2018 CSA Registration is Now Open
Happy New Year! We are now accepting CSA registrations for 2018. We will again be offering weekly boxes of local, Certified Naturally Grown vegetables in two different sizes from mid-April to mid-November. We will NOT be offering broiler chicken shares this year, and there are some changes to our Wednesday CSA pick-up locations (please see the website for more information). We look forward to being your family farmers in 2018!
For information on our 2018 CSA and to access the registration form CLICK HERE.
Winter Farm Update
Now that we are a month past the solstice, the days are already getting noticeably longer in the evening. We have been trying to keep warm as 2018 gets off to an exceptionally cold start. The goats, chickens and dogs are fine in the cold as long as they have plenty to eat and shelter from the wind. It just takes a little more effort on my part to keep their water from freezing. We still have crops in the field but with so many nights in the single digits everything has frozen solid and the garden season is officially over. I hope the cold has helped kill some of our overwintering insect pests, too.
Believe it or not, planting for spring is already underway in the greenhouse. The first round of cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, lettuce, and bok choy have been planted and are just now peaking through the soil.
Now that he is not needed out in the field every day, Randy has been enjoying spending more time with Cooper, who at nine-months old is crawling all around the house and playing tug-o-war with the dog. Cooper is so excited about his new skill he even tries to crawl in his sleep. He is standing with support and is just starting to cruise around. 
When its not too cold, Cooper has been helping me with daily chores, too. We bring food and water to the chickens, goats and dogs, and collect eggs in the evening. Maggie and Winston, our livestock guardian dogs, are by far his favorite animals on the farm, eliciting squeals of excitement and alarming wheezy gasps. As no parent on the planet will be surprised to hear, I cannot seem to find time to truly focus on anything, and even simple tasks can take multiple days to complete. Still, I am grateful every day for the opportunity to spend this time with my son and raise him in this environment. Even if it means seriously redefining my expectations of what gets done in a day.
It is nice to have a break from field work and the relentless hustle of CSA season to reflect and re calibrate. This includes the practical reflections of what varieties of heirloom tomato performed well enough and whether we had the right number of row feet of pickling cucumbers in each succession, for example, but also reflecting on our way of life and our long term goals for our family and the land. How do we measure up, now that we are seven years in? Are we where we thought we would be? Are we where we want to be? Like the Roman god Janus, we endeavor to look both ahead and behind as the earth prepares to grant us a new beginning in the coming spring. A new chance, every year. What could possibly be better than that?
