Brenda Aldrich

November 2022

Maxine:  Dear Friends, time still moves quickly. I keep my hand in the happenings at Harman’s by stuffing envelopes and stamping postcards from the comfort of my home. This spring, I switched from jigsaw to word puzzles, but the jigsaw puzzle table is set up with a difficult puzzle of my college, waiting for me.  It’s a puzzle of a black & white photo, so the pieces all look similar.   I fed a variety of birds, Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Finches, Woodpeckers and a squirrel or two.  The bears starting looking in our windows, so we stopped feeding all but the hummingbirds.

Brenda and Cliff drove me to Vermont for my June birthday and all my siblings were finally together for a visit. There are 5 of us now . . . the oldest is my sister-in-law, Hilda at 95; then me, my sister Madeline, my brother John, and my sister Flora.  I took my annual ride with Cliff in the Fire Truck for Franconia’s Old Home Day Parade.  In September; Cliff, Brenda and my college friend Jackie, went with me to Lyndon State College’s homecoming.  The Manor Vail Society honored me (and my friend Betty) by placing a plaque in the college museum to thank us for our dedication to the museum and recording its inventory.

Thankfully, we were able to enjoy family visits this year. We are looking forward to a full family gathering at Christmas. Here are some of my family’s highlights and then Cliff & Brenda add their updates to this letter.

Son Bob & Patty: Bob’s work processed Covid data for New York State.  Patty reached an amazing milestone, working 47 years for the same bank.  When the COVID restrictions eased up, they enjoyed spring bus tip to Boston to tour downtown, visit the aquarium and sample the cuisine of the North End.  This year, they opted to enjoy what New York State has to offer.  They visited western NY, the Finger Lakes region, and the state parks at Watkins-Glen and Letchworth.   They make time for their grandchildren.  Bella and Alissa are in high school and enjoy track.  Their brother, Weston is in 2nd grade and has an electric bike that keeps him going.  Their other grandson, Nolan in in 3rd grade and this fall, played baseball.

Son Steve & Nancy: Steve has been at Granite State Development Corporation, a non-profit lender, 28 years; and he’s my youngest child!  His wife, Nancy is busy keeping up with the family but finds time for 5:30 am outdoor workouts, 2 times a week (all year round).  Victoria started a new accounting job in Boston.  Logan will be starting electrical training at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in early 2023.   Jake is a Tech recruiter while taking Data courses and still is working remotely.  Will moved to Ohio this spring to be a MLB sportswriter for the Cincinnati Reds.  Youngest son, Tommy is in 10^th grade and just finished his soccer season and soon will start basketball.

Cliff:  I continue to handle our 40lb cheese blocks from our rented refrigeration to the store.  The store’s walk-in cooler holds about 10 tons but we order and sell 15-16 tons a year.  Thirty five years at UPS still comes in handy because I deliver the wholesale orders to NH businesses, such as The Common Man Company Store and the Apple Hill Farm Stand.  I pack your orders during the holiday season or whenever needed. Active in our local volunteer Fire Department and enjoy looking after our refurbished 1939 #2 Fire Truck.  Maybe you have seen it parked on the museum lawn across from Harman’s. Pauline continues to help in the retail store and especially enjoys the busy Lupine and Foliage seasons.  A real challenge!  She’s always available to taste-test new products or find a new product for the store.  We enjoyed a few Red Sox games, beach get-a-ways and a long awaited trip to The Big E Fair. We’re looking forward to our trip to Florida this winter.

Harman’s News:  Staffing continues to be the biggest challenge for small businesses. Thankfully in February, we had the staff to open 4 days a week and in June, opened 7 days a week. It was good to see so many customers who hadn’t visited in a while.

Supply disruption and price increases continue, often without any advance notice.  Some products may sell out quickly, so please order early.  We take each day as it comes.

Genuine Local is baking Cheese Balls, again, and we should have plenty. For those of you who like heat, we now stock the popular Sugar Bob’s Maple Srirachas.

