Old Apple Valley Farms

Attention gardeners! Come on out to Old Apple Valley Farms at 18260 Calumet Lane, Round Hill. Vegetable, Herbs, Flower seedlings $1 per plant (larger plants priced separately) and hand made oak coat racks. We are open Fridays and Saturdays, May 30 and 31, 9am to 5pm. Cash, check, or Zell for all sales.

Time to plant your garden, big, small, raised beds, or containers on you porch/balcony. $1 per plant, cash, check, or Zell. Old Apple Valley Farms, 18260 Calumet Ln, Round Hill. Open May 23 and 24, 9:00 to 5:00pm. You can’t beat the taste of a juicy tomato straight off the plant that you have grown. Great for you to show the kids how food is actually grown. We are a veteran owned family farm (VOSB) producing seedlings, vegetables, fruits, and honey. Honey is currently sold out but the Honeybees are working hard. We will extract more in a couple of weeks. We have a variety of seedlings, Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Herbs, Squash, Melons, perennial flowers, miscellaneous plants and hand made oak coat racks (some with "bark edge" or "live edge") for sale. You might even see the new fawn that was born yesterday…….

Come to Old Apple Valley Farms, number 25 on the Farm Tour map May 17-18 (10:00 to 4:00pm). An educational experience for the kids and adults. Plants/seedlings ($1 per plant), hand made wooden items, honey ($10 per pound) and a honeybees presentation/demo (no bees included). Coming soon, late spring, summer, early fall, - U-Pick, We-Pick vegetables, fruits, berries...... honey (only for us to harvest).
Seedlings and honey also available Friday, May 16 (9:00 to 5:00pm).
Loudoun Farms
https://loudounfarms.org/farmtour/
BIG NEWS!
Get ready for a weekend of fresh air, farm animals & family fun!
Explore 36 farm stops in Loudoun County on May 17-18
Plants/seedlings, honey, lavender, mushrooms, bees, baby goats... and so much more!
Who's ready to experience the best of rural Virginia? Click now to plan your tour today!

The rain has pretty much stopped today. Are you ready to pick out your seedlings (or pick up your pre-order)? $1 per plant (some pots have 2 plants) Cash or Check. Gardeners, Big or small, Containers, Raised Beds, or a Bigger garden. Come on out to Old Apple Valley Farms, a Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) at18260 Calumet Lane, Round Hill. See prior posts for a complete list of seedlings. We are OPEN Fri and Sat 9:00 to 5:00 through the end of May.
Meet Hannah the Honeybee (from a safe distance). Buy some of her honey, $10 per 1 Pound Jar.
Meet Patty the painted turtle. She laid her eggs and is headed back to the creek (the upper branch of Beaver Dam Creek). Come to the brick house set back in the field. Park in the piazza in front of the house. The seedlings and honey are in back of the house, on the deck.

Good morning. We at Old Apple Valley Farms wanted to pass on that most of the seedlings are ready to go. They include various varieties of Tomatoes, Peppers, Herbs, Flowers, and other Vegetables.
We will be open Fri and Sat 9:00 to 5:00 (May 9 and 10) and all of the other Fri’s and Sat’s in May.
We will also be open for the Loudoun County Farm Tour May 17, 18 from 10:00 to 4:00 both days. Number 25 on the map.
We also have honey, fish emulsion fertilizer, and some home-made oak coat racks for sale. The seedlings are $1 per plant (cash or check), most are 2 to a pot so the minimum is $2 for 2 plants.
We are at 18260 Calumet Lane, Round Hill. If you are coming west on Rt 7 there is not a crossover to turn left on Calumet. You need to go to the next cross over, Williams Gap Rd (Rt 711), make a U turn and come back east on Rt 7. Calumet is the second right. (If you are coming on Snickersville Trpk or from Winchester/Berryville, happy to send slightly different directions). We are 1 mile down Calumet (gravel road). Turn left on our lane at the black mailbox with 18260 on it. There is also a big wooden sign that says Old Apple Valley Farms. Come to the brick house set back in the field. Park in the piazza in front of the house. The seedlings are in back of the house, on the deck and in the greenhouse. Go around the left side of the house (facing the house) (the garage side) to get to the greenhouse/deck.
Thank you,
Joe and Chery
Facebook: Joseph A Guirreri

