The time is ripe for fresh produce at SIW Vegetables

The word “fresh” is not used lightly at SIW Vegetables in Chadds Ford, Pa.

When farm owner H.G. Haskell says he has fresh corn for sale at his roadside vegetable stand on Route 100, he means the ears were picked an hour ago.

“We pick vegetables for our stand the same way you would pick them out of your garden,” he said.

That means waiting until each of his 50 types of vegetables is at the peak of ripeness, he said, which leads to tastier crops and higher nutritional value.

Once a vegetable is picked, it is a lot like an ice cube taken out of the freezer, he said, and the flavor quickly melts away until all that’s left is a lukewarm puddle of mediocre taste.

Much produce on grocery store shelves suffers from lack of freshness because it is shipped halfway across the country, said Haskell, 49, of Chadds Ford, Pa.

Tomato farmers in Florida pick their tomatoes when they are still green because unripe fruit travels better, he said, and then a gas is sprayed on the tomatoes to ripen them.

That’s a good way to ruin a perfectly good tomato, he said.

Haskell’s tomatoes only travel across the street from farm to stand, so he can pick the fruit when it has reached a perfect level of redness and juiciness.

But waiting to harvest until crops are perfectly ripe can spell disaster for a farmer, he said.

One heavy rainstorm can wreak havoc on a field of perfectly ripe tomatoes, cracking the fruit and leaving Haskell with no choice but to throw away bushels of tomatoes.

“Mother Nature has to be cooperative,” he said. “We’re just putting seed on there. She’s doing the growing for us.”

In late September and early October, much of Haskell’s harvesting is a nail-biting race against the first frost, which will ruin all his remaining corn when it comes.

Hurricane season also makes fall particularly nerve-racking, he said, especially since Hurricane Hanna flattened one of his corn fields.

Unpredictability goes hand-in-hand with farming, he said.

“There’s always a curve ball that comes you weren’t prepared for,” he said. “You never have it all figured out.”

The most significant curve ball thrown at Haskell this year has been the cost of fertilizer, which has tripled in a few months.

The cost of fertilizer is driven by demand, which has been rapidly increasing as more farmers in the Midwest plant corn to turn into ethanol, he said. That has forced him to raise his vegetable prices, but he said business has been steady at the roadside stand despite price increases.

More people are interested in eating healthy today, he said, and nutritional experts also boost his business. Every year they come out with something new that is good for you, he said, and if it’s good for you, chances are SIW Vegetables grows it.

Haskell’s 65 acres of vegetable fields are not static; he adds at least one new vegetable every year. This year, he decided to try growing potatoes in compost without fertilizer or irrigation and he said the results were a huge success.

“There’s nothing like a fresh potato,” he said. “It tastes creamy, almost like buttery mashed potatoes.”

However, there’s a big difference between growing vegetables and growing vegetables profitably, he said. His potato crop won’t turn a profit until he is able to grow enough to cover costs. Farming itself is a dwindling industry, especially in the greater Philadelphia area, because, despite excellent soil, other pursuits tend to make more money, he said.

“It’s more profitable to grow houses than any other crop,” he said.

But Haskell’s farm has been in his family since 1910 and he plans to keep it that way.

It’s a way to preserve a piece of beautiful land and provide delicious products for area residents, but he said farming also connects him to a proud American tradition.

Despite the hard work and unpredictability involved in farming, growing fresh vegetables is like a breath of fresh air, he said.