Navy Yard Hospitality & Wilson Farms

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
For more than fifteen.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Years, this dining duo has been eating their way through
New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping behind
the line of the hottest restaurants and giving you the
inside scoop on where to wine, dine and spend your time.
So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving you something
to chew on.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought. Billy Costa here
and I've got my friend Charlie Lerner in studio who
is by the way Navy Yard Hospitality. Good to see you, Charlie.
How's everything going all right? Billy?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Thanks for having me in here today for the sake
of people listening.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Navy Yard to hospitality that includes what I know. You've
got Pier six I dock right next to it. Yep.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
We have a bunch of a bunch of waterfront restaurants,
and then we have Mihaw CANTEENA and Faniel Hall. But
it includes the Tall Ship in East Boston, Reelhouse in
multiple locations, Marina bay.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
O, yes, and I've been to all of them.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Seaport is a favorite, and Pier six. Of course you're
you're you're home away from home when you're not.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
I just walked right over. If I feel like a
quick drink, I walk over Pier six, get a great
view and a good cocktail. By the way, the cosmos
are excellent. I just want to throw that out there, Philly.
I have a question for you. Yeah, go So, I
love it when people ask me questions.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
I mean, so, we're both in the navy yard NonStop,
and I've noticed I.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Think you have the biggest boat in the navy yard.
Is that true? You know, I think it's true. Not
that I I'm not paying attention to it, but.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's got to be pretty luxurious hanging out on that
thing in one of the best views of the city.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, I remember there was one time my previous boat
you took the trip with me from Danversport to my
new boat home, which is Charlestown Marina, by the way,
number one marina in the nation. Yep, it did win.
That was Yeah. I had a chuck and and Legassie. So, yeah,
I don't know. I don't measure those things. Charlie.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, well, the reason I say it is because we
had our tall ship at Pier six for a short
period of time, and that was definitely bigger than yours.
So at one point, at one point, we had the
biggest boat in the navy yard.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, and you probably still do with the tall ship.
But it's not in the navy yard. It's over And
what's that pier called technically it's called Peer one.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, in East Boston Shipyard all right, I'm sorry, not the.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Eastposts and Shipyard, yet next to the East Boston Shipyard.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
It is the largest pier in the Boston Harbor and
we now operate the tall Ship Venue off that pier.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Wow, it's amazing and we got so much to talk
about it. I know you brought Hannah in who is
with the tall ship, and Courtney is here as well,
who's the event person for Peer six? And you always
have I see a lot of brunches there on Sunday.
I walk by with the dog and like bridle showers
and things like that. What a gorgeous place for that. Anyway,
we'll get to that. But you mentioned the tall ship, Charlie, Okay,

(02:56):
and that is an incredible story that to this day
I still tell people. Oh, let me tell you about
the tall ship, you know, because Charlie's a friend of mine.
You went. It came from Canada.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
It was a Canadian vessel. It was originally I'll give
you a little history of the tall ship, was originally
a fishing trawler and its name was I actually forget
the name for it, but anyway, it a person decided
that they wanted to make a tall ship out of
this fishing trawler and bought the vessel and spent a
lot of money turning it into a two masted vessel

(03:34):
tall ship and named it Caledonia. They sailed, They used
it as an expedition vessel and sailed around the world
and it eventually lost its wind as an expedition vessel
and we were able to acquire it and we brought
it from Canada down to Boston.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
You had it tugged.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
We had it tugged. It's a lot less insurance and
a lot less risk when you have it tugged. Really yeah,
it the tug company takes on all the risk. And
when we looked at the cost of sailing it, that
vessel requires twenty twenty people on the boat working to

(04:16):
transport that anywhere you go.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Did you take any part of the trip with the tugs.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
We started in Toronto where it was and we got
to get on the boat and stay in the harbor
up in Toronto, but we got off and flew home.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
And now the tall Ship is one of the biggest
happenings in Boston Harbor spring and summer. It's just an
amazing thing. It's always packed and you've got the what
do you call I always try to think the right
word for the big open space where all the food
trucks are and everything. So that promenade, what does that get?

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, so that's the pier and that's that's the main
venue portion of the ship. So the ship itself holds
three hundred people. We have a giant bar and an
oyster in an an oyster bar as well on the ship,
so three hundred people can fit on that vessel, and
the pier holds nine hundred people. And on that pier
we have different types of containers serving lots of different

