From the Farmer
Warm holiday greetings to neighbors and friends near and far! I hope this letter finds you well, warm, at peace, and well-nourished. We are delighting in the deep out-breath of this liminal space between Christmas and the beginning of the new year. It is a magical time for us to embrace the darkness, for deep resting and deep listening. It is also a time for gathering with family, eating, celebrating and sharing; a profound pause before we turn our attention in earnest to the year ahead.
This is, of course, a natural time to reflect on the year past and to set intentions for the year ahead, so let's take a moment, shall we, to remember. Last winter brought us a new crew of eager and capable apprentices, Caralyn and Austin, who, along with our steadfast friend and neighbor, Zee, the horses, and me, took to the woods to harvest and process an impressive amount of firewood to heat all of the farm buildings as well as several households around Conway. A late-winter storm took down many large pine trees, which we were able to salvage and sell to the sawmill to turn into lumber.
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Meanwhile, Assistant Farm Manager Britt took a deep dive into the farm's finances. With a sharpened lens we were better able to come to terms with the financial state of the farm. We developed our new, tiered share pricing structure to enable greater support from the community, while continuing to provide access for all with low-income and SNAP shares. With that, you, our CSA members, stepped up profoundly to support us with many of you opting to pay at the sustainer level! This offered an incredible and necessary boost to the farm just as we were gaining momentum with the spring farm work.
What started out as a gentle and generous spring turned into an extremely dry summer. Miraculously though, we had exceptionally good germination of nearly all of our crops and an abundant first cutting of hay as well. When the rains ceased in June, we embarked on the daily schlepping of irrigation pipe and were able to keep our crops amply watered all summer long thanks to the South River and to our hardy farm crew. The sunny dry conditions, coupled with regular watering and a lot of careful tending from our devoted crew resulted in some record-setting crop yields. Potatoes, Winter Squash, and Carrots come to mind as particularly outstanding this year.
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Maggie and Leora, both having worked on the farm for many years, found themselves in a position to work more full-time on the farm this year and we are delighted for that! The horses also got some extra support from our wonderfully committed equine massage volunteers, Deliah and Nafeeza. Gabriel rounded out the crew over the summer months while he was out of school and helpers Anne, John, Kyle, Caroline, the Deerfield Academy kids and others helped to make for an amazing team this year.
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At the completion of my 25th year of farming here I am holding perspective on the trajectory of the life of this farm in the context of this moment in human evolution. While the landscape is ever-shifting, our orientation remains unchanged.
The first time I set foot on the farm on New Year’s Eve of 1998, I had a profound experience. I stepped out into the snow-covered, moonlit field and stood, looked, and listened. I saw in the distance horses and farmers working among abundant and vibrant crops, while families and children moved through the landscape in health and connection. It was a beautiful and deeply inspiring experience. For 25 years now I have been working to enable that vision into reality. Not because it was my vision, but rather because it feels that this is what is wanted here, by the land and by the people, both locally and globally in this time of human disconnection, dis-ease, and environmental crisis.
What has since manifested is the work of a great chorus made up of many members past and present, young, old, and those no longer with us, yet always with us. A community chorus consisting of humans, animals and plants, both cultivated and wild, great winds and flooding rains and a multitude of creatures too tiny to sense, yet seething with a force that moves in every living thing. Together we are singing out a prayer for humanity, for our relationship with one another and with the earth in the grand cathedral of these hills.
As we prepare to turn our attention towards the growing cycle ahead I invite you to continue forward with us into the new year with a vision for the future that offers vitality, connection, and peace.
In service with hope and gratitude,
David
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2023 CSA Sign Ups
If you haven't already, please commit to supporting the farm in 2023 by signing up or renewing your CSA share now.
(If you are not sure, go ahead and sign up again, Britt will not invoice you twice!)
CSA share payments that come in at the beginning of the year are essential for providing the funds we need for the year ahead.
You can sign up on our website today! Paying at the Sustainer level, if you're able, is the best way to support our work and help the farm to truly thrive. Remember that cash or checks are always preferred over credit card payments to keep your money here on the farm and minimize the amount of fees we pay to credit card companies. |
Please click here to view our CSA options and click here to sign up or to renew.
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Farming isn't just about weeding and picking crops. Winter is a time for reflecting on the year past and planning for the year to come.
Before the holiday storms, Britt took inventory of our seeds and used a spreadsheet to plan our seed order for next year. The seeds shown here are just the flowers and herbs, which are a tiny fraction of all that we grow - Just imagine how many more packets didn't make in this photo!
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Farm Store
The farm store remains open, self-serve, the whole year-round. Your continued support shopping with us through the quiet season is greatly appreciated. We are buttoned up for winter, so take a peek in the coolers for items usually found on the center island - we are simply protecting them from deep freezes, this does not mean they necessarily need to live in your fridge at home!
We will continue to have apples from Apex Orchards, bagged greens from Old Friends Farm, and our own eggs, winter squash, and roots vegetables (5# bags of carrots will be available starting this week!) through the winter as long as supplies remain. We also have a few 25 pound bags of seconds root vegetables available for sale. If you'd like to know more, email us and Britt can let you know what's still available and at what prices.
A Note on Eggs
We have reduced our laying flock for winter, so the supply of eggs will be limited until our next batch of hens arrives in the spring. Unfortunately, there seems to be a national egg shortage right now, so we have been selling out very quickly these days. We collect and wash eggs after lunch, so if we do sell out, they should be restocked by late afternoon / early evening. We apologize that we haven't been able to keep up with demand lately!
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With our deepest appreciation and gratitude
we wish you all a happy New Year!
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