​Bucks County’s open spaces are slowly disappearing. In Yardley, little may be left, if at all, in just a few years’ time. One merely needs to follow the news about new development along Yardley-Newtown Road; Shady Brook, Torbert, and Wright farms. Development, Development, Development. Development is not always a bad thing, but Craig Boyer, founder of Coastal Fig Company, is passionate about preserving 6.3 acres of farmland in Yardley, and stewarding it for a better future for all. might have even met him and his fun crew of little helpers. The expansion of Coastal Fig Co. led him to start the search for more land to continue to literally and figuratively “grow his growing.” He took Mark Twain’s motto to heart: “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore,” After a long search, Craig, his wife, and 9 young children moved to a 6-acre farm in Yardley. With this land and the support of his community, Can you imagine eating a fig, lemon, kumquat, mandarin, or even a pomegranate grown right here in our town of Yardley?

 

Craig began growing vegetables when he started his first “all commission” sales job back in 2009. He figured if he didn’t sell anything, at least he and his new wife would be able to eat good food. That hobby Craig hopes to expand his trees and harvest of locally-sourced figs and exotic fruits to make them available for every backyard in our area. Can you imagine eating a f ig, lemon, kumquat, mandarin, or even a pomegranate grown right here in our quickly grew into a passion and Craig decided to explore growing interesting fruits. Inspired by his time spent in Israel and his love for the Ancient Mediterranean culture, he purchased a few fig trees from a well-known nursery in Lancaster. That purchase turned into many more purchases, because Craig realized that you can’t town of Yardley? That’s the mission of Coastal Fig Company: to treat you and your family with an explosion of flavors of locally grown exotic fruit. Obsessed with sustaining local agriculture and so we kickstarted a community fund just taste one fig; you need to taste them all, as each fig variety has a unique, enticing flavor.

 

In 2017, Craig began to share his love of figs with his local community and beyond. He began to sell his fig trees and harvested figs locally on Marketplace and nationally through his website, and by meeting folks in person at the Yardley and Wrightstown farmers markets. To his neighbors and passers-by on the Delaware Canal, Craig became affectionately known as “the fig guy on the Canal.” If you’ve walked in the borough between Letchworth and College Avenue, you decades of researching plants, Craig found a way to grow these subtropical fruits in cold climates like ours. Adapting a growing method called the Japanese Espalier technique, Craig was able to successfully grow fig trees in his greenhouse. He is the first known successful grower using this method for cold climates. And now he is ready to apply this experience to other exotic fruits, as well as growing his established fig tree capacity.

 

We really want the help of our community. Please consider how you can be a part of this flourishing reality for the Northeast. The first and most necessary step is to take down, move and erect a very large greenhouse by the end of the year. This is very costly that we know will give back to you with dividends!  Thank you for supporting us as we support our community and preserve the best of our beautiful Bucks County!