As I’ve mentioned before, in farming some days you get to work outside and some days you have to work outside. Well this week we aren’t doing either. I don’t think I have to tell you that it is just too wet. But before I tell you what we are doing here are a couple of noteworthy messages.
CheeseShare now includes Parmesan! But unfortunately no longer includes jalapeno cranberry cheddar. For those who have already ordered, this would be a good time to let us know if you want to change any of the default cheeses. Just send me an email with your changes.
Our anticipated start week is either June 12th or June 19th.
We are getting closer to selling out! Please order soon if you plan to rejoin. Also don’t stop telling your friends and neighbors since we haven’t sold out yet!
We are also still taking orders for most everything else like fruit, cheese, meat, eggs, ice cream, coffee, flowers, and winter share. MeatShare deadline is May 30th. These are all great add-ons to your veggies. Most come from small producers, are organic (but maybe not certified) and frankly are quite tasty! If you consume any of these items please consider buying them through us. It is a great way to help small, sustainable farm businesses survive!
We are still taking payments for those who have forgotten to pay for their shares! Please send in your full payment if you haven’t already and are not on a payment plan. If you aren’t sure if you still owe money or how much please contact me and I can look it up for you.
Farm News
All this rain has really dampened our progress in getting everything planted. We are actually a bit ahead of schedule since we typically don’t put the warm season crops in the ground until around the 20th or so of May. However with no freezing weather in the long term forecast we’ve already transplanted summer squash, eggplants and peppers. But we ran out of time before the rain moved in on Monday so we still have quite a few plants left to transplant. Looking at the forecast it most likely won’t be until sometime later next week before we can get back into the field. And by then we will be battling weeds up to our knees!
In the mean time we have been working on a huge remodeling project. When we bought the farm earlier this century it had a pole barn that previous owners had converted to a living space. Our remodel project is to turn some of this living space back into a pole barn for washing, packing and storing the veggies. It has been a ongoing project for many years with changes and additions as we gain experience with those changes and additions. Trying to retrofit an existing space for a specific need can be challenging.
With last season’s changes we felt we spent too much energy moving produce from the cooler to the packing area then back to the cooler. The reason for the long round trip was the number of walls and doors between the two areas. The space near the cooler wasn’t large enough to work as a packing space so this year’s project is to remove these walls to open up a larger space thus reducing our veggies travel time to just a few steps. In addition, removing these walls opens up access to a floor drain we can use to more easily mop and squeegee the floor plus a dedicated sink for washing hands. That is a lot of winning!
It will take a couple more days to complete the project but with the amount of rain we’ve had this week plus the forecast for more rain this weekend I think we will be looking for indoor work for a few more days.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, etc.