Building Our Roadside Farmstand
Despite this being our first year on the farm and having a million projects we knew we wanted to start our farmstand. At whatever capacity possible. But first, we had to build it. As we considered all the options of design, the first step was developing a designated parking area. It’s important that guests feel comfortable and invited to stop and shop. A few railroad ties and fresh gravel now define the parking area.
Next was the farm stand itself. The design was important to us. We have visited many farm stands, so we thought back to what we liked or what we could improve when building our own. Thinking back, we always enjoyed farm stands that felt like an experience. And although we wouldn’t have much product to sell year one, we wanted to create a space we could grow into.
Building the farmstand of your dreams while balancing a lean budget demanded creativity. As you can imagine, money is pretty tight on the farm. With new tractors, house projects and scattered costs, money is always considered. But, as we are finding out more and more each day: The Farm Provides. So we began to deconstruct old 4 panel fence in section that we don’t expect to hold animals any more. The aged wood offers a perfect rustic appearance, similar to our barns and we love that the material is being repurposed from our farm. For the posts, I originally bought 7 treated 4x4s, but decided to swap out a few Eastern Red Cedar posts we cut when clearing our greenhouse pad. We enjoy using what we find laying around this old farm.
We are super happy with the way the farmstand came out. With our new Castorfolk banner on the side, a new beginning was unraveled. We’re still not fully done with the layout, but for now it serves its purpose . There are other projects occupying our minds lately. Please stop by our small farmstand to say hi and pick up some fresh cut flowers on Saturdays.
You can find our fresh bouquets every Saturday at the Castorfolk farmstand:
9624 Camden Darrtown Road
Open Saturdays through September
Follow along @castorfolk on facebook and instagram for weekly updates and what’s blooming next!