Attention gardeners and honey lovers! Old Apple Valley Farms
Seedlings $1 per plant (larger plants priced separately), Honey $10 per pound.
We are preparing to open for our annual seedlings sales and pre-order pick up below.
You may still pre-order.
We will be open in May on Fridays and Saturdays beginning May 9th , 9am to 5pm
Old Apple Valley Farms, 18260 Calumet Lane, Round Hill
Text questions to Chery 240-316-0451, Pre-orders Facebook message to Joseph A Guirreri. Cash and check only for all sales on pick up.
For pre-order list what you want with the number you want before each type or copy the list and put numbers in front of what you would like.
1. Cukes
Boston
Cucumber
English
Straight 8
Supremo
Marketmore
National
Red Marconi
2. Flower
Marigolds
Cosmos
Coneflower
Snapdragons
Black eyed susans
Zinnias
3. Herb
Basil
Cilantro
Thyme
Spearmint
4. Pepper
Banana
California wonder
Jalapeño
Pablano
Pepper
Red Marconi
Yankee bell
Ninja
5. Tomato
Beefsteak
Chef orange
Roma
San Marzano
Sweetie
Tomatoes
Amish paste
Blush
Oma orange
Candy
Sweetie
6. Squash
Squash
Yellow squash
Zucchini
Spaghetti
Acorn
8. Misc
Eggplant
Melons
Okra
Cantaloupe
Hosta
Bird of Paradise
Creeping Thyme
Ajuga/bugle w**d
Creeping jenny
Melons
Eggplant
Okra

The trees are blooming, the seedlings are growing and honey is available. The produce is not far behind. Happy Spring to all you “gardeners”, big gardens, small gardens, raised beds, or pots/bags on the deck/balcony. We who garden enjoy them all. The bees are buzzing and we have honey for sale now. Hopefully you have started thinking about all of the possibilities. We at Old Apple Valley Farms have gotten a “head start” with you, for you. We again have all types of seedlings and cuttings started for you. We encourage you to not “jump the gun” and plant before the most likely end of frost (frost free) dates. We have vegetables, flowers (largely those for pollinators), and herbs all started. We will continue to plant more varieties if there are special requests. We are taking pre-orders now but will also have most of them available for pick-up on our open days. You may copy the whole list and put numbers before each variety that you want or just send me a simple list with just numbers you want and the variety name. We expect to be open for pickup on Fri and Sat 9:00m to 5:00pm starting May 9 through May 31. We will also be open for the Loudoun County Farm Tour, May 17 and 18. We can offer other pickup dates by email/facebook request. The price is still $1 per seedling, with 2 plants per pot ($2). Sweet potatoes only fit one plant per pot. Some of the larger perennials, like “Bird of Paradise” will be in larger pots and priced separately.
Please send your pre-order to:
Facebook: Joseph A Guirreri
Here is the breakdown of seedlings
1. Cukes
Supremo
Straight 8
Marketmore
English
National
Boston

2. Flowers
Marigolds
Cosmos
Coneflower
Snapdragons
Black eyed susans
Zinnias

3. Herbs
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Spearmint
Cilantro
Dill
Basil

4. Peppers
Pablano/Ancho
Jalapeno
California Wonder
Ninja
Yankee bell
Banana

5. Tomatoes
Beefsteak
Chef's orange
Roma
Amish paste
San marzano
Blush
Oma orange
Candy

6. Squash
Zucchini
Spaghetti
Acorn
Yellow Zucchini

7. Plants and misc seedlings
Hosta
Bird of paradise
Creeping thyme
Ajuga/bugle w**d
Creeping jenny
Sweet potatoe slips (murasaki)
Peanuts
Melons
Eggplant
Okra

Thank you all who visited us at Old Apple Valley Farms on this past weekend as part of the Loudoun County Farm Tour. Those who visited may have wondered how it turned out for Sammy the baby Snapping Turtle. At the end of the Farm Tour we took him down to the creek, which is where he was headed when I found him. We safely put him down at the water’s edge. He did not scamper off into the creek as his brothers and sisters did. He froze, motionless, for about 5 minutes. The spectators were not very quiet so he may have been afraid……. Or, after 10 days with us, he may have not wanted to leave. We had fed him small pieces of apples, carrots, flies, a very small worm, and several other morsels. After a while he extended his head and slowly moved into the water under some leaves. He put his head up to take a nice long breath and then went under the leaves and into the mud. He joined all of his family and cousins who have been doing basically the same thing for over 90 million years. Good luck Sammy on your new life and adventure.