(05:12):
options for food from tacos to oh yeah, clamshack to pizza.
We also have frozen drinks, and we have retail shopping.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And that's before you even get on the tall Ship.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yes, and we have we have a large tent that
holds lots of events.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
And private events, weddings. Do you do weddings under that tent?
We can, we can. We haven't done many, but we can.
Right on the ocean, right on the harbor. It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
It's one of the cooler spots to be in the
summer when you're in Boston.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
You know what else you have there is one of
the other truck vendors so to speak, that I don't
know if you realize every time I go I buy something,
you have great merch you know, well the trailer that
has the merchandise.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
You're sitting next to Hanna, who's in charge of all
of that merchandise.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Do you design the merch all the designs.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
And everything happen Yes, with our designer Rob.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Really, Now do you get that a lot? Because I
think you really have some good merch we do. Now
do you have a new line coming in a new
lineup coming in for this spring summer? I got to
tell you a secret though. Oh so so.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Hannah used to be part of all the march for
Cisco Brewers. And Jay Harmon, who's a good friend of mine,
owns Cisco, and we stole her from him.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
How about that Shay, we got her okay, and now
we have the merch I'm kidding, Okay, So we got
to take a break. We're going to break this down
because you have so many properties doing so many different things.
And when we come back, we'll talk about the tall
Ship with Hannah and all of the different events and
activities they're coming in. I know you get a lot
of bands, some of them big names, so we'll talk

(06:44):
about that, and we'll also talk about Peer six because
just the season. I know it's opened all year round,
but you have a lot going on in the spring
and summer, and then we'll talk about it in general.
What else is going to be happening because you're doing
a big event with the US Ski team. Am I
still a part of that? You're still a part of that? Okay?
You have it in your calendar. Oh, it's in my calendar.

(07:04):
We'll revisit that run after the show, but I'm definitely
gonna do it anyway. It's food for thought. Billy Costa here,
we've bet Charlie Lerner from a Navy yard bestro. We'll
talk about the tall Ship and about Pier six and
about everything else in Boston. Harbor. And also the people
from Wilson Farm are going to be coming by. They've
got something going on every holiday. We're not too far
off from Easter, by the way, one of their biggest

(07:27):
times of the year. So we'll take a break. It's
Food for Thought and we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel in sweets Hey.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Everybody, welcome back into Food for Thought Billy Costa. By
the way, Saint Patrick's Day weekend. This is a crazy
weekend in the city of Boston. The holiday of course, Monday,
and the parade today Sunday. And Hannah is with us
with Charlie Lerner and Navy Navy Yard Hospitality Group. Did
I say bestro earlier?

Speaker 3 (07:57):
We used to love the Navy Yard Beastross, so I
take out of the compliment.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
I miss it. It was yeah, okay. Anyway, Hannah tall Ship,
here we go. Give us the light up. What's going
on there this spring and summer.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
We're gonna have We're opening in April April nineteenth, and
we're gonna have live music every Saturday and Sunday from
two to five. So that's going to be starting in
April all the way through August.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Now, while the band is playing, people get to go
to all the different places to get food, and the
food trucks and everything else. How do you decide like
who's in the I'm going to call it pavilion, who's
in the pavilion, and who gets to go on the
tall ship when it's really busy.

Speaker 4 (08:34):
The tall ships first come first served, so you can
reserve lounges. You can go on this ship, but once
the ship reaches capacity, everyone else is on the pier.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
And what time does the tall Ship open? Typically say
on a Saturday or Sunday eleven am eleven am. And
that means the pavilion's open too, when all the food
trucks are open.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yep, everything open.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Now do you get a lot of big groups of
people that want to come and reserve a spot? I
think you have lounges that you can reserve separately, right,
we do.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
All of the lounges can reserved on our website, which
is It's tall Ship Boston dot com.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
And what does the lounge include?

Speaker 4 (09:06):
It includes a cocktail server, You get a bunch of couches, tables,
you can have bottle service with champagne and wine.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
What's gonna be My next question is their bottle service.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
You can order bottles of wine, Magnum's, buckets of beer, Seltzers.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
There you go. You never want to have bottle service
in Southeas during the Saint Patrick's stay. I think they've
got their hands full. Why over there, I'm just why
Saint Patrick's date weekend? Give me some more stuff on
the tall ship this season? So can I talk?

Speaker 3 (09:34):
We have a big event coming up this summer June eighteenth.
We are holding a fundraiser for the US Olympics. Oh yes,
so the US Ski Team. I don't know if people
are aware of this, but going to the Olympics isn't
funded by the government. So yeah, so the government doesn't
fund Olympians going to the Olympics.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Olympians pay their own way.

