Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 50 NOVEMBER 2020 CENTENNIAL FARM L I V E + P L AY For many families, it's not autumn without visiting Russell Orchards Farm & Winery in Ipswich for hot cider donuts, apple picking, and Thanksgiving pies. Of course, this isn't a typical autumn, which is why the Russell family is doing everything it can to ensure that customers can still enjoy the season—despite the ongoing pandemic—by adding a new outdoor weekend market to their fall offerings. "They can still uphold some of their traditions, even though a lot of their lives have been upended," says Miranda Russell, who co- owns the farm with her husband, Douglas. The family, which has owned the property since 1979, is also celebrating 100 years of the orchard itself, so perhaps it's fitting that this Russell Orchards celebrates 100 years. year has been one of reinvention. They've reimagined and redesigned every element of the farm experience to maximize safety for its customers with a kind of grit and determination that their farming forebears would certainly have recognized. "It hasn't been easy, but we just take a page out of any farmer's handbook, which is work hard, and if it's not working, work harder," Russell says. At first, they were nervous about how customers would react to losing a lot of their favorite elements of their experience visiting the farm. Not only did they redesign the farm store layout and install plexiglass barriers and rigorous sanitation procedures, Russell Orchards in Ipswich celebrates 100 even during our most challenging of times. BY ALEX ANDRA PECCI PHOTOGRAPH BY KINDRA CLINEFF but they also removed outdoor picnic tables, animal food dispensers, and wine tastings of the farm's more than 30 fruit wines and hard ciders. "At first, we thought that was going to be really tough, that stripping away all those frills that was going to make this a no-win for people," Russell says. "But the opposite was true." Instead, they've received so much positive feedback from people who were grateful to the lengths to which the farm was going to keep them safe while continuing to provide fresh, local food and a beautiful place to spend time. "Despite people feeling their purse strings tightening, and maybe a looming sense of insecurity about their own financial futures, they're still wanting to get out and buy things locally," Russell says of customers. "They're wanting to do anything with their families that's outdoors where they feel some sense of normalcy." That desire especially extends to autumn,