End of an era for Greniers; ran farm stand for 30 years

Roger and Joan Grenier sold the last of their farming equipment a few weeks ago, save two tractors that Roger plans to keep — after all, even though the owners of the popular Grenier’s Farm Stand & Bakery retired this year, they’ll still have to maintain their land.

Roger and Joan Grenier have owned Grenier’s Farm Stand for 30 years. Joan began the bakery 28 years ago. In its heyday, she had accounts with Mobil, Green Mountain Coffee Café and Visitor Center and various farm stores, but those were the first big accounts to go; for the last few years of the Greniers’ operation, Joan’s baking has been sold onsite only.

And it’s been well sought after, as have the vegetables Roger has grown on the 10 acres the couple owns.

The farm stand has featured sweet corn, pumpkins, winter squash, peas, potatoes and cucumbers, and this year, the Greniers made pickles.

Joan loved baking pies, Australian apple cake, whoopie pies, pineapple carrot cakes and cookies of several varieties.

The couple estimate 30 to 50 people per day stopped by at their farm stand, which was open “as soon as we could get strawberries” in mid-June through Oct. 31, Joan said.

Some days, 100 would stop by, Roger added.

The Greniers loved getting to know their regulars.

“It was fun. That’s what it was,” Joan said.

Roger, 69, and Joan, 66, met 40 years ago through mutual friends. Roger grew up on the property he still owns, though it was 178 acres then.

Joan grew up in Moretown.

“We’re both Vermonters,” she said.

Thirty-seven years ago, the pair got married. They have three children, Ryan, Allison and Megan, two of whom live close by.

Roger has a degree in dairy herd management from Vermont Technical College, and had a decades-long career as a dairy nutritionist for Poulin Grain and Agway.

Joan has always baked, and is looking forward to taking some time off.

“Now, I get to just relax,” she said.

The couple love to travel, and plan to go to Ireland later this year. Joan loves to read.

“I like mysteries with a little love thrown in,” she said with a smile.

Over the years, Grenier’s Farm Stand has grown considerably.

“Your overhead goes up every year,” Roger said. Advertising gets pricier every season. Grenier’s Farm Stand advertised in radio, print and word of mouth, the latter being the strongest, Roger said.

In recent years, the company hired high school and college students to work part-time during the summer, helping with the vegetable patches and manning the stand.

News of their retirement has caused dismay, Joan said.

The couple supplies the pumpkins for Stowe Elementary School’s annual jack-o’-lantern display on the steps at the Akeley Memorial Building every year, and school staff sent them a framed photo of a particularly dashing exhibit.

“Thank you for the wonderful pumpkins!” it read.

Another card thanked the Greniers for making a difference.

People have jokingly asked if the couple could stick around, Roger said.

“They want you to be there, but they realize you’ve got to move on.”

“There’s just a time for everyone,” Joan said. “They just thought it would always be here.”

Laura Parette, a friend and customer, calls the Greniers’ retirement “bittersweet.”

“Everyone deserves to retire and I’m excited for them at this time in their lives. Joan told me they intend to travel. I just hope they find good corn on their adventures,” Parette said.

“I know our community will miss their farm stand and Joan’s baking. Roger and Joan have provided seasonal, Vermont-grown fruits and vegetables for many years. Their own grown items, especially their corn, have always been a sweet addition to summer in Vermont.”

To Joan, retirement isn’t bittersweet at all, though she thought it would be.

She doesn’t think she’ll miss working.

“I used to love to bake,” but as the years wore on, it became more of a chore.

She will miss her customers.

“Just to see the people come with their children. They’d climb in on Roger’s tractors and it was really, really neat,” Joan said.

“A lot of them are customers now. They were little kids when they started coming in here,” Roger said.

“And they continued,” Joan broke in with a smile. “Most people are just so nice. I like the part where you know the person that you’re dealing with. … It was fun.”

A few customers in particular stick out in Joan’s mind.

One young man serving overseas in the military asked her to send him some of the farm stand’s whoopie pies, she remembered. It was illegal to mail food to where he was, so she wasn’t able to help him out, but when he came home, he made tracks right for the farm stand.

“He took a selfie with me so he could send it back to the guys that he was serving with. … I thought that was pretty neat,” she said.

The couple can’t wait to start their retirement travels, but for the time being, “we’ve got plenty to do right here,” Roger said.

“I’m ready to move on,” Joan said.

“We want to say thanks to the old customers who came for so many years,” Roger said. “We wish we could stay another 30 years, but we can’t.”