Who’s Your Farmer?
Rolling in Peaches
MCKENZIE’S FARM
Portsmouth Market
Annie & Jock McKenzie
(603) 652-9400
mckenziesfarm@hotmail.com
www.mckenziesfarm.com
Peach season has officially begun at McKenzie’s Farm in Milton, and they’re bringing about 300 pounds of it every week to Portsmouth. The large, sweet Red Haven variety that’s practically falling of the trees right now is considered the first free-stone* peach, according to Brett McKenzie. That’s what his dad Jock tells him, anyway, and Jock would know: he holds a degree in Agriculture and has been running McKenzie’s for 25 years.
For his part, Brett studied business in Florida, and has returned home to help run the family farm. He’s happy about the peach harvest this year because it’s a new crop for McKenzie’s. Mostly though, he’s happy that apple season is also starting. It’s his favorite time of year with tractor rides, fresh cider, a hay maze, and those tasty Honey Crisps. “It’s the sweetest, most delicious, juicy apple you could ever eat,” Brett says, “and it’s rare to find a farm that grows them.”
We’ll have to wait a while for the Honey Crisps to come in—probably in September—but for now you can head to McKenzie’s booth for Paula Red apples, as well as their famous tomatoes and all the fabulous veggies they grow.
* A free-stone peach, by the way, means that the peach pit is loose inside the fruit. That makes it easier to eat all the juicy goodness, and easier to process. Peach canning party, anyone?
Who Makes Your Donuts?
A Family Tradition
TONI’S DONUTS
Exeter and Portsmouth Markets
Barbara Lemieux
(603) 332-2640
Barbara Lemieux couldn’t have guessed when her mother taught her how to bake that she would end up making a living at the farmers’ markets. In fact, Barbara says, until her husband died, she never wanted to set up shop at the markets at all.
“I didn’t know what I was missing,” she says. This former housewife can now be found spring, summer and fall holding court at her market booth in Exeter and Portsmouth, and she loves it. “It’s a fun way to make a living,” she says.
Toni’s Donuts has been in business for 30 years now, and time will tell if it Barbara’s daughters will pick up the torch when she’s ready to pass it on. Rest assured, though, that their family tradition of one generation teaching the next is alive and well.