Our webstore lists more products, including handmade items. Linda Lomasney’s woven baskets are perfect for the NH Breakfast gift.  If Carl has time in his workshop, we will offer his wood-turned pens, pizza cutters and cheese knives.

Employee News:  We had a large holiday crew last year with Bev, Carl, Cliff, Colleen, Elaine, Elijah, Harper, Jen, Jill, Kathy, Nancy, Monica, Pauline, Tess, Webb and me (Brenda).  Everyone wasn’t available for the whole season, but we still managed to have at least 5 of us working on most days.  It was the first holiday season for half the crew, who were a bit overwhelmed at how busy we were.  We cut and wrapped over 9,000 lbs of Cheddar and shipped out over 2,200 packages during the holidays.

On a sadder note, we lost Carol Young last year, right before the holidays.  She started working here over 40 years ago, when the Harmans owned the store. We miss her and her holiday sweaters! Her granddaughter, Shelby, worked here this summer.

This Holiday Season
To avoid shipping delays, our small crew appreciates your early orders.  We gift wrap our items and include gift cards (or your cards) for the personal touch to every package.

Ordering Deadlines:
     November 14^th for delivery before Thanksgiving
     November 28^th for delivery during Hanukkah
     December 5^th for delivery before Christmas
     December 12^th for delivery before New Year’s Eve
If you miss a deadline, we do our best to get the order out as soon as we can.

Newsletter and Brochure Update:  With the high costs of postage and printing, we are paring down our mailing list for this annual letter and the spring postcard. We are offering 3 ways to receive this letter and the notification of our spring sale.

By E-Mail: Sign up at the bottom of the www.harmanscheese.com page.
By Mail Post: Contact us by phone, mail, or e-mail to stay on the mailing list.
Posted on our Website: For those of you who wish to keep mailboxes a bit emptier.

We wish you a Happy Holiday Season and May 2023 be a Year of Hope for us all.
                                                                                                                            – Maxine, Brenda and Cliff Aldrich

Order by November 18^th
Receive a FREE pound of Harman’s Cheddar.
We will add the cheese to your package.
Limit: 1 per customer.
No coupon code needed.

Maxine:  Dear Friends,                                             November 2021

Another year has sped by. In last year’s letter, I wrote about working on a vintage Kellogg’s® cereal box puzzle. I gave up on it; too little fun for the work; but my son, Cliff, finished it for me.  I have a mystery puzzle on the table now; it holds clues to solve a murder mystery.

I didn’t work at Harman’s this past year, but I stuffed your envelopes and stamped postcards for the mailings. I do that on a table at home.

This past year gatherings & events were canceled; but Sugar Hill’s 128th annual Christmas party was held! It was a drive-by visit with Santa & his elves. All town children under twelve received a gift and the older crowd, like me, received a nice bag of delicious goodies.

Our family didn’t gather for Christmas but Cliff & Pauline made and delivered a beautiful Christmas Dinner for Brenda and me, complete with beautiful Christmas napkins! We had a few smaller family gatherings this year and more visits by phone.

Our spring daffodils were beautiful and the autumn colors were amazing, time went fast between the two.  In July, the “Old Home Day” Parade was held in Franconia after being canceled the year before. I rode with Cliff in Sugar Hill’s 1939 Fire Truck, a tradition for over 20 years. I feed a variety of birds and had a pair of cardinals all summer. The bears stayed away but we had destructive squirrels. Cliff and Brenda trapped over 20 and released some as far as 20 miles away. We finally found scented granules to keep them away. Brenda planted a garden but with her health restrictions, it became a jungle. Some veggies grew in the weeds so we were able to make garden relish. Dawn, Lynne, Diane & Chuck shared from their gardens to keep us supplied with fresh vegetables (and fruit). Our raspberries produced enough for snacking and for jam making.

My grandson, Will, graduated from West Virginia University and is now a sports journalist in Wyoming. Sadly, this year; we lost my brother, Bob Gray at age 93.

