New Generation Farmers Market Brings Fresh Beef and Produce Straight to Local Doorsteps
New Generation Farmers Market Brings Fresh Beef and Produce Straight to Local Doorsteps
Cattaraugus farm introduces convenient home delivery of USDA beef and fresh-picked vegetables, grown sustainably with regenerative farming practices.
Everyone knows that food tastes better the closer it is to where it is grown, but did you know that you can now get local farm-fresh vegetables and pasture-raised beef harvested that day and delivered straight to your door? Now you can, with New Generation Farmers Market, a new farmer’s market concept that recently opened in Cattaraugus. The farm offers farm-fresh Angus beef and sustainably grown produce delivered to local communities within a 20-mile radius. EllicottvilleNOW caught up with farm manager, Lola Cicarelli, for comments.
“It’s a new company,” Lola explained. “We have beef cows, and we grow all kinds of vegetables. It’s my happy place, between the animals and gardening.”
Every Thursday, Cicarelli and her team will harvest, package, and deliver the groceries directly to people’s doorsteps, all within a 20-mile radius of New Albion Road in Cattaraugus. Lola explained that the concept is like an Instacart for the farm.
An experienced homesteader with agricultural business, gardening, and animal husbandry expertise, Cicarelli said that a website was created earlier this year to allow shoppers to choose their own products online for delivery with a $40 minimum order. The website allows for customers to access farm-fresh and seasonal produce with the convenience of door-to-door (or in this instance, farm-to-table) delivery in areas that may have limited access to delivery services.
“I think it’s a really great thing for the community because convenience is key with a lot of businesses now. Everybody is so busy, so I would really like to give back to the community by making it easier,” she said. “And, it’s supporting your local farm! Everybody wants to support a local farmer.”
One way to offer support is by buying local beef, she said. New Generation Farmers Market offers USDA Certified packages of steaks and ground beef. They also offer freezer beef by the whole or the half. Come this spring, Cicarelli noted that lamb will also be available for purchase, and that farm-fresh eggs will be available in the coming weeks.
As for now, seasonal offerings include typical fall crops. “We have acorn squash, onions, butternut squash; we still have quite a bit of cherry tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans - a little bit of everything,” she said. “Come springtime, we will have asparagus and artichokes.” She noted that the farm also offers fresh herbs year-round.
Lola explained that the cutoff for orders is every Tuesday at noon. Once her team receives the orders, they will then prepare to harvest the produce on Thursday morning and package it just before it is sent out for delivery. “I will make sure that everything is freshly harvested that day, right before it’s delivered, so you don’t have to worry about, “where are my tomatoes coming from?” she said. “You place your order, and a day and a half later, I’ll make sure that everything is harvested, packaged, ready to go, and it’s delivered right to your home. You don’t have to worry about the transportation or how many miles are under its belt before it gets to you."
Another important factor that Lola emphasizes is that the farm is fully sustainable and uses regenerative farming practices. “We have three Percheron horses - they’re really big draft horses that we use to cultivate the earth instead of using something like a tractor on our garden beds because it compacts them,” she explained. “We’ll use the horses to plow up the dirt to make it a lot easier for the earth, but we also use regenerative farming practices, so we’re giving back instead of just taking, because if you just keep planting, planting, planting, and never putting any amendments to help the ground heal itself and actually promote better growth, then you’re not doing any justice for it,” she said, adding that the farm uses all natural practices without any harmful chemicals.
“When it comes to regenerating the earth, we add nutrients back into it to make sure that it has earthworms and microorganisms living in the soil in order to promote growth and hopefully ward off weeds… things like that,” she stated. “We’re constantly adding more nutrients back into the soil every time that we plant, and we rotate our crops as well, so it’s not just taking the nutrients from the soil - it’s also giving back for the next plants to grow.”
The addition of cover crops in the off-season, she explained, is one way to achieve this goal. “We started off some of the rows with winter wheat which makes it harder for the weeds to grow through. You let the winter wheat grow, and then when it gets to a certain point, you lay it down flat on the ground and let it finish molting there, and then you plant over that which provides a barrier for the weeds, so they don’t want to grow through it.” Cicarelli explained that the final stage is when the winter wheat breaks down and further feeds the soil. “It’s just sustainable agriculture,” she said.
To order online from New Generation Farmers Market, simply visit the website at www.newgenfarmersmarket.com and click on Shop Our Products to view all of the seasonal offerings available. New customers will receive $5 off their purchase over $40 by using promo code NEWGEN5. Additionally, you can find New Generation Farmers Market tabling at local farmers markets in Cattaraugus and Erie Counties throughout the year. Next spring, catch them at The Gin Mill in Downtown Ellicottville on Thursdays. For additional information, go to their website or visit the farm’s Facebook page.