After reading about the dedication and heart the Blews put in each day at Oak Grove Plantation, you’re probably wondering more about their products. What do they even grow?

Oak Grove’s operation consists of many pieces working harmoniously. One part of the farm consists of Oak Grove Mills, the grain operation.  Using the farms wheat and corn, the Mills make corn meal, many kinds of flour, bran, and popcorn.  Then there’s the hog operation, High Hope Hogs.  The pigs are a certified disease free herd, raised without hormones or growth steroids.  It should be noted that the pig operation is confined. I was only able to see the barn where the pigs are housed, not the actual pigs. The pigs are processed at a family butcher.  Processing results in hams, steaks, roasts, and sausage. 

The Blews also sell baked goods, especially in the winter when other products are in their off season.  Using their grain, flour, fruits, and vegetables, they bake at a commercial bakery once a week:  apple pies, pumpkin pies, muffins, cookies, brownies, bread.  The apple pie—Susan’s apple pie—comes from Susan’s grandmother and mother, a true family tradition.  The pumpkin pie—Bette’s pumpkin pie—is named after a woman who worked with the Blews when she was in her 70s.  Bette would take extra pumpkin and squash and make thirty pies at a time in her kitchen. 

The remaining part of the farm is dedicated to the vegetables, fruit, and plants.  There are two greenhouses, an expansive field for vegetables, and an orchard.  The Blews farm with organic practices (read below to learn more about why the farm is not currently certified organic).  Vegetables grown include eggplant, squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes.  They grow 71 varieties of herbs including, basil, rosemary, sorrel, and thyme.   Fruits include peaches, melons, and apples.  For a longer list, please visit Oak Grove’s profile.

Each Oak Grove product has an accompanying story about why its grown, why the Blews picked that variety, and an in-depth knowledge of that product.  Some products were grown intentionally; others were grown after discovering that there was a customer base for them.  The Blews didn’t think they were going to sell sunflowers, but after selling out on the first day, they now grow about 20 varieties. (Did you know that if you ever see sunflowers growing anywhere, wherever they face is due east!)

Oak Grove Plantation has a loyal customer base.  Ted shared with me the uproar that was created when Oak Grove was recently asked to leave the McCarren Park/Greenpoint Greenmarket.  Along with Union Square, Oak Grove had asked for another market to go to.  Greenmarket responded by granting them a market that starts on July 10th (Staten Island Mall).  Ted asked if they could also have something a little sooner.  Ted and his main worker, Vinny, went the first day and Ted shared that the customers were thrilled with their products:

We went there for four markets.  On the last market in April, the manager calls me up and says ‘this is your last Saturday’.  I said, ‘Jessica why?’  ‘Well, someone else at this market sells herbs and they’ve been there for years.  You’re the last one in so you’re the first one out.

So, the last Saturday in April, we put up a poster to let people know.  [The poster said] we are moving May 1st St Georges; July 10 Staten Island Mall; thank you for your patronage.  People would come up and say why? You can’t move! Vinny would say, ‘we don’t have any choice.’  [Finally] Vinny said ‘go see the manager’.  At one point 72 people were standing in line at the manager’s station.

For even more information about Oak Grove and the Blews, read some of the questions and answers below. 

Q: Do you do any sourcing to restaurants in NYC?

T.B.: Oh we have a lot of restaurants that come buy from us directly.  [It’s not] usually a pre-arranged deal.  Once in awhile Peter Hoffman will call us from Savoy and he’ll need something.  But usually he comes with his bike.

Q: You use organic practices and call Oak Grove an organic farm.  Why are you not currently certified?

T.B.: We used to be certified by NOFA NJ. [Oak Grove was on the original committee to set organic standards for NOFA NJ]. 

Then the organization grew to the point where there were a lot of well-meaning organic people.  But they didn’t make their living from it [for example a garden or a truck patch].  If they lost money on it, it didn’t mean a thing to them. Then these [smaller gardeners] began to say that the certification program wasn’t working, because some of the farms were ‘huge’, so the certifiers were spending different amounts of time at each farm.  They settled on wanting $350 for the inspection fee.  Then, anyone with over 10 acres of production had to pay something extra, a fee, a percentage of their income. 

