No Farms, No Food

Our friends over at The Farmland Trust, www.farmland.org, whose mission is to “…help farmers and ranchers protect their land, produce a healthier environment and build successful communities,” have a great slogan to promote their activities – No Farms, No Food. Many of us on the farm have this bumper sticker and you’ll often see the message when you visit. Each day we try to get this message across as we sell and market our produce through the various distribution channels available to us. Of course, there’s the other side of that equation and that is the people buying our products.

Produce used to make its way solely into the local community, but now it also travels many miles and through quite a few stops sometimes, before reaching each of our tables. Regardless of how we go to market, the costs here remain the same and most of the products we use to grow the crops, such as our herbicides and fertilizers, are tied to the price of petroleum.

Often, we don’t raise our prices so that we can accommodate our suppliers and distributors (as they struggle with their own rising costs); in turn, this allows us all to keep costs down at the retail level. Unfortunately, these past few years, and this last year in particular because of crop losses due to the cold weather, commodity prices have risen across the board and the consumer has been hit very hard. A walk down the grocery aisle tells this tale and it can often mean the difference between someone buying fresh vegetables or not. That’s why we appreciate our customers so much. At Long & Scott, we understand that our customers always have a choice and we’re grateful for your support of our farm. We really couldn’t do it without you.

Is there a better way we can continue to serve you? Please let us know.

Anna Sciarrino
Director, Sales & Marketing
Sales@longandscottfarms.com

Cade's Corner

As a young boy I had a lot of respect for farmers , so I would try to listen in on all the farming talk. I would latch on to every word as if they had all the secrets to life. I would hear them talk about their crops and say things like ,”...its time to lime the fields again.” Eventually I learned some of their practices .Twenty five years later things have really changed .We are now using GPS devices to level fields and steer tractors and computers to keep records .We take tissue and soil samples(and we have the capability of doing it on the farm).We don’t guess at anything .Its precision farming and we have to be up-to-date on technology if we are going to be profitable .My old farming buddies would be shocked if they could see the way we farm today and they probably could not imagine how they affected a young farmer-to-be.

Cade Easley
Integrated Pest Manager

Maze Corner

Hi to all Corn Maze seekers! They are dragging me kicking and screaming into the world of social media! I am blogging for the first time; hopefully my blogs can be fun and informative. Thanks for taking the time to check out our website and read our Blogs, Facebook insights and Twitter feeds. We look forward to hearing from you.

Our Family Farm has been in operation since 1963, (I was hardly even born!). As with all farms, we have had some good years and some really tough years. We were looking for ways to let the surrounding communities know we were still here, growing farm fresh produce. And the best sweet corn ever! Here we are a real ‘on the farm’ Farmers Market, and how could we get customers to make the 3 mile detour off SR441? My brother and sister-in-law looked into what other farms were doing to bring people back to the farm. Agritourism was becoming widespread in America. This is the practice of attracting visitors and travelers to agricultural areas, generally for educational and recreational purposes. Agritourism could help supplement our agricultural business. What did our farm have to offer in the way of recreation? Well we did have corn fields. Hmmm, Corn Mazes were popping up everywhere. So in 2003, Scott’s Maze Adventures was born. We started off the first year with ‘just’ a seven acre corn maze. I say just, because each year we have added something new and now we have many activities.

We hope you will come check us out, we look forward to seeing you on the Farm!

Rebecca Scott Ryan
Maze Manager.
Rebecca@longandscottfarms.com

From the Fields by Cade

This is a fun time at the farm. The flowers are blooming on the pickles , and you can hear the bees humming. Early in the morning you can smell the rich aroma of moist soil . All these things remind me that all the things we put in our soil have to come back out. At Long and Scott farms we have several people doing intense scouting for pests on a daily basis. This is important so we minimize the use of chemicals. We also use alternative methods of controlling pests such as beneficial bacteria and natural products that are harmless to humans and beneficial insects (bees).When you buy produce from Long and Scott you can be sure that it is fresh, safe and delicious.

