It is midwinter on the farm. The lengthening daylight should start greening up the pasture soon. Between rainy days and freezing temperatures, Randy and Patrick have been assembling the new greenhouse. Vegetable seeds for next year are ordered, delivered and sorted. A few – cabbage, lettuce, kohlrabi and beets- have even been started in seed trays. The crop field is mapped out and planting dates set. A season’s worth of planning takes place in December and January. We reflect on the season, try to tease out the good decisions from the bad and think of creative ways to make good management easier. Every year we get better. We make new mistakes and sometimes re-make old mistakes but on the whole we get better.
Still, this is our slowest time of the year. There is time to do things other than farm and sleep. Randy has been baking lots of delicious sourdough bread and I have been quilting and stocking the freezer with soups and broth in preparation for busier times. While we could, with some coddling, keep some vegetable crops growing for most or all of the winter and early spring, we choose not to. The last of the carrots will be coming out of the muddy soil this week and then we will be done harvesting until April. Which is good, because the wash pack area has been converted into a makeshift seed starting station since the new greenhouse isn’t completed yet.
The reason we choose not to grow and sell produce year-round is that we need a break. Just like we fallow the field to let it rest, winter is the farmer’s fallow. While physical recovery from the hectic growing season is relatively quick, I find that I need more time to prepare myself emotionally and mentally for the coming season. Sometime in early spring it is like strapping oneself in to a very long roller coaster that does not stop and is impossible to get off of until well into November. Taking a break in the winter means that we can step onto that roller coaster with excitement and anticipation each spring. I am already starting to get excited about spring planting, impatient for the arrival of the onion starts which is still a month away.
2017 CSA Registration
Speaking of excitement and anticipation, registration for our 2017 CSA is now open! This will be our 6th year offering a CSA. We are planning to accept 100 memberships in 2017.
There are a couple of changes this year:
- Instead of starting in early April, the CSA will instead begin the first week of May. I am due at the end of March, and we thought having a baby and kicking off the CSA at the same time might be a bit much. The CSA will run until mid-November as usual.
- We will continue to offer pasture raised Freedom Ranger broiler chickens to our members, but this year Loch Holland Farm will be raising the chickens for our CSA. We respect their production practices and know they hold their products to a high standard of quality.
- We are looking for an additional CSA pick-up site in the Cooper-Young area for Wednesdays. The Saturday Farmers Market pick-up is always to first to sell out so we are trying to find another site in the same neighborhood. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.
- For more information about our 2017 CSA and to register click here.