So I ask, ‘How do you plan on doing that?  They wanted to charge 5% of our gross income.   I ask, ‘how are you going to find out what our gross income is?’  One lady said, ‘We’ll demand that you give us a copy of your income tax form.’  Someone else said, ‘That’s illegal’.  So I said, ‘you just destroyed the organization.  No one in their right mind, knowing they’ll be taxed 5%, is going to give you an honest answer of their income.  One lie leads to another lie.  And before you know it, none of the certification process means [anything]. 

[I wanted the] farmer to fill out the application and report acreage for certification, 10 acres and up.  So, 60 acres, you’re paying on the additional 50 acres.  That way no one lies about anything.  When they voted, seven said no, all of the commercial farmers.  All the rest said yes.

After that, we withdrew from NOFA NJ and didn’t apply for certified organic.  Since then we have printed up a sheet explaining that we grow by traditional organic practices.  Now we call ourselves ‘revolutionary’. 

*Note, according to NOFA NJ’s website, since 2006 NOFA-NJ no longer conducts organic certification.  NOFA-NJ works closely with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) to ensure that locally-based certification services remain available to organic producers in New Jersey. Since 2006, New Jersey Department of Agriculture provides organic certification in NJ.*

Q: You’ve been at the Greenmarket since almost the beginning.  It must be incredible to see what the Greenmarket has become.

T.B.: At the time I came it was just a few of us [at Union Square]; now it’s halfway down to 14th Street.   We’ve been there 30 years; only four or five who’ve been there longer than us.  We started in 1980—when Union Square opened up, that’s where we went. Ron Binaghi (Stokes Farm) was selling on the north side, too.

Everyday we went to market, we’d hear gun shots go off.   The police would sit in their cars and wait.  It was drug city and they were constantly dealing drugs.

Upcoming Farm Dinner at Oak Grove Plantation

When:  Sunday, August 8th
Time:  Dinner starts at 5 pm
Tickets:  $135 a person
Reservations by:  July 26, 2010

Details: 

A bus ($40 dollars) will leave from Union Square Barnes and Noble at 1 pm, arriving at Oak Grove at 2:30 pm.  From 3:00-5:00 pm, there will be a walking tour of the farm.  At 5 pm, there will be an outdoor dinner sourced from three local farms.  If you’ve reserved a bus seat, the bus will turn to Union Square by 9:00 pm.

You can also drive, as there will be plenty of parking.  Any additional money not used on ingredients, staffing, and table settings will be donated to a local food pantry.

More details, including how to order tickets, available at http://www.freshfromzone7.com/

Please call 908-963-0920 if you’re interested in a reserving a seat on the bus.

Happy Marketing!

-Meaghin

This article is cross posted on Cheery Observations.

The years following the purchase and creation of Oak Grove Plantation saw Ted and Susan Blew raising four young children while striving to make the farm as successful as possible.  Life wasn’t without its low points, but Ted recounted that period with a level of peace in his voice.

In telling the story of Oak Grove Plantation, and more specifically Ted Blew’s memories, it’s quite easy for me to get caught up in the intense difficulty and hardships Ted, Susan, and their children deal with nearly every day.  When synthesizing my hours spent on the farm, though, I would be remiss though if I didn’t also share the positive stories, the real reasons the Blews farm.  What’s the point of it all? Ted hasn’t lost sight of the number one reason he wakes up each morning.  When asked what has kept him going all these years, Ted was quick to respond with one word: ‘Susan’.

Beyond growing amazing food that New Yorkers have been lucky enough to purchase for 20 years, the Blews have touched numerous lives.   

Ted’s tough exterior serves to hide a sentimental side that peeked through as he gave soft recollections of workers he’s had on the farm throughout the years.  He shined the most when talking about Susan and the slew of admirable people he’s worked with throughout the years.

Included in Ted’s list of admirable connections are high school students from Queens who apprenticed at Oak Grove Plantation for 25 years.  At first, many of the students struggled to keep up with the workload and couldn’t process why they were there.  Ted shared with me stories of several of the students he’s kept in touch with as they became adults; one opened up a floral shop, another worked for Mercedes Benz.  Of course, along with the success stories and hardworking students, the Blews dealt with several odd students, including a mother and daughter team who refused to be apart.  In fact, even as the daughter was heading off to college, she and her mother planned to be roommates in the college dormitory! 

Sometimes the students wondered why Mr. Blew was putting in extra time to mentor students—after all, he and his wife were already raising four children of their own. The students would exclaim that they weren’t planning on being farmers, so why where they there?

