Pumpkins are wonderfully alluring in autumn, but repurposing makes them interesting on a whole other level aside from how we often look at them as Jack-O-Lantern-bound or warmly baked into pie, bread or pumpkin roll (but we’ll let the anticipation of palate-worthy bites of pumpkin roll simmer for a little while.) For those who have seen infamous photographs of a mother pumpkin giving birth, the hilarity is apparent in the...

As the farm femme behind B & H Organic Produce in Caernarvon Township in Lancaster County, Erica Bowers Lavdanski has a great admiration for every last winter squash she grows. “I love lots of things about winter squash. I love the versatility of either making a savory or sweet dish. I love how much energy is packing into each squash. They are great eaten on their own or to add...

The pumpkin supply is bursting from all corners of Wolff’s Apple House. Roswell Henderson, the assistant manager for Frecon Farms in Boyertown, Berks County, has a great affinity for turning pumpkins into the unexpected and amusingly surprising outside of homes. “Pretty much every other customer is coming in to buy pumpkins or ask questions about them,” Henderson says about the lure of pumpkins in autumn. Henderson learned years ago that...

Broccoli has a lot of possibilities per bite, and Phoebe Canakis of Phoebe's Pure Food in Lancaster County has a simple, palate-rich recipe of Roasted Broccoli that works great with broccoli available at Wolff's Apple House in autumn. The pairing of cauliflower is always another add-on option, too. For many years, Canakis published an online magazine quarterly (Phoebe's Pure Food was its moniker) which housed many a recipe from regional...

Stayman-Winesap apples are now ready for the charming delight of chomping at Wolff's Apple House. In its historical context, the Stayman-Winesap apple is usually deemed a seedling of the heirloom Winesap apple, taking its introduction from Dr. Joseph Stayman in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1866. Dr. Stayman grew up in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and practiced medicine but eventually gave that up to instead pursue experimenting with the growing habits of fruits...

The great lure of neck pumpkins is under way at Wolff’s Apple House. Their curiously elongated shapes and lighter hues compared to traditional pumpkins make them an easy game of I Spy for the eyes. Neck pumpkins are an ancestor of butternut squash, which is known for so many cooking and baking recipes today. When it comes to pondering about oven-ready moments, neck pumpkins are infamously successful in beloved autumn...

Reminders of autumn are rich in the air when jug after jug of apple cider spans the storefront of Wolff’s Apple House. The seasonal lure with this sipping factor stems from the efforts of Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown, Berks County, as the Weaver Family produces the cider Wolff’s carries each fall. “We sell cider in pints, quarts, half-gallons and gallons,” says Fran Wolff. He adds that the store sells between...

The possibilities of fall gardening and decorating are now under way; the colors of autumn so iconic to the outside of homes as the weather cools down after summer beckon easily for the eyes at Wolff’s Apple House. Bloom-boasting hardy mums, asters, Montauk daisies, brightly cheerful pansies, cabbage, kale, hay bales, decorative corn stalks, gourds and eye-stirring arrays of Indian corn are now in stock. Traditional orange as well as...

As a fitting segue in saying adieu to the heat of August while saying hello to September, a Fresh Indian Summer Salsa crafted from ingredients at Wolff's Apple House is a great food-geared introduction to this autumn. The recipe, put together by Wolff's marketing consultant, Rachel VanDuzer, incorporates not only tomatoes but peaches, corn and the spicy bite of jalapeño. "Although we tend to think of summer as lasting from...

While Fran, Pete and Ashley Wolff work every Labor Day, they’re grateful for the opportunity to help people appreciate their goodbye to summer with great foods and ideas for good spots for picnics. And they like that they close at 4 p.m., too, so they can get together with the rest of their family as a food-ready adieu to summer. “I love the idea of a day that is nationally...

Wolff’s Apple House sells some of its selection of peaches from Weaver’s Orchard in Morgantown, Berks County. And its owner, Ed Weaver, has plenty of peach smarts regularly on the mind from growing them each year. He raises 15 acres of peach trees, primarily freestone varieties. Weaver notes that one unique attribute of peaches is that they’re a rare fuzzy-skinned kind of fruit, with kiwi and quince as some others....

