Welcome to Flavor Farm for the 2012 season. This is our sixth year of operation.
Flavor Farm is located just north of the Niagara Escarpement in Cambria, NY. Niagara Falls is about 25 minutes to the east. Buffalo is about 30 minutes to the south .Looking to the east is Freedom Run Winery, to the south Arrowhead Springs Vineyards and just down the road to the west Eveingside Vineyards. http://www.niagarawinetrail.org/index.html Cambria, a right to farm town, is still mostly agriculture. Eventhough this family farm is now in its 59th year, it is considered young by town standards.
The farm uses natural growing methods. No plant is corrupted by synthetic inputs. None has an unnatural heritage. And each is allowed to grow to its proper maturity. Variety selection is made to expand our local offerings and offer something unique. The primary consideration is flavor not uniformity or shelf life. While sales will never be large enough to justify organic certification on site inspections are welcomed and encouraged.
The benefit held in my honor by my dear friends and old employees of McGillicutys Emporium (a corner tavern I ran in Buffalo, NY from 1976 to 1985) made public my medical condition, myelodysplastic syndrome. This is a bone marrow disorder where my body does not produce blood. This is the tenth year of this condition which I believe was caused by agricultural chemical exposure in my youth. While very fortunate that frequent blood transfusions allow me to lead a close to normal life, This year there will be a different plant mix. I will relinquish and ask a fellow farmer to grow my tomatoes, they require a time commitment my condition does not allow, But there will be expanded dry bean production and a few new varieties, Again the focus will be on restaurant and artisanal processor sales.
If your kinda bumbed by that last paragraph, please don’t be. This will provide an opportunity to further the farm’s organic orientation, the essence of which is feeding the soil. Now every farm block will not be for sales production but some reserved for soil nutrient production by cover cropping. And I be able to increase spacing between plants, lowering their demand on the soil.
Any farm named Flavor must have an organoleptic orientation toward plant selection. This certainly will not change. Peppers, mostly hot, heirloom beans, and culinary herbs will still be the main crops. But I look forward to experimenting with more sensory and succulent offerings. I am also giving my support to seed companies who only sell open pollinated, non GMO seeds.
One final thought. As you can probably tell this web site is also produced on the farm. As I’ve entered information or updated in the past it has been directed to letting you know what I do. This year I will also try to let you know why I do things. I hope that we both can benefit from this with your comments at customerservice@flavor-farm.com.