Speaker 3 (09:57):
So there's donors and groups that help raise money, one
of them being the US Ski Team Foundation.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Okay, so we're going to help out.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
The US Ski Team Foundation this year and we're going
to throw a fundraiser on the East Coast. It'll be
the East Coast Fundraiser for the US Ski Team. It's
going to be on June eighteenth. We will be selling
tickets to get on the pier and be part of this.
We're bringing a ton of Olympians to the pier. Okay,
what's this date again? June eighteenth. And there's rumors that

(10:26):
Mikayla Shiffrin, who is the most winningest gold medal list.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Oh my god, I can't believe. You know how much
we talk about Mikayla Schiffrin on the morning show on
Kiss because a Lisa has an obsession with her, And anyway,
long story short, we talk a lot about McCain. So
as of now, she's she's supposedly coming.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
They don't get to finalize their schedule until the season's over,
their summer schedule, but she does want to be there.
We're working on Lindsay Vaughan, We're working on We're working
on all the big names. So it's going to be
this really fun event. All the proceeds of the event
are going to go to our is the USK Team
Foundation to help all of these athletes, athletes get over

(11:03):
to the Olympics and this February twenty.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Six Now, how can people can people the general republic,
I'm guessing they just buy their tickets and they go.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
H yeah, So we're gonna have it on We're going
to have it on the tall Ship Boston dot com website.
We're also going to have it on our social media pages,
which is tall Ship Boston or Navy Yard Hospitality.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
And we're talking live band and everything.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
We're talking live band. Brian Scully, Dalton and the Sheriffs
will be there playing. We're working on a secret band
that we'll also play. We haven't figured out exactly who
it is, but an we're going to have we're looking for.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
You know, this is going to be a while factor
for the city of Bustin. Wow.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know fireworks will be going off. You know, it's
one of those types of events.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Are you going to have fireworks or is that just
like a all right, billy, you're going to be there, if.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
You've already there, I'm gonna if you're if you're going
to make sure you're there, I'm gonna make sure we
have fireworks.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Okay, Now you mentioned Mikayla Shiffern. Is there a chance
or Lindsey Uh, when we get closer to the event,
can we at one or the both of them to
call into the billion Liasa warning show or something. I
think we can probably maybe even a couple of weeks
in advance to.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
I think we can line that that shouldn't be an
issue to line up throughout the morning.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Right, Okay, the event. Now, you mentioned Dalton and the Sheriffs.
You know, one of my best friends from high school,
his nephew was in Dalton and the Sheriffs. Oh, who
is it? Don't ask me that?

Speaker 4 (12:19):
Why?

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Why did you have to ask me? I was just
making a statements. Okay, I don't know. I don't know.
All I know is every time Dalton and the Sheriffs
are doing something, my high school buddy John calls me
and say, hey, you got to check out Dalton.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
I feel like they're one of the best bands because
you have them a lot, We have them a lot.
They're very close to us. I consider Brian like family
at this point. But I mean, really, when really cool
things happen in the city of Boston, championships or anything,
they're there. They're they're representing. I feel like they represent Boston,
and that's this is one of those events in the

(12:51):
city where you know, I feel like there's a few big,
really big events that happen in the city. This is
going to be one of them, and we're excited to
have them.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
And another one of your major places is a Peer six,
which as it happens, is Peer six in Charlestown. And
so Courtney, you're in charge of everything that goes on
at Peer six. So talk about the season once it
officially kicking in terms of warm weather and events and
things like that.

Speaker 5 (13:15):
So we're starting to see an uptick in you know,
inquies right now. So we do a lot of personalized events.
So I take care of a lot of you know,
wedding stuff, engagements, bridal parodies, baby showers, what have you.
People love to do that on our patio space, it's beautiful,
gorgeous view of the harbor when the sun's out, it's
just amazing.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
It's awesome vibes.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
So besides that, we also take care of a lot
of in house events. So we've been spending you know,
this winter season, the downtime we have right now, kind
of putting that together and we're getting ready for a
really fun season with really cool events that we want
to invite all of our patrons to. One of them
being our pig Roast event. We threw that last year.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Let's talk about the piroast. That's part of the legend
at Peer six, right, the pig roast, it's like a legendary.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
I would say it's our best event for the season
and we have the biggest turnout. And who doesn't like
a pig roast?

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, and mark me through what happens at the piroast
A roasting pig, Right, So I like.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
To do, you know, put a theme to it. So
we do it kind of a Luau type deal, so
we get you know, maybe a rum brand involved, and
we you know, create a nice cocktail of menu for
the guests. We'll sell a ticket which would maybe include
the drink ticket, your access to all this fun food.
We'll do you know, themed food as well, like Hawaiian
Polynesian based along to go along with the you know,

(14:33):
pig roast.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
What's the date of the past.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
We don't have a specific date yet, but we're going
to push for the end of June, maybe third week
in June. We want it to be obviously warm weather outside,
a beautiful night so people can come by. Maybe we'll
have some live music to this year, which would be
a great touch. We do encourage you know, dressing up
for the event Hawaiian shirts. We'll have lays that we
give to people. We did a raffle last year which
is really fun and a nice touch as well. And

(14:56):
overall we just want people to come in and enjoy
the space and kind of off for something that we
don't normally do.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know what and boaters out there who might be
listening might use this as a weekend kind of a
getaway because there's a marina right there at Pier six
and I'm guessing they do save some of the spots
Jolley for trangent slips.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
They do, but do you know the cool thing too
about they do and it's great for our voters to
come into Pier six. We have don't forget about Boston
Launch Company where the water shuttle boats that we have
and we transport people around the harbor. So you could
actually be in any neighborhood of the harbor and you
could go to Boston Launch Company dot com and and

