In the Share: Week 7 extended season

SWEET POTATOES  orange-fleshed Beauregards

LETTUCE MIX  More mix from the fields

LEEKS

SWISS CHARD

ARUGULA

SPINACH

BROCCOLI/GAI LAN

ROOT MIX  A mix of radishes, turnips, beets and carrots

HERB CHOICE thyme, rosemary or dried herbs

NEXT WEEK:  The 2016 CSA season is over.

FARM REPORT:

What a week!  As I said in an email to the membership after the election, no one is going to build a better world for us.  That is true no matter who is in the White House.  We must work together to create a world that is just, fair and based on love and mutual respect.  In our small way, these lofty goals were visible this past Sunday at the CSA meeting.  Thanks to all who participated.  For the full rundown on what transpired, check your email inbox.   We appreciate everyone's interest and support of our plans for sabbatical in 2017.

The end of the CSA season has arrived with the final shares to the extended season members.  This usually is cause for bittersweet celebration at the farm.  The first shares went out in mid-April, almost 7 months ago.  Since then we have been on a weekly CSA schedule that is relentless.  Until now.  We are looking forward to the winter work of maintaining equipment, organizing the barns and planning for the year ahead.

In the Share: Week 24

LETTUCE F  This hot weather is kicking the lettuce out of the high tunnel, where it would "normally" be cozy during frosty fall days.  Instead, it is all going out in the next two weeks.

GREENS CHOICE F/P  Kale, gailan, chard or arugula

BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER OR SPINACH F

BULB FENNEL F/P  See Tom's post for a bit more on this ferny bulb.

SWEET POTATOES F2/P1  Full shares get some of each type, partial shares have to choose.

LEEKS F/P  Potato-leek soup is the recipe on Tom's post.  yum.

RADISHES OR BEETS P

GARLIC F

HERB CHOICE F  cilantro, dill or cutting celery.

NEXT WEEK:  Regular season folks, you are on your own.  Extended seasoners:  lettuce, greens, hakurei turnips, bok choy, sweet potatoes.

FARM REPORT:
We were just lightly nipped by the frost last week and most plants survived.  Then summer came roaring back and sent the crops into a heady growth.  The last couple of morning harvests have started with your farmers frowning at the exuberant green growth in the high tunnel.  What can hold for the extended season and what needs to be picked now is the trouble.  Perhaps this warm weather will have us eating peppers in November.

We began deconstructing the summer crops this past weekend.  There is a long way to go to clean up the fields and prepare them for the winter.  All are welcome any Wednesday or Saturday mornings to join in the work from now until Thanksgiving.

In the Share: Week 4

SUGARSNAP PEAS F/P  It is hard to judge how many will be ripe when we pick them with the CSA tomorrow, but the plants are loaded with fruit.  We will try to get some to everyone on Weds.  By Saturday and next week we should have lots more.

SPECKLED ROMAINE LETTUCE F/P  A lovely tender romaine heirloom that has a tendency to burn out in the heat.  Lucky for us it has headed up nicely for this week's shares only.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F  Smaller heads this week, the butterhead season is about done.  We have more red leaf lettuce and green romaines that will hopefully keep us in salads through June.

BROCCOLI F/P  Bunches include standard broccoli and it's cousin, gai lan.  I hear broccoli leaves are the new kale.

SWISS CHARD F

TATSOI OR KALE P

TURNIPS AND RADISHES F/P  The first of the spring roots have taken their time, but they have turned out to be a nice intro to the root harvest.

GREEN ONIONS OR GREEN GARLIC OR GARLIC SCAPES F

HERB MIX F/P  Dill, herb fennel, parsley and cutting celery.  See Tom's post on herb identification.

BOK CHOY F  Our white-stemmed varieties are growing handsomely.  If you haven't yet stir-fried, I recommend the finished product.  Tom's making one with tatsoi and green onions right now.

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, peas, turnips, greens, kohlrabi, beets and herbs.

FARM REPORT:

May is a make-or-break month.  If you get the plants in and the weather holds, it sets you up for a good summer.  If it storms and rains and stymies your planting schedule, you are in for a rough ride.  Last year's 30+ inches of rain in the months of May and June gave us fits.

happy potato plants

This May was actually really great.  We received a nice amount of rain, but not too much.

