Summer Pick-Your-Own Farm Guide

Summer 2020 Pick-Your-Own Farm Guide

This time of year, many area farms allow the public to pick a variety of fruits and berries from their fields. Here’s some farms where you can bring the kids and get picking, with social distancing protocols in place. Before you go, call ahead or check the farm’s website to be sure they’re open for pick-your-own.

Carlson Orchards 115 Oak Hill Rd., Harvard carlsonorchards.com This second generation family farm has 50 acres of rolling green fruit trees and a 25-year-old blueberry patch, a raspberry patch, frog pond, and a retail store. Offering pick-your-own blueberries and raspberries. Check the website for details.

Carver Hill Orchard 101 Brookside Ave., Stow carverhillorchard.com Pick-your-own season starts in July and runs through October. In the summer you’ll find blueberries, peaches, raspber ries, cherries, and assorted vegetables. Check the Facebook page for updates.

Clearview Farm 4 Kendall Hill Rd., Sterling clearviewfarmstand.com Set atop Kendall Hill, this farm boasts a clear view of Mount Wachusett. PYO season starts in June with strawberries, blueberries in July and peaches and raspberries in August. Apples and pumpkins late summer into the fall.

Derrick Farm

301 Sanders Rd., Oakham facebooks.com/derrickblueberries Thousands of blueberry bushes and hundreds of raspberry bushes await hungry pickers at this family-owned farm. Chairs are provided if you’d like to sit and pick.

Hanson Farms

20 Nixon Rd., Framingham hansonfarms.50webs.com The farm stand here is stocked with nearly 200 different varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. Children can visit with farm animals including chickens, horses, sheep, and a turkey. Summer pick-your-own offerings include flowers, blueberries and blackberries. Call ahead for hours.

Hollis Hills Farm 30 Marshall Rd., Fitchburg hollishillsfarm.com This farm hosts live music, corn hole tournaments and has an ice cream and retail store with everything from local honey and fresh eggs to homemade soaps and gifts. In the summer, you can pick your own flowers and raspber ries, beginning in early July.

Typically opens mid-July, call 508-882- 5591 for information about opening day and hours.

Doe Orchards 327 Ayer Rd., Harvard doeorchards.com This beautifully maintained, family-run farm grows blueberries, raspberries, peaches and apples and Christmas trees. You can buy fruit from the farm stand or pick your own blueberries and raspber ries, starting up right around the Fourth of July.

Douglas Orchard & Farm

36 Locust St., Douglas douglasorchardandfarm.com Pick-your-own blueberries starting in mid July, Wednesday through Sunday. The farm grounds are open to walk around and get a sighting of their chickens and ducks.

Elm Shade 1300 Richardson Rd., Ashby Facebook.com/blueberriesfromelmshadenterprises Pick your own blueberries from over 700 bushes while enjoying the beautiful quiet country setting in the small town of Ashby. Typically open Friday through Monday, check ahead for season opening and hours.

George Hill Orchards

582 George Hill Rd., Lancaster yourfavoritefarm.com This historic farm is home to the Apple Tree Theater and “Tree-mendous Maze” – a popular field trip destination for children. Offering pick your own blueberries, peaches, nectarines in the summer, with the picking season typically starting in early July. Check their Facebook page for details.

Gianetti’s U-Pick Blueberries 557 Union St., Franklin facebook.com/gianettisupickblueberries This family-owned blueberry farm is open Fridays and Saturdays in July and August (most likely by appointment this year). It's recommended that you bring your own container, but containers are available for use. Follow their Facebook page for updates.

Honeypot Hill Orchards 138 Sudbury Rd., Stow honeypothill.com Watch sheep and goats graze in front of the farm store or get a look at their adorable bunnies and baby chicks. The farm store sells fresh produce as well as jams, butter and local honey. Open daily for PYO blueberries beginning in mid-July.