(15:36):
see the schedule of when you can get over to
the Pier six. But they run all day long every day,
so it's easy to get there from any part.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Do you still have the launch that takes people back
and forth to Reelhouse.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yeah, so that is the launch, but it goes everywhere
in the harbor. Now, oh, it's not just it's not
just to Reelhouse in Pier six. It actually wants to
every neighborhood in the harbor and we pick people up.
So if you're in the seaport and you want to
come over to Peer six, it's a step away. And
if you go down to the docks, you'll find you'll see, uh,

(16:05):
there's signage that allows you to scan barcodes and figure
out how to get And you have two.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Real houses, one right there in East Boston the mouth
of the Harbor and one at Marina Bay. And we
have the real House Oyster Bar that's on Fan Peer
in the seaport. Everybody I mentioned the Real House Oyster
Bar right away they say, oh, the pizzas there is amazing.
How do you have amazing pizza and an oyster bar.
Pizza is so important. It's it's Neapolitan pizza.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
So yeah, so it's you know, super thin floppy with
a great, great crunchy crust. It's it's one of the
I think it's one of the most important things that
we we sell at the Oyster Bar. I mean, who
doesn't like pizza and oysters.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
In a minute or less? How would you compare the
menu at Pier six to the menus at Real House?
Either one of you, well, so the how would you
compare them?

Speaker 3 (16:53):
You have Italian seafood menu at Pier six, and you
have that's the inspiration over at at Reelhouse. It's a
flare of like i'd say, Asian, Italian and.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Seafood. And whether you're go into either Reel House or
the Pier six, any of those three locations, you will
likely have one of the best views of Boston Arbor
and the city skyline. I don't know how you nail
that down, Charlie, but man.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
One of the cool things we're doing at Reelhouses this
summer is we're gonna be doing sushi. So we have
a brand new sushi chef and we're gonna have sushi
on all the money.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
That's breaking news right there, aj breaking news. Sushi. Come
in Real House, Charlie, Courtney, Hannah, thanks for coming in.
Say hi to everybody for me, and I'll see you
out at Pier six most likely maybe even this afternoon
for a cosmo. I mean it is no, it's not Friday,
is it No, In fact, it's Sunday. Okay, Well, take
a break, we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sailing Waterfront Hotel in Swedes.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Hi. Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa
still hanging out here. And again I want to thank
Charlie and Courtney and Hannah from Navy Yard Hospitality, which
includes Peer six, the Real House two locations Marina Bay
and the East Boston. He's got Mia at Fanuel Hall.
I think he's got one at the airport as well,

(18:22):
and the tall Ship right in Boston Harbor. And now
we've got my friends from Wilson Farm here. Good to see.
Scott and Laren, welcome back. Thank you for having us.
And so we were standing outside a couple of minutes
ago and you ran into the Wilson Farm, I mean
the Charlie and his crew and the Scott. You were

(18:42):
blown away that Charlie was here because you go to
all of his places all the time. Oh yeah, yeah,
and uh for a few years now.

Speaker 6 (18:50):
It's uh, he's got awesome places between the Real House
and Peer six. I think that's where we spent most
of our time and most of our money recently.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
And when you take a look, all of its properties
have some of the best views of the city of Boston,
the harbor and the skyline anyway, magical places. Saint Patrick's
Day weekend is this Wilson Farm? Is this considered one
of the super Bowlish events? Oh? I don't know if
I call it super Bowl Irish. Be careful how you
answer that we are of Irish heritage.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
By the way, Scott and law our father daughter will
get into that too. I don't know how you guys
do it, but.

Speaker 6 (19:28):
Pretty reasonably large. Weekend's a good holiday. It's sort of
like the playoffs. Not quite the super Bowl, but you
all like a playoff holiday rounds, early rounds. Yeah, yeah,
it'll be great though, it'll be good. We are ready
to go with all kinds of our Irish ancestry.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Exactly.

Speaker 7 (19:44):
We have we we have corned beef that we already
have out and shamrocks. Of course, you can't have Saint
Patrick's Day without some clovers.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Didn't I just have a piece of Irish bread?

Speaker 7 (19:56):
You did that Irish Irish so exactly. I think we
gave you one without the caraway seeds. That was my request.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
I love the seeds. I'm so sorry. If you like.
I don't think it need seeds, agree, I don't know it. It
does either needs irish butter. It does need some to
die for some irish butter. Yes, very quickly, and it's
a short segment. We'll go to break and we'll come back.
We've got plenty of time to talk. Is there one
single item at Wilson Farm? How long in business?

