Farmer Marketing

You wouldn’t think it would be difficult to convince a person that fresh farm produce is good for them. But it is. It is also mysterious to us that someone wouldn’t think twice about buying a sugar-laden processed snack for three-times as much as a delicious farm-fresh cucumber, but people are becoming more and more comfortable with the disconnect in their food system. Sort of like how a teenager would rather send a text message than make a phone call. Or why the next generation seems to have a hard time with face-to-face socializing. It is easier and more comfortable for most people to not know the face behind their food. This convenience and stay-at-home comfort is driving the fresh food delivery industry and creating a disadvantage for small farms.

A huge part of what we do is marketing. Perhaps not in the form you are most familiar with. We’re not dealing with fancy packaging or noisy commercials. We have to sell ourselves, our farm and our philosophies and convince people that eating whole, fresh food from our farm is better or at least more fulfilling than whatever else they are already eating even though it isn’t always convenient or comfortable. This is largely done through educating and a face-to-face conversation. We read magazine articles, scientific journals, summaries from recent studies… all in hopes to find that one tidbit of information that will sway someone to buy their food from We Grow. Something that sparks a connection, a common-thinking about what is good.

This week, we will host our annual farm-to-table dinner. We don’t invite folks to our farm for a meal just to sell some food of course. Our primary goal is to establish a connection, hopefully a long-term connection. We want people to see how hard we work and what it takes to produce food for a community, even if we are only reaching a tiny portion for now. The folks who sit around the table with us become our friends. We want them to be successful in what they do just as much as we want success for ourselves. This is what makes a community resilient and fun to be a part of. And even if you can’t make it to the farm this week, consider a future event. Set your feet on the ground where your food comes from and find that connection for yourself.

Until next time,

Week Six Newsletter

The CSA Eating Experience

This past week you received what we consider to be more challenging items, chard and broccoli shoots. We don’t know what happens after you get the veggies home but we make assumptions leaning toward the theory that you each are doing everything you can to figure out how to get your produce used up. There will be weeks when you have the best intentions to be a super-chef and maximize your CSA experience, and then life sets in and you find yourself eating raw broccoli with ranch dip.

It can feel like you’re “failing” at your original goal to change the way you eat, but remember that eating more vegetables, even if it’s just with dip, is already a win. Some veggies may rot in your fridge in a particularly hectic week, and that’s okay. Believe it or not, this still happens to us too. It takes time to develop new habits, and learn to enjoy the spontaneity of a CSA share. Being flexible in your weekly menu is key. Afterall, you’re giving up control over what veggies come to your kitchen each week.

We are not huge fans of chard, but tonight we tried a creamy bacon chard recipe and gave it one last whorl. Over a half pound of chard and our family of four ate nearly the entire pan full. So now we wave the white flag and stop fighting something we did not think we liked. Chard is our new side!

A good CSA will push you to try new foods and explore variety in your kitchen while eating with the seasons and being able to shake the hand that feeds you. Our ultimate goal is to change the way you eat. Slow down. Think about not only what you put into your body, but the social aspect of supporting local people. Gathering over a meal made of food grown by hard work and determination by someone you know is meaningful. It is not a secret that we rely on you for our livelihood. We are of course grateful that you have chosen to support our family, but perhaps more so that you eat what we produce. Afterall, there is hardly a more intimate choice than the food we choose to nourish ourselves and our family. Knowing your farmer makes eating a whole new experience.

Until next time,

Week Five Newsletter

Food For Thought

As we are packing another week of hard-to-get-clean greens coming from our field due to those heavy rains a week ago now, we joke about the dirt contributing to our immune systems. After a few gritty bites of spinach, we wondered if it could be true. Does eating dirt actually improve our health?

A quick search on the internet and apparently there is a movement called the “Eat Dirt Movement.” Yes it is real and apparently people are curing a whole host of health issues simply by eating dirt and the soil-borne organisms within. These organisms enter our bodies both from unclean food and unclean hands. They aid the body in absorption of specific nutrients and antioxidants and apparently it is changing people’s lives. Recent research has shown that exposing children to a diverse range of microbes early in life, particularly those found in the soil where they live, reduces their risk of allergies and asthma and strengthens their immune system. Admittedly, we already suspected this to be true but never read the research.

