This is the time of the year I am deeply engrossed in planning for next year. As we move through the year, Jose and I make changes to our planting spreadsheet for the following year when the need arises. This saves us forgetting at the end of the year. There are always changes with hindsight and new varieties/experiments. We are just a few weeks away from sowing tomato, pepper, and eggplant seed. It is just the way things are on a farm like ours, we continually plant to keep those harvest shares great. Today I ordered pepper seed and the black cherry tomatoes so loved by everyone last year. We got credit for last years pepper seed as they substituted a different, much smaller, red variety into the mix without asking me.
Looking back on the year the highlights were many. One thing Lorraine and I do enjoy is seeing you all on the farm. We appreciate you being a member, but making the trip to the farm and seeing for yourself helps us all understand where our food comes from.
The tomato sauce parties have evolved from just one to three per year due to the demand. We’ve had camping on the farm followed by taking a tour of the farm on Sunday after breakfast.
We made improvements to our finger weeder this year which has pretty much eliminated hoeing on the farm. Saying that, the whole crew, 8 guys, spent last Thursday hoeing 2 acres of Garlic. The rains this fall meant that Ramon was not able to always cultivate when he wanted and there were a few weeds to clean up. I was out on errands and they finished before I could take a picture of this rare event.
Next Year we will celebrate 20 years of the CSA in April. It is going to be an exciting and challenging year. We have some new varieties and we are changing how we grow some of our crops to combat our summer weed, Johnson Grass. More Mexiganic produce is coming in to the market and our costs keep on going up. We have to get smarter, no one on the farm can work harder than they do now.
We know you have many choices of where to buy your organic produce and eggs. We need your help to encourage friends and family to join so that local farms, like ours, can compete and thrive.
Your ideas and inputs would be very much appreciated.
We hope to see many of you out on the farm. Please bring your friends and neighbors, so that they too can see the value of local food.
Have a wonderful and safe holiday
-Nigel, Lorraine and everyone at Eatwell Farm