Speaker 6 (20:25):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Eighteen eighty four, one hundred and forty years. One years now,
one hundred forty one. We officially made it? Really God,
you a while? I look good, don't I? Eighteen? You
look fabbinous Hairscott. Okay, now we have to take the break.
But when we come back, I want to know the
one item that you're still most famous for at Wilson

(20:45):
Farm in Lexington. Will take a break. It's food for Thought.
I'm Billy Costa and we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale in Waterfront Hotel and sweets.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's food for the I'm Billy
Costa here and I've got my good friends from Wilson
Farm here. Always a pleasure to see Scott and Lauren.
Did I mention father daughter? I think right before the break?
How do you pull this off? Lauren? Have you always
been a part of the company. I was not. I
left for a little while.

Speaker 7 (21:17):
I was attorney in Boston, and then I actually came back.
I chose this life, I know, which is shocking to
most people.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
It really is.

Speaker 7 (21:26):
You know, I would say we do really well, except
for right now we're sharing an office.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
That part I would say, you could probably it already
ruined it for me. I had my own office. Yeah,
you all have stuff that was in that section of
the office. Oh, now I am, but you have a
damn farmland over there. I am in a corner of
the office. Kicked him out a little bit your office,
Lauren and Scott gets to work out it kind of

(21:53):
an inter Yeah, he's an interloper in there. But but
it doesn't hurt to have a lawyer in the business, Huh,
it doesn't. It depends if I go against him.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
So now it's been unbelievably great, and it took me
a while. In a lot of negotiating at Lauren back.
Lauren started of course, when she was about six years
old working for the farm, right, you know, pay him
a quarter an hour and they would be there back
in spint's like I did when I was five years old.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Be quiet and take what you get exactly you're lucky
to get any more. When I was a kid, anything
I made, I had to bring home and give it
to my father, and then he'd tell me whatever I
could have out. He called it paying the freight. You're
going to live under my roof, You're going to pay
the freight. I wish it was still that way. So
I asked you the question before the break, is there

(22:41):
one particular item or thing or pastry or food item
that still is the most in demand or famous item
at Wilson Farm in Lexington. Well, we might have two
different opinions. What's your opinion?

Speaker 7 (22:58):
So I'd say, you know, this is more recent, this
is definitely not since eighteen eighty four. But our chicken
pot pies every single week they are on our top
cellar list, and not just on the you know, the
top fifty. They're within the top ten every single week
pretty much.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
No matter what, and what makes yours so special, we.

Speaker 7 (23:18):
Make them ourselves. They're homemade in our bakery department. We
you know, roast the turkeys, we roast the chicken, we
break up the meat, we add all the vegetables, and
then there are biscuits on top, and it really does
feel homemade.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
I actually had one last night. I went home and
I was like, I just need something homemade. I was like,
I'm faking it. Here we go, grab and go. I'm
going home be a chicken potpie exactly. I put in
the oven for about ten minutes. I was like, here
we go, and is that all? It takes ten minutes
and you get a chicken pot pie? You have us beautiful? Yes,
it does, do'ts it? How many generations Wilson farm? Because
you mentioned the eighteen hundreds, were you kidding?

Speaker 6 (23:52):
So no, of course, eighteen eighty four, my great grandfather
came over our your great my great grandfather came over
from Enniskill in Ireland, and there was some family in
and around the Boston area as there is, and he
decided to land in Lexington. They rented an acre two

(24:13):
acres of land and from then you know, we've been
doing ever since and we are currently on the sixth generation.
Although I don't really think Michael, Lauren's son who's two
years old, is.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Ready for work yet he tried. Lauren is fine.

Speaker 6 (24:28):
Michael is with us every day, comes to visit, sits
at my desk and throws me out.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
So now I've got no desk. Literally, got your daughter
Lauren in the office and her son, Mike, another member
of the extended family, could order you out. And he
comes in. He's two years old.

Speaker 6 (24:44):
He's like my desk, So I am just I am
looking to play golf with you.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
I'm ready. So it started with an acre or two
in Lexington. How many acres now Wilson Farm.

Speaker 6 (24:54):
Well, in Lexington we have thirty three thirty four acres
where we have our flagship store so to speak. And
we have another piece of property in Lexington that we farmed.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
That's eight eight acres plus minus.

Speaker 6 (25:09):
But really where we do most of our growing for
our native stuff is in Lichfield, New Hampshire, which is
five hundred acres.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
I'm sorry you want to roll that back, did you say?
In addition we have another five hundred acres. We have
some beautiful land.

Speaker 6 (25:26):
Thank god that my father and my uncle I'm back
in the seventies had the foresight that we can't expand
anymore in property in Lexington used there's nothing to buy.
So we found a beautiful farm and the farmer wanted
to retire and we started there in the seventies and
we bought Lichfield property.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
In retail store there too, there was but with COVID.

Speaker 6 (25:49):
We closed that one down and just used all the
produce from there to come down this way. We have
high hope someday of reopening it. It was a much
more seasonal farm stand. We would love to do some
pick your own up there someday and reopen it.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
And is there stuff that you can grow up in Lichfield,
New Hampshire that you can't grow in Lexington And if so,
what Yes?

Speaker 7 (26:12):
So a lot of our larger crops that take more
time and more space are growing in Lichfield just because
we have the space up there. So that's you know,
corn is a big one that we grow up there
because it takes acres and acres and acres and we
do so much of our own corn, whereas in Lexington
it's smaller crops that we can turn over more quickly, lettuces, herbs,

(26:33):
that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Okay, there's so much to talk about because you know,
you folks to operate in a large way seasonally, like
certain seasons bring certain business and so forth, and certain
things move faster in some seasons than they do in others.
So we got to take a break. We're talking to
my palace Scott and Lauren from Wilson Farm. How many generations?
Number six on the ground on the ground is that

(26:56):
the two year old?

Speaker 4 (26:57):
Ye?

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Two year old? He's not doing much yet? Does he
know what he's in for? We're hanging out with Wilson
Farm in Lexington. I know you're saying to yourself, Oh
my god, how foreign advance do I have to order
this or order that. We're going to give you all
the information you need because we have a lot of
important holidays coming up, so you can celebrate with Wilson

(27:18):
Farm and we'll do just that. We'll take a break
and we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale in Waterfront Hotel in swedes.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Hey. Everybody, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa
here and again. I've got Scott and Lauren, father daughter
team Wilson Farm in Lexington, which is a magical place,
and we talked about it is Saint Patrick's Day weekend.
But the biggies are all right around the corner for
you guys. And I think it all starts.

Speaker 6 (27:44):
With Easter, right Ah, yes, and no ill goot a
slide one in there.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, Passover? Oh right, this is why he's still here. Okay,
the only reason what would be some of the delicacies
for Passover? Oh, let's see number one. You have to
make sure.

Speaker 6 (28:05):
And we're Irish descent, so we don't know everything. So
we're still learning and we've gotten better here. But it
has to be kosher for Passover. Cannot just be kosher
kosher for Passover. Difference very important, which is very good
to know. And a lot of my friends Jewish descent
are are very helpful and I turned to them all

(28:26):
the time, and that's a lot of John.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
I'll what is what are we doing here? How can
we help?

Speaker 6 (28:33):
How can we have stuff for you that you're looking for?
So we have a lot of all the dishes, homatage,
Google google that type of thing, But a lot of
it is to do with root vegetables and root crops,
whether it be beets and carrots and things like that.
But we also have of course all the sweet delicacies

(28:56):
and things like that, and a lot of it has to.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Do also.

Speaker 6 (29:00):
With grocery items, borsched and things like that, grape juice,
things like that. So we have a full lineup. So
we skip ahead to the Easter, yes, because that's the
way we think. Also, but no, there's a big pause
right before Easter this year.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
I think, well, does man chevit still exists, Yes, in
a big way.

Speaker 6 (29:18):
So you have that you do have a liquor license right,
well yeah, no, So so the answer is no.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
But here's the deal.

Speaker 6 (29:27):
We have built the farm stand so that in the
future we could do a liquor area and so maybe
Laurens thoughts on that one.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yes, oh we would love to.

Speaker 7 (29:40):
So there there are some liquor licenses that we've heard
of that have been just been released in Lexington. So
we are hoping very very strongly that we can obtain.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
One of those. Get right now wine tasting wine. Wouldn't
that be fun? I know?

Speaker 6 (29:56):
I know that's when I retire and just to the wine,
you're you get a pay.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Co No, I just trade a few of those acres
up in New Hampshire for a seriously okay, So there's
Passover and here comes Easter and then Easter. What are
the big highlights of Easter? For Wilson big highlights of Easter?

Speaker 7 (30:20):
So it's definitely about family, tradition and food that comes
along with that. So you have liamb you have ham
and you have all of the side dishes which you
know we have already made and we have available if
you want to put it together yourself. And then a
big one is we also have the Easter Bunny that visits,

(30:40):
which is a nice promotion for us too.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yes, the Easter Bunny, you get the Easter money.

Speaker 7 (30:46):
Were connections, we have connections here.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
We are an impressive group. Yes, we met him on
the boat, he took the trip over. Okay, So what
other treats and delicacies do we need to know so
people can start planning in advance for Easter. So Hams
have to be big hams. Hams are big. And then

(31:10):
there's the egg bread.

Speaker 7 (31:11):
That you've already started planning over there, the bread that
has the eggs, decorted eggs all throughout it. That's a
big one that our bakery still does that and hot
Cross buns also.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
The bread with the eggs. That's a good thing to
bring to somebody's house if you're going for Easter dinner,
it is a great thing. Now do people come to
Wilson Farm as well if they just want to cater
the whole thing? Absolutely? So with the with the.

Speaker 6 (31:35):
Catering thing, so to speak, I will say that our
kitchen now we have a small kitchen with thirteen employees
in it with a master chef of France, Raymond, ust
do a phenomenal, phenomenal job, and it was very difficult.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Change is hard.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
Twenty some odd years ago when I brought to my
father and uncle at that time that we should be
doing prepared foods, and what I put them how I
convinced them that this was a good idea to do
prepared foods. Wasn't saying that when we started this farm out,
someone would buy fifty pounds of butternut, bring it home

(32:15):
and keep it in the refrigerator or their cellar whatever. Yeah,
I mean, we're here one hundred years now and they
would prepare butternut squash as they needed. Then we moved
ahead twenty years or so and we peeled it for them,
and then that way they didn't have to peel it,
and they buy less at a time, but they would
peel it and have it peeled, and then we moved
ahead another twenty or thirty years and we cook it

(32:36):
for them. It's still the butternut we raise and grow,
but it's just served in a different way.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
But it's cooked and ready to go. Isn't that what
you do? Which is what our people want.

Speaker 6 (32:45):
Yeah, So we have this beautiful kitchen with an unbelievable chef,
and we will have sides that people come in and
get their entire from their appetizers all the way through
the dis So they order everything and then just come
and get it and bring it home and pretend.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
We word a certain thing.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
Other things they just come and pick up because they
know which we've created our own problems that we always
have stuff so they don't have to order, it'll just
be there for it.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
But when all is said and done, is there anything
left for your family celebrations?

Speaker 7 (33:12):
There always is, However, I will say there are many
stories of Thanksgiving Easter when my grandmother was cooking a
ham or a turkey, and we would sell our last
one at the farm, and my grandfather would come to her.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
House, take it out of her oven and.

Speaker 7 (33:27):
Give it to the customer because we had no.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
More left sales of sale. You know, give you five minutes,
I'll be right back and take it right on. Yeah,
my mother still tell us that.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
Sorry.

Speaker 6 (33:38):
My mother is now eighty eight years old going and
I think we hear that.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Story every week. She was a little bitter about it
obviously when it happened. You guys, big with flowers, really
big with flowers. A blip event, right, we.

Speaker 7 (33:54):
Do have it. And pick your own toulips is coming soon.
They're starting to pop out of the ground now. This
warm has helped a lot. That is usually the end
of April beginning of May, so it could hit just
around Easter, which is exciting and Easter pick your own
tulips that would be fun.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, bring the whole family. I didn't make it a
thing with the kids.

Speaker 6 (34:16):
The toolip thing is great. There's a couple of hundred
thousand tulips out there.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Oh is that all? That's all my dealing? Such big numbers. Okay,
Next up I think would be Mother's Day. Yes, holidays
and there. I think that's right. I miss any No,
I think you could. Okay, Mother's Day big one of
the big things for Mother's Day.

Speaker 7 (34:38):
Oh, now that that's Scott's favorite. He really likes Margarita, Miss.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Sinco to my Oh my god, are they pouring in
for Cinco to Mayo? And if so, I'm pouring too.
All Right, you know we got a hook up sometimes,
you know what, we would six have a couple of So,
all right, Mother's Day, big, Mother's Day is huge. It's

(35:02):
huge for our outdoor nursery area.

Speaker 7 (35:06):
We that's when we bring up most of our hanging
baskets and a lot of plants outside, so that's it's
really big, and caught flowers as well, but we especially
use it as a time to bring everything from our
greenhouse that we've been growing since January to upstairs.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
You know what, I love it. I talk about this
every year and I know people probably don't like it.
But you know, Mother's Day, you know, you have to
plan a restaurant reservation, like weekend weeks in advance. Right
Father's Day restaurants are empty, nobody's there's nobody making plans
for Father's Day. You know, it's to me, it's the
lost holiday, you know. So you know, my own kids

(35:45):
are out of town on father typically.

Speaker 6 (35:48):
The playoffs, you remember that we're not we didn't even
make the playoffs. It's like a nine o'clock game on
a Sunday, the last two teams playing.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
You know what, Scott, Father's Day will meet again. Maybe
that's my bitter pillow. Okay, so what comes out? I'll
skip over Father's Day because nobody's getting Dad flowers or Okay,
so after Father's Day it would be well, Memorial Day
is a big weekend.

Speaker 6 (36:14):
Oh okay, it's not necessarily a celebration, but for a
Memorial Day. For old timers like myself, Memorial Day was
always the day with the last frost. So when you're
thinking about planting your own garden, even though our climates
changed now, a lot of the people come in and

(36:35):
they still wait until Memorial Day to plant their tomatoes
and their peppers and things like that for their own gardens.
So Memorial Day weekend is still a big nursery weekend,
but it's also a food holiday, so we kind of
get both on the same weekend. It's spread out over
three days, so none of the days is crazy like individually.

