Start March with milk. Stop in to meet Five Acre Farms and learn about where your milk comes from at these in-store sampling demonstrations this week:

Thurs., Mar. 1:

Union Market, 7th Ave. (between 12th and 13th Sts.), Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Fri., Mar. 2:

Murray’s Bagels, 500 Avenue of the Americas, Chelsea: 8-10am

Key Food, 169 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn: 12-3pm

Key Food, 102 Montague St., Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Sat., Mar. 3:

Union Market, Union St. at 6th Ave., Brooklyn: 12-3

Westside Market, 2840 Broadway (110th St.): 4-7pm

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

Which varieties, you ask, is Champlain Orchards pressing now to make Five Acre Farms Local Apple Cider? Crisp, refreshing Macintosh. Sweet, wine-flavored Empire. Famous and familiar Red Delicious. Small, crunchy Spartan (a children’s favorite). Winter-hardy heirloom Northern Spy. Having been carefully stored since being picked at peak flavor last fall, these apples let us enjoy sweet, crisp cider today. Drink up!

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

With stingy snowfall in Vermont this winter, there’s good news and bad news for our apple growers at Champlain Orchards.

First the bad news. A blanket of snow on the ground insulates fragile young tree roots from frost and freezing. Snow cover maintains a constant cold temperature underground that keeps roots dormant for the winter, preventing them from growing prematurely. Trees that get underway too early in the season can lead to “burning the bloom,” when frost touches the blossom and ruins the fruitlet. Then the year-long wait to grow another crop.

Now for the good news. Lack of snow makes (relatively) quick work of hand-pruning 70,000 trees. An already big job becomes both slow and exhausting when growers, navigating orchards in snowshoes, struggle to prune branches buried in several feet of snow. Hard, open ground is also a luxury when it comes to clearing brush, giving tractors a clear path in and out of the orchards. Otherwise, this entire job would have to hold for spring, when melting conditions make it tough to do when you want to — and very messy.

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

From Paramus to Pelham, Brooklyn and Manhattan, stop by and try our milk at the following in-store sampling demonstrations through next Monday:

Wed., Feb. 22:

Fairway 86th St.: 10am-1pm

Union Market, 288 Court Street, Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Thurs., Feb. 23:

Met Food, 251 Mulberry St.: 4-7pm

Fri., Feb. 24:

Zucker’s Bagels, 146 Chambers St.: 8-10am

Fairway Pelham: 12-4pm

Fine Fare, 175 Clinton St.: 4-7pm

Sat., Feb. 25:

Fairway Paramus: 12-3pm

Sun., Feb. 26:

Fairway, Harlem, 12th Ave. & 130th St.: 11am-2pm

Westside Market, 77 Seventh Ave. (15th St.): 3-6pm

Mon., Feb. 27:

C-Town, Graham Ave. (corner of Metropolitan), Brooklyn: 3-6pm

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

Delivered fresh from the farm this morning: Five Acre Farms Local Apple Cider and Cage Free Eggs now available at Brooklyn Fare (200 Schermerhorn), Key Food (169 Atlantic) and C-Town (Graham Ave. at Metropolitan).

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

Five Acre Farms Local Apple Cider is made by pressing the best varieties available in the Northeast each week. The happy result? Savoring the evolving flavors of the seasons created by pressing different varieties, all sweet and flavorful, each with its own distinctive qualities. We celebrate all of the natural variation — from the tart ciders of early autumn to the very rich, sweet flavors of winter. A far cry from those engineered, by adding preservatives like potassium sorbate, to taste the same time after time…

Stay tuned for more on the local cider difference.

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

Celebrate the U.S. Presidents by stopping by to meet Five Acre Farms and learn about where your milk comes from at these in-store sampling demonstrations over the next week:

Sat., Feb. 18:

Union Market, 7th Ave. (between 12th and 13th Sts.), Brooklyn: 12-3pm

Sun., Feb. 19:

Fairway Red Hook: 12-3pm

Brooklyn Fare, 200 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Mon., Feb. 20:

Union Market, Union St. at 6th Ave., Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Wed., Feb. 22:

Fairway 86th St.: 10am-1pm

Union Market, 288 Court Street, Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Thurs., Feb. 23:

Met Food, 251 Mulberry St.: 4-7pm

Fri., Feb. 24:

Fairway Pelham: 12-4pm

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

We’re delighted that a Fairway shopper in Pelham had this to say this week about our milk and our packaging:

“There is still room in this fast-paced world for “Firsts.” This is the first time I have bothered to send a message to a “company,” and this is the first time I have gotten excited over purchasing “milk!”

I was in the Pelham, New York Fairway Supermarket, and as the last step in my shopping, I headed to the milk aisle. Dozens of products to choose from, and yours stood out. [Your packaging] was straight to the point that reasonates with most savvy shoppers…Local. Having that tag in dark red and swinging from the bottle’s neck is eye-catching. Congratulations to the creator of that concept.

I could not end my enthusiasm without saying that the contents were perfect, too!”

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

Stop in to meet Five Acre Farms and learn about where your milk comes from at these in-store sampling demonstrations today through next week:

Thurs., Feb 9:

Price Chopper, Slingerlands, New York: 11am-5pm

Price Chopper, Altamont Ave., Schenectady, New York: 11am-5pm

Fairway, 86th St.: 12-3pm

Met Food, 251 Mulberry St.: 4-7pm

Fri., Feb. 10:

Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish, 146 Chambers St.: 8-11am

Fairway, Harlem, 12th Ave. & 130th St.: 4-7pm

Sat., Feb. 11:

Union Market, 7th Ave. (between 12th and 13th Sts.), Brooklyn: 12-3pm

Fine Fare, 175 Clinton St.: 4-7pm

Sun., Feb. 12:

Westside Market, 77 Seventh Ave. (15th St.): 3-6pm

Mon., Feb. 13:

C-Town, Graham Ave. (corner of Metropolitan), Brooklyn: 3-6pm

Thurs., Feb. 16:

Price Chopper, Albany Shaker Rd., Albany, New York: 11am-5pm

Price Chopper, Western Ave., Guilderland, New York: 11am-5pm

Westside Market, 2840 Broadway (110th St.): 4-7pm

Fri., Feb. 17:

Murray’s Bagels, 500 Avenue of the Americas, Chelsea: 8-10am

Price Chopper, Glenmont, New York: 11am-5pm

Price Chopper, Malta, New York: 11am-5pm

Fairway, 86th St.: 11am-2pm

C-Town, 130 Havemeyer St., Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Five Acre Farms. Positively Local.TM

Stop in to meet Five Acre Farms and learn about where your milk comes from at these in-store sampling demonstrations today through next Wednesday:

Fri., Feb 3:

Murray’s Bagels, 500 Avenue of the Americas, Chelsea: 8- 11am

Price Chopper, Amsterdam, New York: 11am-5pm

Price Chopper, Scotia, New York: 11am-5pm

Fairway, Red Hook: 12- 3pm

C-Town, 130 Havemeyer St., Brooklyn: 4-7pm

Sat., Feb 4:

Fairway, Plainview: 12-3pm

Mon., Feb. 6:

Union Market, 7th Avenue (between 12th and 13th Streets), Brooklyn: 3-6pm

Wed., Feb. 8:

Fairway, 74th & Broadway: 10am -1pm

Union Market, 288 Court Street, Brooklyn: 4-7pm