Beth’s Farm Market: A Photostory

On a winding road in Warren, three miles from Midcoast Maine’s scenic Route 1, you’ll find Beth’s Farm Market, a pretty, practical place to buy fruits, plants, vegetables, flowers and herbs, lobsters and oysters, baked goods, ham steaks, dried beans, honey, jams, pickles, cheddar cheese, and mason jars of fancy whipping cream. We stopped there on a recent weekday morning to pick up a few early Summer necessities. In June they harvest lots of greens and strawberries. I repeat, and strawberries! These fruits are small, some the size of a conventional raspberry, and each one really is unique, sweet, tart, and earthy. A sprinkle of sugar on a bowl of these sliced berries is the perfect light dessert.

It’s still very early in the season here in Maine, with potatoes, parsnips, and carrots still in great supply. I plan to make a stew for rainy, chilly June days like we’ve had or roast the perfect chicken with root vegetables in the pan getting sweet and caramelized in their own juices and sticky chicken fat. Beet greens, spinach, chard and lettuces are all abundant right now. I love greens with lots of garlic, olive oil, white beans, and perhaps some sausage. You could do this as a pizza or puff pastry, depending on how much time you want to dedicate. Go greens!

Local oysters are displayed on a bed of ice and lobsters are submerged in running water at the back of the store. Kind and gentle older ladies water the rows of flowers out front. I drove away wishing I had bought a tomato plant to tend in my own backyard. Maybe next time. Oh, and the popping corn is golden and beautiful. Have you done this? You put one of these sort of cobs in a brown paper bag and microwave it until it pops up fluffy and light. Beth’s is one of those very good places you find when you follow the signs off the main road and around the bend through verdant farmland. Here is all the bounty of Maine in one convenient spot. The best things are there.

Beth’s Farm Market is located at White Oak Farms, on the Western Road in Warren. Beth’s is open seven days a week from 8:00AM – 6:00PM, from from mid-May to mid-December. Call them at (207) 273-3695 to find out what’s in season.

Tagged as: farm, fruits, photostory, vegetables

About the Author: Jillian Bedell

Jillian grew up in Connecticut, went to university in Boston, college in New Haven, did some post-grad soul searching in New York, exiled herself to Mexico, married her longtime sweetheart, and lived in a house on the ocean. She suspected Maine might be the perfect place to raise a family, so she came back home to New England two years ago. Now a mom to Violet Maeve and living in Rockland, where she hopes to settle for a good, long while, Jillian reads, writes, walks, and practices Nia, when not watching Malcolm photograph sandwiches.