New Wood Prairie Catalog is On Its Way!

    We’ve been really hopping around here the last twelve months trying to keep up with farming and shipping orders. Now in this New Year, we have some good news: look for our New Wood Prairie Catalog soon to be in a mailbox near you!

    In the meantime, you are invited to visit our newly updated Wood Prairie Web Flip Catalog. This is an easy-to-use page-by-page web replica of the paper catalog your mailman will soon be delivering. So why wait? Open our Wood Prairie Flip Catalog and learn about New Products. Read scores of New Testimonials sent in by Wood Prairie customers just like you. Read up on our newest potato variety – Organic French Charlotte – and learn why it’s the favorite of our Maine friend, Organic Farmer extraordinaire and author, Eliot Coleman. If you ‘Click’ on any item in the Wood Prairie Flip Catalog it will take you directly to its listing in our webstore where you can learn more, access availability and then if you’d like, with another ‘Click’ add that item to your Shipping Cart.

    We – and all the other seed companies - are continuing to experience heavy demand. Some of our popular varieties are beginning to sell out so we urge you to place your orders as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. And yes, we always maintain up-to-date availability on our website, www.woodprairie.organic. Of course, we are happy to accept your order now and hold it here on the farm should you prefer delayed shipping until the weather warms. Just be sure and indicate your desired shipping date when your order!

    So far, with La Nina active, Maine has experienced a mild Winter. However, we’ve farmed long enough to know that weather patterns in Maine can shift in a heartbeat, so it’s always wise to be prepared for anything!

    Stay warm and stay safe.

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Caleb, Jim & Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood Prairie Family Farm

Bridgewater, Maine

     Wood Prairie Family Farm Photos.

Grading Organic Adirondack Red Potatoes on the Wood Prairie Grading Line. This morning, as Jim, Ken and Rob were grading Adirondack Red seed potatoes in the underground potato storage, Caleb’s sister Amy came down and recorded this short video (0:42) of the action of the padded potato hopper metering out field run potatoes onto to the rubber brusher. This is the beginning of our Potato Grading Line. The 1500-pound capacity hopper is filled when a wooden pallet box full of potatoes – stored since they were harvested back in September - is inverted by our Pallet Box Dumper. The red Haines Rubber Potato Brusher seen in the video was fabricated in nearby Presque Isle and is designed to remove field dirt from the potatoes. From the Rubber Brusher the potatoes proceed to a second Haines Nylon Brusher (which gently buffs tubers clean), then onto an old-timer Haines Double-Chain Drop Sizer (which sorts tubers by diameter) and finally onto a Lockwood Roller Inspection Table (where we manually yank out the odd damaged or deformed tuber as well as chuck the occasional rock. As is typical in a drought year like we had last Summer, while yields were down quality was up. With all five machines running at the same time, the rumble is loud enough that we have to turn the radio up all the way to hear the Classic Country station broadcasting from Monticello, the next farming town to the south of us.

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Caleb & Jim & Megan Gerritsen
Wood Prairie Family Farm
49 Kinney Road
Bridgewater, Maine 04735
(207) 429 - 9765 Certified Organic, From Farm to Mailbox
www.woodprairie.com