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At the picturesque, well-maintained Maple Lane Farms in Preston, owner Allyn Brown, III, earns his reputation as one that grows and markets top quality Christmas trees and U-pick fruit crops. Brown, a 1978 Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture graduate, has 65 acres in choose-and-cut Christmas trees. About half is in Fraser fir and |
"Fraser fir," the grower says, "is sensitive to moist, wet soils. They grow better in hilly sections on my farm where thesoil is drier." During summer dry spells, Brown uses overhead pipes to irrigate his Christmas trees. The water is pumped from nearby ponds.
Brown's workers prune or shear trees after they are planted in the fields. Heavy shearing begins when trees reach four feet high. This work is done in the spring and summer months. The grower follows an Integrated Pest Management program to control insect pests - mostly mites and balsam twig aphids. "Because pesticides are so costly, we can't afford not to practice IPM," says Brown. Most of his trees are sold as choose and cut - usually seven or eight feet high. A small demand exists for big trees. He wholesales the rest to local retail sales lots. Last year, he discontinued the practice of letting buyers tag trees before Christmas.
"Some customers were cutting other people's tagged trees, and it was hard to monitor this practice," says Brown, whose sales did not decline when tagging was stopped. Brown opens his plantation for cutting the day after Thanksgiving and closes on December 24. His hours of operation are 12 noon to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends. Last year, he charged $26.00 with tax and baling included for a choose and cut tree any size any variety. This was the first time he raised his retail price of trees in several years at the farm. Besides growing and selling Christmas trees, he derives income from U-pick crops from strawberries in June to pumpkins in October. His other U-pick crops are blueberries and red and black raspberries in the summer, red and yellow raspberries in September, plus blackberries, gooseberries and red and black currants.
In addition, he grows and sells oyster mushrooms used in gourmet cooking to nearby Franklin Mushroom Farms. This crop, picked daily throughout the year, provides Brown with additional income throughout the year. For the first time, he will grow and sell U-pick summer flowers. Varieties include zinnias, snapdragons and sunflowers, to name a few.
Also, Brown has four and one-half acres in dwarf apple trees, and will plant another 12 different varieties on five additional acres this year. He also planted a few acres in U-pick peach trees. Both crops will bear marketable fruit in a few years. He uses trickle irrigation to water his apple, peach and raspberry crops, as needed. "Because of last summer's wet, rainy weather, I didn't have to irrigate any of my crops," he points out. To protect his apple and Fraser fir Christmas tree crops from deer browsing he installed an electric fence covering 40 acres.
Brown advertises the time when his fruit crops and Christmas trees are in season. He takes out ads in several daily and weekly newspapers from Westerly, R.I. to Old Saybrook, Conn. "That area is where most of our customers come from to buy our trees and other crops," remarks Brown. He also airs a commercial on local radio and cable television stations when crops are ripe for harvesting. He produces and mails a newsletter in spring and fall to some 6,000 people who have purchased trees or fruit at his farm. "I find the newsletter keeps my customers informed on the crops being grown and marketed. It also lets my customers know how much I appreciate their business," says Brown. He has a 24 hour information line where people can call to hear a recorded message on when the farm is open for choose-and-cut Christmas trees and U-pick fruits. The number is (860) 887-8855.
Brown has been very active in the Connecticut Christmas Tree Growers Association. A New London County Director for eight years, he now serves as Director at Large. He is also on the Nominating Committee. At present, the grower has 120 acres in Christmas trees and fruit. Within the next several years, he expects to plant the remaining 30 acres in these crops. Already, he leases land next to his farm for growing strawberries and may grow this and other crops on other rented land in the future. He's also considering building a retail farm store on the farm with a small greenhouse.
His current labor force consists of three full-time workers and four to eight part-time workers. Brown enjoys his work a lot. He provides a clean, pleasant, friendly place for his customers to pick the crops. I want individuals and families to enjoy their visit to my farm. I encourage them to enjoy a leisurely meal or snack at picnic tables set up on the farm," he says.
In the meantime, Brown keeps up on the latest technology in growing and marketing Christmas trees by attending twilight meetings such as the one in July at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Valley Lab in Windsor. He says, "We're fortunate to have John Ahrens, a nationally known weed scientist, and others who conduct and report on results of research for the state's $9 million Christmas tree industry." Brown welcomes calls or visits from other growers to his farm. Like his customers, growers will find that his Maple Lane Farms is among the most attractive and productive in the state.
