WESTERN MASS. – With Thanksgiving fast approaching, Reminder Publishing reached out to businesses across the area about shopping local for the holiday and what some of the challenges may be this year.

From ordering your turkey, where to purchase local flowers and where to find local produce and sides for your dinner businesses talked about what they have to offer and strategies they are using with anticipated shortages across the board for turkey, flowers and other Thanksgiving staples.

Of course, this list does not encompass all the small meat, produce and floral businesses that Western Mass. has to offer. We encourage readers to look within their communities and support their favorite shops.

Ordering Your Turkey

Arnold’s Meats - Chicopee, East Longmeadow

Ahead of everyone’s fruitful Thanksgiving feasts, Arnold’s Meats at 307 Grattan St. in Chicopee and 359 Shaker Rd. in East Longmeadow is offering their usual supply of fall favorites. President of Arnold’s Larry Katz shared that turkeys, pies, frozen vegetables and other traditional favorites will be offered in the store. However, customers should plan ahead if they are looking to acquire their centerpiece turkey.

Amidst rumblings of a turkey shortage, Katz said butcheries like Arnold’s Meats are being mindful of their turkey stock. “It’s not a shortage, it’s just that people are afraid to bring in a lot of products. Because of COVID, they don’t know if homes or restaurants are going to have large parties,” said Katz. The butcher’s president said the store will be keeping a tight stock to ensure they won’t be stuck with excess product after Thanksgiving.

For more information, call the Chicopee location at 593-5505, and the East Longmeadow location at 525-5115.

Corsello Butcheria – Easthampton

Located on 130 Cottage St, Easthampton, Corsello Butcheria is a family-owned, locally sourced, whole animal butcher inspired by their experience at Rome’s Mercato di Testaccio, a gourmet market in Italy.  

Corsello is offering locally sourced turkeys for the Thanksgiving season along with gravy, broth and stuffing. “We’ve already started taking orders,” said owner Vincent Corsello. This year Corsello has whole turkeys from local farms including Diemand Farm, Misty Knoll and Stonewood Farm, though the cutoff date to order from Diemand Farm had passed as of the date of publication. Turkeys range anywhere between 12 to 29 pounds.  

Along with whole turkeys, Corsello offers turkey breast and their customer favorite, Italian sausage stuffed turkey breast. “It’s something unique that people don’t have, you know? A lot of people don’t want to cook a whole turkey, so this is easy,” explained Corsello.  

Corsello will also offer side dishes like gravy and stuffing. “We’re going to have gravy and we’ll also have some turkey broth for those who want to make their own gravy. We’ll also have a sausage-based stuffing,” he said.  

You can order by calling 203-2330 or on their website at https://www.corsellobutcheria.com/.

D & R Farm - Hampden

Diane Rollins, who, along with her husband Robert Rollins, has owned D & R Farm at 146 Thresher Rd. for nine years said they have been seeing a boom in people buying fresh turkeys this year.

“They’re looking for fresh because of the pandemic and all of the problems it’s caused,” Rollins said, referring to shortages and supply chain issues. “I haven’t really even seen [turkeys] in the stores,” she said.

D&R Farm has plenty of stock to serve the increased demand. Rollins explained that the farm had two flocks of turkeys, one for Thanksgiving dinners and another for Christmas.

“We’re very pleased,” Rollins said of the increase in business.

For more information, call D&R Farm at 566-3708.

Joey’s Deli & Market - Feeding Hills

Joey’s Deli & Market, located at 1226 Springfield St., will be offering all the Thanksgiving fixings this year. For only $12.99, an individual turkey dinner can be purchased, including turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and butternut squash.

If you’re looking to purchase the individual sides, Joey’s offers homemade turkey gravy sold by the pint or quart; mashed potatoes, whipped butternut squash, traditional bread and meat stuffing, honey buttered carrots and roasted brussels sprouts all sold by the pound. Prices of each side vary.

To satisfy your sweet tooth, Joey’s will be selling store made pies including chocolate cream and pumpkin for $13.99, and apple for $14.99. Chocolate and pumpkin whoopie pies are also available for purchasing.

Jonathan Cunningham, owner of Joey’s Deli asks customers to place orders by Nov. 22 at 12 p.m. Orders can be picked up on Nov. 24 by 3 p.m. To place orders, call 306-5894.