2024 Loudoun County Farm Tour, an educational experience for children and everyone. Please come visit Old Apple Valley Farms which is number 26 on the Farm Tour map. Oct 19, 20 10:00-4:00. https://loudounfarms.org/farmtour/ or search for “2024 Loudoun County Farm Tour”. www.OldAppleValleyFarms.com is a family-owned produce farm, honey bee apiary, and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) in western Loudoun County. Come to Old Apple Valley Farms to visit Hannah the Honey Bee Demonstration(see pictures) and Sammy the baby Snapping Turtle.
Hannah and her 50,000 friends have made jars of honey. Her honey sells out quickly, (first come first serve). Honey is $10 per pound, best price in Loudoun County. Sammy is just here for a visit. He is NOT a pet. He was born this week and is on his way to the North Fork of the Beaver Dam Creek, running through the back yard. How do we know he/they are snapping turtles? They have a WWWW on the back side of their shells.
Sammy’s mother (see picture) came to visit in April or May this year to lay her eggs. She and her ancestors have been coming out of the creeks and ponds here for 90 million years. Mother snapping turtles are about 1 to 3 feet in diameter (about 60 pounds). (His Dad can weigh more than 120 pounds) She comes to find soft ground where she can dig a nest in the ground for her eggs. She likes a nice sunny spot where the eggs will keep warm as the babies inside grow to about an inch in diameter. The baby snappers like Sammy hatch in late August and September. They dig themselves out of the nest, normally when rain makes the ground softer and easier for them to dig. When the first snapper reaches the surface of the ground the others follow the hole that was made by the first (see picture of a hole from the nest). Sammy knows instinctively to head toward water, frequently a creek or stream. When I took one of Sammy’s brothers down to the creek he was totally still until he heard the water. Then, he started squirming like crazy, anxious to get to the protection of the water and the vegetation at the edge. I put him down about a foot from the water. He scampered in the water, then stopped right at the edge and became totally still. That made it more difficult for fox, raccoon's, Great Blue Herons, possums, owls, and other birds and small animals to find him and eat him.
Sammy will learn to survive. He is NOT a pet. He belongs in the wild, as do all of his brothers and sisters.
Baby snapping turtles eat a variety of foods, including:
Meat: Worms, snails, fish, birds, small mammals, other turtles, and frogs
Plants: Floating duck w**d, water lettuce, and water hyacinth
Pellets: Commercially produced turtle, trout, or catfish pellets
Sammy, the snapping turtle will NOT be kept as a pet. After the Farm Tour we will help him go down to the creek below the house where he will be with the hundreds of his brothers and sisters. Many of them will not only be in the creeks but also in the pond on the other side of Calumet Lane where the Old Apple Valley Farms sign is located.

https://loudounfarms.org/farmtour/
Do you know what these are? (Answer: Chestnuts - delicious when roasted and hulled!)

Have you ever seen the inside of a honey bee hive? We’d love to give you a tour through the homes and lives of these fascinating creatures!

Do you know what these are? (Answer: Chestnuts - delicious when roasted and hulled!)
Have you ever been inside a Honey bee hive? We’d love to give you a tour through the homes and lives of these fascinating creatures! (without any bees). Old Apple Valley Farms is number 26 on the Farm Tour map.

https://loudounfarms.org/farmtour/
or just Google “2024 Loudoun County Farm Tour”

Old Apple Valley Farms is a family-owned produce farm, honey bee apiary, and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) in western Loudoun County. At this year’s autumn farm tour, we will be holding our popular beehive demonstration, as well as selling our own bees’ honey and beeswax items. Also on sale are chestnuts, pears, vegetables (in the summer, some U-Pick and some that We-Pick), and general-use fish emulsion-based plant fertilizer from our very own Koi fish ponds. We feed the Koi fish at 4pm and kids (or adults) are welcome to help!

Our bee demo offers a walk-through of a real-life beehive (no bees included), covering the life-cycle of bees, bees’ role in agriculture, how honey is made, and all kinds of strange “bee-haviors.” This is your chance to ask your local apiarist anything you’ve ever wanted to know about bees! Children may also taste honey straight off of a honeycomb frame, or try on a beekeeping bonnet to get a taste of the full beekeeping experience. The demo will be limited to our front patio area, with parking available in the field. We ask that all guests keep a safe distance from the apiary.
We normally sell out of honey quickly (all products are first come, first serve). We look forward to welcoming you and your family to our farm!

Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program
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Thinking of planting your tomatoes this weekend? Temperatures are finally creeping upward in most parts of the state. If you live at the highest elevation and still experience cool nights or: Beware chill injury.
Tomatoes should be planted out when soil temps are 60 F or warmer and night temps do not drop below 50 F.
Make sure to harden your plants off before putting them outside! Tender indoor seedlings need time to adjust to outdoor conditions, including night time lows and the hot sunshine!
If your seedlings still live indoors, move the trays outside to gradually adjust them rather than going straight from their sheltered indoor environment to the garden.
Learn all about tomatoes here:
https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-418/426-418.html

Thank you, Marina and Betty.......