Wolff’s Apple House’s marketing consultant, Rachel VanDuzer, recently shared a Spicy Fresh Corn Soup recipe with her family and had the new puppy in her parents’ home revved up vocally for it as well, with a humorous story tied into the comical kitchen moments. Her corn soup involves a fiery jalapeño pepper. “I dropped the jalapeño on the floor, and my parents’ seven-month-old Jack Russell Terrier puppy, Rosie, ran off...

Since August is known as the time for local produce, especially tomatoes, a homemade tomato pie recipe from Phoebe Canakis pleases the palate and complements plentiful tomatoes perfectly. Canakis of Phoebe’s Pure Food lives in Lancaster County and spends much of her time focusing on bringing a strong reverence and flair into the avenue of appreciating local food prepared in line with what makes taste buds happy. “Any red tomato...

The marriage of melons and deli-ready meats is a great August meal add-on, especially with Wolff’s Apple House offering plenty of honeydew, canary cantaloupe, sugar baby watermelon, seedless watermelon and yellow watermelon right now. Di Bruno Bros., a vendor of freshly made cheeses available at Wolff’s, also sells a lineup of Italian deli meats that pair rather swimmingly with locally raised melons. Area sales manager for Di Bruno Bros., Loriene...

As the face behind Global Vertical Farms based in Glenmoore, Chester County, Janice Kelsey and her whole food nutrition approaches keep summer recipes easily in the future: think Zesty Watermelon Gazpacho. “I prefer to use a smaller seedless watermelon,” Kelsey says about this recipe. “They’re easier to handle and a lot less waste.” And Wolff’s Apple House can help you with your watermelon supply if you don’t have some growing...

Wolff’s Apple House Chef Chuck Smith crafts a Peach Oat Crisp recipe that brings one of summer’s most notable local fruits into the picture with an easily enticing want-worthy factor. “You could use any peach (white or yellow) and range in sweetness,” Smith offers. “Currently, Wolff's has great tasting Garnet Beauty variety.” Peaches are packed with minerals, including potassium which assists in helping the body to maintain a healthy level...

  Jillian Prout of Prout’s Jollyview Farm in the Oley Valley of Berks County enjoys the heirloom tomatoes she grows, but it might be fair to say she enjoys a good salsa from them even more. Heirloom tomatoes, known as heritage tomatoes in the U.K., are the ancient tomatoes of those who came decades and centuries before us. Prior to mass production and commercialization of fresh food becoming a part...

As the dairy manager of Wholesome Dairy Farms in Yellow House, Berks County, Rebecca Seidel handles most of the food production at the raw milk operation, and having grown up on a farm, knows how to appreciate sweet corn in summery sweeps of gratitude. “Corn goes with everything,” Seidel admits with enthusiasm. She discourages overpowering corn with other ingredients because of how flavorful it is already, on its own. In...

Phoebe Canakis’ Berry Topped-Pavlova is a perfectly red, white and blue dessert to suit July 4th celebrations. Canakis lives in Lancaster County and is the food-mind behind inspiring seasonally chic, seductively wholesome, garden-to-plate eats through her blogs, magazine, catering and pure food pantry efforts. Her recently released online-based Phoebe’s Pure Food Magazine is what she calls “a beautiful collection of sweet and savory seasonal recipes and DIY from regional Southeastern...

Caprese is an Italian-inspired summer dish that riles mouth-watering factors with ease. It has a lot of possibilities in variation but usually involves slices of freshly picked tomatoes, basil leaves from the garden, cuts of mozzarella cheese and either drizzles of olive oil or balsamic vinaigrette. Sprinkles of ground pepper complement this flavorful and especially healthy dish, too. “Mozzarella takes on the flavors and personalities of the tomato and basil,”...

The kitchen smarts and culinary lure of canning have seen quite a comeback in recent years—and with good reason. Not only is canning useful and resourceful, but it’s a rewarding opportunity to support your own chomp factor from home. And canning-dates with friends and family are just plain fun, too. Think berries: Wolff's Apple House carries a sweetly mouth-popping selection of local strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and also blackberries that travel...

Greens deserve a lot more credit in our dietary lineup than they often receive. Not only do they go swimmingly with many summer meals, but they are some the most nutrition-savvy add-ons we can join into our munching minutes. With a European origin, Swiss Chard is in the family of beets. Red, green, and the delightfully-hued rainbow Swiss chard are similar to spinach in that they are tucked with phytonutrients—these...