Ted and Susan understood that the majority of their students were, as the students asserted, not going to be farmers.  The students were there because the Blews wanted to impact future consumer behavior. Ted notes:

‘Everyone one of [the students] is a consumer.  They’ll have their own families and go to the grocery store or a farmers’ market.  When they go there and purchase that produce…and the farmers says, “I want three dollars for this pound of tomatoes”, they’re not going to say, “Oh my goodness, that’s way too much money”.  They’re going to say “Worth it!  Every penny.” Because they had this experience on a farm…this makes them the best consumer in my opinion.’

It was the Blews’ hope that these ‘aware consumers’ would share their knowledge and understanding of agriculture with friends and family.   Then and now, the Blews want their customers to understand product pricing and the weather’s impact. 

Weather.  The biggest variable in all of farming.  Too much rain and crops become over-saturated and rot; too little and the earth cracks and nothing can grow.  Windstorms can rip roofs off of barns and snap tender tree branches.  But, the worst weather of all may be hail. 

August 17, 2007 is a day that the Blews will never be able to erase from their memories.  The day started in a completely normal fashion; Ted was at Union Square market and Susan and their grown children were at home, minding the farm.  Traditionally, when the weather looks rough, Susan will call Ted, knowing that thirty minutes later, the very same weather could be in Manhattan.  Ted describes that devastating day:

‘August 17th is when you’re really geared up for the harvest.  [After calling the first time to report that a nasty storm was coming], Susan calls back and she’s in tears.  She says to me,  “There’s nothing left, Ted”.  And I said, “What are you talking about?”  And she said, “It’s hailing”.  And I said, “It’ll stop”.  And she says, “It’s not stopping”. 

I talked to her for 15 minutes on the phone and it just hailed the whole time.  I tell you, I came home and I wanted to go out and look at everything.  My daughter said, ‘Dad, that’s a whole year’s work’.  I wanted to look at everything that night.  [My family] all gathered around me and gave me a hug.  They had the truck loaded from the day before and said “just go sell it”.’

The Blews lost everything.  The horizontal wind sprayed golf ball sized hail all over the farm.  Ted remembers not being able to find a stem of any plant from an entire ‘amazing’ field of squash. The hail remained on the farm for two days; some plants never grew back.  Many farm buildings were damaged.  A few days after the storm, Ted drove to the neighboring Rutgers’ research farm. The storm’s wrath had destroyed all of their research and blown away their weather station.

It’s now three years after the storm.  Ted still doesn’t feel like the farm is back to normal.  While most of the crops have grown back (and as a visitor, I simply saw rows and rows of healthy plants), the memories are just as raw as if the storm were yesterday.   Each year following has presented its own set of problems.  2009 was wet, leading to rotting crops.  This year has been oppressively hot, with little rain.

Despite these challenges, the Blews have no choice but to stay focused and positive.  Today, the farm lush, orderly, and vibrant.  They’re experimenting with new varieties of crops and are anticipating this year’s harvest season. 

Coming up next:  A description of the Oak Grove Plantation’s products; which restaurants they source to; information on an upcoming farm dinner!

Happy Marketing!

-Meaghin

I hope you’ve been enjoying our Oak Grove series!  Make sure to vote (daily, if you like!) to keep us in the Tumblr food directory.

This article is cross posted on Cheery Observations

“People used to say it’s going to be the hardest thing you’ll ever do, buying a farm.  I said the hardest thing is to keep it.”—Ted Blew

Oak Grove Plantation is the definition of a family run operation.  Ted and Susan Blew have four adult children, three of whom work full time on the farm.  Each family member moves fluidly between working on a project that’s special to them (herbs, sweet corn, hogs) and helping out the with general farm operations.  Ted quickly pointed out that his children chose to stay and work at Oak Grove.  “I wanted them to know all the plusses and minuses of farming.  It’s not an easy job.”

Ted Blew has mastered the art of understatement:  “not an easy job” doesn’t come close to capturing the difficult moments Susan and Ted have endured, finding success only because of their unwavering work ethic and belief in organic agriculture.  The Blews acquired the land for Oak Grove Plantation in 1977, but faced several unsatisfying situations before this purchase. For example, one farmer from whom they were renting land plowed up all of their potatoes (they’ve never grown potatoes since).  Searching for a different landlord, they moved to another farm in Three Bridges, but they couldn’t afford the rent the farmer wanted for the house.