The CSA crew on Saturday helped us with mulching our other big block of tomatoes and peppers.  It is a messy job, but it pays off in cherry tomatoes so totally worth it.

In the Share - Week 24

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  Everyone gets a bag from the last haul out of the fields.

LETTUCE F/P  butterhead or red leaf

ESCAROLE F  See Tom's post about it and it's starring role in the Outstanding in the Field dinner.

GREENS CHOICE F/P  Gai lan or bok choy.  The choice for the partial shares include escarole.

ROOT MIX F  A bag of beets, carrots, turnips and whatever else we can glean from the fields tomorrow.

HERB CHOICE F/P  hot peppers, chives, thyme, sage or dill.

GARLIC F  We had more garlic than we thought, so here's an extra dose.  It should keep well into winter if kept cool and dry.

TOMATOES F  A mixture of ripe, ripening and green tomatoes.  The last of the season.

BROCCOLI P  We have a small harvest this week, just enough for the partial shares.

SWEET POTATOES F/P   choice of white or orange.

NEXT WEEK:  The fall extended season begins with harvests from the high tunnel: lettuce, greens and roots plus some items held over like potatoes and onions.

FARM REPORT:
This week your farmers got a off-farm break for the first time since March.  The Outstanding in the Field dinner started the fun on Wednesday. 

Linda Hezel, from Prairie Birthday farm, began with a toast.

By Saturday afternoon, we were driving south to Fort Scott, one of our nation's military outposts on  "the permanent Indian frontier" as it was considered to be back in 1842.

Heading home on Monday we hiked through the tallgrass prairie at the Mine Creek Civil War battle site near Pleasanton, Kansas. 

Now here it is Tuesday and we are faced with the last week of the 24-week CSA season.  For many this is goodbye for the year.  A hearty hug of appreciation is sent to all of you who weathered 2015 with us!  Community Supported Agriculture kept our farm afloat through pretty tough weather conditions this year and we cannot thank you all enough.

Despite a year's worth of rain in two months and then no rain for two months, we have somehow managed to continue to find crops to harvest each week.  From our varied crop list (about 40 in total) we lost many but were surprised by others that survived and even thrived.  The carrots rotted but we had one of our best harvests of white potatoes ever - over a ton in total.  The peppers, eggplant and okra rebounded from the rains and produced a bounty of fruits.

A special thanks go to Megan McQueen and Semra Fetahovic who apprenticed at the farm this season.  They started back at the end of March and seven months later, 44 hours a week, they have successfully completed a job well done.  Best wishes to them both!

And thank you to all who participated in the success of another season.  To steal a phrase, it takes a community to raise a farm!!!

Saturday morning CSA members dismantling the cherry tomatoes

In the Share - Week 14

 

MELONS (F/P)  Full shares get the yellow-fleshed variety called Peace.  Please don't dismay at the color, it is our best melon year after year.  The partial shares will get cantaloupe instead. We hope to switch the options next week as more fruits ripen in the fields.

TOMATOES (F/P) Another fine week in the tomato patch. 

GREEN BEANS (F/P)  The first tender picking of our late planting.  You'll have the choice of standard type or Roma flat-podded beans. 

HERB CHOICE (F)  Basil or hot peppers.

SUMMER SQUASH OR CUCUMBERS (F)  A first sampling from the last planting of the season.  Welcome back summer squash!

EGGPLANT (F/P) Just one or two this week.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P)

ONIONS (F/P)  Yellow onions this week.

SALSA PACK OR OKRA (P) 

NEXT WEEK:  More tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans and summer squash.  Garlic and carrots return.

FARM REPORT:

It has been an eventful week, as it always is during the peak of the summer harvest.  Friends and family have joined in the work and we have covered a lot of ground.  On Saturday, the CSA members spruced up the low till beds in preparation for the Harvest dinner in September. 

More folks are headed here tomorrow after answering the call for bean-pickers.  Thanks to all who signed-up.  We should have enough pickers to cover the 1400 feet we planted back in July.  The plants are beautiful and covered with fruit and flowers. 

Meanwhile, the laptop with the email program we use is down and so I'll be brief and leave you with one of the many monstrous sunflowers towering next to the farm house.

In the Share - Week 11

Tomatillos 

SALSA PACK (F/P) The lovely tomatillo shines this time of year. Just add a tomato and chop it all up. Or roast it and it’s even better.

TOMATOES (F/P) More reds and pinks this week with a smattering of other colors.

CARROTS (F/P) Big, orange carrots out of cold storage.

GARLIC (F/P) The first garlic of the season: Musik, a hardneck type with big, juicy cloves.

SWEET PEPPERS (F/P) More sweet yellows and purples. Ripe red peppers are coming soon.

EGGPLANT (F/P)  Lots more of these beauties.  Check Tom's posts for the past few weeks for recipes.

CHERRY TOMATOES (F) We will get some to the partial shares next week.

BEETS OR CUCUMBERS (F) The last of both for a while.

THAI BASIL, ITALIAN BASIL, SUMMER SAVORY OR HOT PEPPERS (F)

NEXT WEEK: more tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and salsa packs. Potatoes and onions.

FARM REPORT: Rain at last. It had been about two months since the farm had any, so the 1.3 inches that fell on Monday was much appreciated. We got a lot of seeds and transplants in before it came so things are off to a good start for the fall.

flail-mowed sorghum Sudan grass

Tom mowed down the high tunnel’s cover crop of sorghum sudan grass and will soon incorporate it with the spader. The soil will get a month to digest its green dinner before we start planting in September.

 During the summer harvest season we spend many hours in the wash and pack area. All of the remodeling we did this past winter is paying off with plenty of cold storage, tables for sorting and sinks for washing. It’s a pleasant place to be during the heat of the day or during a rain storm.

Rebecca and Lauren.  Luke with Shawn and Monica.  The Rouyers:  David, Amelia and Frido.  

What to Do With Your Share---Week 10

Right now we are in the midst of the best eggplant harvest we have seen on the farm. The fruit of this solenaceae beauty is quite captivating when you are lucky enough to be the picker. A bucket, and then a crate of all shades of purple achieves a level of visual stimulation that is not an everyday occurrence.

So we realize that it is eggplant season at Fair Share Farm like never before. We urge you to enjoy eggplant over the coming weeks. It is as perfect as we can grow it, and we do not know how fleeting it will be.

In last year's survey 60% of the membership said that the amount of eggplant they received was just right, 12 percent said they wanted more, and 28% said they wanted less. We think the survey shows that we are serving a community of vegetable eaters, though 28% have other preferences.

To help the 28% we are working on some killer apps for eggplant. This fiber rich vegetable has more recipes for it than any other. For us, some of the best start with roasting the eggplant. So here is a primer on that step, and tonight's recipe.

Roasting Eggplant
Last week's eggplant meatballs is a good example where it is good to have some roasted eggplant on hand. So is baba ghanoush, or tonight's Summer Pasta. Roasting is a great way to pre-cook eggplant so you can use it in a variety of dishes.

The instructions are simple:
Cut top from eggplant. Cut long eggplant lengthwise, round ones into 1/2 inch rounds. Brush with olive oil (seasonings optional), and roast in an oven for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees F, until eggplant is soft.

 

 

Summer Pasta
This dish is also simple.
Cook a pot of the pasta of your choice.
Roast some eggplant, let cool and chop coarsely.
Chop 1 to 2 tomatoes coarsely
Chop 3 to 4 tablespoons of basil.
Combine in a pan with some olive oil and cook until tomatoes are warm
Add pasta, toss. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with fresh or grated cheese.

What to Do With Your Share---Week 4

Week 4 already. We are nearing the blending of the spring and summer seasons. We are continuing our harvest of the spring crops and tending to the growing and flowering summer veggies. Right now is when we have a convergence of the pea, strawberry, lettuce and garlic scape harvests. It is an amazing combination to enjoy while it lasts. Summer can wait.

In the Fair Share Farm 2013 calendar the photo for June is of several recipes that may just have their ingredients in your fridge. The sugar snap pea salad, broccoli pasta salad, and Asian cole slaw are all good choices.

Another suggestion is an oft-used home-made dressing of ours, creamy garlic. So good and even tastier with a few strawberries thrown in.

To help you alleviate the lettuce bonanza you are experiencing we have a final suggestion, wilted lettuce salad. Like any green, lettuce can be cooked. It is actually one of the easier greens to cook, as it is difficult to under-cook, and it cooks quickly.

Wilted Lettuce Salad
1 large head of lettuce (we used a romaine)
3 green garlic or garlic scapes
3 hakurei turnips or 1/2 cup julienned kohlrabi
1 tbsp olive oil or butter

Dressing:
1 tbsp of honey or 2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive or other salad oil
1 tsp salt

1. Trim the top off the lettuce if needed. Trim off the bottom and fan the leaves under water to rinse out any dirt.
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the chopped garlic and hakureis. Stir and saute for 3 minutes.
3. Coarsley chop the lettuce head (you only need 4 or 5 slices to chop it up) and add to the pan. Add the salt, stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Take the skillet off the heat, add the dressing and toss.
5. Serve with crushed nuts or dried fruit as a garnish.

Cover Cropping
Feeding the soil is a full-time job, and this week more work was done in that department. The plastic of the high tunnel was removed to give the soil a breath of fresh air, and some rain on its face. We think that the sorghum sudan grass and cowpeas we seeded will germinate well, and add some much needed organic matter to the soil.

Taking off the high tunnel plastic

Meanwhile, we took a few last looks at our yellow clover patches before flail mowing them today, in advance of spading them in. A legume, yellow clover provides nitrogen to the soil, and takes in other nutrients and minerals.


Lorne strolling through the clover

What to Do With Your Share---Week 1

Welcome to the 2013 season. We are happy to have a diverse share this first week, a reward perhaps for making it through the Spring. The harvest has begun, and it is time to start cooking.

Leeks are one of our favorite vegetables, so we take advantage of times like now. We used a recipe tonight that was in our newsletter 8 years ago...angel hair pasta with leeks and pasta. Our variation included spaghetti and parsley and was so good, we had to recommend it and take a picture of it.

The aspargus you are getting is fresh and tender. Great steamed, grilled, sauted, marinated raw, it is very versatile. To clean asparagus you can wash it and snap off any tough ends, or you can peel it. There is no better demonstration of this craft than by Jaques Pepin. I encourage you to go to the KQED website and click on the video of Episode 208 at the 5:10 mark.

Whatever herb you get, chances are that it will enhance the flavor of any meal you decide to cook. With seasonal eating you get a natural pairing of flavors. Chives, mint or tarragon would have gone well in the leek dish.

Rye and vetch

In the field we are beginning the steps of feeding the Fall crops. A picture perfect stand of rye and vetch has reached it's full development, and we mowed it all down today in preparation of spading it into the ground. Yummy.

First CSA Pickup Delayed One Week

First up, the 2013 Fair Share Farm CSA season will start next week on 5/22, not this week as originally anticipated. The exceptionally cool and wet Spring this year has slowed the growing process here at the farm dramatically. And, being 30 miles north of the city, we are even slower than all of you in the heat island of KC.

chickens moved to the field and pecking in the grass

But, things are growing, despite one last gasp of cold on Mother’s Day morning, when a frost visited the farm. While the forecast for the night was 39 degrees, we knew that a clear night can bring problems, so we covered all 1,300 feet of strawberry plants to protect their tender blossoms. By morning, with the tiny daggers of frost stabbing everywhere, we were happy that we learned our lesson in 2011 when similar conditions severely damaged the crop.



multiply by 1,300 feet to see why we are hopeful for a good strawberry year

Other plants had been uncovered last week and were presumed to be able to handle mid-May weather, but have been set back a little and are showing the signs of wear from Spring 2013. In particular, the 1,400 broccoli plants we planted and mulched are “buttoning up”, forming penny sized heads 3 to 4 weeks before there anticipated maturity. Peas have also struggled through things. And today we jump to 90 degrees.

mass of tomatoes at the greenhouse on Sunday awaiting transplanting

But we have many more plantings to go, and yesterday set 400 tomato plants in the ground, to go along with the 700+ pepper plants and  400 eggplant and 200 summer squash that were put in the ground today. We have three main plantings each year---Spring, Summer and Fall. So even if our early shares suffer a bit, we are starting anew with the 2013 Summer crops and are hoping for less griping about the weather.

planting tomatoes on Monday

transplanting peppers on Tuesday

What to Do With Your Share--- Extended Season Week 1

Welcome to the start of the 2013 Fair Share Farm CSA Season. We welcome a host of new and "seasoned" members and look forward to a tasty year. We will try not to complain about the weather this Spring and will only say that the status of the harvest is a function of it. And while we had hoped that the crops would be farther along by now, they are nonetheless ready for harvest.