When a school group was on the farm on Wednesday, we mentioned that most herbicides kill the micro-organisms in the soil rendering it life-less and no longer able to breakdown nutrients or make them available to the plant. Growing sustainably, we need our plants in prime condition to fight off diseases and pests, so our soil has to be in peak health for us to make a living. Not-to-mention chemical residue in our food deteriorates our body’s microbiome, which breaks down our nutrients during digestion not unlike what happens in soil. When you realize how many illnesses are linked to inadequate gut bacteria, this should be a serious concern. Perhaps most importantly, our microbiome plays a role in our immune system. It is lesser known that it also influences gene expression. The scientific understanding of biological functions is becoming more and more complex every day!

So the take-away we are pondering today is that the latest and greatest “superfood” is in fact dirt. The five-second rule is in effect to make sure we are allowed to consume that pound of dirt annually. And your dirty greens are providing food for thought.

Capitalizing on the latest superfood,

Week Four Newsletter

Good Bug, Bad Bug

This weekend on a farm walk with visitors, we found a real, native lady bug busily foraging on aphids. With today’s technology, it is easier than ever to snap a photo of an insect, upload it to social media and have it identified within a matter of minutes. We also found a similar looking bug called a spotted pink lady beetle that feeds on aphids and the Colorado potato bug larvae. The good bugs reminded us of our first season when we lost several crops to aphids and couldn’t find a lady bug for miles. Since then, it has been a game of good bug versus bad bug.

A conventional farmer might be quick to treat an insect pest with a chemical insecticide. This would work in the short-term, but the pest would eventually return and it would have to be treated again. Overtime, the pest develops immunity to the chemical treatment and the new generations require a new chemical or they flourish because the predator population was never allowed to respond. Much the same as antibiotics in humans and animals.

On the other hand, allowing predators to find the pests will increase the good bug population and over time the two populations achieve a natural balance. Sometimes the predator is another insect. Specific flies and wasps will lay their eggs inside many of our pests. Their young feed on the host and kill it during metamorphosis into an adult. Other times it is a fungus or nematode feeding on the bad bug. Birds hunt in the brassicas for cabbage worms and even tiny shrews scavenge for grubs and maggots under the soil. We still get a few aphids, but we see lady bugs chomping them up almost as quickly as they hatch.

Yes, we do push the natural process at times by increasing the population of “good bugs” to prevent a complete crop loss. But bear in mind that when native species are utilized, they too will run their course and reach equilibrium thus allowing us to farm without synthetic chemicals which are generally detrimental to a wide range of insects including pollinators. Sleep better knowing the food from our farm is not part of an unscripted science experiment on the yet-to-be-determined effects of chemicals on the human body.

Entomologists in training,

Week Three Newsletter

A Week on the Farm

We wanted to share how our week looks at We Grow. On Mondays, our crew typically consists of our worker shares Linda and Jessica putting in the morning shift harvesting and washing for shares. In the pack shed, we weigh and count items out for the 50 shareholders and fill crates which will go into the walk-in cooler for Tuesday delivery. One of our hired workers, Racheal is also on the farm all day to execute our harvest list or tend to the crops. Oftentimes, it get too hot to harvest late in the day.

Tuesday morning, we are greeted by worker share Tom generally bright and early. With Tom’s help we will harvest the last share items. Volunteer Sally and her husband Nate join us and wash and bag for an hour before packing the Phillips shares for delivery. When the Phillips shares leave, if we have some time we will harvest a bit of extra produce for market or head into Medford for downtown farmers market. A majority of our shares are distributed on Tuesday with only two shares going out on Saturday.