Howe’s Farm & Garden 225 Hardwick Rd., New Braintree howesfarmandgardenllc.com This expansive farm boasts over 10 acres of pick-your-own blueberries and rasp berries. The farm stand is stocked with fruits and an assortment of vegetables picked daily.

Indian Head Farm 232 Pleasant St., Berlin indianheadfarm.com This historic farm dates back two centuries and has been family-owned and operated for seven generations. Each summer, they offer pick-your-own strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, though they may offer store purchases only this year. Check their Facebook page for updates.

Summer 2020 Pick-Your-Own Farm Guide

Lanni Orchards 294 Chase Rd., Lunenburg lanniorchard.com Set on 250 sprawling acres, this farm has a stand that sells everything from pies and cakes to meat and dairy – and, of course, fresh produce. Raspberries ready in early July will be the first of their pick-your-own offerings this year, then blueberries later in the month. PYO peaches, nectarines, grapes, pears, concord grapes, apples and pumpkins come later summer and into the fall.

Meadowbrook Orchards 209 Chace Hill Rd., Sterling meadowbrookorchards.com A farm store, bakery, and restaurant is situated on 100 acres of rolling farmland. The PYO season starts with blueberries in early July, and raspberries later in the month. Check their Facebook or Instagram for updates.

Nourse Farm 70 Nourse St., Westborough noursefarm.com At the edge of berry, vegetable and flower fields, you’ll find a farm store with jams, pies, fresh-cut herbs and flowers, honey and seasonal produce. In the sum mer, you can pick your own strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. While you’re there, take a walk on their self-guided hiking trail, which passes by barns, a pond and Nourse Brook.

Odd Pine Farm 122 Ferin Rd., Ashburnham oddpinefarmblueberries.com This 5-acre blueberry farm will host its opening day on Thursday, July 30 with a farmer’s market and food truck. Blueberry picking starts bright and early at 6 a.m.

Parlee Farms

95 Farwell Rd., Tynsboro parleefarms.com You can pick your own strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches and flowers at this family-owned farm featuring a farmstand, country kitchen, animals and family fun. Five varieties of strawberries are available for picking from mid-June to mid-July, and over 10 acres of PYO blueberry plants available from mid-July through early September. Check “today’s farm news” for times and prices.

Red Apple Farm

455 Highland Ave., Phillipston redapplefarm.com This century-old family farm and store will offer a reservation system for PYO slots to ensure social distancing. Raspber ries are available to pick in July, blueberries in July and August, and peaches in late summer. Looking for apples? The first PYO varieties are available the last week of July, and by August, you’ll find eight varieties to choose from.

Russell Orchards 143 Argilla Rd., Ipswich russellorchards.com A bakery, farm store and winery are all here, but perhaps the biggest draw for lit tle ones is the menagerie of farm animals. Grain is sold for 25 cents a handful to feed the barnyard critters. Summertime pickyour-own attractions include strawberries, cherries, raspberries, currants, blueberries and blackberries.

Sawyer’s Farm 38 Root Rd., Hubbardston sawyersfarm.org This 100-acre third-generation family farm sells hay, cordwood, and plump, juicy blueberries. U-Pick blueberry season kicks off in July. Enjoy nine acres of blueberry bushes.

Sunburst Blueberry Farm 44 Rawson St., N. Uxbridge sunburstblueberryfarm.com This pick-your-own blueberry farm is sur rounded by open fields with horses grazing in pastures and paddocks. It features over 1,000 blueberry bushes of seven different varieties, allowing for a longer picking

season. Opening for the season around July 4. Call ahead for hours: 508-234-9859.

Tougas Family Farm 234 Ball St., Northborough tougasfamilyfarm.com This family farm will use a reservation system for PYO this year to ensure social distancing. Pick strawberries in cherries in June, blueberries in early July, peaches and blackberries in August and apples from late summer through October. Check “today’s pickings” on the website before you go or call the picking number: 508- 393-6404.

What does it take to help children learn empathy, respect and kindness when there are so many conflicting messages all around us these days?