One vegetable the high tunnel is well matched for is spinach, as it will grow well February through April. So we are happy to be able to have fresh spinach for you. We will be working to learn more and more about the idiosyncracies of growing this lucious green. Good fresh or cooked, these leaves are quite savory and full-bodied.

Their relative, chard, is the recipe for the week. We had to pick the plants two weeks ago as they were shading out everything around them. A regular meal for us became Chicken and Chard Cacciatore. The chard is also good simply as a tomato sauce ingredient, helping to fill the pot with the greens we all need. Tomatoes and peppers frozen from the previous summer are always a good addition and a perfect use for them.

Chicken and Chard Cacciatore over Spinach

1 whole chicken, cut into parts
1 qt tomato sauce
One bunch chard
2 cups or one can peeled tomatoes
2 cups chopped sweet or green peppers
One onion/green garlic bunch or 2 medium onions
Salt and pepper to taste

To easily cut the stem from chard fold the leaf, lay it on its side, and trim off the stem

Cut white parts of onion/garlic into 1/2 inch rounds
Cut stems from chard and chop into large dice
Fry the chicken parts until browned (10 to 15 minutes), remove from pan and keep warm
Add 1 tsp olive oil to pan and saute onions, garlic and chard stems
Return chicken to the pan
Add peppers, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chopped chard leaves
Stir so sauce coats everything in the pot and cover
Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer covered for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is tender
Serve over chopped fresh spinach, pasta, rice, or by itself

2012---Our Ninth CSA Season

And so we reach 2012 ... and the reminiscing is about to end. It has been instructional and cathartic for Rebecca and me to review what the farm has been through over the last ten years. Every year has been a new set of challenges and unpredicable weather. As an example, the contrast between Spring 2012 and our present weather conditions is striking.

Red bud blooming March 24, 2012

2012 broke all sorts of records, including the hottest January-June on record and third driest year on record. The drought and mind-numbing heat of Summer (the average daily high in July was 98.2 deg F) made work difficult and came close to drying up our irrigation pond.

It was a very strange, if not somewhat bizarre year for the crops, with the early Spring and hot, dry Summer causing many plants to mature up to a month early. Strawberries were ripening on May 1 instead on Jule 1. Garlic was ready by June 5, a month ahead as well. And most of the potatoes quite literally cooked (and rotted) in the ground as the soil temperatures topped 90 degrees.

There were some major successes though. In the Spring the sugar snap peas were dripping off the vines with a new record of 550+ lbs. As mentioned, the tomatoes thrived...9,397 pounds of virtually blemish-free beauties thanks to the dry weather. The sweet potatoes were the most beautiful specimens we had ever grown. We also had good success with carrots, the Fall crops and many other vegetables.


Ryan picking peas (photo by Bill McKelvey)

tons of tomatoes

A good sweet potato plant

Sweet pea very full for the CSA delivery to the Bad Seed

Despite the crazy weather, the farm crew was up to the task. Dani Hurst returned for a second season as an apprentice and even squeezed a May wedding to Derek Brown into the year. Apprentice Ryan Stubby graced us with his hard work, good nature and awesome kale chips. Harvest extras allowed Ryan to hone his skills at food dehydrating, a talent he hopes to use in future ventures.



Ryan and Dani tending to the tomatoes in June

CSA member, Mark Flynn, had some free time that Summer and was a big help during the big tomato harvest and Fall planting push. The lack of rain and extreme heat created the need to put out mulch for the cabbage, broccoli and other July plantings earlier than normal. It was a big effort to complete, as the Summer harvest was also in full swing. Thanks again Mark.

Ryan, Mark, Dani and Rebecca planting cabbages in July

In June we traveled to Richmond, MO for the KC CSA Coalition tour of Parker Farms. As vegetable farmers and meat eaters we appreciate the effort that goes into raising free-range, pasture-fed livestock. Since we started collaborating with the Parker's in 2006, they have fed us most all of the meat we have eaten in the last 7 years. Tom, Paula and their four daughters hosted a delicious pot-luck and stroll of the farm. They are doing it right.


Pasture-fed and free-range beef ala Parker Farms

The other big task in 2012 was the construction of our new high tunnel. Grading of the site began in January. Two volunteer work days and many other hours of piecing it together were successful in getting things in order by mid-September. The high tunnel crops flourished that fall and allowed us to extend the season for 4 weeks.