Ted approached the rent problem creatively. He recalls, “So I said to [the landowning farmer], well this is all I can afford.  It’s what I paid in Pennsylvania.  [The farmer] goes “Okay, I want three times that money.  I’ll rent it for the dollar amount and then you work off the other two thirds.”  So that’s what I did.  And then [in addition to that], I also worked our own land and even worked in a foundry—sometimes 12 hours a day in a foundry.  We didn’t have any money to get started.”

They didn’t have any land to get started, either.  While both Susan and Ted come from farming families, their families had each sold their respective farms when Susan and Ted were high schoolers.  Despite these bumps in the road, the Blews finally earned enough to buy Oak Grove Plantation, closing in August 1977.  Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able have a moment’s calm: between dealing with their variable interest mortgage and a severe drought in 1980 (“If you took a flashlight, you could see down two feet into the ground!”), the Blews were well aware that they had not picked an easy path.

Ted’s description of the 1980 drought reminded me of images from literatures’ worst devastating droughts, like those in Sarah Plain and Tall and My Antonia.  In Ted’s words:

“In 1980 we got four bushels to the acre instead of 30-35.  All we had was hot…like a torch with wind blowing.  Almost 26 days straight of over 100 degree weather.  It was the worst year we ever had.  Everything started to wither.  Corn turned brown.  We really need the money to pay the mortgage.  The prudent thing to do is to sell some of your crop, when you’re planting it early.  I decided to put an ad in the paper to [saying that I could] help harvest.”

Ted’s advertisement was a little unusual.  The Blews had pre-sold many bushels of soybeans, not being able to predict the horrific drought.  They suddenly had a contract they couldn’t fulfill, with fear of having a lean put on the farm if they weren’t able to follow through on their obligation.  So instead of getting paid in dollars, Ted asked for bushels of soybeans. 

“I had already sold them, but I couldn’t grow them.  I had to find the beans somehow.  Every night I’d come home and estimate the number of bushels I needed and then go back in a pickup truck.  [We ended up with] enough beans, but no money.  We incurred a lot of debt.”

Throughout the next few years, debt remained a constant companion.  The Blews eventually saved enough money to pay their mortgage and they breathed a little easier for the next few years.  In 1985, the family preserved the farm: “the first farm family in New Jersey to that”, Ted shared.

Coming up next:  The hail storm that destroyed ‘everything’ and the positive relationships farming has nurtured

Happy Marketing!

-Meaghin

This article is cross-posted at Cheery Observations.

Last week, I braved the BQE, navigated the Verrazano, and drove to Pittstown, NJ.  Sixty miles away and one hundred sixty acres translated to a different world from where I had been a mere hour before. Oak Grove Plantation is an entirely family-run farm that grows an enormous variety of fruits, vegetables, plants, and herbs, in addition to onsite milling and hog operations.

It seems appropriate to begin my article closer to the end of the visit, just as the interview was starting to wind down and before my subsequent farm tour.  For the past three hours, Mr. Ted Blew had been sharing stories from his past and present.  Yet, if you had happened to walk by the two of us sitting on a picnic table outside of the farmhouse, you would have seen him responding and talking with fresh energy, as if the interview had just begun.  Each question or inquiry I had was met with a detailed answer; Mr. Blew’s responses were layered and complicated. (After all, what is simple about farming?)  When someone has been a farmer as long as Ted Blew—nearly his entire life—each response involves the synthesis of past experiences and dreams with the present reality of the farm.
 
One particular answer was so detailed that I enthusiastically exclaimed about what a great story he just shared with me.  I had asked him, “which one of your products are you most proud of?” The question is one that I’ve asked every farmer that I’ve interviewed.  Mr. Blew’s answer started off not unlike other answers I’ve heard:  “Everything!”, he laughed.  Then, as is his way, he paused for a few seconds to give the question more serious thought.

 
Ted Blew’s story starts with him as a high school student and ends with him today, as a farmer.  His unwavering commitment to his craft shines through. After you read, I have a feeling you’ll be joining me in line to purchase some of Oak Grove’s peaches!
 
Well, I know one thing [in particular].  I was in high school and was looking for a job for the summer.  I had worked for a farmer down the road and he didn’t need a steady person anymore. So I’m at church in my three-piece suit and in walks this fellow that I knew. He’s on crutches; his leg is all in a cast.
 
