Great farmstand corn on 2A in Lincoln (Gove Farm)
There was a recent thread where I talked about a farmstand on 2A in Lincoln. Someone identified it as Gove Farm. I went by there today and the old farmer is still running the place. It's not got as much to sell as it used to but I've never had better corn!
The man asks how many ears you want and picks it out himself and bags it. It's organic but not certified, 50cents an ear. It's wonderful! I cut some off the cob and put it raw in a salad. So sweet! Cooked, it had a "snap" to it that I've not found elsewhere. It was sweet but not too much.
He also had native peaches which are juicy and fully ripe. He also had yellow round plums, which I didn't get but will when I go back.
The farmer likes to talk about alternative healing, organic farming, and what-have-you. He's a real interesting fellow and I stayed and talked with him for a good half hour if not longer. It was 11:30 or so in the morning and I was his only customer. Hope that's not typical.
If you're coming from 128/2A, follow 2A to a split: left takes you to Rt 2, bear right and you'll stay on 2A heading towards Concord Center. This farmstand is on the right not far from the split. It looks wicked rundown and theres a weathered farm house behind it. If you come to a farmstand with a flag saying "Open", you've passed Gove Farm. Turn around and go back. It's worth it!
By three of us
on Aug 13, 2008 06:24 PM
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Is this a fairly weathered gentleman before you get to the National Park site, where you can go hiking?
When we visited last year, he had all kinds of funky squash, with no prices, but when we picked a bunch of stuff out, it all came to less than $3...he was a slice of life...;)
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You've got it!
I love his corn but, I gotta say, I love talking to him more. He's a font of knowledge about all kinds of stuff. Today, he talked about his 103 yr old mother-in-law, one of 13 children, who was a healer.
And yes, his prices are really good.
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Yeah, when we left, TC said, "They're not making them like that anymore!"
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Anither corn winner is Curcubit Farm in Acton.
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To help place Gove's location, it's just a bit before, and on the same side of the road, as the late and sorely lamented Willow Pond Kitchen. That was a Concord dive who's likes we'll never see again in this lifetime.:-(
Harp
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This place wouldn't be associated with the Gove Farm I know on Mechanic Street, (parallel to Route 2) in Leominster??
They have wonderful corn.... and sell what they pick for the day... if you get there beyond 4 o'clock, you're out of luck!
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Can't rightly say Ms. Liz, but perhaps "three of us" or someone will weigh-in.
I do know that I'll be stopping by the one in Concord.
Harp,
:-0)
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I was just thinking of that place, yesterday! And it was a dive, in the fondest terms.
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This is more of a PSA but... generally at NE farms corn is harvested twice daily. Corn sugars break down about 4-6 hours post harvest. Ideally, and this is obsessive, a morning trip to the farm stand would yield the best corn for lunch, while a late afteroon stop, the best for dinner. In case anyone is interested...
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Carry a camp stove to the fields.
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Why would one even cook corn so fresh? I just eat it off the cob, occasionally tossing it with cider vinegar and basil....
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Oh yeah,
Read Kate Hepburn's take on the subject that I posted on this OP.
It's about halfway down the thread. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/418788
Harp
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I remember, as a kid, my mother would start the water to boil, we would all jump into the massive Chrysler station wagon, drive to the farm at the top of the hill, pick the needed corn, and rush back to the house, shucking in the car and then dump the exposed corn into the pot. One minute later the corn was pulled out, and we would sit on the porch with a stick of butter and some salt, watching the sun set over the Green Mountains.
My poor husband thinks you can buy corn on Monday and eat it Tuesday. I try to teach him gently.
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I'm sooo confulsed. Travelled out to find this place today. Took 2A exit off Rte 128. At the split in the road I beared right and stopped at the litle farmstand on the right not long after the split. The corn was already picked and in a basket. Fresh peaches and yellow plums were there. I was pretty sure I found the right spot but was confused that the corn was already picked. Started asking the farmer about his 103 year old m. i. l. and 13 kids and he didn't know what I was talking about. Asked if this was Cove Farm and he said no. (Can't remember what the sign said) He said he didn't know it. I drove up and down 2A and couldn't find it. What gives?
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Sounds right. Was the guy very old with a beard and a limp, using a crutch?
I referenced it as Gove Farm because that is how someone on another thread identified it. Maybe that's not its name.
Re. the 103 yr. old MIL, etc.: If it was the old guy I've talked with, can't explain his answer. Try asking him about organic farming/getting healthy.
Did you buy anything? Wednesday, he had the most exquisite basket of red currants I was on a budget but now wish I had bought them. Cut some corn off the cob, tonight, for my stir-fry. Just the right touch of sweetness.
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Had a beard, didn't notice the crutch.He did start to talk about some health issues like eating lemons and drinking lots of fluids. He kinda barked at my 82 y.o walking pal to drink more b/c he looked dehydratred.( my pal, a huge health nut himself) That didn't go over well. :). I bought some corn and some peaches and scrammed outta there. Both delicious!.
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Oh yeah, that's the guy; he's big on the lemon thing, which is actually right on in the current thinking of alkalizing your body's chemistry...
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I am glad I read about this place, went there this afternoon in hopes of currants. There weren't any, but I got raspberries, blues, and yellow cherry tomatoes, plus corn. He explained that he had organic ears from which he'd cut out the bugs, and (sniff!) ears that had been sprayed. I said I'd try the ones with the extra protein ;-) - he seemed to like that. I didn't buy his Jerseymac apples, but mentioned that I go up to Gould Hill Orchard in Contoocook NH every year for their dozens of varieties of heirloom apples, and told him a little about a local preservation non-prof coalition's efforts to acquire that orchard, which is for sale, and keep it operating. This seemed to cement my credentials as someone who appreciates local farmers. By the way, the corn is great but not any better than what I've been getting closer to home, at East St. Farm in Tewksbury.
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Off the topic, but I LOVE Gould Hill. We have bought their apples for many years.
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Just watched an episode of The Victory Garden on PBS wherein Barbara Lynch was making a salad from farmer's market vegetables and what appeared to be Araucana eggs (the different colors of shell which Martha Stewart often has on her show, from her own chickens). She mentioned that they were organic eggs from an 85-yr old farmer in Concord; didn't name names, but I'm guessing this is who she meant. The yolks of the "6-minute eggs", as she called them - firm whites, semi-runny yolks achieved by putting them in cold water and timing from that point - were an even deeper goldenrod color than those from the poultry farm in North Reading. My avatar is a Greyhound whose favorite treat was a hard-boiled North Reading egg. When I ran out and bought supermarket eggs, he refused to eat one - a TRUE Chowhound.
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