BY JOAN GOODCHILD

Between the spread of COVID-19, widespread quarantine orders, racial strife in the news, and resulting demonstrations around the country, the last few months have been challenging for almost all Americans. And during each event, our children watch and see how we respond and react.

With news channels broadcasting upsetting stories around the clock, and social media now used as a platform for many to disagree and air opinions in less-thanrespectful ways, it seems there is no better time to have a conversation about kindness with our children.

“Raising kind and empathetic kids couldn’t be any more important right now,” said Milena Batanova, research & evaluation manager with Making Caring Common, a program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “These are scary, confusing, and historic times, and empathy can be one antidote to help our young people – and the adults that set an example for them – make sense of it all and feel compelled to do something good.”

MCC’s mission is to help schools, families, and communities raise children who care about others and

Raising kind kids during difficult times

the common good. They offer when many parents might be and we should not only be several family resources spending more time with their mindful how we talk about that parents can tap into for children, having meaningful others, but also what we do for strategies on fostering empathy conversations and purposeful others.” and kindness in children. time together is key. What we Dr. Thomas Lickona is a Batanova says a good place model to our children matters, developmental psychologist to start is with the and professor of stories you read or education at the State watch with your children. “Actively seeking stories featuring people of color as “Mention it at dinner. Ask, ‘what is something University of New York at Cortland, where he directs the Center for the Fourth and Fifth Rs (Respect protagonists or heroes could be one kind you did today?’ ” and Responsibility). Lickona, also step to fostering author of the book empathy,” said Batanova. “We also have seven tips for -Dr. Thomas Lickona, author of “How to Raise Kind Kids” “How to Raise Kind Kids,” says now is an ideal time for a raising caring kids. conversation with Particularly now, our kids about what kindness and empathy are all about – and what those traits look like in action.

“My heart just breaks to see what is happening,” he said. “Everything that has just exploded. There are so many dimensions to what is happening nationally. It just underscores our responsibility as parents to teach respect.”

And, in fact, respect, kindness and empathy may be critical skills for kids to master, because research finds it is beneficial.

A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Public Health followed hundreds of students from kindergarten through early adulthood. The students, who were from low-income households in North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and Pennsylvania, were rated as kindergarteners on how well they demonstrated kind behaviors, like being helpful to others, understanding others’ feelings, and cooperating with peers.

The research revealed the level of “pro-social” (i.e.: kindness and cooperation) behavior helped predict their outcomes later in life. Factors like education, career success, criminal activity and addiction were also examined. Students who were kinder and more cooperative with their peers had better outcomes in all of those areas.

Lickona has suggestions for both short term and long-term actions that parents can engage in at home to help their kids learn respect and kindness. One important opportunity for teaching is the family table, he said.

“Mention it at dinner,” said Lickona. “Ask ‘What is something kind you did today?’

If you have that time together it gives you context for conversation. You build

that tradition of meaningful conversation.”

Lickona said psychologists called habits like regular conversation at dinner “connective rituals” and they can be powerful in helping to establish long term behavior. While it can take place at dinner, if you are more of an on-the-go family who doesn’t often have time to sit down, it can happen in the car. Establish that conversation is expected, and don’t allow kids to be glued to a screen, said Lickona.

Like Batanova, Lickona also suggests choosing books and media that have kindness in the theme. Or simply put a quotation on the fridge like “We become kind by doing kind acts” that can be a visual reference point in the home. And praise your kids using kindness language, said Lickona. Say “Thanks for being a kind person” regularly.

“Sit down and think about what you want to teach your kids,” he said “How do you make that a priority in the home? Have a family mission statement. Make a list with expected behaviors like ‘We show kindness in our words’ on it.”

And of course, model kind behavior yourself. Parents should be using all opportunities to show kindness and resolve conflicts with good, exemplary behavior.

“No matter what you do there will be problems and conflicts,” he said. “Parents will argue but they need ways to solve conflict that is positive. Parents should have a dedicated space to solve problems.”

