Maxine: The days, weeks and months continue to speed by. I spend most of my days quietly at home listening to music, reading and occasionally working on a puzzle. Brenda and I had a quiet Christmas together enjoying a favorite meal of stuffed pork chops and working on a Christmas puzzle. Nigel (South Farm Christmas Trees) gave us a beautiful tree, Diane & Chuck from Apple Hill Farm sent up chocolates (my favorite) and our employee, Elaine, knitted a cute mouse to sit under the tree. We hosted our family Christmas celebration over the New Year’s weekend.
My 91st birthday was low key this year. I received several cards and we had a small family gathering. I also had a birthday celebration at Polly’s Pancake Parlor. In July, I kept my tradition of riding in the 1939 Fire Truck in Franconia’s Old Home Day Parade with Cliff. The truck made it half-way down the route before giving up! 
In August, we had our Gray family reunion with 5 generations present. My brother John, sister Flora, and sister-in-law Hilda represented the oldest generation with me. My sister Madeline wasn’t able to attend that day.
This year I was able to enjoy lupine season and fall foliage with a few drives, both were beautiful. I continue to feed the birds and enjoy the variety that visit. I have a pair of Cardinals; but right now the Blue Jays have taken over the feeders and the other birds have to wait.
My son, Bob & Patty: Both are still working but retirement is coming. Patty celebrated her 49th year at her bank. In addition to visits to Sugar Hill, they enjoyed vacationing in Myrtle Beach with their kids and grandkids while at granddaughter’s dance competition. This fall, they spent two weeks touring Italy: Gaeta, Rome, Tuscany, Florence & Venice.
My son, Steve & Nancy: Steve and Nancy are busy with work, family and friends. Victoria has moved into her new home near them. Logan continues his electrical training. Jake works with Steve at Granite State Development Corp. Will is a freelance sports writer in Pittsburgh and Tommy is a senior at high school, looking at colleges.
Cliff: I continue to deliver to our NH business accounts, like Cardigan Mt Country Store and Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant. This holiday season, Carl and I will pack your orders along with Michael and Harper. On weekends or busy days, you often find Pauline at the cash register or helping out where ever she’s needed. In free time, I keep busy mowing lawns and we both enjoy our garden, Pauline is great with flowers. We went to a few Red Sox games, still waiting for them to win. This past winter, we spent a month in Florida; enjoying walking on the beaches instead of shoveling snow.
Brenda: I realized that last year was my 25th Holiday season at Harman’s! That milestone snuck up on me. I’ve been busy at the store, as navigating a small business isn’t always easy, especially as I grow older. I tried to have a garden but the weeds took over, except for my containers of peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. Friends gave me vegetables, so I did make pickles and relish to restock the pantry. I took a short vacation with my former housemate, Judy. We visited friends in Montana and Saskatchewan. We also toured Yellowstone where I met a few Harman’s customers from New Hampshire and Vermont. Wearing a New Hampshire shirt is a good conversation starter when you are traveling!
Harman’s News: It’s been a busy year at Harman’s. The Solar Eclipse came in April and we saw unbelievable traffic in our area as the world came to Northern NH and Vermont for totality. In June, the lupines bloomed beautifully and folks came to enjoy the views. This autumn, again, hundreds of people came to our area for the fall foliage.
In the store, we’ve seen prices go up for products, services, insurance and shipping costs increased – both to us and to you. It’s a balance to offer you the best price while making sure there’s enough to pay the bills.
Several of our suppliers discontinued certain products due to cost of production, like Indian Pudding, certain mustards and a few preserves. We added a couple new cheeses this year. Sugarbush Jalapeno and Cayenne Pepper Cheese has been very popular as it’s not too strong with a great balance of heat. We also added Crowley’s Smoked Garlic Cheddar Cheese since some of smoked cheese varieties are no longer available.
Employee News: Harper and Michael graduated from High School in June and both decided to work a year at Harman’s before pursuing their chosen careers. It’s a blessing to have them working here. In September, we were thrilled when Elaine had a gorgeous, perfect day for her outdoor wedding to Tom. And we were all thankful that minimal damage took place at Gail’s home in Florida. Gail works for us from June to October.
Our holiday crew of Carl, Cliff, Colleen, Elaine, Harper, Jen, Jill, Kathy, Nancy, Michael, Pauline, Wanda, and Brenda were challenged last year. We lost power 2 days in a row and then Covid decimated the team until only Jen, Wanda and Brenda were left. Wanda and Jen had never packed packages before, but learned quickly.
A big thank you to my cousin, Brian, for driving our packages to the UPS hub at 7 pm (so we could keep packing after UPS picked up the day’s packages). We stuffed his vehicle full and some nights I was sure they wouldn’t fit but we always got all the packages. in. Thanks, too, to my friend, Amy, who helped us wrap.
The team still managed to cut and wrap over 7,000 pounds of Cheddar; and pack and ship over 2,120 packages! Dawn’s Holiday cookies and Carl’s crock-pot lunches kept us going! Covid didn’t win but it was close!
The Holidays: We gift wrap and include gift cards (or your cards) to give a personal touch to your gifts. Place your order via the webstore, by e-mail, in person, or by phone. By phone, please call and leave your number; we will call you back to take the order. Order early, there are only 3 shipping weeks between Thanksgiving & Christmas.
Order by December 3rd for delivery before Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s Eve
If you miss the deadline, we try to get your order out as soon as we can and it might make it for the holidays. We post Shipping Updates on our website. You can check how close we are to your order by the date that your order was received by us.
Newsletters and Annual Letter: There are 3 ways to receive our newsletters and a notification of our spring sale, which is when we will offer 5-year and 10-year aged Cheddar.
By E-Mail: Sign up at the bottom of this page.
By Mail Post: Contact us by phone, mail, or e-mail to stay on the mailing list.
On our Website: View in the “Our Story” and “Current Newsletter” sections.
We wish you a Happy Holiday Season and the time to enjoy it!
– Maxine, Brenda and Cliff Aldrich
Order by November 20th
Receive a FREE pound of Harman’s Cheddar.
We will add the gift cheese to the order you specify.
Limit: 1 per customer
No coupon code needed.