Their full menu and prices can be found on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/joeysdelimarket/

North Elm Butcher Block - Westfield

Danny Kuza of the North Elm Butcher Block at 37 N. Elm St. in Westfield said he ordered his turkeys early this year, 2,500 of all different sizes, due to an expected turkey shortage. He’s also telling his customers to order early.

“We’re doing orders for people as well. There are just not a lot of turkeys out there due to the labor shortage, which is hitting every industry,” Kuza said, explaining that 30 million turkeys are slaughtered for Thanksgiving every year in four and a half weeks.

The family-owned North Elm Butcher Block sells turkeys, cooked turkeys and entire cooked Thanksgiving meals with all the fixings. The meals include a choice of a smoked or oven-roasted turkey plus mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, corn bread, rolls, stuffing and cranberry sauce, and a choice of apple or pumpkin pies for 8 to 10 people for $129.99 plus tax, or 14 or 16 people for $199.99 plus tax.

Kuza said the demand for cooked Thanksgiving dinners has been rising every year. Their first year cooking them they made 30 meals; last year, 65, and this year he’s guessing he will have 100 orders. He said orders for meals should be made early by calling 562-6759. Cooked meals can be picked up the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, and directions are included to warm up the bird and all the sides, which are in oven-safe containers.

In addition to ordering for customers, the North Elm Butcher Block has also ordered the sponsored turkeys for the Westfield Technical Academy Thanksgiving Food Drive, which gives out the fixings for Thanksgiving meals to families in need in the district.

Susan and Ralph Figy, who are co-chairing the food drive this year with Eileen and James Jachym, said they have most of what they need for the drive. They are asking the public to sponsor 70 turkeys by dropping off donations to the North Elm Butcher Block.

Sutter Meats – Northampton

Sutter Meats in Northampton is gearing up for the Thanksgiving season by offering “succulent” Misty Knoll Turkeys. In addition to whole turkeys, the butcher shop will be selling turkey breasts, chicken galantine made to order, boneless lamb saddle roasts, porchetta, braciola, pate, sausage, and other food for the Thanksgiving and holiday season.

According to Terry Ragasa, a co-owner and butcher of Sutter Meats, the Misty Knoll Turkey is straight from Vermont, and the meat will be offered in three different weight ranges: 12 to 16 pounds, 16 to 20 pounds, and 20-plus pounds.  

“We will also have turkey breasts, both bone in and boneless as well as turkey leg quarters available from Misty Knoll,” said Ragasa. “In addition to turkey, we offer whole chickens, deboned and stuffed whole chickens with an assortment of custom cut roasts made in house from meat sourced from local family-run farms.”

The cutoff date for all turkey orders is Nov. 5, according to Ragasa. “We also recommend putting in any custom holiday orders as soon as you can to ensure availability,” said Ragasa. “Orders can be placed either over the phone or in person at our shop in Northampton.”

The phone number to call to place an order is 727-3409.

For some small businesses across the state, COVID-19 has adversely affected supply chains, but for Sutter Meats, they have been able to maintain a steady flow of product. “Our supply chain is so short, in most cases it’s a single link between us and the farm, that we have not experienced any shortages or lack of product,” said Ragasa. The one exception, according to the owner, has been duck, which they source from Long Island. Over the course of the pandemic, they experienced some issues regarding consistent transportation from New York to Massachusetts regarding that animal.

Sutter Meats is a local butcher shop that follows the European method of seam butchery with cuts in cases that are usually unavailable in other parts of the country. It is owned and operated by Terry and Susan Ragasa. More information on what they sell on their menu and in the shop can be found at www.suttermeats.com. The shop is located on 65 King St, Northampton.

Local Produce

Randall’s Farm - Ludlow

While Randall’s Farm, located at 631 Center St., does not provide its own turkeys, President Karen Randall said the farm does offer nearly everything else you would expect to see on the table at Thanksgiving.

“Thanksgiving is big for pies and turkey gravy; we say we cook everything but the turkey because we make our own gravy, stuffing and pies,” she said.
While there have been concerns for businesses across the area about supply chain issues, Randall said the biggest impacts have been for meat, but produce has not yet been affected.

“It has, things may not be exactly the way they were because of an ingredient that is missing or packaging or that kind of thing. It does not seem to have affected produce yet but more Boar’s Head meats,” she said.

