Stephanie Green prepares sandwiches for customers  at Westward Orchards. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Some of the most popular items at the Westward Orchards Farm Store on Mass. Ave. are blueberries and chicken salad in July, peaches and chicken salad in August, and apples, corn, plums, and chicken salad in the fall. Chicken salad?

While every year Harvard townspeople seek out Westward Orchard’s own seasonal fruits, berries, corn, and pumpkins, a loyal lunch crowd comes for its variety of sandwiches and soups enjoyed on the farm store’s covered porch.

“Chicken salad is the most popular,” said farm store manager Stephanie Green, who offers a specialty chicken salad enhanced with a variety of herbs and other ingredients that vary from day to day. Another popular choice is the BLT.

“Everyone likes the new breads we have this year,” added Stephanie’s mother and business partner, Karen Green.

The recently enhanced large, covered porch offers a place to enjoy the store’s breakfast, lunch, and coffee offerings. It also hosts Sunday afternoon bluegrass jams during September and October.

“Players just show up,” Stephanie explained. “We can have from two to 12 different groups on any Sunday.”

The Westward Orchard Farm Store is located on Mass Avenue. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Karen Green wipes down tables as customers enjoy lunch on the porch of Westward Orchards Farm Store. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

In addition to produce, grocery staples, and lunches, the store offers many gift items such as these wooden cats. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

People drawn to Westward’s fall apple-picking, hayrides, pumpkin-choosing deliberations, and make-your-own scarecrow opportunities will also find hot apple crisp with ice cream and a large selection of gift ideas.

Growing up, Stephanie always knew she wanted to be part of the family orchard. After college and an internship at Idylwilde Farm in Acton, Stephanie returned to her first love, the farm store that she runs with her mother and her aunt, Gail Conlin. Her brother Chris has also returned to help their father Don manage the orchards. Sister-in-law Keri Green helps out in the store on weekends.

“I love it and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. We all work so well together,” commented Stephanie about being part of the fourth-generation family-owned farm that Karen and Gail’s grandfather, a Cambridge-based architect, purchased for growing vegetables. Their father, Bill Herman, who, like Stephanie, envisioned a life on the farm, built the small farm stand into a successful orchard business.

Harvard was once a significant supplier of apples across the East coast. Today, competition from orchards in the Pacific Northwest, China, and South America threaten Harvard’s orchards and the rural landscape Harvard people so appreciate.

“If every family in Harvard stopped and made one purchase a year, the orchards would survive,” orchard manager and co-owner Don Green is known to say.

People value the orchards’ rural character, but forget that the orchards depend on people also valuing their produce.

With her mother and her aunt’s help, Stephanie Green’s goal is to keep the farm store an essential part of Harvard by providing not just seasonal fruits, but also daily staples (milk, bread, eggs, and fresh vegetables), specialty cheeses, a large selection of gifts, and an open-air gathering place to share a meal with friends and co-workers.

For more information about Westward Orchards’ produce, seasonal events, and hours visit www.westwardorchards.com.