons. Stop by this week to see what’s freshly picked. We can’t wait to see you!