Batanova echoes Lickona and notes it is only through living a kind life ourselves that we can truly teach our children real kindness and empathy.

“Too often, we think about ways we can help our children without truly reflecting on the need to help or work on ourselves. We can all be better and do better, and it’s important that parents confront their own limitations in experiencing and modeling empathy.”

Joan Goodchild is a veteran writer and editor and mom of two living in Central Massachusetts.

7TIPS FOR RAISING KIND KIDS

The Making Caring Common Project offers this advice to help raise children with empathy and compassion. For tips on implementing these suggestions, visit mcc.gse.havard.edu.

1. Work to develop caring, loving relationships with your kids.

2. Be a strong role model and mentor.

3. Make caring for others a priority and set high ethical expectations.

4. Provide opportunities for children to practice caring and gratitude.

5. Expand your child’s circle of concern.

6. Promote children’s ability to be ethical thinkers and positive change-makers in their communities.

7. Help children develop self-control and manage feelings effectively.

With greenlight to reopen, some local daycares remain closed as they struggle to enact strict COVID guidelines

BY DANIELLE RAY

Child care facilities across the state, which shut down to most families in mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic, have been given the go ahead to reopen. Yet the exhaustive and detailed list of health and safety protocols required in order to resume business are leaving child and day care providers feeling overwhelmed -- and some unsure when they can realistically reopen their doors.

The guidelines, first unveiled by the state on June 1, are extensive. The 32 pages worth of health and safety regulations were so pervasive -- and scrutinized -- that later in the month, the state scaled them back.

At first, classroom and group sizes were not to exceed 10 children and there could be no more than 12 individuals including staff members in a classroom at any given time.

In late June, the Department of Early and Education and Care eased some of those requirements, still limiting classroom sizes to 10 children per group, but removing the provision requiring no more than two adults per group, instead asking that staffing be “minimized.”

Staff assigned to classrooms or groups cannot float between other classrooms or groups unless needed to provide supervision for “specialized activities.”

The state is recommending masks or face coverings for children 2 and up if they can’t keep 6 feet apart but does not require them. No children under the age of 2 may wear a mask. Children 2-5 may wear a mask at the discretion of their parents, to be determined in partnership with the provider.

The department will continue to require staff at daycares wear masks or face coverings whenever 6 feet of physical distancing is not possible.

Other requirements include daily screenings of children being dropped off at programs and reconfigured spaces to encourage physical distancing.

Erika Helnarski has been in the early education and care (EEC) field for 20 years. She worked in center-based facilities for many years before opening up her own in-home daycare in Worcester, Once Upon Amherst, in September of 2016.

Because she was approved as an emergency daycare, Helnarski’s center has remained open throughout the pandemic.

“Luckily it hasn’t been too much of a financial struggle for us because a few parents in my program still continued to financially contribute,” she said. “I’m forever grateful to those families, they’ve always been so supportive. The only negative aspect it has had on my family is that my 4-year-old son hasn’t been able to learn and play with his friends, except for the two children that have come while I’ve been an emergency daycare.”

Her emergency daycare approval ended June 26.

“I’m hoping to reopen by the end of July, granted that I’m able to implement the new restrictions and my new basement classroom gets licensed in time,” she said.

After seeing the state’s first set of guidelines for reopening, Helnarski said she was feeling “extremely overwhelmed.”

“The way they were presented was like a mental bomb,” she said. “They crammed everything together, for every type of facility. I took a day to cry it out and gather my thoughts, and then on day two I printed out the entire 32 pages and sat down with a highlighter to highlight what exactly pertained to me as a family child care facility.

“I understand that they’re trying to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in childcare facilities, but with these new regulations they’re basically asking us to unlearn everything we were taught as an early childhood educator,” Helnarski continued. “It’s like they’re asking us to institutionalize our homes and centers while also expecting us to magically come up with more square footage to accommodate an extra bathroom used only for the sick, and an isolation room. I operate out of my home and I am the only educator here. I can’t work miracles.”