We have the opportunity to make Wednesday a “day off” with only animal chores. Susan, our seasoned employee comes this day and could take care of the farm without us if needed. This gives us a chance to schedule meetings away from the farm, host groups or make plans with our children. As of late we have been using this day to get caught up on planting, but this week we are hosting middle schoolers from Medford who plan to help us do some planting and learn about sustainable farming practices.

The past three years we attended the Rib Lake market on Thursdays, but decided to give it up this season. This has given us another work day and we can see the difference on the farm. Thanks to worker shares Anna and Greg along with Susan’s help we get non-harvesting tasks accomplished. Then on Friday, with both hired workers, we harvest and pack for Saturday market and our final shares of the week. Saturdays we wrap up farm work in the late afternoon and relax. Sundays we try to only do animals chores then leave the farm, but sometimes use this day to get caught up on our task list. Afterall, we have the winter to relax!

Getting back into shape,

Week Two Newsletter

Welcome to the Farm

Finally, a new farm share season is here! We are beyond excited to have the opportunity to share our vegetables with each of you. There is hardly a more personal choice than the food with which we choose to nourish ourselves. Thank you for choosing our farm.

With each weekly share, you will receive this newsletter with a brief editorial that will either give you an idea of what is happening on the farm or be an opinion piece written by your farmers about current issues. We encourage your feedback and response to these newsletters. We love to hear from you. Please read the newsletter. It only takes a few minutes but can mean the difference in knowing what to do with a strange item versus tossing it in the compost after it lingers in your fridge for two weeks. Ever heard of napolini?

Now for an overview of how our farming spring has gone. We didn’t get started as early as normal with the snow and winter temps hanging out for about three weeks longer than normal. When we did get early crops planted, everything looked great and on schedule. Then things started to get warm. Then too hot. Our cold weather crops grew quickly and many went straight to bolt, which means they are not harvestable. Some have been infested with insects not normally present in cool springs. In the case of our early radishes, they came in so fast we picked as many as we could and sold at the May markets but a majority bolted resulting in a pretty yellow flower and tough, woody root. Beautiful napa cabbages came in about two weeks ahead of schedule. The second planting of napas didn’t do very well in the heat and we discovered total loss from heat loving cabbage root maggots.

Fortunately, some things are growing so quickly that we will have them much earlier than planned. This is the earliest we have ever had broccoli to share. Cucumbers and tomatoes are not far off either! The peas are full of blossoms, so we are hopeful to share these very soon as well. It has been an unusual spring to say the least, but with a nice bit of rain showers the past week it might just prove to be a fantastic growing season yet.

Farming the weather rollercoaster,

Week One Newsletter

In Retrospect

With our last few shares and final harvests comes very real retrospect of the season overall. We carefully identify things we need to prioritize to improve and value the feedback from our membership during the process. Especially those who have gone through more than one season and can compare one year to the next.

The late, wet spring nearly threw us completely off our course for the entire season. Weeks 5-7 were quite unnerving with slow growth across the fields. This was by far the worst bean and pea crops we’ve ever had. Deer damage eliminated the Swiss chard early in the game and took out our first planting of kohlrabi as well. The garlic was extremely weedy from the straw we chose to mulch it with leading to smaller harvest than expected. Pretty much every root crop experienced heavy insect damage below the soil line. Largely root maggot and wireworm. And the onions! We still don’t know why the onions never sized up.

What went well? The brassicas flourished in the cool weather and we harvested the most broccoli and cabbages ever. We were thrilled that the investments we made in the soil allowed us to finally include corn in the shares. From the same field, a bumper crop of winter squash. And it was also the first time we offered free pumpkin picking to the membership. And what a wonderful day it was to have folks on the farm! The carrots and potatoes didn’t get flooded out as was the case in 2016 when we got all of our fall carrots from another farm. Items we’ve been extremely limited on in the past have showed up this season as well like microgreens, beets, rutabaga, turnips, and kohlrabi.

