Jen Connolly’s decision to deliver farm fresh food direct to homes was only meant to be a stop gap between the farmers market seasons. That was almost two years ago.
“We thought we’d stop in May,” Connolly said.
It started with three customers that regularly visited her farmers market booth in Peterborough. But soon the word started to spread and now Connolly has three delivery days each week that includes six towns and somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 stops in the summer and more than 40 during the winter months.
“Some stop in the summer and sign up for the winter,” Connolly said. “Some people rotate and do deliveries every other week.”
As the owner of FiberDreams Farm in Temple, Connolly has been selling her products at local farmers markets for close to two decades, including pork, lamb and chicken, farm fresh eggs, micro greens, some veggies, as well as wool and soap products. But when the farmers market season comes to a close, the only way people can buy those items is at the Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm, owned by her husband Chris and his two brothers, in Temple. Though Connolly has found that not everyone wants to make the trip to the farm store. So she figured why not go to them.
“I think there’s a need for it because what I’ve realized is that not everyone can drive or has the work schedule that’s conducive to getting to a market or the farm store,” she said.
In addition to her meat, eggs and vegetables, Connolly offers beef, raw milk, ice cream, raw cream and cheese from Connolly Brothers.
She wasn’t sure what kind of interest there would be in a home food delivery service. But as more people signed up, Connolly started to notice all the Amazon packages she had to remove from the tops of coolers put out by her customers, and realized people were looking for the best of both worlds – local food right at their doorstep.
Denise Collette moved to town three years ago and would go quite often to the farm store for milk and ice cream. But then during a conversation at the Temple Harvest Festival, Connolly told her about the delivery service. Collette immediately signed up.
“We get something usually every week,” Collette said.
Even though she lives about five miles away from the farm store, she likes having her food come right to her house and the nostalgic feel it brings out.
“That whole old fashioned milk delivered in a glass bottle thing was it for me,” Collette said.
Connolly delivers to Peterborough on Tuesdays, Temple, Sharon and New Ipswich on Thursdays and Amherst/Bedford on Fridays. Every week she sends out an email to those on her list, either current or previous customers, with what’s available. After all, it’s a farm and things are constantly changing.
Customers have a few days to place their orders and it’s always a collaboration with Chris since both farms are used. The first thing she does is get the ice cream because it goes fast. She then puts the meat aside and starts to figure out how much milk and eggs she’ll need. On delivery days, she harvests the veggies and micro greens she needs from the one high tunnel on the property and packages up the eggs. Last is picking up the milk from the dairy farm.
“I love buying local anyway, so it fit all the boxes for me,” Collette said.
She has an endless amount of coolers and insulated bags to be sure that the frozen items stay that way and the eggs, milk and veggies remain cold enough, especially on those hot summer days. Connolly has seven freezers she uses so she will get a jump on orders before delivery day.
What started as a way to stay connected with her customers during the offseason and help sell the products of both farms is now what Connolly refers to as her “retirement version of farming.”
Connolly estimates about 10 percent of her customers are from the three farmers markets she regularly attends, while some of her drop offs include those who take part in the farm’s CSA.
She will once again partner with Beyond the Horizon Farm in Bennington for bread this winter, and recently began working with Oasis Springs Farm, a hydroponic operation in Nashua, to provide her customers with things like lettuce, spring mix and kale.
“It will be a nice addition for the winter,” she said.
The options change weekly, but the prices are the same as at the farm store. There is a small delivery fee – $1 for Peterborough and Temple, $2 for Sharon and New Ipswich – but that doesn’t even cover the cost of gas.
It takes about 45 minutes to get things packed up on delivery days, and then off she goes in her white minivan with FiberDreams Farm on the side. A lot of times, customers aren’t home, so she just fills the coolers with their order, takes any egg cartons and reusable bags left for her and heads off to the next home.
“We try to deliver later in the day so it’s closer to when people are getting home,” Connolly said.
The orders vary. Some just get milk or eggs, and others order a little of everything. She does everything through email and has clipboards for each delivery day.
While Connolly doesn’t anticipate adding any towns to her deliveries, she is taking on customers in the six towns she does go to.
“At the moment, I don’t have another day in my schedule,” Connolly said.
For more, email fiberdreams@yahoo.com.