With so many chemical fertilizers on the market today, it’s nice to know that there are plenty of natural versions of fertilizers and soil amendment possibilities right at home when you’re ready to feed the tomato plants you’ve purchased from Wolff’s Apple House. Eggshells Save your eggshells after breakfast or baking. Eggshells are rich in calcium, which means broken bits of them scattered into the soil around the base of...

Rosemary is known for bringing out the impeccable flavors in Mediterranean cuisine, but it's also quite a perk to skin. Not only does it help to shrink the appearance of capillaries, but it also acts as a natural anti-inflammatory, so it reduces redness and irritation of skin, which can be helpful with acne or a suddenly itching insect bite. And Rosemary can assist in shooing away bugs around the home, too. Wolff's...

  A few weeks ago the sunny warm days tricked me and I jumped the gun a bit by getting my garden started with tomatoes. Sadly, on one frosty cold night I forgot to cover my plants and they didn’t make it. Thankfully, you do not need to repeat my mistake because peak planting season has arrived! The frost warnings have cleared for the area and we can get to...

Last night, I dreamed I had a vegetable garden again this year. I did last year, when my husband and I lived with my parents on their 20 acres.  Now that we're on a more independent footing, our lifestyle is more like the life indie singer Feist describes in her song Mushaboom: "second floor living without a yard." Last year's garden started early, indoors, in cups on the windowsill.  Tiny...

Locally grown tomatoes have arrived already! Does it seem too good to be true? Well, here's how it works:  The Amish of Lancaster County grow early season field-grown tomatoes using a relatively new farming method called "Raised Bed, High Tunnel” farming. High tunnels are simple, clear plastic frames over the tomato plants that allow the sun to heat them sooner and more effectively than it would otherwise. High tunnels also protect them from...

By Ashley Wolff A tomato connoisseur knows that heirloom tomatoes are usually the tastiest, juiciest and most oh-so-delicious ‘maters on the block.  But there is a reason that we seldom see abundant displays of these tasty gems in stores: they are often harder to grow than hybrids and have a shorter shelf-life. They were grown for their amazing taste, but today's market is demanding high-yield, disease-resistant crops. A hybrid is...

There's no doubt about it: Wolff's is the place to go for tomato and pepper plants in the Delaware Valley. With a current selection of 116 varieties of tomato plants (and counting) and 64 varieties of peppers to date, it would be pretty hard to not be able to find what you are looking for! The list includes many well-known backyard garden varieties, such as Beefsteak, Better Boy, Brandywine, Fourth of July,...

  Imagine your ideal garden.  Perhaps it’s lush with lilies, phlox, pansies, trillium, black-eyed-Susans and herbs.  Or maybe it’s a vegetable garden with all the tomatoes, zucchini, chard, peppers and cucumbers your family and friends can eat. Now, picture the space where you’ll plant your garden.  What is its contour, soil type and shape?  How much sunlight does it get?  Will your ideal garden be able to bloom where it’s...

This week marks the 6-week point until plants can be safely planted in the ground without the risk of being destroyed by a frost. But that doesn’t mean you have to idly wait for the growing season. Now is the perfect time to begin your garden indoors! All you’ll need is a few basic household items plus the soil and seeds of your choice we have available at Wolff’s. Don't...

  Did you know that our eggs are all locally raised? Looking for ways to stay green while dyeing your Easter Eggs? Here are some cool tips on how to dye eggs naturally: • Blue - cut red cabbage into chunks, add 4 cups boiling water & 2 Tbsp. white vinegar. Cool to room temp and remove cabbage. • Green – Save your red onion skin! Simmer skins (from about...

  "I can't wait for Easter!" My sleepy, 5-year old cousin, Evelyn told me. "Why is that?" I asked her. "Because we get to dye Easter eggs!" She exclaimed with a newfound burst of energy. Holidays, family and tradition seem almost synonymous. It's hard to imagine one without the other. Holiday traditions like dying Easter eggs or creating your own Easter treats in your kitchen starts with the family, in the home...

Our garden center is coming alive with all sorts of plants including flowers, herbs and vegetable plants. Shop our selection of pansies, including cool-wave pansies, planters and pansy hanging baskets.Our cool-wave pansies come in hanging baskets and in 4 1/4 inch pots for planting. Cool-Wave (aka "trailing") pansies trail over 2 feet from baskets & planters. They create a "carpet of color" in the ground and are better branching, or have more...

