I am thrilled to announce that our NEW Mt. View Orchards Website is LIVE today! I warmly invite you all to go and visit our new and improved website and encourage you to please share it forward with everyone your know. I hope that you find the new website inviting and that it inspires you to want to come and visit our small family farm, over and over again. There are a lot of new things happening on our orchard and I am so very honored to carry on my family's farming legacy here at Mt. View Orchards. Check out our activity page, come for an event, bring a picnic and browse through our farm photos.
One of the challenges of most farmers is that they proudly grow food for America but they often lack the skills to market their product effectively. One of the reasons why I am writing a weekly blog and created a new website is I am trying to get the word out about our farm and become better at marketing our freshly harvested fruit. One of my hopes as a budding new farmer is to sell directly to the consumer to promote sustainability and offer better prices for both the consumer and the farmer. The shorter the chain between raw food and fork, the fresher it is and the more transparent the system is. You, as a food buyer, have the distinct privilege of proactively participating in shaping the world your children will inherit. This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. (Joel Salitan)
On Trout Creek Ridge road where I farm, all my neighboring farms are ran by farmers who range in age from 65-90 years old. Thats right I wrote, NINETY!!! It is a profound honor to be surrounded by so many legends in the farming culture but this is also disconcerting to me because small family farms are one the decline and the next generation is unable to carrying on the legacy because of financing or there is a lack of interest. Folks, we need more farmers and one of the ways you can rally to sustain farms is to make the choice to buy directly from farmers and not from big box stores. There is nothing like coming to visit a farm and experiencing life where your food was grown. It is our pleasure at Mt. View Orchards to have you come and explore our Orchard and know that our farm is your farm. It always brings a smile to my face when someone shares that they have been coming to buy fruit from us for over 30+years. What a gift you are to us farmers and I thank you for actively participating in the sustainability of farms in your communities. Buying LOCAL really makes a difference and keeps small family farms ALIVE.
Lastly, I want to honor my dear friend and creative wonder, Zachary Vandehey who has created the Mt. View website, the Grateful Farmer blog, designed all the graphics and is an amazing photographer and marketer. He is so very talented and I give him the highest of my recommendations and encourage you to collaborate with him if you are looking to do similar work. I also want to honor my dear friend Allison Armerding for all her web copy and writing(her website is soon to launch) Allison, truly is the best editor/ghost writer every made by God and I am so grateful for our long lasting friendship. If you have every thought about writing a book, she really is profoundly gifted and I encourage you to partner with her. I also want to honor my sweet friend Marla Cyree, at Simply Splendid for all the amazing pictures she captured at Mt. View Orchards. Her darling daughter, Ava is in quite a few shots and I so appreciate her ability to tell a story through pictures here on our farm.
Thank you again for following along friends, for partnering with me on this farming journey. My mother and I are about to hop into our farm truck and go purchase 500 new baby trees to plant this year. Planting pears for our heirs! My biggest hope and prayer is that our farming legacy will continue for many generations to come. xoxo your grateful farmer.