Cade Easley

Integrated Pest Manager

cade@longandscottfarms.com

Our Growing Crops

Here’s a look at our current pickle and corn crops’ progress! 

Pickles:

Corn:

Hope you are getting hungry!!!!!



Market Corner

It’s almost here! Spring harvest is right around the corner at Long & Scott Farms. Please join us for the opening of Scott’s Country Market on April 29^th. Come try our famous Scott’s Zellwood Sweet Corn along with a variety of other freshly harvested home grown produce from the farm and other local growers. While you’re there, be sure to check out our delicious line of jams, jellies, relishes, syrups, and much more! We welcome visitors Tuesday through Friday from 9-6 and on Saturday from 9-5. Come on out and support your local farmer and Florida agriculture.


 As well as our Scott’s Zellwood Sweet Corn, this spring we will also be growing fresh cilantro, eggplant, yellow and green peppers, jalapeños, okra, broccoli, tomatoes, and onions. If there is anything you would like to see in our market please be sure to leave us a comment and let us know! We try our best to offer a large variety of all produce in season. To find out what it is in season now check out the Fresh From Florida blog.  Check back in as we get closer for more news and what’s available! Also be sure to check out our website, Long&ScottFarms.com, and find us on Facebook!

Haley Scott

Retail Sales Supervisor
Haley@longandscottfarms.com

From The President's Desk

Come on and join us down on the farm for a while! 

Thanks in advance for your interest and input as we share our farming experiences with you. Down here on the farm we are always working to produce more -  on the same amount of land - with more efficient techniques and new technology. Every day is an experiment on how we can improve in each and every area of crop production, harvesting, packing and shipping, maintaining quality and customer service. We must do this while continuing to be good stewards of our greatest resources, our land and our water.

As we proceed with our winter harvest of cabbage coming up to St. Patrick's day, we are enjoying a good market and excellent quality. We are very blessed to have a quality cabbage crop in a year of unusual cold weather, and the driest winter in 80 years. The cabbage harvest will continue through March and into April, due to the slow growth caused by the cold weather. Cabbage, although not a very 'sexy' crop, it is a great winter crop that can handle frost and freezes, but it is also very strategic for our crop rotation. In addition to helping us keep our fields healthy, most folks don’t know that cabbage is richer in vitamin C than citrus, and has many other health benefits.

    

We are also in the process of planting our spring crop of pickles and, of course, the world famous Scott’s Zellwood Gourmet Sweet Corn. Weather permitting, we will be on schedule to start harvest of pickles April 15^th, and corn harvest the last week of April. We will have corn just in time for the opening of Scott’s Country Market the 29th of April. In addition to our sweet corn, we will have many other locally grown fresh fruits and veggies available at our market. 

We'd love to hear from you and welcome your comments and suggestions.  We look forward to a great spring season and hope to see you all at Scott's Country Market!

Hank Scott

President

hank@longandscottfarms.com

WELCOME

Welcome to Long & Scott Farms' Around the Farm!

I have a saying over my desk:

"It's not the employer who pays the wages.  Employers only handle the money.  It's the customer who pays the wages."

That was from Henry Ford, a pioneer of sales and customer service, although many people probably think of him only as the father of the modern-day auto.  Fact is, Henry Ford understood that even the most brilliant invention would not sell unless it satisfied the needs of his buyers.

With his words in mind, I want to welcome you - our customers - to our blog pages, where we hope  to have many conversations as time goes on about not just what your needs are, but the needs of the community at large, as far as Long & Scott Farms is concerned. 

You'll be hearing from someone from each of our divisions, as well as from our founder, president, administrative staff, growers and production personnel.  Most of all, however, we want to hear from you and are looking forward to listening to what you have to say.  If you have subjects you'd like for us to address, please let us know and we welcome all of your questions and suggestions.

In the meantime, our sincere thanks for your continued patronage and for helping us do what we value above all else - serving our customers. 

Anna Sciarrino

Director, Sales and Marketing

sales@longandscottfarms.com