Local farm delivers 26,000 food boxes to Windsor-Essex

KINGSVILLE - The COVID-19 pandemic has led hundreds of Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent families away from the grocery store — instead relying on the home delivery of locally grown fruits and vegetables.

This week, Lee & Maria’s On-Farm Market Delivery Service will deliver the 26,000th subscription box of the 2020 season.

During the pandemic’s height, in April and May, the service delivered over 1,100 subscription boxes weekly.

“We are unbelievably proud of our team,” said Jennifer Perciballi, Vice President of Delivery Services. “Like everyone, 2020 was a challenge. We had to relearn how to build and pack deliveries during a time when the elimination of cross-contamination became the most important part of our business.”

The amount of produce delivered in 2020 from Lee & Maria’s farm and other surrounding farms and businesses is significant.

The top 10 crops for the year include:

30,680 beefsteak tomatoes

26,041 cucumbers

25,680.5 pounds of new potatoes

20,716 foil potatoes

20,028 ears of sweet corn

19,451 heads of lettuce

17,018 pints grape tomatoes

15,694 packs of mushrooms

13,044 bunches of broccoli

11,955 bunches of green onions.

Kathy Mastronardi, left and Jennifer Perciballi of Lee and Maria’s Market.

“Along with our own 40 acres of crops, we sourced produce from nearly 20 different farms across Essex and Kent Counties,” said Kathy Mastronardi, Vice President Market and Wholesale Sales, who oversees buying. “It was a challenge at times because of the volume of produce we require.”

Along with produce, the box also contained products from 32 local producers, including items from restaurants and small businesses impacted significantly by the pandemic.

“It was great to be able to provide those businesses who saw a slowdown in business with an additional outlet for their products,” said Mastronardi.

Since the beginning of 2020, Lee & Maria’s has hired nearly 15 additional full-time and part-time staff. The jobs were created during the early days of the pandemic when most businesses in the region were laying off staff.

“It was a difficult time to hire a team, but we were excited that we could provide jobs to those left without work,” said Mastronardi.

Lee & Maria’s is a 40-year old family farm at 692 Seacliff Dr. in Kingsville.

Since the beginning, the farm has operated an on-farm market and began delivering orders to people’s homes across the region in 2012.

The 8th delivery season comes to an end on October 30. The on-farm market will remain open through the year and provides online ordering for curbside pickup and local delivery.