So what will we change. We have to remember it is the first year in this field. It will take several years and tons of organic inputs to get this area to optimum soil structure and fertility. Constant addition of organic matter and rotation of cover crops and eventually, we will eliminate a lot of the insect and disease pressure simply by growing perfectly healthy plants. We also plan to try harder on a few things we missed like melons, leeks and cauliflower. We also intend to research into the root crop damage. We thought we had a good idea of how to curb it with companion plantings, soil temperature testing, and cultivation, but we were wrong. We also hope to bring on one more person our crew to help us achieve more succession plantings so our harvests are better timed out to meet our weekly CSA needs. We are hoping to gain enough capital over the winter to install a heated, double-walled tunnel to allow us to start the large number of seedling trays needed to get more plants in the ground earlier. We need more pre-season growing space! The free-range poultry was a huge success and we hope to simply expand on this offering so we can offer birds to customers at the farmers market as well as in our CSA program. This goes along with our long term goal of offering pork. With our own breeding stock and their young off to a great start, we should achieve this goal in spring of 2018. And finally, improved communication with members. The email messages have been hard to get together at the end of the season for lack of time and an on-and-off internet connection, so we have come to rely on our members reading their newsletter for the important information.

There is definitely much work to be done. The field work will be wrapped up in November and we will take time to re-group and formulate our improvement plan. The heart of the winter is the best time to linger over such matters along with the much anticipated seed purchases and field maps. The respite and relaxation is hard earned and truly so much sweeter after six days a week of fast-paced, hard work during the growing season.

We thank each and every one of you for hiring us to grow your food. Thank you for letting us into your kitchens and trying our products. There is hardly a more personal choice than the food we eat. We are humbled to have been chosen as your farmers.

Ready for furlough,

Week Twenty Newsletter CHECK BACK FOR UPDATED LINK

Settling in

Fall is finally settling in and surely winter is just around the corner with the long fall we have been enjoying. It’s hard to believe we had similar cool temps in late August, but then saw some of the highest temps of the year in mid-September when we are typically experiencing our first frost in “regular” years. The unpredictability makes farming ever more challenging. We like to wait for first frost to share certain fall crops with you, but alas this is not an option this season. Rutabaga is the first example and this week, you are receiving brussel sprouts even though they have not been sweetened by frost. Rest assured that they still taste great!

On the farm, we try to keep the produce growing as long as possible, but there comes a point that we just need to get the field ready for winter and prepped for next season before the soil freezes. Maps are being drawn for where next season’s crop rotations will be. We will cultivate and shape several beds in preparation for spring planting. Covering the shaped bed with black landscape fabric will prevent erosion, nutrient loss and preheat the soil next spring. While it is not ideal to shape beds this far in advance, spring rains can put us severely behind schedule when we have to wait for perfect soil conditions to support the heavy tractor. Having a portion of the field ready allows earlier crops, even if it must be planted by hand.

The only annual overwintered crop we grow is garlic. Individual cloves are planted in late October, left six inches deep in the field all winter and bulbs are harvested in July and August. Any garlic we grow can be used for seed garlic, but the best and biggest is intentionally sorted from the crop each season to be used as the next year’s parent crop.

Removing old plants to prevent the spread of disease, adding organic matter and incorporating manure are all a huge undertaking in the fall. This must be done after crops are out but before the ground freezes, so time is of the essence. If anyone is interested in coming to the farm to work their muscles and help with fall field clean out, please let us know.

Making plans for the coming season is the best part of fall work on the farm.

Look ahead,

Week Nineteen Newsletter

The Mighty Dollar

In meeting with retailers the past few weeks in hopes to reach new markets, we have had an eye-opener in the portion of the dollar a farmer actually receives when we buy something. We have also been wrapping our heads around the concept of “just” prices after a store 70 miles away offered us exactly double what a local store can pay.

The manager at the distant store explained to us, as she was figuring what she could offer for a top dollar amount, her co-op believes in paying farmers a just price so they can have a living wage. Her consumers are paying more than the larger grocery stores, because she markets and sells her farmers’ story. She visits a different farm every week, then posts stories and photos both in the store and on social media. The marketing plan is obvious as you walk through the aisles and see farmers faces attached to products on the shelves. Her customers see their money keeping small farms in business, providing jobs and maintaining a rural economy.