For more information, call 589-7071.

Phoenix Fruit Farm - Belchertown

At Phoenix Fruit Farm in Belchertown, located at 401 Mill Valley Rd., owner Elly Vaughn said the farm is working on its Thanksgiving catering menu.
“We are preparing a catering menu for Thanksgiving which should be updated on our website in the next couple of weeks,” she said.

In previous years the farm offered turkey, pies and sides as part of its Thanksgiving catering menu. Along with the catering menu, local seasonal produce and other groceries are also available for purchase at Phoenix Fruit Farm’s Country Store. The Thanksgiving catering menu was not available ahead of press time but will be available online at https://phoenixfruitfarm.com/. For more information, call 213-1414.

D & R Farm - Hampden

Not just for turkeys, D&R Farm also has an array of vegetables, despite a wetter than average spring and summer, which Rollins said, leads to weaker vegetables. D&R sells the traditional fall vegetables, such as squash and potatoes, but also offers fresh-baked made-to-order pies, gravy and homemade cranberry sauce.

Granny’s Place - Agawam

Due to the vast amount of rain this year, Rick Seldomridge and his wife Jody, owners of Granny’s Place, had to resort to buying in. “We lost a lot of crops in the field,” he said. Now obtaining produce from greenhouses in New Jersey and Canada, Seldomridge claimed, “It caused a price hike.”

Although prices on their farm stand have increased, the couple works to ensure they have what they need. Some of their seasonal produce includes butternut squash and cabbage. Seldomridge also makes jellies, mini donuts and apple cider - all of which pair well with Thanksgiving.

Granny’s Place is located at 844 Main St. For additional information, visit https://grannysplacefarm.com/ or call 786-9366.

Crabapple Farm – Chesterfield

Crabapple Farm, nurtured in the small town of Chesterfield, grows over 50 types of vegetables, including heirloom varieties that taste great. Also pick up your vegetable starts there, culinary and medicinal herbs, annual and perennial flowers, and houseplants. Choice fruits, including apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, are seasonally available in limited quantities. Crabapple Farm also raises chickens, pigs and cows for meat. For more information, visit https://crabapplefarm.org or contact the farm at 296-0310 or crabapplefarm@verizon.net.

Fabulous Florals

Frank’s Flowers - Springfield

Located at 838 Main St., Frank’s Flowers offers an arrangement of seasonal accoutrements. Along with including a thoughtfully selected designer’s choice blend of fall flowers, the florist shop offers a bright blend of sunflowers, coral ranunculus, pink gerbera daisies, yellow poms and orange spray roses among others, according to the florist’s website. For a flower boutique, prices range from $50 for a standard basket, $65 for deluxe and $80 for premium.

In regard to Thanksgiving festivities, Frank’s also creates a variety of holiday specific creations. The florist shop will be offering Thanksgiving centerpieces and cornucopias, which mix an array of flowers with fall-centric decorations like lotus pods and festive leaves. The shop’s premium Thanksgiving blend costs $90 for standard and $110 for premium, while a cornucopia costs anywhere from $69 for a standard arrangement and $94 for a premium.
For more information, call 785-5703.

The Gilded Lily - Springfield

The Gilded Lily at 1926 Wilbraham Rd. offers an assortment of blooming flowers. The shop offers traditional favorites like sunflowers, roses and daises along with a plethora of carefully constructed fall ensembles, according to their website. From the cheerful Sunrise Surprise to the seasonal favorite Autumn Awakening, The Gilded Lily represents a range of floral interests. Customers can purchase flower bundles in standard, deluxe or premium options.

The flower shop also provides a variety of Thanksgiving-themed cornucopias. The Gilded Lily offers Harvest and Giving Thanks cornucopias alongside elegant centerpieces, according to their website. The cornucopias range from $72.95 for a standard to $96.95 for a premium option, while centerpieces go from $89.95 for standard and $113.95 for the premium.

For more information, call the Gilded Lily at 783-3939.

Durocher Florist - West Springfield

Catering and delivering across Western Mass, Durocher Florist, located at 184 Union Street offers floral designs, a variety of plants and locally-made gifts year round; for any occasion.

Owner of Durocher Florist, Heather Sullivan, AIFD, CFD, said every year, they offer fresh floral centerpieces that fit well with Thanksgiving. She added that some of their most popular orders include a “long and low mix of candles and autumn flowers.” For any budget, large or small, Sullivan assured that Durocher can provide to customers.

