In the Off-Season
We made it! The last week of fresh vegetables from our farm is heading out to our members kitchens today. We are sighing a bit of relief in making it to the end with a few items left to share with you despite how quickly summer moved out and winter moved in. Unfortunately there are some things we planned for fall that won’t make it. The past several weeks not much has grown with the cold temps and lack of sunlight, a complete one-eighty from one year ago. Our lettuce, radishes, cabbages, beets, rutabagas and more have all come up short. We will are considering some adjustments to be better able to deal with irregular weather patterns next season.
We are always asked what we will be doing for the winter. The new furnace project is about halfway complete. With this upgrade, we will be capable of heating several buildings including a 20×24’ building soon to be a greenhouse that we are repurposing from another part of the farm. This new heated space will allow us to expand our spring transplants to not only meet our growing needs, but also allow us to offer organic plants for our gardening customers. We have found organic transplants to be difficult to find locally, not to mention this addition will provide income in the early season when we have the most input costs. We are also considering growing salad and microgreens inside this new space during the winter.
So what do we do? Our boys get more one-on-one time with us as the days grow shorter. We slow down and spend more time in the kitchen. We go for walks in the woods. We spend evenings visiting with friends. We spend days pouring over seed choices, creating planting calendars and drawing field maps. We spend time recruiting CSA members. We attend educational courses to learn to be better farmers and stewards of our land. We both work jobs off the farm. Our chaotic house gets organized and cleaned.
In our parting words, please know that we are grateful for each and every one of you for being part of our farm in 2018. We can not do this without you. Your kinds words and support have been our driving force to carry on when it wasn’t easy to do. Please consider rejoining for the coming season and have a wonderful off-season as well!
Ready for a rest,