This begs the question, can our local store offer a better rate to their local farmers? If we demand a better price for the farmer, the cost of the product will go up in order for the store to cover their overhead. We can easily assume that less people will purchase the items. It’s a lose-lose situation for both the store and the farmer. Does connecting the farmer to consumer create a strong enough connection to warrant a higher price?

Should we leave it up to the consumer to decide if their local economy is worth spending more? Is it fair to ask the store to make less profit? Is a living wage for farmers a priority? According to the distant store manager, “just” prices is not just a catchy slogan. Her customers are willing to pay more. But in her situation the population density is much higher as is the income level, allowing her to develop this niche market.

Cue the importance of direct to consumer sales. If you can get a product straight from the farmer, they get the total profit. Cut out the middle man and you are giving your local economy a direct boost. Of course we know you understand this concept, you are CSA members afterall.

Reaching a retail milestone,

Week Eighteen Newsletter

Lessons in the Harvest

On Friday last week, the Medford Middle School agriculture class, along with their teacher Lisa Kopp, came to We Grow to assist with the winter squash harvest. We knew in August that there was going to be a glut of fruit in this particular crop and Kopp has been asking for an opportunity to get her students involved in We Grow since we connected in her classroom last spring.

The students arrived first thing in the morning and we were fortunate to have a very light dew and sunny skies. Armed with branch cutters and crates, the kids began searching through the sprawling, tangled mess of squash vines to find the famed fruits. Students shuttled crates full back to the landing where we had large bins waiting, one for each variety. Several students cleaned the dirt and sorted them while the others continued to harvest. The fun is in finding the squash and not knowing how big and small or what color and shape you would find next. Hoots and hollars were heard when someone found their excitement.

With only one hour in the schedule for actual harvesting, things were happening as rapidly as possible. But lessons were learned in covering a harvest area, taking fewer steps, lifting with the knees, handling produce in general and most importantly working together. Students also got a peak at what we do here. As usual, the animals were the greatest attraction.

The lessons will continue back at school. The class took a box of squash back to the classroom where they will learn how to cook it. And with such a bountiful harvest, we have agreed to donate enough spaghetti squash to the school for the cafeteria to serve it at lunch.

We set a goal two years ago to grow enough of something to be able to donate it to the schools. We hope this is only the beginning. The nutrition of our youth needs to be top notch, free from harmful chemicals and made of whole ingredients, not processed, if we expect them to learn and grow and address childhood illness and obesity. Getting kids involved in the farm might not be the fastest route to healthy eating, but it will have long term effects when these kids learn how to grow their own food.

Happily harvesting,

Week Seventeen Newsletter

Small Farm Landscape

Weather is often talked about in our newsletters as it dictates everything we do on the farm. But weather is getting more attention the past couple weeks for the disastrous results of some powerful storms doing serious damage, even taking lives. In watching the news reports on television, we can only imagine what these folks are experiencing and feeling fortunate to live where we do and only have to worry about floods and tornadoes, and not hurricanes and earthquakes as well.

In the wake of the damage, a reporter was speaking with a restaurant owner in Florida who had ridden out the storm. A portion of her business was badly damaged, but the restaurant was largely in tact and she was feeding the rescue workers as it was the only food establishment left in the area. The trouble was no deliveries could get into the area leaving only local producers to provide food for these people. Though I would assume some folks were planning ahead and had local stores put away for just this situation. But surely not enough for the entire community.

The entire situation brings to mind the flooding in northern Wisconsin last year when our farming friends near Marengo made their CSA delivery when all other traffic was prevented from entering the area due to washed out roads. They were able to get their produce into Ashland to local grocery stores when trucks from out of the area could not.

