Farm News Week 1, 2026

June 3rd, 2026

Welcome to the Small Family Farm and CSA! If you’re new, Welcome! If you’re a returning member, Welcome Back! We’re so excited you’re here to share a growing season with us! Thank you for your trust and faith in us as farmers! We promise to do our very best to produce flavorful, nutritious and bountiful CSA boxes full of food for you and your family this summer!

This season we have been off to somewhat of a challenging start. We had a very cool and dry spring. With so much dryness, we have already been irrigating our crops. Irrigation is effective when we can get water to the crops during critical periods. So far everything is looking really great, it’s just more work for the farmers and farm-helpers getting the irrigation set up and laid out and working. In addition to the dryness, the cooler weather has caused some of the crops to grow a little slower than we had hoped this Spring. But as my amish neighbor said to me this spring when I was out at his farm store buying drip line, “plant in the dust, and the crops will bust”. I know he’s right, because the driest seasons we have had have also been our most productive. Certainly not the ‘easiest’, but the crops all looked great!

Adam and I have been running the Small Family Farm CSA since 2006. It has been a labor of love for us, but one that keeps us working from home as a family. We have three children who are 8, 11 and 14 now. The farm is nestled high up on a Ridgetop in the rolling hills of the Southwest Wisconsin Driftless Area. We’re in “Amish Country” with the Kickapoo River and trout streams running through the Valleys all around. It’s nothing short of paradise. We have a rich and vibrant community of people that help on the farm to keep it functioning as a community farm should.

The farm started in a romantic vision as a way to make an honest living as farmers; raising a family on the good land that provides in the picturesque countryside. A vision to become part of the organic agriculture community, to grow clean, nutritious and healthy food for my neighbors and children to eat. It has cured and grounded into the true realities of what being a farmer absolutely means. Farmers have earned their honorable reputations, because life as a farmer isn’t always as ideal as it seems. We are an endangered species in this country. At times it feels lonely when your friends and neighbors don’t seem to understand your rhythm, your work ethic or your lack of availability. Farms are hungry monsters that will gobble up all of your time and energy and passion. Farmers are usually obsessed with their work. It’s a game, a puzzle, a gamble and it must be won to feed your family. The only way to sustain yourself in the profession is the draw the community closer to you, sharing the risks and blessings with everyone.

This is why the CSA model is so beautiful and in no uncertain terms-perfect, in my eyes. It’s a fair and transparent concession between you (the community) and us (the farmers). It’s trust building and it keeps us both conversant in the ways of eachother’s worlds. You keep us striving to appeal to you in the market we compete in and you give us the security we need to survive as farmers. We will do our very best to impress you and fill your boxes full of beautiful, fresh, organic produce so that you want to keep coming back year after year for more. In in additon we will provide you not only with those veggies you desire, but we will also share with you our farming experience keeping you in connection with the ancient occupation of growing food in soil that I believe resonates with us all on one level or another.

What’s in the Box?

Overwintered Red Potatoes- These potatoes were actually from last season that were harvested in the fall and stored in our cooler all winter. They might want to sprout if you leave them at room temperature now. So either eat them up this week or put the bag in your fridge for longer storage.
Herb Pack- Thyme, Sage, Rosemary and Oregano are the herbs in this herb pack. There is nothing like fresh herbs growing right outside your kitchen door when you need them most. We want for you to have access to the freshest herbs this summer. Plant them in a sunny spot outside and give them plenty of water and maybe a little compost as well and watch them grow! They could also be planted in a container with very fertile soil and set in a sunny place.
Asparagus- One pound bunches of organic asparagus. Asparagus is the one and only item we buy for our CSA boxes from a different farm. They are certified organic and come from Spears R Us by Wisconsin Dells. We feel like it wouldn’t be Spring CSA Boxes without asparagus.
Pac Choi- These are greenhouse grown Pac Choi from our upper greenhouse. They are such a special, rare, Spring treat. Pac Choi are difficult to grow in the Spring because asian greens are loved by all kinds of bugs. We grow them under row cover in the greenhouse and they always do well in the
Red Buttercup Lettuce– These delicate heads of lettuce are also greenhouse grown in soil. Buttercup varieties of lettuce are only possible to grow in the Spring and Fall when the temperatures are mild and not. They don’t have the heat tolerance that the lettuce we grow in the summer has.
Spinach– We tried a new variety of lettuce this Spring called Macarthur and WOW! It was a very productive variety that did very well on our farm! We were thrilled to have been able to give you all almost 1 pound of spinach!
Next Week’s Best Guess: Herb Packs, Asparagus, Pac Choi, Red buttercup lettuce, Pac Choi, Spinach, and likely radish and Hakurai salad turnips.