Susan got me a dirt scented man-can for Christmas this year. Nothing says romance quite like the smell of dirt!
Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! And Happy New Decade! But is it really a new decade? It seems to me that whenever I count things — including years — I start at one. So the decade — which is ten years — would include the tenth year. In the case of this decade I would start at 2011 and count ten years until I reached the end of the decade which would be 2020. So aren’t we in the last year of the current decade? I’ll let you decide.
Speaking of a new year, it has been awhile since I last wrote. I guess I really had nothing new to say. And I still feel like that but I do have a few items of interest.
First, unfortunately our cheese supplier is calling it quits. We had a good run with Castle Rock and I will miss their wonderful cheeses, but I guess the economics in the cheese business just aren’t working out for them. I think it is a shame that we as a society can’t support a small dairy business anymore. But apparently there is way too much cheese on the market resulting in low prices and pushing good people out of the business. And in this case I don’t think we can place all the blame on Amazon (wait, maybe we can since they bought Whole Foods…) Anyway, they will be missed.
Speaking of missing, it seemed like our trial relationship with TC Farm wasn’t very successful. I have no idea why but we got very little interest from our customers for their products delivered for pick-up at our farm. Or perhaps our customers picked up from another TC Farm drop site. In any case, unless there is a large outcry from our membership to partner with them again we will let this relationship end and wish TC Farm good luck with their business. Feel free to contact them directly if you would like to order any of their meat offerings.
Well we might as well pile on a bit more bad news. Due to this being a leap year, we have to increase our prices for 2020 to cover this extra day, which as days go is really expensive. And I suppose our rising costs affect the pricing a bit too. It has been a few years since we last raised prices — perhaps as long ago as the last leap year! Our suppliers did not keep the same bargain so we absorbed the price differences these last few years. Now however we need to raise our prices. It isn’t a huge increase — between 0 and 5% depending on the product — so it shouldn’t be overly burdensome to our members. However since I just sprung this on you now I will extend the 2019 preorder price until Friday January 10th. If you want to save a few bucks on your 2020 veggies please order before the 10th. To lock in the price either order your shares through our online store or simply send in a $100 deposit. We’ve had a great response so far. It would be even better to have everyone back and signed up by the 10th (hmmm, that would defeat the purpose of the price increase wouldn’t it Chris?) Let me know if you have any questions.
On a related note, this could be a good time to remind you to tell all your friends, neighbors, coworkers, cell mates or others who would be interested in eating great veggies all summer to sign up for our 2020 season. Have them write your name in the “Where did you hear about us?” line on their order and we will credit your account $25. They can also get the 2019 price if they sign-up by January 10th.
Farm Update
There isn’t a lot of farm news this time of year. I’ve spent a good deal of time laying out the planting plan for the 2020 season. I’ve also been researching how to keep deer off the veggies (really tall fence seems to be the only answer). I feel like we have reasonable solutions to most of our larger challenges except for deer. We can cover produce to prevent them from eating it but that is expensive and adds a significant labor cost; we have to remove and reinstall the hoops and mesh ever time we want to hoe or cultivate the bed — at least doubling the time to accomplish the task, not ideal to say the least. And if we cover one crop they just go after an uncovered crop. Finding a solution for deer is what keeps me up at night these days.
The next big tasks ahead this winter are inventorying and ordering seeds; and taxes. Now would be a good time to let me know if there is something you’d like us to grow this year — or to grow more of. No guarantee we’d be able to grow it here but it doesn’t hurt to ask. So send in your suggestions ASAP.
That pretty much covers it. As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, brain-teasers or other items of interest do not hesitate to send them my way!