This is cause for us to think about the value of having small farms spread out across the landscape to meet the needs of their own community no matter what else is happening far away. By shifting our consumerism to corporate farms, we have eliminated much of our local food sources that were commonplace before the invention of refrigeration. But at what cost have we created this “convenient” and “inexpensive” food system? With catastrophic drought then heavy rain cycles in the western states, corporate agriculture has made a major shift to the Midwest the past ten years. A place where weather hasn’t made farming boom or bust. But how long will we be able to keep up until “natural” disaster strikes here too?

Feeling like fortunate midwesterners,

Week Sixteen Newsletter

Another Farm Season

Behold the beginning of winter squash season. If you are not already, it is time to become a fan of winter squash. It can easily be considered a superhero in the CSA share for its nutrient overdose and health food classification, but also in the field when it’s not even being consumed by humans.

Every year, we learn more about the food we grow. We have learned in the past about the way our ancestors stored winter squash and ate it in copious amounts during the cold winter months. The fiber in squash consumed in large amounts has a natural ability to cleanse our digestive system and prevent polyps. But this week, we learned that winter squash also cleanses our soil. On farms where chemicals have been used in the past, a crop of squash will take up a lengthy list of unwanted contaminants from the soil so they can be discarded. The absorption of chemicals in squash, which is four times that of other vegetables such as tomato, broccoli or beans, is another reason to make sure it is grown organically if it will be hitting your table.

This year is shaping up to be a bountiful year of winter squash at We Grow. The varieties planted this season include spaghetti, white acorn, butternut, red kuri, blue “winter sweet” kobocha, gold nugget and delicata. Each has a slightly different flavor and texture. The only one that we have a limited amount of is butternut – our favorite! For some reason the deer preferred this over the others and it did not grow well while being heavily browsed.

Nearly all winter squash benefit from time in storage. They achieve their peak sweetness some time in the winter months. The exception to this is delicata and acorn. These two are better in the first two months. The squash you are getting have been cured on our farm. They must be stored at 80ºF for about two weeks to season or harden the skins before going into 45-50º basement or cool storage. Be mindful to check your winter squash every week for blemishes turning into rot. If you catch it early, a rotting spot can easily be removed and the squash still utilized. With everything it has going for it, why would we want to waste a bite?

Ready for the new season,

Week Fifteen Newsletter

Fall Harvest is Upon Us

One might assume that things get slower and easier on a CSA farm in the fall, but this is when we do a lot of heavy lifting. Our average first frost is the second week in September and while some crops are sweetened and improved by light frost, others are killed and damaged.

All those summer treats are coming to an end and we must get as much as possible to our customers before first frost. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, sweet corn, fragile herbs, and more. Then we can focus on the end of season harvest-all-we-can. The farmers market are busting at the seams!

To start, we must get all the onions out of the ground and cured in the hot sun for a day, then trimmed and put into storage. The potatoes need to be dug before the weather gets cold enough to penetrate the skin and cause brown spots inside the tubers. They will store, but the brown stripes are unpleasant. The rutabagas, turnips and radishes stay in the ground until the last harvest day before deep cold. In theory carrots can actually be left in the ground overwinter, but we will harvest the entire lot that remains. Simply not washing them and putting in bags in the cooler will allow storage carrots last for months. On a small scale, we have also had great success with utilizing wet sand as a storage medium for carrots. The brussel sprouts stay out well into the cool frosty season. Finally, the winter squash. This storage giant must be cured in the greenhouse at 80ºF for 10-14 days before going into a cool, humid, well-ventilated space for winter. In storage, winter squash will ripen and sweeten sort of like a banana until it can’t get any sweeter. Then it starts to rot. Properly stored winter vegetables will last well into spring, so it is worth knowing proper techniques. We have prepared a complete list sorted by veggie type on our website. Check it out.

This time of year we are weeding our fall greens, radishes, and those salad turnips and baby beets for the final boxes. We have pie pumpkins turning orange and kale turning lovely purples. The monarchs are flying home and our students and teachers are enjoying their final days at We Grow before returning to school. All signs of the rest that comes at the end of the final harvest. Only six share weeks left!

Week Fourteen Newsletter