It's easy to start an herb garden right in your kitchen, and  we have several varieties of potted culinary herbs available. It's still a bit early to plant many of the varieties outside, but you can get them started on your windowsill.  We have everything you need from the pots & organic soil to the herbs themselves, as well as seeds if you want to start them yourself! NEW herb...

You don't have to be a vegetarian to LOVE our new chili!  It's a hearty, classically flavored, slow-cooked chili loaded with corn, onions, sweet peppers and beans. It's available now in our prepared foods case. Plus, many of the items on our spring menu are beginning to make a re-appearance, including our Coleslaw, Asian Slaw, Greek Pasta salad and Macaroni Salad.  The Greek Pasta Salad is fusilli pasta, grape tomatoes, feta...

It's true, we have locally grown organic produce all winter long! We source it from two local farmers: Enos Stoltzfus and David King (both located in Oxford, PA - only 32 miles away) About their organic farming practices: Sustainable, chemical-free (organic) farming practices Fresh local produce year-round (greenhouse grown in winter) We carry the following delicious items: Fresh carrots (Extremely sweet and tasty!) Baby salad greens Baby spinach Collard greens (available...

It's time to start thinking about planting pansies, and we now have flats of them in our garden center! They are locally grown in Hatfield Pa, just 35 miles away! Conventional wisdom says that you can plant pansies as soon as the ground has thawed enough to be able to easily work the ground. In late February and early March, the longer days and warmer temperatures start warming the ground and get...

Our latest development from our chef, Chuck Smith is a DELICIOUS fire-roasted tomato bisque. The main feature that makes it unique and so very tasty are the fire roasted tomatoes themselves! Their smoky roasted flavor gets infused throughout the creamy bisque as it simmers. And, this roasted flavor is a perfect compliment to the naturally tangy kick that the tomatoes already possess. Combine this with healthy chunks of celery, onions, carrots,...

Are you trying to eat healthier and incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet? Well, then we have some really good news for you! We just launched our brand new Recipe of the Week program, where we'll feature a few produce items on sale, coupled with all of the other ingredients you need and a print out of the recipe. If you forget to pick up the recipe,...

During the fall, we asked you to send in your photos of your shopping experience at Wolff's. We selected three winners from the dozen entries we received, which you can still view on our Facebook page. Each of winners wrote to us about their time at Wolff's - picking out pumpkins, visiting the haunted house, shopping for Christmas decorations and of course coming home with hot apple cider and treats. Read...

  As the new year is almost upon us, it's important to focus on the highlights of the previous year and hope that a new year will bring. While I take time to reflect on the past year, I can't help but remember all of the years my parents worked to make New Year's a special holiday for us. On New Year's Eve, we'd all gather around the table for...

Gifts from the kitchen are almost always my favorite gifts to give and to receive. Last year my extended family exchanged only "edible" gifts, so there were many delicious gifts and recipes passed around! Somehow, dried cranberries seemed to make it into just about everything: granola, cookies and applesauce as gifts, and then into our meals too including salads and appetizers. This year I decided to learn to make my own...

Fran Wolff likes to say, "the soup season begins when people go inside of their homes to escape the cold. That is when people really want to buy soup." I agree with him. It's just around the time when the first cold breath of winter penetrates my clothing that I start thinking about soup. However, we here at Wolff's have been thinking about soup all summer long. Our kitchen staff...

Do you have your Christmas tree yet? Do you know how you’ll decorate it? If you’re like me, then you probably like to change up your Christmas ornaments every few years as long as it fits within your budget. This year I decided to decorate my tree with only handmade dried fruit ornaments: oranges, apples, cranberries and star fruit. For oranges, I chose navel oranges since they have a nice thick,...

Caring for Your FRESH Tree YOUR TREE HAS RECEIVED A FRESH CUT, unless you requested otherwise. (If you are making your own fresh cut: Use a saw to cut through the base of the trunk, an inch or so from the bottom.) The fresh cut stays “fresh” for up to 6 hours. As soon as you get home, EVEN IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, submerge the trunk into a bucket...

Even more than the Thanksgiving feast, my family and I look forward to Black Friday. But not for the door buster sales or jump-starting our holiday shopping: we look forward to the leftover turkey sandwiches. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that when building a sandwich, you don’t have to limit yourself to only leftovers. In the following paragraphs, I’ll share a few ways to spice up the...