Cliff:  I kept busy in my first year of retirement. I handled our larger than normal cheese deliveries, packed a lot of your packages and delivered our Cheddar to other small stores in New Hampshire. Pauline also packed packages and helped out in the retail store. I mow a few local lawns and am active in our local Fire Department. Best thing about retirement was that Pauline and I went to a few Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

Brenda: Harman’s annual two week closure became two months. Unexpectedly, I needed a new aortic heart valve through open-heart surgery. Recovery was slow but I’m better than I have been in years. Days later, a friend received a heart valve with the same surgeon, through a leg artery.  She was home the next day. Life isn’t fair! My cataract had to wait until August but now I have better sight, too. In the 1980s, I worked in Afghanistan so I had a few rough days as friends navigated evacuation and other friends face an unknown future. Afghanistan was my home for years, so this has been hard.

Harman’s News: Due to our small staff, we were only open 3 to 4 days a week this year, thankfully our customers still came. This autumn, our great crew put in overtime so we could be open every day for “leaf-peeping” season. The fall foliage was beautiful.

This year has had a few bumps. The Great Lakes Cheese Company is no longer able to store our cheese for 2 years, so we scrambled to find refrigerated storage for 28 tons of Cheese (at a reasonable cost). Thankfully friends in nearby Landaff had a refrigerated walk-in available for our 2020 and 2021 Cheddar. Our own walk-in is full with our 2019 Cheddar along with those special blocks of Cheddar that we age a few extra years.

Supply disruption, staffing shortages and price increases are taking a toll on several businesses that we work with. Genuine Local is unable to bake our Cheese Balls. J&M Foods stopped making Cheddar-Pecan Biscuits. Butternut Mt Farm discontinued their sugarless Fruit Spreads. Sugarbush Farm no longer offers Sage Cheddar but we picked up Crowley’s Sage Cheese as a substitute. Cabot Cheese will stop making Hot Habanero Cheese soon and that will end Fox Country Smokehouse’s Smoked Habanero.  But as small, local businesses we are working together to do the best we can each day.

The Lupine & Autumn Celebrations were canceled, but we hosted a few artisans on weekends. We met Denis Desjardins of Vermont who does beautiful woodworking. We asked him to make our Cheese Mouse Boards, you will love his workmanship.

Employee News:  Allie started working at Harmans in 2013 (age 15) and this year her other part-time job became full-time. We miss her but love that she is working in her desired field of media.  Last holiday season, we only had 4 to 6 people working each day instead of our normal 8 to 12 people. Allie, Bev, Brendan, Carl, Cliff, Colleen, Emily, Kathy, Katie, Pauline, Patrick, and I did our best but we couldn’t keep up with your orders even with friends stopping to help. By Dec 1^st, we had more holiday orders than we had in any other year. A smaller crew with more orders combined with shipping delays, meant many of you received your orders in January. We appreciate those of you who encouraged us through those long, tough days. By the end of the season, our crew had cut and wrapped over 9,000 lbs of Harman’s Cheddar and shipped out over 2,900 packages. We are planning & preparing for this season, but we lose Colleen in December as she goes to be with her daughter for the birth of Colleen’s first granddaughter.

The forecast for this holiday season predicts shipping delays and supply shortages.

Our crew is still small each day (some can only give us a few hours each week), so we appreciate early orders. We will try our best with every order. We gift wrap our items and include gift cards (or your personal cards) for the personal touch to every package. Please your order by November 11^th for Hanukkah delivery and by November 29^th for Christmas delivery.

We hope that you will be able to celebrate the holidays this year with family and friends.

We are looking forward to hearing your news from this past year.

Maxine, Brenda and Cliff Aldrich

All of us at Harman’s wish you a Healthy & Blessed Holiday Season with wishes for Joy in 2022

November SPECIAL: 6-year Aged Harman’s or 6-year Aged McCadam’s Cheddar
$16.95 per pound, Order must be shipped before Thanksgiving.

Limit 2 pounds total per Customer, Limited Amount Available