So I said, “What happened to you?”  He goes, “Oh I flipped my motorcycle – I’m lucky I’m alive. Are you still looking for a job?  Do you mind working in an orchard?” I say “Anything!”  He says, “They’re desperate for somebody; they need somebody to replace me.”
 
That same day, still in his three-piece church suit, Ted went to meet with the orchard operator.  One of the employer’s first questions was “Can you drive a stick shift truck?”
 
Well, my father, when I was a kid, had said, “If you can drive stick, you can drive anything”, so I [answered] “yep”.  Then he goes, “can you drive that forklift?”  Well, I lied and I said yep!  [Next] he says, “are you going to wear those duds today? I could really use you today.” So I said, “just give me a second, this all comes off!”  So I took off the coat, took off the tie, the vest, and I still had on my nice pants, but so what?
 
The employer proceeded to tell him to use the forklift to put six wood pallets onto a Dodge truck. Ted was instructed to be very careful going across Route 100 and to follow a dirt farm road until he saw some guys picking peaches from twenty-five Blake peach trees.  Ted was asked to help them finish picking the peaches and then bring the truck back with the loaded bins.  After completing these tasks, he was supposed to come find the employer who would tell him what to do next.

 
My father had always told me that when you have a strange vehicle, you pull the choke on, tap the throttle three times, and hit the key.  When it goes to start, you push the choke off slightly.
 
I did this and it went “varuum”.  So all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, the [employer] comes running over.  He says, “Hey Blewy, how did you learn to do that?”  I said, “Do what?”  He said, “Start that forklift?! You got the job!”  I looked at him and said “I thought I HAD the job?”
 
Ted was being tested – the employer wanted to see if he could really start the machine. No one who worked there had ever started the forklift on his first try; in fact, it usually took six tries or more.  By the time Ted Blew arrived at the orchard, there were two trees left to be picked.  Each picker was equipped with a cloth lined metal bin, complete with straps in the front, leaving both hands free to pick.  They leaned into the bin when they had a full hopper and the cloth allowed the fruit to fall in without getting damaged.

 
I walk up to the tree and grab a Blake peach and when I start to squeeze. I can feel the juice dripping down.  I finally get a hold of the peach and pull it off the tree.  The [peach] pit stays on the tree.  [One] guy looks at me and goes, “So what are you going to do with that?  You either eat it or chuck it.”
 
It was the best peach I’d ever had in my entire life.  So I ate another peach and another peach. I swore from that day on that if I ever had a farm, I’d have a peach orchard.  So in 1996, I decided to start a peach orchard.
 
That year Ted consulted a tree fruit specialist, explaining that he wanted to grow peaches organically.  The specialist explained that it wasn’t possible to grow peaches organically.  Ted responded that he was going to try regardless, telling him that he could be “the first guy to say ‘I told you so’”.  When Ted started asking the specialist questions about varieties and taste, it became apparent that no one had done much research or even growing based around the taste of a peach. Ted was shocked!  Ted wanted customers to come back and “thirst for my peaches – my peaches over everyone else’s peaches.”
 
The fruit tree specialist told Ted to prep the ground for three years in a row, with cover crops.  Meanwhile, Ted spent his time researching peaches. He would go around the farmers’ market and buy peaches from every farmer who sold them, insisting on only buying peaches that the farmers knew the name of.  He’d make sure to buy enough peaches for his family, and each family member would privately record their reactions on a spreadsheet, making sure to note the season of each peach.
 
We now have about 50 varieties of peaches that do excellent[ly].  We even planted a special grass in the orchard that doesn’t compete with the peach trees.  It was like a research project, a thesis.
 

Due to his success with growing peaches organically, Ted was recently approached to speak as a stone fruits expert at the upcoming Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) conference.  Ted spoke of this invitation with a great amount of pride and is currently considering speaking at the conference.
 
Throughout the next week, I’ll be adding more posts about my fascinating interview with Ted Blew, as well as additional details and pictures about Oak Grove Plantation.

Oak Grove Plantation’s peaches are available right now!  Oak Grove is at Union Square Greenmarket on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  Stop by soon and enjoy the literal fruits of the Blew family’s research!

Happy Marketing!

-Meaghin

This piece is cross-posted at Cheery Observations.