Volunteers helping put up the main structure March 10th

Finished high tunnel on November 11th

Our last days of the season were out of the norm that year too. On October 20 the Outstanding in the Field crew and Justus Drugstore again set up at the farm for another fantastic dinner. It was a tough day though, as it was announced by OITF founder Jim Denavan that we were hosting the coldest event they ever held. Crazy for that to happen after the Summer heat wave.

We entered the Winter of 2012 already planning for an expansion of the CSA to 150 members in 2013. But first we are able to take a train ride to the Southwest and relax in New Mexico hot springs for a week. Such a break is always good.

The oft-photographed St. Francis Chuch near Taos, New Mexico

If you have been following this recollection all the way through we thank you, and hope you enjoyed it. We would appreciate your comments and look forward to hearing from our blog readers.

Next up...the 2013 season.

2011---Our Eighth Season

Impression of Rocky

By 2011 we had experienced eight years of farming in the same spot and seen how the land responds to just about every weather condition.  We continued to work on systems that could keep our farm resilient and sustainable for the future.

We were helped along by a principle promoted by Dr. W. Edwards Deming to "improve constantly and forever"... something I had learned in engineering and Rebecca knew inherently. It is an axiom that is in concert with the idea of sustainablility. We felt that we had a firm foundation to now build for the long-term future of Fair Share Farm.

The first couple months of the year were as busy as ever. We had one last area of the house to gut, insulate, re-wire, re-wall, re-window and re-door. We got it mostly done before things got too hectic and are enjoying the fruits of this labor to this day.

Only a memory now

The previous November, Lucas Knutter joined the farm team, house-sitting the apprentice house for the winter and joining us as a full-time apprentice in March. He had just finished a 27-month stint in the Peace Corp working with farmers in Senegal, and returned ready to start a farm of his own.  He went straight to work in January, joining us to repair some problem spots on the greenhouse.

 

It was a great year for the soil. Our Spring plantings went as smooth as ever after a quick cultivating pass with the G.

 

The Summer cover crop of sudan grass and cow peas grew 7 feet tall and was our best yet. Between the top growth and an extensive root system, the soil was given a feast.

Mowing down the cover crops before turning them under

Weather played its usual good guy/bad guy role, threatening tornados in the Spring, baking us silly in the Summer, and providing for a robust harvest in the Fall.  Kim Conrads joined us for the summer right after high school graduation and spent one of her first hours at the farm in our root cellar with the farm crew of CSA members, workers, farmers, a dog and two cats. Luckily no funnel stopped by.

Safe in the root cellar

August 2, a record high.

Among the standouts that year were our record snap pea (400+ lb), tomato (5,600+ lbs) and sweet potato (2,100+ lb) harvests . Other crops did excellent too, as the almost 2.7 lb head of broccoli pictured below can attest.

The tomato share during Week 11

CSA morning in the packing room

Colorful carrots

Head-sized broccoli

Fall share

July 25 was a unique day for us as we hosted Justus Drugstore and Outstanding in the Field for an al fresco dinner on the farm. It is tough to describe in one paragraph what a wonderful event it was. The food was unique and satisfying, the crowd happy and boisterous, and the presentation professional and artful. The whole story is in our July 26 blog.

The long table on a hot Missouri day

By August, Kim had headed to college and we had a new apprentice in Dani Hurst. She was ready to put the homesteading and farming skills she had learned about as a writer for Natural Home magazine into practice.  Her energy and good nature was appreciated for the next 1-1/2 years she spent with us.

Dani mulching leeks


Another group that has helped out over the years is my family. The road Rebecca and I took to where we are right now was not a normal one. While no doubt skeptical at first, their love and support for us over the years has been true and real. My brother and five sisters have all done a stint or two at the farm, visited during unique events like OITF, and otherwise used their talents to help us out. It has been a fun family affair.

My brother Bill juicing pears with our great-grandfather's press

Autumn 2011 was warm and the crops thrived into early winter.  The fields were plentiful past the end of our CSA season and for our annual night at the Bad Seed pre-Thanksgiving Market.

October

A rarity for us, the hustle and bustle of running a market table on a busy night is a lot of fun. So is catching up and bartering with all the other vendors, seeing our big city friends and enjoying the festive atmosphere.

Fall bounty

Next up...one year ago and a new high tunnel, more record harvests, the drought, OITF II, and back to the present.