February Twenty-First, 2011 Winter time is healing for farmers. It is a time of rest and relaxation and for a farmer’s energy to be less focused on their crops, harvest and delivery schedules and to become more focused on their own personal health and their family connections. At high tide, in the midst of an […]
October Thirteenth In the relatively few years that I have been farming, I have never seen a fall quite like this one. The last two weeks of the CSA season are usually quite cool where we are harvesting with stocking caps, gloves, long johns under our pants and tall muck boots with two layers of […]
October Sixth The frosts came this week, and they came again, and again. Saturday, Sunday andMonday night we woke the following mornings to a frost-covered ridge-top. An impressive wave that we did not really expect. The good news is that we had many of our tender plants that cannot handle these temperatures and freezing dew […]
September Twenty-Nineth On the eighteenth week of our CSA season, I see that the energy of the field is focused downward. The plants are dying back down and they are dropping their seeds in one final flush to ensure their species’ survival for the future Spring to come. The leaves on the plants have faded […]
September Twenty-Second In my earlier years of journeyman farming, working on other farms as an intern and apprentice I went through various stages of defining what I thought a sustainable farm would look like. As I spent years traveling north America as something of a ‘migrant worker’, working on one diversified farm after another, I […]
September Fifteenth We’re on the home stretch now with only four more weeks of CSA delivereis. Could you have guessed that there were this many different varieties of produce that can be grown in the Midwest and that can be provided over this length of time? It is truly amazing all of the colorful, delicious […]
September Eigth Balance is the theme of the week for me. As the change of the seasons is felt in more of a drastic way, I am reminded of the balance in my life that seemed to escape me for the annual 2-month pilgrimage that it goes away on during the months of July and […]
September First And the leaves on the trees here at the farm are showing the first signs of changing colors. I watch for this with hopeful anticipation each year. I love the decompression that the farm starts to feel as the seasons slowly turn. The heavy demands of weeding, harvesting and planting all at once […]
August Twenty-Fifth Julie harvesting Tomatoes in the warm, sunny afternoon towards the end of our summer days! Jillian cleaning onions in the greenhouse for this week’s CSA deliveries. A “truck load” of beautiful, colorful heirloom tomatoes! Sooo, What’s in the Box??? Melons!- Most of our members received a […]
August Eighteenth It’s mid August and the tomatoes are here in full force, right on schedule! I have so missed their juicy, ripe flavor. There are few vegetables that I long for in the off season as much as I long for tomatoes. I have a love for them that I cannot compare to many […]
August Eleventh Working in the ha-ha-ha Heat! You’ve got to eat it to save it. Maybe you’ve heard this saying that refers to saving endangered species of plants and animals. It’s true, if we want to preserve genetic diversity, we can actually help by cultivating these plants, raising these animals and spreading awareness about their […]
August Fourth We made it half way! Week 10 and it seems like some of the summer favorites are just starting to roll in. I know that you’re wondering, where is the sweet corn? You’re seeing it on the roadsides, it’s at market, and you see all the field corn alongside the highways forming heads […]
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, […]
