Let’s start with some announcements:
I want to go on record that I do not seek, nor will I accept my appointment to be Pope.
Opening day of spring training is Monday March 4th. Already? Wow! See below the announcements to learn what it is all about.
Shares
There are still shares available for this season. Please let all your friends, neighbors and colleagues know about the farm. We like referrals. In fact we like them so much we credit your account $25 for every new member referred to us by you. Don’t be shy. Please spread the word!
Add-ons
Pricing for MeatShare, CheeseShare, SalmonShare (scroll down the page of this link to learn more), WinterShare, FlowerShare, and herb six packs have been determined and can be found on the order form. FruitShare pricing is still pending. If you would like to order any of these items (including FruitShare) and are already a member just let me know which you want and I will add them to your account; no need to fill out an order form. Please send in a check at your earliest convenience. We can also provide payment terms. Let me know if you have any questions.
Payment
Payment for your VeggieShares is due this month unless you made other arrangements. Let me know if you have any questions.
Events!
We received a number of requests in our fall survey for additional on-farm events. So we added a couple new ones to try to appeal to a broader audience. Here are this year’s events with tentative dates (subject to change due to weather or other things outside of our control):
Potato planting: Saturday April 20th 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm with bonfire and potluck to follow. This is our traditional spring event where members of the farm get down and dirty. Potato planting is the easiest field planting we do. You take a potato and drop it in the trench; no bending required. Kids of all ages can do it! Plus we can tour the farm to see how few things are planted before potatoes. Maybe we can even take out the bees to play with for a little bit!
Sweet Corn Greenhouse Seeding: May 4th 2:00 pm until finished. This is another exciting event, but unlike the others it is an indoor event! Ever wonder how we grow all the food you eat? Come help us get the sweet corn started in the greenhouse. Corn seeds are big so most anyone can be successful seeding corn. Plus you get to go into the greenhouse (or if it is really sunny and hot we will do it outside in the shade).
Potato Harvest and Film Fest: September 7th 2:00 pm until finished followed by potluck and the First Annual Fresh Earth Farms Film Fest! We are stealing an idea from our neighbors down the road and adding a film fest to this year’s activities. But unlike our neighbor’s film fest, we are making you work for your admittance. Come get dirty and help us dig the fall potatoes. Next we will sit back and enjoy wonderful food, drink and conversation. Then we’ll fire up the projector and get the film fest started. We are looking for submissions. It is up to you to make this a success. The guidelines are quite simple. All films must be seven minutes or less in duration. All films must be kid appropriate. Films do not have to be original; films from the internet are acceptable. Farm-related films will be given priority but all films will be accepted (as long as they meet the guidelines). Now get out there and start filming (or surfing)!
Garlic Planting: October 12th 2:00 – 5:00 with potluck and bonfire to follow. This was so much fun last year (and the year before that and the year before that…) so we are bringing it back for another go. Another activity that works for all ages. Hopefully this year Washington County won’t put the kibosh on our bonfire.
That’s pretty much it. We were trying to think of some events for the months of June, July and August but what we have found in the past was attendance was quite sparse due to high heat, weekend trips, etc. If you want more events in the summer please let me know and I can try to figure out a couple. In the meantime mark your calendars and get to work on those films! We’ll request RSVPs as we get closer to the dates.
Wow, the newsletter is already pretty long. Maybe I will just end it with a rerun of our opening day ceremony from 2007. As always feel free to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, links to film fest entries, etc.
2007 Greenhouse Opening Ceremony
The ceremonial opening of the greenhouse took place on Friday March 2, 2007. It is an event that has taken different forms over the last few years. Last year was a pretty low key event and so was sparsely attended. This year’s activities were much more extensive but with poor publicity it too was sparsely attended (note to self, increase advertising budget for greenhouse opening ceremony).
Unlike last year where I simply walked out to the greenhouse and opened the door, this year – as I mentioned above – was far more elaborate. It started off with the ceremonial finding of the shovel. Most in attendance found this part of the ceremony took too long so we are hoping to shorten it next season. This was followed by the ceremonial digging through the waist deep snow followed quickly by the ceremonial giving-up and walking the long way around to the greenhouse. There was much joy in this change in the itinerary.
Next up was the ceremonial removal of snow from in front of the door. The snow drifted strategically to place shoulder level snow right at the entrance. Again those in attendance found this part of the ceremony to be way too long and vocalized their disapproval without regard for proper manners. Finally the door was ceremoniously opened and the declaration of the beginning of the 2007 season was announced.
However this was not the end of the ceremony. There was the ceremonial lighting of the heater (though visually not a moving part of the ceremony there was much applause once the burners fired). Followed by the ceremonial removal of the snow piled-up on the greenhouse. This pretty much concluded the formal portion of the service. All who attended retired to refreshments inside the house. All in all it was a moving ceremony, though the hope is next season we can shorten it quite a bit.