Farm to Festivity: Buy Local This Holiday Season

Christmas shopping doesn’t have to be a dutiful trudge to the mall or a soulless lonely crawl through endless shopping websites promising that if you just spend another $10 you’ll be eligible for free shipping.

The North Country has dozens of local producers that can be found in all manner of unlikely places, from farm stores on country roads to hamlet storefronts to, yes, online sites where you can order by mail or in some cases arrange to meet producers who don’t have regular store hours for a personalized visit.

When shopping for locally produced products it also pays to remember the eternal truth: In more ways than one, food is a gift.

“Jams and jellies sell well for stocking stuffers, apple crumb pie is a favorite and our pumpkin pie is top-notch,” said David Conway, a jack of all trades at Rulfs Orchard in Peru. 

Orchards are typically thought of in the season of ripening apples and autumn leaves, and that is indeed their busiest time of year. But they also ramp up for the holidays, not just with gifts but with trees and wreaths, along with decorated Christmas cookies for holiday parties.

Conway said it’s a good venue for shoppers, but also a chance for producers to connect with old friends. “We have a lot of tourists, but we definitely have our regulars,” he said.

Some communities have winter farmers markets and others have farm stores open even when the snow flies.

A challenge, said Cherie Whitten, owner of the Whitten Family Farm in Winthrop and the Adirondack Food Hub in Tupper Lake (open Thursday through Saturday in winter), is that people tend to stop thinking about locally produced foods when summer wanes, even though greenhouses and a warming climate have extended the season. 

In mid-November Whitten was still selling cauliflower and home-grown tomatoes, but the enthusiasm was nothing like the first days of July when people would walk over hot coals to get a fresh juicy heirloom tomato in lieu of the rock-hard supermarket version.

“As soon as the season gets cold, people stop thinking about local food,” she said.

Changing that mindset would be a boon not just to producers but the seven-county North Country economy, which the Whitten farm website says loses $1 billion in wealth a year because of food choices. And local food doesn’t end on Labor Day.

Whitten said a pork loin with winter vegetables like squash and carrots is an excellent holiday meal, and of course pumpkins are at the ready for pie duty. For under the tree, the Food Hob sells products from local makers, including mittens that are handmade with recycled materials, wooden bowls, painted vases, maple products, honey and tea.

The holiday table can also feature local pork, beef, lamb or poultry from producers across the region, many of whom can be found on the Adirondack Harvest directory. 

Gifts can also include some that you might think of, such as maple syrup, specialty cheeses and locally crafted beers, spirits and wine. But digging around can turn up some great but lesser-known gift ideas.

At the Mountain Weavers’ Farm Store in Port Henry, clients of Mountain Lake Services make beautiful reed baskets that can be purchased from the shelf or even custom-crafted. The Weavers’ Guild was started in 2008 and currently includes 14 weavers. The program is used to teach job readiness skills to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The farm store also sells interesting products from other producers in the community, including the Dorr Homestead Creations, including Alisha Dorr’s popular line of Christmas jewelry, herbal muscle rubs and ointment and tallow soaps. “The soaps fly off the shelf and they smell amazing,” said Steve Lewis, senior director of Community Services for Mountain Lake. “People do a healthy amount of Christmas shopping here.”

And if a four-footed friend is on your list, you might want to check out Bechard’s Sugar House and Farm Store in West Chazy where, said Tammy Bechard, “I can’t tell you how many maple dog biscuits I’ve made.”

Popular items include maple candies, maple-glazed nuts, maple cream and coffee, as well as, of course syrup, some in holiday bottles and even vintage, “cute little tins that take you back to the day,” Bechard said.

Maybe best of all is the Christmas vibe present at the gayly decorated stores of small, North Country producers.

“It’s a busy time,” Bechard said, as she decorated a large order of gift baskets. “It’s not going to slow up until right before Christmas.”

Not all North Country producers will have busy storefronts. Some operate exclusively through websites and social media, and have gifts that are unique and worth hunting around for. “All my products are one of a kind,” said Dina Garvey, owner of As You Wish Signs and Gifts. Garvey paints on locally harvested timber and reclaimed barnwood, gifts that “offer a touch of the Adirondacks all year round.” 

Dina says that one lasting effect of the pandemic is that people feel more comfortable buying local, and perceive more value in hand-crafted products. That makes it fun to have personal connections with her customers, particularly at Christmas. “It’s humbling and joyful that people want to buy something I created,” Garvey said. “And when the holiday season comes and the snow is flying it’s just magical.”

Make a festive day trip of it and visit many of the farmstores, producers and retailers that sell locally grown and made products year-round! Do a little shopping and have a nice farm-to-table lunch. Visit the Adirondack Cuisine Trails directory to plan a festival weekend in the Adirondacks.

Note: Many farm stores have different winter hours, so be sure to check before visiting.

Funding for this project came from a 2024 Special Programs Grant from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership