By Sean Mccarthy
Eagle Times Correspondent
CLAREMONT, NH — Jean LeClair’s farmstand may appear to rival The Corn Shack, but don’t let them fool you. To brother and sister, selling corn is all part of the fun.
“This is a family-owned farm,” said LeClair, who started her farmstand, LeClair Farms, after her first grandchild was born. She owns the operation with her husband, Gary, who handles the crops. “We keep our prices reasonable, probably lower than most farm stands. It’s not our main income, so we try to give people a reasonable deal.”
She explained how everything they sell comes to the farm from a family member or nearby neighbor. Maple products come from her son, Mark, while her nine-year-old granddaughter bakes fresh zucchini bread. Honey is sourced from a different brother in Vermont, and ice cream comes from Sanctuary Farms, who was also their veterinarian for 40 years.
Their dairy farm contributes to Cabot Creamery (a proud badge of honor for LeClair), who spends every morning milking her cows. However, it’s her corn that she claims folks rave about.
“I have the best corn in town,” she said.
On the southside of the city and bordering the Connecticut River, Ellsworth Putnam from The Corn Shack also doles out bushels of corn regularly, rivaling LeClair’s sales.
His sweet corn, which can be found at several locations as well as the farmstand on Windsor Road, is well-loved. In fact, it has been for years.
“Everyone asks, ‘How many ears of corn do you sell?’ I always reply, ‘thousands and thousands,’” explained Putnam. “I have customers that are still coming, that were coming 20 years ago.”
Everything Putnam sells is hand-picked by him personally. He still lives on his farm, along with his wife and one daughter. He also has one son who still works with the family farm. In the winter months Putnam is a mechanic and works with snowplowing and sanding.
The siblings share the same reports on how agriculture will go the rest of the season: It all depends on the first frost.”
Both farms will stay busy until the end of October selling pumpkins and squash, while they caution that the tomato harvest has produced smaller fruit.
“This year has been especially challenging with the weather and everything,” LeClair said. “My peppers have been the best I ever had, I don’t know why, but they have done really well.”
The sibling duo agree their corn crops have done well due to planting in variable fields and staggering the planting dates. Some fields got wet, but the crop was good.
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