Picture the perfect Christmas tree. What does it look like? Or better yet, what does it smell like? I've learned over the years that the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" couldn't be more true when it comes to Christmas trees. When I was growing up, our neighbor owned an abandoned Christmas tree farm and let my family have our pick of any of the trees in...

Step into a time when heirloom apples were peeled by hand.  Colorful peels swirl onto the counter-top, laughter and conversation rise like flecks of flour in the air, and tender apples get tucked into handmade pastry made with real butter. This might sound like a snippet from another generation, yet it describes the way Marie Connell of MyHouse Cookies in West Philadelphia makes apple pies, which she bakes with heirloom...

For the past two weeks I've been thinking about the best way to eat a turkey.  And to be honest, I much prefer eating leftover breast meat, cranberry sauce, and stuffing positioned between two pieces of bread. I mean, I love the aesthetics of a well bronzed bird placed in the center of the table for the holiday; But with the wild competition between delicious sides, the turkey is sometimes...

Picking out pumpkins, mums or Christmas trees at Wolff's this season? Then bring your camera and take some photos, and submit them to our photo contest! Prizes: First Prize - $50 gift card Second Prize - $25 gift card Third Prize - $10 gift card Criteria: - Only three submissions per entrant. - Contest only open to amateur photographers. - Photos must have been taken at our farm market. -...

For weeks Steve Rosazza has been delivering some very delicious acorn squash. This variety, along with Butternut, Spaghetti, and Festival, are just some of the winter squash available locally at Wolff's. Years ago, while working on a small farm in Baltimore, I had the opportunity to cook lots of squash. A heavy bumper crop made them inexpensive and plentiful. Therefore, I enjoyed them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I can...

The Stayman-Winesap crosses the Stayman and Winesap apples and has become a local favorite here in the Delaware Valley.  It's an apple with firm roots in the soil of American history.  Even though people distinguish the Winesap apple from the Stayman-Winesap by calling it the "old fashioned Winesap," the Stayman apple has its share of history, too. The Winesap is, indeed, a well-established apple.  It was first cultivated in New...

If you’ve spent much time with the Wolff family, one thing is pretty clear: they intimately know the products they sell, and they put a lot of effort into making sure their customers know as much about their products as possible. After a conversation with Peter Wolff, who runs the garden center, I am reminded of this fact.  “We have about 35-40 varieties of mums right now in a range...

I remember heading to class one crisp September day. The sky was a deep shade of blue with puffs of big white clouds passing overhead. As I breathed in that clear autumn air, I realized one thing: I wouldn't make it to class on time. That perfect fall weather demanded that I take a detour to pick up an apple to snack on before class. I don't think that my...

If you told me to find the most popular apple we sell just by looks, I would probably search for an apple that had all the right features - bright red or green in color, uniform shape, shiny skin, etc. After all, that's all you find in the produce section of the grocery store. But honeycrisp are a different story. After one bite, I was hooked on this apple. Honeycrisp...

This week, we had a chance to speak with Ed Weaver, president of Weaver's Orchard in Morgantown, PA, one of our main suppliers of apples (including Honeycrisp) and apple cider.   1. What is the story of how Weaver’s Orchard came to be? I am the third generation here at Weaver's.  My great grandfather was a fruit grower in Delaware and my grandfather started Weaver's Orchard in 1932.  It was...

Never heard of Seckel Pears?  Well, you're not alone.  The Seckel Pear is relatively unknown across the country, but it's one of the Delaware Valley's hidden treasures. It was developed here in the Southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1800's by a farmer named Mr. Seckel, and it's had a following here ever since. Seckel pears are small in size--almost bite-sized-- but big in sweetness.  In fact, I've heard them called "sugar pears."  Their small size is...

Mid-August is a magical time: a twilight season.  Just like twilight is the hour to enjoy the beauty of the day before nightfall, August is the month to enjoy the best of both summer and early fall.  In August, all the glory of summer exists, with peaches, tomatoes, corn, plums, watermelon and squash.  The whispers of fall are also beginning, too: cool season broccoli, spinach, cabbage, collards, and of course...

Look for this sign around Wolff's Apple House to see the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes we have during the season!  Heirloom tomatoes are a sign of the season here at Wolff's.  We're well-known for them!   Yellow, green, red, purple, in all different stripes and hues, in all kinds of flavors: rich, succulent, creamy, layered, spicy, acidic and mild.  You'll be in awe of how many variations on a tomato...