We Hail From a Long Line of Cultivators

Recognized as one of the oldest family farms in Connecticut, Ayer Farm has been a staple in the community since 1665, when our ancestor John Ayer founded the town of Franklin, CT. Although the focus of production at the farm has changed over the years (dairy, corn, horses, etc…), the emphasis on quality and excellence will always remain. We are excited to announce that 2017 will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the long legacy of Ayer Farm with the launch of our natural vegetable production operation.

Ayer Farm

Recognized as one of the oldest family farms in Connecticut, Ayer Farm has been a staple in the community since 1665, when our ancestor John Ayer founded the town of Franklin, CT. Although the focus of production at the farm has changed over the years (dairy, corn, horses, etc…); the emphasis on quality and excellence will always remain. We are excited to announce that 2018 will mark the second year of a new chapter in the long legacy of Ayer Farm with the continuation of our natural vegetable production operation.

Our goal is simply to produce the healthiest veggies possible without the usage of any chemical based fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides! Naturally grown vegetables are densely packed with vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and best of all,…flavor! As stewards of the land and our community, we will focus upon water and topsoil conservation as we begin utilizing a no-till system for most of our production that not only produces great vegetables, but actually builds the soil and helps the environment.

Join with us as we turn another page in Ayer Farm’s storied history, which should lead to very happy patrons and earthworms alike!

Steven Ayer & Delia Ayer

AyerFamily@ayerfarm.com

Giving Back to the Communtiy

A large part of what Ayer Farm's mission is, will be to donate food for the the hungry. On October 15th, 2017, we hosted our first community "Harvest for the Hungry." Over a dozen folks came to help us harvest vegetables that were immediately donated to several food banks/food shelters in the area. From that day alone, we donated over 1,300lbs of food.

Our total giving of vegetables last year are estimated to be about 4,000lbs. We are proud to be giving away food to our friends in the surrounding community, who are doing a wonderful job helping those in need; our partners include St. Vincent De Paul in Norwich, First Baptist Church in Willimantic, Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic, and Catholic Charities in Norwich: https://www.svdpp.org/ (https://www.facebook.com/svdppnorwich/), https://www.facebook.com/FirstBaptistChurchWillimantic/, & https://www.facebook.com/cskwilli/. Lastly, https://www.facebook.com/CatholicCharitiesNorwich/.

We also gave a bunch of leafy greens along with other vegetables to some friends who had cancer and wanted to juice our fresh veggies for their health and healing. We hope to be able to give away as much in 2018 as we did last year and possibly even more. In the years to come, we expect to give away 10,000 plus pounds of food per year as we grow and are able to give more to those who need it. We thank God for this ministry!

Welcome to the 2018 growing season! We are excited for the ability to partner with our community in our brand new vegetable farming venture. As you have hopefully seen, we are opening for business this spring and farming 3+ acres in Franklin, CT. We would like to invite you to partner with us as we provide you fresh, local produce grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides while incorporating methods meant to build the soil providing nutrient dense vegetables from our farm to your table!

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, which essentially means consumers supporting their local farm by paying for their produce at the beginning of the season. This allows us to cover the expenses of providing you with the best produce possible, as the majority of our expenses happen before the growing season – think seeds, potting soil, planting containers, seeds (yes, I meant to do that twice).

We will be offering a full share at $550. This will be enough to provide an abundance of vegetables for a 4+ person family each week for 18 weeks. Our season will run from the week of June 4th through October 4th. We will offer a very limited amount of ½ shares for the same span of time. These will be $300. We want to be able to provide farm fresh food to our community, so if you have financial concerns, please don’t let that come between you and healthier produce. Please call or e-mail us to discuss payment arrangements that may be more suitable. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Weekly pick-ups will be at Ayer Farm fields located at 251 Pond Rd., Franklin, CT on Mondays and Thursdays from 4:00 – 7:00pm. There will be parking available on the right side of the field. Delivery is available with delivery costs based upon distance from the farm.

Our assortment will depend on availability based on the growing season, timing, and crop size. We will do our best to have a wide assortment of what is available each week. If you have a special request regarding your assortment on a given week, please call or e-mail us and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Disclaimer: We need to take a moment to state the obvious. Sometimes in farming, devastating events take place that ruin whole or parts of crops. Although, unlikely, we would work with other farms to try to make up the difference, or include value added items to make up the share value.

Thank you for your interest in our CSA! We look forward to doing business with you!

• Many varieties of lettuce
  • Leaf
  • Head
• Swiss Chard
• Kale
• Radishes
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Beets
• Potatoes
• Watermelon
• Honeydew
• Cantaloupe
• Garlic
• Eggplant
• String Beans
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Variety of Peppers
• Variety of Tomatoes
• Squash Varieties
  • Butternut
  • Spaghetti
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow/Summer
• Variety of Herbs
• Various flowers
• Free range eggs