While many Thanksgiving orders have already been placed, Sullivan encourages customers to order ahead of time for a wider selection to choose from. “I think this holiday season will really be a resurgence of people truly shopping local,” said Sullivan. Due to the ongoing shortages, especially within the floral supply chain, she believes a local mom and pop shop is the best place for people to look for holiday essentials.

There are not too many businesses left that can turn around a handcrafted product and have it delivered within the day, in most cases, like a local florist can.

To place an order online, visit https://www.durocherflorist.com/ or call 785-5148. Orders can also be made in store. Durocher’s hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bouquets of the Valley – Easthampton

If you are trying to find gorgeous centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table, look no further than Easthampton’s Bouquets of the Valley. Owned by Linda Markee and Alisha Markee-Ala, this quaint floral shop is set in a two-family home on Holyoke St in Easthampton. Their business was originally in Granby, CT, before finding its way to Easthampton.

Bouquets of the Valley offer bouquets for any weddings, holidays and other occasions. “We are a small business kind of boutique, but we don’t have a walk in off the street kind of shop,” explained Linda Markee.  

The floral boutique is currently offering a Thanksgiving Pumpkin centerpiece. Their website describes it as, “a fresh sugar pumpkin filled arrangement with coleus, succulents, herbs, grasses, mums and fresh seasonal flowers or roses.”

Markee admits the pandemic has been hard on their floral supplies. “Flowers are more expensive and more difficult to source,” she said. “We try really hard to not pass that on because we also recognize that a lot of people, we love flowers, and we love people. So, we try to make it so that prices are reasonable.”

Being a boutique, Bouquets of the Valley strive to make each bouquet unique, but affordable. “We try to have beautiful designs and fresh flowers at a reasonable price because beauty shouldn’t be something that only the wealthy can afford,” said Markee.  

Bouquets of the Valley are currently taking pre-orders for their Thanksgiving centerpiece online and will be available for pick up or delivery Nov. 23 and 24. To order a bouquet visit https://bouquetsofthevalley.square.site/.

Forest Flowers – Northampton

The flower arrangements at Forest Flowers are always inspired by whatever season we are currently in. The floral design shop celebrates the seasonal shifts and changes within our lives and our environment.  

“Our arrangements are always inspired by the season, and we use color palettes to speak to that,” said Marisa Filippone, the owner and head florist of Forest Flowers. “Thanksgiving brings in warm autumnal colors with some deeper jewels tones and varied foliage and textures. We always try to highlight something unique for the holidays too, like introducing a seasonal berry texture.”

Aside from the shop, which is located on 25 Market St. in Northampton, Forest Flowers also has an online option where people can browse through and pre-order Thanksgiving flowers, garlands, flower subscriptions, plants, artist-made vases, candles, jewelry and gift certificates.

“We are currently accepting Thanksgiving pre-orders and, in the past, have sold out the day before the holiday so we recommend ordering as soon as you can reserve your holiday flower orders with us,” said Filippone.  

Forest Flowers, much like many small businesses in the country, was affected by COVID-19 over the past year and a half, especially when it came to their supply chain.

“COVID has significantly affected our supply chain, in the variety of flowers we can source, the price of the flowers and other supplies we use often,” said Filippone, adding that wedding season has been tough due to these reasons. “Certain styles of vases have been basically impossible to get at this point, but our mission has always been to honor the handmade and we currently have four local potters who create handmade vases and planters for us and are bringing in two new artists from the west coast this holiday season. Supporting other artists means a lot to us and is a huge part of what inspires us in our own work.”

To learn more about Forest Flowers and what it is all about, people can visit the store’s website, www.forest-flowers.com. The shop is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment. Delivery is seven days a week.

Knowles Flower Shop – Amherst

Knowles Flower Shop is an option for your flower needs this holiday season. Open Monday through Friday on North Pleasant Street in Amherst, the shop does flowers for any type of event and has a knowledgeable staff ready to assist customers when flowers are needed.

On their website they write, “Whatever the occasion, one of our talented designers will create a beautiful, eye-catching fresh or silk floral arrangement that’s customized just for you!”

Due to flower and vase ability, substitutions may be necessary. Visit knowlesflowershop.com or reach them at 253-3805.