Shopping for Holiday Tree begins early, too
By HEATHER VOGELL, Day Staff Writer, December 02,1996
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Preston - It can't be too skinny or too fat. You don't want one with stray, spindly limbs or bald spots. Most importantly, it's got to be the perfect height and have an upright top. It's your Christmas tree, and residents eager to avoid the crowds are already sawing trunks at area tree farms. |
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Some even braved the rain Sunday to wind through Maple Lane Farms 70 acres of spruces, firs and pines. The Riegel family of Preston found their tree in only 10 to 15 minutes. Rachel, 11, held an umbrella for her father Tony while he cut down a balsam fir. Peering out from under raincoat hoods, the family waited in the mud while a Maple Lane worker loaded their tree onto a truck. "It's hard to decide; there are so many good ones," Linda Riegel said. Her children Rachel, Jennifer, 8, and 5-year-old Mikey, each chose a tree, and the family then discussed which to take home. Allyn Brown, Maple Lane's owner, said he recommended anyone bringing a tree home this early buy a balsam or fraser fir, which tend to hold their needles longer. The past year's rain and snow made for a good growing season for all crops, Brown said. He said the Christmas trees looked healthier than usual, and even felt a bit heavier when cut down. The trees available have been in the ground at the farm for about seven years, branching out so there's little or no room between them. While the balsam and fraser firs are two of the most popular types Maple Lane also sells white pines, and blue, white and Norway spruce. |
Even on a rainy Sunday morning, the first day of December, business was steady. About 50 to 60 people came for trees by early afternoon, Brown said. Although the weekend after Thanksgiving marked only the beginning of the tree selling season, the holiday fell late this year with Christmas only 3 1/2 weeks away. The weather didn't keep Nancy and Ken Krawczyk and their 9-year-old daughter Brittany of Gales Ferry from their task. As Brittany lamented the mud on her tennis shoes, the three scoured the hillside for an elegant evergreen. "It's either cold and windy or warm and rainy," Ken Kraweyk said, ruling out a tree with a misshapen bottom. "You look too long and they all start looking the same." Once a customer has sawed down a tree, a Maple Lane truck takes it back to the parking lot. There, the tree is wrapped in string, so it can be transported more easily, and loaded onto the customer's car. Bill and Shirley Crockett of Florida came with their friends Liz and David Heiney of Old Saybrook to the farm. Bill Crockett said the trees shipped down to Florida don't last long and aren't as robust as the fresh ones up north. "We had to see what it was like to get a New England Christmas tree," he said.
Get' Em While They're Ripe
Seasonal progression brings pickers back to Preston berry farm
By EILEEN MCNAMARA Day Staff Writer, July 26, 1997
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Preston - Some may head to the beaches now that summer is in full swing, others to the parks. But for many, summertime brings images of ripe berries, a walk in the fields and a stout bucket to bring home the goods. |
"We always come here at least once a year," said Kristin Pezzolesi of Waterford. She was at the farm on a sunny afternoon last week picking blueberries with her 2-year-old son, Grant. Like many of those who were picking berries at Maple Lane Farms, Pezzolesi was taking advantage of the cooler temperatures getting outdoors with her son.
With a white plastic bucket slung around her neck that left her hands free to inspect the blueberry bushes, Pezzolesi moved along the long line of shrubs, selecting the ripe berries that have just come into season. She had to stop frequently to bring back Grant,, who appeared equally interested in wandering toward the farm stand where employees rang up purchases and doled out baskets and boxes to incoming pickers. Maple Lane, a 150 acre fruit and tree farm owned by Allyn Brown III, boasts 10 acres of strawberries, 10 acres of blueberries and 3 acres of raspberries.
Berry picking for some has become a rite of summer that begins as soon as the strawberries ripen in June and continues until blueberry season fades in August. The farm also offers pumpkins in the fall and Christmas trees. "We try to bill this as a family activity," said Brown. "It's one of the only places you can go to where the whole family can come back with something and it doesn't cost you anything to get in, except for what you take home with you." Weekends are the farm's busiest times, he said, with between 400 and 500 pickers typically roaming the berry fields on either side of Northwest Corner Road.
In the raspberry patches, which are across the street from the blueberries, Kathy Scacciaferro of Waterford and her entourage filled up several pints with the red succulent berries. With her were three children she was babysitting for that day, Katelyn, Amanda and Eric Haff of Waterford, As well as her sister, Barbara Kronk of Montville, Kronk's husband, Richard, and the couple's two grandchildren, Wesley Engle and Allyson Kronk.
"We come here all the time, it's really for (the kids)," said Scacciaferro. "They re enjoy this." "It's a lot of fun, plus you get to eat," said 6 year old' Eric Engle, popping a raspberry into his mouth. While 8-month-old Allyson watched from her perch on her grandfather's shoulders, the others wandered the length of the long row of raspberry bushes, hunting for ripe berries.
"By next week these will have ripened more and we'll be back," said Barbara Kronk as she inspected the fruit on one of the tall raspberry bushes. "We always do this as a group." Berry picking was one of a long list of summer activities that Ann Way of Preston had planned for her granddaughter, 10-year- old Samantha Widham of Daytona Beach, Fla., who was visiting for about two weeks and was to fly home the next morning.
"We've been swimming and canoeing and to the aquarium," Way said. "This was our last chance to get blueberries." Along with the buckets to pick the berries, visitors to the farm are also given free brochures that include a few recipes for the fresh fruit. Many pickers, however, already had firm ideas of what they were going to do with their fresh harvests.
"With strawberries I do jam and with the blueberries I make muffins." said Doreen Maruzo of Preston. "With these," she said, pointing to her raspberry bucket, "we'll put them on our cereal or just eat them."
