Almost every week, we send our CSA members home with a newsletter about farm life. Here are this summer's notes, to date.

Check out our shiny new CSA brochure! New this summer: CSA pickups in Maple Corner!

Our farm store is now a hydro-powered Internet cafe! We have coffee, tea, and hot chocolate available by donation to the Farm Share Program. Emily has been spending her mornings baking, and produces freshly baked cookies daily for the store. She is also making par-baked sticky buns for folks to finish baking at home - a treat for weekend mornings, available at the store on Fridays and Saturdays.

We have been buying in more vegetables to keep our shelves stocked with a variety of fresh greens and to fill out our own stocks of storage vegetables so we will have them available all winter. We are getting brassica greens from Littlewood Farm in Plainfield, spinach from Hazendale Farm in Greensboro, beets from Wellspring Farm in Marshfield, parsnips from Cate Farm, in Plainfield, Red Onions from Riverside Farm, Hardwick; Kennebec potatoes from Cedar Brook Farm, of East Hardwick, and coming in December, mixed greens from Screamin' Ridge Farm, in East Montpelier.

Yesterday we did in our last meat pig, Glory, which was sad because we had selected her as a keeper. But Glory was a troublemaker, fond of sneaking under fences and showing piglets how much fun freedom is. And we don’t want the pigs to eat all our melons again next year! We will winter over our two sows, Ines and Alberta, to make more piglets. We still have some feeder pigs too - check out the January Pork Pre-Buy for a discount on pork ordered by Dec 20th.

 

We had a great meeting with our soil mentor, Mimi Arnstein, yesterday morning. Along with surveying our lambsquarters cover crop and bands of varying fertility, we discussed how we felt to be wrapping up our first season of farming. My thoughts are often wrapped up in potty practicing and farm store inventory gaps, so it was refreshing to think about the past few months as we walked around our fields.

Matt took notes on what grew well and what didn't, and why so we know how to avoid the same problems next year.The rutabagas look nice and healthy, but could have been planted a few weeks earlier. Our small roots are adorable, and will dress up my stews all winter with baby veg cheer. Same with the carrots, and they have grown much sweeter in these last few cold weeks.

We decided starting a new farm with both vegetables and 700+ head of livestock was pretty silly, and were Matt given the opportunity to go back and visit himself plowing in April, he would run out in the field and wave his arms to STOP his April self, and counsel him to focus on fall crops, or better yet, wait till next year to grow vegetables! It was a very very busy summer, and we have spread ourselves thin. Mimi reminded us that nothing could have stopped our determined-to-farm-now locomotive. Maybe locusts? We wouldn't want to do another first summer farming, but we don't have to - mission accomplished, bring on the winter garden!

Thank you, crop mobbers! The potatoes are safe and in! It was nice to see you all. If anyone has a hankering for more pork, stop on by the farm store this week for your doggie bag.