One-Stop Shopping
Atkins Farm – Amherst

Atkins Farm Country Market provides high quality selections from locally produced and privately labeled goods, to conventional and seasonal products. With the upcoming holiday, the market on West Street in Amherst continues to be the place for all your Thanksgiving needs.

Reminder Publishing reached Jen Adams, marketing director for Atkins, to ask about the forecast for supplies for upcoming holiday meal preparations.

“Our produce manager, Andrew Ladas said that he believes we will have a nice supply of local squash and Massachusetts cranberries on hand for Thanksgiving.  This summer was challenging for many local farms, so there will most certainly be a short supply of some of the local vegetables that we have come to depend on for our holiday meals,”Adams said. “ [Local supplies of] underground crops such as potatoes and onions will be harder to come by due to all the rain we had back in July.  There will be plenty of apples and tree fruit for pies. Atkins grows several varieties of apples and we also carry many other varieties of Massachusetts and New England apples.”

When it comes to turkeys, the star of the Thanksgiving meal, Adams said Atkins has several sources.

“Folks should order ahead and order early, as there is a limited supply of local turkeys.  We also carry fresh Plainville Farms turkeys (not local) and we do not anticipate that there will be a shortage of those.  Plainville turkeys should be ordered ahead also. We start accepting orders on November 1st,” she said. When it comes to meats for Christmas meals, Adams was equally certain there would be plenty.

“Atkins butcher shop manager, Brian Crutch said he does not think there will be a shortage of hams, roasts or other beef for the holidays.  We carry beef from Boyden Farm in Vermont, as well as our Certified Angus Beef brand roasts.  We also carry some chicken and pork products from local farms.”

Gift baskets are another big item for Atkins at the holiday season, available for local delivery and in store pick up and are arranged and wrapped with a bow. Atkins Farm has been the Valley Advocate Best of the Valley Reader’s Poll Winner from 2018 to 2021 for their gift baskets.

For flowers, you can search through the Autumn Harvest Collection of bouquet designs and baskets. The delivery policy for flowers is same day deliveries are honored for surrounding towns but not for outlying areas. Orders placed after 3 p.m. will be delivered on the afternoon truck the following day. There is a morning truck which leaves at 9 a.m., and an afternoon truck that leaves at 1 p.m.

According to the Atkins Farm Corporate Holiday Order Guidelines, orders will be first come, first served. Local deliveries are made Monday through Saturday in the surrounding towns. For guaranteed shipping of grocery deliveries for the week of Thanksgiving, orders must be received by Nov. 8. Orders are generally filled within two to three business days.

You can order online at atkinsfarm.com or call them at 259-0298.

Sunderland Farm Collaborative –Hampshire/Franklin County

The Sunderland Farm Collaborative is a group of local farmers who teamed up to offer products in an online marketplace.

Members of the collaborative include Sunderland’s Thomas Farm, Kitchen Garden Farm, Riverland Farm, Warner Farm D.A. Smiarowski, Full Kettle Farm, Little Brook Farm, Reed Farm and C&C Orchards; Queen’s Greens, Simple Gifts Farm and Old Friends Farm in Amherst; Bardwell Farm and Prospect Meadow Farm in Hatfield; Full Kettle Farm, Ground Up Grain, Carr’s Ciderhouse, Joe Czajkowski Farm/Lakeside Organics, Apleline Farm, Mi Tierra Tortillas, North Hadley Sugar Shack,  Winter Moon Roots, Ziomek Farm and Esselon Coffee Roasting in Hadley, Grace Hill Farm in Cummington; Easthampton’s Little Truc; River Valley Farm in Whately; Woodstar Cafe in Northampton; and YUP Coffee Roasters in Florence.

The collaborative offers home delivery to Sunderland, Whately, Hatfield, Deerfield, Greenfield, Turners Falls, Montague, Amherst, Belchertown, Northampton, Florence, Easthampton, Hadley, South Hadley, and Holyoke and four pickup locations in Sunderland, Leverett, Easthampton and Northampton. The Sunderland Farm Collaborative accepts SNAP and Massachusetts Health Incentives Program (HIP) benefits. Contact them with EBT payments at hellow@sunderlandfarmco.com as they cannot be processed online.

For more information, visit https://sunderlandfarmcollaborative.localfoodmarketplace.com/Index.