Highland Orchards Farm Market thrives with direct-to-consumers sales

WILMINGTON, Del. — Ruth Linton and her mother Elaine Linton are co-owners of Highland Orchards Farm Market in the Brandywine Hundred in New Castle County. The family owns about five-and-a-half acres at this site in North Wilmington. About four acres of the farm are open fields used to grow produce.
Elaine, at 94, is still active, according to Ruth Linton.
As a sixth-generation farmer, Ruth Linton grew up on the family farm, but she spent about 20 years away from farming.
“I worked as a museum curator and also worked at an art gallery in Colorado,” she said. “When my father died, though, I asked myself why was I so far away from my family. I moved back in 1996.”

Elaine Linton checks on one of the fig trees for Highland Orchards Farm Market. (Photos courtesy Highland Orchards Farm Market)

Highland Orchards grows vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers.
Crops are planted and harvested year-round.
“We have five heated high tunnels, plus one hydroponic house,” Ruth said. “We also have four unheated tunnels.”
Early this month, they were harvesting lettuce, turnips, radishes, beets, kale and Swiss chard.
In the weeks ahead, okra and tomatoes, among other crops, will be planted outside in the fields.
Almost all of the sales made by Highland Orchards Farm are direct to consumers.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the farm in a couple ways.
“Many people came to us because they wanted fresh produce that was locally-grown,” Ruth said. “We did better when the restaurants were closed. At our farm market, we limited the number of people who could come in at any one time. We also offered curbside service.”
Things have changed in the past year or so, as she said that “almost everyone now comes into the farm market, though we still offer curbside pickup for those that want that option.
“Farmers have to be good at business,” she added. “We have systems set up so we can maintain our profitability. You have to be aware of costs and price your products so that you can bring in the revenue needed to operate.”
Ruth said farmers today need to have a broad range of skills.
“You not only have to know what crops to plant and how to grow them, but you also have to be good at marketing as well as be knowledgeable about recalls, among other skills,” she said.
The family adds new items for sale on a regular basis, but only after they’re confident it will do well for them.
“If we come across something new,” Ruth said, “we’ll trial a small amount. Many times, it’s us doing research. We’ll go through seed catalogues to see what’s new and we’ll discuss if it might be something for us to try.”
In explaining the process that the family uses to determine what to grow at their farm, she stated that they evaluate potential crops in two ways.
“Number one, does the crop grow well in our soil and in our climate,” she asked. “Not everything grows well here. Number two, do our customers want it?”
She said if the answer isn’t yes to both of those questions, it’s pointless to grow the crop.
“We have to offer something different, something unusual,” Ruth said. “There are several supermarkets nearby, so we have to be different from what customers might find at a typical grocery store.”
An example of a crop that went through a trial at Highland Orchards Farm and has been added to its roster is Tokyo bekana. The farm tried a trial batch of this vegetable in the fall of 2022.
Ruth said it grew well at the site and customers liked the new item.
“It looks like lettuce,” she said, “but it’s actually part of the cabbage family. It’s fast-growing – a 45 to 50-day crop. It’s also very tasty. Our customers like it.”
The Lintons have had a farm market on the farm since the late 1940s, and started a Community Supported Agriculture Program in 2000.
“We work with several area farmers to add products at our market and through our CSA that we don’t grow ourselves,” Ruth said. “For example, we have local farmers provide us with sweet corn and potatoes. We even have bananas and oranges because we know our customers want a full selection of produce.”
Customers of Highland Orchards Farm are typically living within a ten-mile radius of the farm.
“We’re fortunate that we have a large population base in our area,” Ruth said.