Volante Farms to rebuild farm stand

Needham - In 1917 Peter and Caterina Volante bought a farm in Newton. In 1962, the second generation brought the farm to the corner of Forest Street and Central Avenue in Needham. In 1981, the third generation built the well-known Volante farm stand.

Now, more than 30 years later, the fourth generation is taking down the historic farm stand to build a new one. 

The Volante children and owners Teri, Dave and Steve said that the change is going to make the Volante farm even better. Teri Volante Boardman said that while she would be sad to see the farm stand go, it would help the farm grow.

“I’ve got a kind of a sentimental optimism about it,” she said. “I’ll miss it, but it’s going to improve the farm so much.” 

The Volante family moved the farm stand operations to the neighboring greenhouse late Monday night, to open on Tuesday. In late August, they will take down the farm stand and start rebuilding. They estimate the project will be finished in April.

The new farm stand will include a deli, a bakery and a Crescent Ridge Dairy ice cream store. It will also sell produce all year round, something they hadn’t done in the past. Field manager Ryan Conroy said that winter squash, beets and carrots would help to extend the season and that the farm would likely sell greens grown in its greenhouse during the winter. Some vegetables, including asparagus would likely be available earlier in the year than ever before, Conroy said.

At the sixth annual Farm Field Day on Aug. 13, the Volante family invited Needham citizens to gather at the farm to commemorate the farm stand. At the event, tours were lead by fourth generation son Steve Volante to show the changes that would occur.

On these tours, he said that the new farm stand would maintain the same local feel that has existed since it’s founding.

“We want to keep it as business as usual,” he said. “We want to keep the rustic feel.”

 At the event, the Volante family held a very popular customer cooking contest, in which 16 people from the area entered dishes, from a salted corn dip to an assorted vegetable salad.

At the competition, Robert Desimone, the head chef at Spiga Restaurant, Vanessa Cortes, the head chef at Center Café and Dough Motchok, the 2010 winner were judges. Customer Laurie Cochran won the competition with her peach, tomato, corn and arugula salad with sweet red onion.

Desimone, who left the farm with a barrel full of produce, said that he loved coming to the farm to find ideas for new recipes. He said that he was excited for the new farm stand because it would open up the selling of produce all year long.

“It sounds like a great idea,” he said. “It’s moving the place forward”

Cochran said that the she kept coming back to the farm because she loved how it was family run.

“I love this place,” she said. “I can’t wait for the new one to open."

Evan Koslof

8/16/11

Originally Posted: http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham/news/x919533829/Volante-Farms-to-rebuild-farm-stand#axzz1VDLQGyZ1