(36:57):
So it's kind of nice for us because this room
to walk around and enjoy it and talk to the customers.
But you're selling all the hamburgers and hot dogs and
steaks and things like that for the grill. You're selling
all fish, corn and tomatoes and things for the salads,
but you're also selling products like plants and things that
they can play.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Okay, so with hit Memorial Day and we have to
move on from there, and we'll do that right after
the break. But I've got so many other questions. I
want to ask you. What's the price of eggs like
right now?

Speaker 4 (37:28):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (37:28):
For nothing? I heard they went down. I might have
that wrong, but I heard they went down. Anyway, it's
Food for Thought. I'm Billy Costa. We'll take a break
and we'll be right back with Wilson Farm. Stand by.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale, the Waterfront Hotel and Sweets.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Hey, guys, welcome back to Food for Thought. Billy Costa
here with Scott and Lauren from Wilson Farm. Just a
few minutes left. I did want to ask this question
with regard to the eggs that we mentioned quickly before
the break. Do you have in stores, so to speak,
a limitation on how many eggs a person can buy
in a certain period of time. We only did once

(38:08):
for a very short time, and now we're back to
regular okay, okay, and then back to the big events.
I think we ended with. We went to Mother's Day,
we went to Memorial Day. What's next? Labor Day? No
July fourth? No Father's Day? We were forgotten holiday. Nobody,
nobody's coming in if you want to do a campaign.

(38:29):
We're going after Father's Day, which doesn't exist anymore. What
would be the next one? July July fourth? For grilling
a lot of meat, grilling meats and stuff that goes
along with me.

Speaker 7 (38:44):
Can we even grill for the entire weekend ourselves outside,
which is kind of fun. It gives our employees something
to get excited about, gives us for something to get
excited about.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
We all get in the spirit. And I don't think
we were very clear. But in terms of large amounts
of food, if you're having a function or family gas
or whatever, people can do large orders and come pick
it up right they can.

Speaker 6 (39:05):
They talk directly to the kitchen, and the kitchen tries
to do whatever they possibly can towards that.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
But you don't delivery, you don't cater, so to speak. No,
not our business. It's a pick up thing, you know.

Speaker 6 (39:14):
But again we've spoiled I guess our clientele a little
bit because we have that available in big dishes right
out there all the time, and they like and they come,
you know, and it's nice for us and they come
in and they we have a delivery service that we
work with, Mikado, but it's nice to have them come.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
I did forget one thing. Yeah, I'm going to bring
it out now. We have our own holiday in the
middle of June, which is Strawberry Fest.

Speaker 6 (39:41):
So you have the things and thinking about national holidays
and and I'm like, well, what's the next one, Like, well,
Strawberry Fest.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
It's not national holiday. It should should be.

Speaker 6 (39:51):
It's very popular, but we do strawberry Fests and I'll
let Lauren talk about that since she runs all the marketing,
but it is a national holiday for us.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
It is, so it's right. We always hold it at the.

Speaker 7 (40:03):
Peak of our own strawberry season, so we grow around
strawberries in New Hampshire. They come down from Lichfield, New Hampshire,
directly to our store and we hold it when we
have the most strawberries coming out of the field and
we're harvesting the maximum amount, and so it's usually around
June twenty second ish around that timeframe, and it's Saturday
and Sunday, and we have strawberry products, strawberry games, strawberry

(40:29):
fun everywhere.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
We usually have a petting zoo that we do. My
favorite strawberries eating shortcake contest.

Speaker 7 (40:36):
Short yours look like they're.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Covered in with hi. There is no hands.

Speaker 7 (40:41):
You just put your face right in there. You've been strawberries.
Of course, so there is a prize.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
See that's the great thing about Wilson Farm. You can
go and spend a half day there, like I could.
I could picture going on a Saturday morning, night's day,
get to Wilson Farm early, have a cup of coffee,
maybe a piece of pastry, and then starts roaming around
the farm. Get some flowers, get whatever you need for
the house.

Speaker 7 (41:01):
Oh my, you can get lost ther and I guess
I do have breaking news.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
We're getting animals back. Yes this is brand new.

Speaker 7 (41:11):
Or Noah, alpaca even better.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Come on, I have a couple of elf pack of sweaters.
I don't tell you. There you go. We might have
to wear them. I'll get a dirty look from me. Yeah,
you might get spit on or something. We got to
take a break. There's so much going on at Wilson Farm.
I need to know where do people go for all
things Wilson Farm website to our website Wilsonfarm dot com

(41:37):
and there are pictures and videos.

Speaker 7 (41:39):
And every events coming up, specials, everything you could want
to know about us.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
An animal launch, like when they come back to Wilson Farm.
Is there a date or yes, yeah, we should have
you old your lack. I'm coming, I'm coming. I'm hanging
to the el packa Scott and Lauren. Great to see you,
Great to see you. Thank you so much for having
hello to our friends at Wilson Farm and that sit
up next sixty minutes