Helnarski said it will be nearly impossible to follow all of the protocols and regulations, as well as incredibly stressful for providers, parents and children alike.

“How can I devote five plus minutes to the arrival of each child while still caring for and supervising the other children?” she said. “We need to be quick on our feet as educators.”

She pointed out that while operating as an emergency daycare, the guidelines weren’t nearly as intense. “So why now that all centers have the green light they’re implementing such insane regulations?”

Helnarski said she believes there is “no way” children will be able to follow the rules when it comes to staying separate from each other.

“How do I expect a child under two to even comprehend social distancing, or any child for that matter,” she said.

Helnarski said she is looking forward to the day when some sort of normalcy returns.

“I’m looking forward to mostly being able to hug my daycare kids and for them to be able to hug one another,” she said. “Children learn from socializing and playing with their peers, and these regulations are taking that fundamental part of early education away from them.”

For Jessica Moran, who has owned and operated PumpKID Patch Child Care out of her home in Sterling since July 2011, the financial hit due to the pandemic has been detrimental.

She closed her daycare on March 23, following the announcement that schools would remain closed in the Wachusett Regional school district for the remainder of the school year. Moran’s center follows the district calendar as many of her families include teachers. As such, she will be closed this summer with plans to reopen on September 2.

Moran currently has 13 registered families, including shared and part-time spots.

“In the beginning of the closure I had the amazing support of my students’ families,” she said. “All families continued to pay childcare costs weekly as the parents themselves were being paid as well.”

Moran set up a virtual classroom for her students and their families on ClassDojo. She posted daily story times, did a Zoom story time one day a week, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she posted videos of herself doing arts and crafts activities that families could do together.

“If materials were needed, families would notify me and I would prepare bags for them to pick up,” she said. “I also did driveway visits and delivered Easter treats to my PumpKIDs.”

In April she notified all her families to discontinue their payments, and that she would “seek an alternate plan for income”.

Moran attended town hall style meetings held specifically for child care providers during the shutdown, and said it was “extremely difficult” to sit and listen to the discussions. “We were not provided with support or guidance,” she said. “The (EEC) Commissioner continued to repeat our questions and concerns and then would respond ‘I’ve heard you loud and clear’ but no answers were provided. I fear those responsible for the growth and development of our young children have lost sight of what this means, as they are hindering exactly what their goals and expectations used to be.” An unexpected and significant business cost came in the form of having to hire someone to install a new entryway to her dayca re, so families do not enter through her residence – one of the new regulations. This is after state asked daycares to reconfigure space to encourage physical distancing between children as well as staff. “There is more money going out than coming in,” Moran said. Moran echoed Helnarski’s thoughts when it comes to whether children will realistically be able to follow social distancing and other rules. “Absolutely not,” she said. “If EEC is suggesting we have kids in face masks and positioned around the room ‘distanced’ I’m sad to realize that they know nothing about child development and children as a whole.” Moran said she plans to “work hard” to ensure the children she cares for are healthy and happy. “My toys will be cleaner than the day I purchased them, and the number of toys will increase in an effort to replace sensory and water play, which are so necessary and will be missed by the children. I will remove all pillows, stuffed animals and any and all cloth like items that are considered hot spot items for this virus. My assistant and I will wear masks and I have already found an individual who is making me transparent face masks so the kids can see me smile. However, despite all these efforts, I will not and cannot assure you or my families that these kids will remain separated from 7:30 am. to 4:30 p.m. That’s unfair for you all to assume.” Moran said she is also looking forward to the return of normalcy – or at least some semblance of it. “I love my job and I love my PumpKIDs and their families,” she said. “I’m ready to get back to teaching, nurturing and loving my bonus children.” Child care providers were allowed to submit their plans for reopening for review and approval to the state in midJune. The EEC said it would immediately review the plans and self-attestations from the providers to ensure they are complete and give providers conditional approval to immediately reopen services. Final approvals will be given within 60 days after the department performs a more “thorough review of plans and address any support needs for on-going operations.”