July Twenty-Eighth It’s hard to imagine a growing season without the need for irrigation. This may be the first one yet in the few young years that we have been farming. We’ve been getting between 1 and 3 inches of rain a week for the last four weeks. The rain has been incredible and I […]
July Twenty-First Eat within the seasons. We’ve all heard this beautiful saying that sounds so idealistic. Whether you like it or not, you’re actually eating within the seasons this year. You’re eating what nature intended for you to eat when your natural environment is ready to provide it. What is so fascinating to me is […]
July Fourteenth It’s already week 7 and the Garlic Harvest has begun! Garlic has always been one of our favorite crops to grow for many reasons. As we begin the garlic harvest the nostalgic smell of freshly dug garlic is a monumental moment in time for me. I am hopelessly in love with garlic because […]
July Seventh July is like a pilgrimage that I seem to go on every summer. The pilgrimage often carries on for an extended journey into the first couple weeks of August. It is a pilgrimage that often humbles me, teaches me strength, and spits me back out again a better person that I was when […]
June Thirtieth I was really beginning to worry about all that rain. Secretly, quietly, and with a small amount of erosion to show for it, a wee bit of anxiety was building in me. I don’t want to say the “F” word, because I’m hopeful the weather is going to take a turn towards the […]
June Twenty-Third Kohlrabi growing in the field Garlic Scapes all twisted up in the bins. I realized that we’ve made it all the way to Week 4 of our deliveries and I haven’t talked much about us, the farmers. A proper welcoming you’ve received, but a proper introduction seemed to have slipped my mind. I […]
June Sixteenth Adam and Drew weeding Potatoes Julie Harvesting Swiss Chard This week I thought of writing a little more about us, your farmers, how all this rain is putting a big “damper” on our progress in cultivation, and how the rest of the crops are progressing along. But the truth is, I have two […]
June Ninth Our field of squash with mulch between the rows of plastic. — Momma Jane washing Royal Oakleaf Lettuce. The Small Family CSA farm is truely a family farm. We are composed of Adam Varney (my fiancee), Jane Even (my mother), Julie Jacquinot, (my sister), Drew Coonon (my sister’s very serious boyfriend) and myself, […]
June Eighth We are a small family of farmers. Adam and I are newly wedded after building the Small Family Farm for 5 seasons together. After 5 years of pulling thread-like weeds out of an ocean-like field and safely planting baby-like plants into a Chicago-like landscape and harvesting meager-like crops from our endless-like efforts […]
February 10th, 2010 To all of the slumbering CSA-ers, localvores and seasonal food connoisseurs. The days are getting longer, the chickens are laying more eggs and the itch in my boots is starting to return. My calendar, my plans and my intuition are telling me that it’s almost time to git farmin’ a-gin. Your small […]
October Sixteenth Well, what a week to end the season? If you came out to look at the gardens after the last week of hard-hitting frosts, or should I say freezes, you would agree with me that it’s time to call it a season. Last week, Sunday morning, I walked around the garden to see […]
October Nineth I’m curious to know how this went for you. What was it like to be a CSA member of our farm this year. Did you learn to look forward to the boxes each week or come to dread ‘more vegetables’? I know that CSA is not for everyone out there, but I certainly […]
October Second I wonder where the month of September went in the same way that I wonder where year s21-25 of my life went. This is how easily time slips away from me. I woke up one morning and I don’t know when it got cold outside or when the season changed, or when I […]
September Twenty-Fifth Fall colors are starting to set in now. I sense that the garden is getting dreary. I suppose that we all have our limits of production, fertility and strength. She is running low on steam and getting sleepy now. I even find it less inviting to get up and get into the garden […]
September Eighteenth Greetings all from Momma Jane this week! Jillian let me take the helm as readies for the Madison Farmers Market. Busy, busy as usual with oh so much to do yet this season, with so little time. We have to admit we’re kinda glad we’re winding down, folks. Yup, we’re now entering the […]
September Eleventh A pleasant, warm, dry and quick week on the farm. In fact the time seems to be growing more pleasant, strangely a bit warmer, increasingly dryer and oh so quick, I can hardly tell that a week has passed. Where is the time going? I think I’ve been sinking my time into digging, […]
September Fourth Sooo….WHAT’S in the BOX???
August Twenty-Eigth This week I’m pretty sure I felt a turn of the seasons. I happen to be rejoicing in this awareness as the heat does not suit me well. I find myself enjoying such tasks, once again, as driving the truck out to the field to begin a harvesting project and keeping at it […]
August Twenty-First I would like to dedicate this newsletter to my mother’s mother, my grandmother, Eileen Even-Phohl who passed away last Sunday evening at the ripe age of 97 years, the heirloom seed in our family, that will live on thru us and our grandchildren forever. Thank you, grandma, for choosing flavor and quality over […]
August Fourteenth With some much needed heat, the peppers and eggplant are really starting to kick it into gear. We did leave quite a few peppers out there until next week to give them a chance to turn red as we have so many other things to give this week. We’re hoping that the tomatoes […]