Farmer Smolak

Our work as stewards of the land is our passion and always ongoing. We are excited to announce exciting news about Small Oxx Farm! Small Oxx Farm, located between Ipswich Road and Main Streets in Boxford, consists of approximately 50 acres of land. Of that land, approximately 10 acres is flat growing land, 15 acres is recently cleared land, and 25 acres is woodland with varying topography. It was purchased in 2004 from the Estate of Otis Curtis through and with concurrence of his daughter Janis Bailey. What was important to Otis and his family was that the property be [...]

A note from Farmer Smolak as this fall season wraps up... This year has been an incredible one for our apple crop. With the season nearing it's end and Veteran's day around the corner, we decided to combine our apple excess with this celebratory day, and offer a free peck back of apples to all veterans and active-duty military. We scheduled this promotion to run over two weekends, October 23-24 and October 30-31. Last weekend we kicked off the first of our two military weekends, and had a wonderful turnout of veterans and active military at the farm.  They came [...]

Summer on the Farm As summer rolls along, so do things at Smolak Farms. The crops so far this year have been amazing, and we expect them to be that way for the rest of the year. We had an appraisal done of the peaches a few days ago, and it is the largest crop we have ever had! The apples look like they are in line with the peaches, and have had a good year in terms of minimal insects and disease which has cut down our use of control methods. The CSA, which has doubled since last year, [...]

It's PYO Fruit Season at the Farm! There have been many challenges this year as we all deal with a multitude of issues and uncertainty, but as I say, one thing at a time. This year has and will continue to be a learning experience in a number of ways. On a very positive note, all of our crops are looking very plentiful and clean. Everything from strawberries, to cherries, to raspberries, blueberries and so on. We have made changes in how we conduct pick your own to ensure the safety of our food supply and customers, which you can [...]

Spring has Sprung, and Lots of Crops are Coming! Spring has certainly arrived, though in typical New England fashion, some of these early-May days still feel like March. At this time in the season, pollination has occurred on the stone fruit trees and the apple trees are showing their incredible beauty with pretty white blossoms. They continue to keep the bees very busy! The bees are back in the farm stand in the observation hive where they are acclimating to their new home. We continue to add more fields of produce, and we are planting an additional acre of strawberries [...]

A Look Back at 2019 for Smolak Farms As winter continues to strengthen its grasp on us, we have a chance to pause and reflect on this past year, and to think about the year ahead. First of all, I would like to deeply thank all of you, our customers, for helping us to continue in business for the past year, and hopefully well into the future. If it were not for all of you, we would not be here. Secondly, I would also like to deeply thank my staff for their hard work and patience during this past year. [...]

Christmastime at Smolak Farms The Christmas Season is now upon us, with all the happiness and joy that it brings. Our holiday season, although shorter than last year, started off with a bang and has yet to slow down. We were fortunate enough to welcome Channel 5 WCVB to the farm in early December to do a story about the Christmas tree shortage, and they were able to include some footage from the St. Bernard Club of New England visit – one of our most popular holiday events! (You can see the Channel 5 video piece here.) It is just [...]