A bunch of announcements and a bit of farm news. What more could you want in a newsletter?
We are still taking orders for 2025 VeggieShares. Spread the word! If someone you refer to the farm buys a VeggieShare we’ll give you $25 off anything you select from our online store — including cool farm merchandise like a nifty tote bag!
We are still taking orders for Egg, Cheese, Fruit, Coffee, ‘Shrooms, Flowers and WinterShare. Eggs and Flowers have less than 10 left so if you want either of these please order soon. All can be purchased at our online Farmstand.
This is the last week to order six-packs of plants. If you plan to do so please order them soon.
Just a reminder we added Haskell’s on Ford Parkway as a drop site. Tell all your friends who shop there to sign up for veggies as well!
We also have many other drop sites around the Twin Cities. I’m sure you have a friend or relative who lives near one of them. Check out our drop site map!
I should also mention for those who pick-up at Ginkgo Coffeehouse, or those who would like to visit Ginkgo Coffeehouse, they are offering a Baked Goods Share that you can pick-up at their store when you grab your veggies. Yum!
If you haven’t paid for your share and are not on a payment plan please send in final payment at your earliest convenience! Thank you!
Farm News
As all you long term members know by now — and I suppose you short term members should know as well — we have had increasing difficulty with deer eating our veggies without proper compensation. When we first started farming we had a lot of deer tracks through the farm but they didn’t seem interested in the produce. Over the years their interest has ramped up significantly. I don’t need to go into all the details again. You’ve all heard it before.
Anyway, when I’ve complained to a few of you in the past some of you responded correctly with “That must be really hard” Others tried to fix it. “Why not put up a fence farmer Chris?” They are expensive and restrict the use of our property. “Why don’t you hunt them farmer Chris?” Many have tried, few have succeeded, and those who have only reduced the population by one that season. “Why don’t you get a dog farmer Chris?” Hmm. We’ve had dogs in the past. They were pretty old so didn’t seem too helpful. However, I am willing to try again.
So we recently got a new dog. I don’t have a lot of confidence in this “Dogs will chase the deer away” plan since it didn’t seem to work in the past. So I decided to start small. Try it out. See if it works. And if it is successful maybe we’ll ramp up to a larger degree. His name is Link. So far we have not seen any deer so it seems to be working. But then again he hasn’t even been out of the house all that much when deer are usually present so I am not convinced he is the cause. But I’m willing to keep him around to see if he is successful.
For those of you are wondering what kind of dog he is, he’s a fairly common breed called an Attention Hound. He believes the whole world revolves around him and we were all placed on this planet for his enjoyment. So far he hasn’t been wrong. But we find him enjoyable too, except when he destroys things. I’m sure many of you will meet him over the course of the season.
Other than a new dog, not much else is new on the farm. We are still planting stuff in the greenhouse, trying to resolve issues with our Raspberry PI based greenhouse control system, and waiting for the ground to warm up and dry up a bit more so we can get out and plant the crops. The season so far has been pretty typical in that it isn’t like any previous season, so I guess that’s good. Keeps us on our toes.
That’s pretty much all for now. Feel free to send in questions, comments, suggestions, share orders or anything else you think I or Link will enjoy.
Jokes of the Week
What is a dog’s favorite vegetable?
Collie-flower
What is a dog’s other favorite vegetable?
Bro-collie
What is still another favorite vegetable of dogs?
Bark Choy
What is a Boston Terrier’s favorite herb?
Pawsley