If you are wondering why there is a salmon on this page be sure to read until the end of the newsletter.
Since I haven’t written a newsletter since before the apocalypse I suppose some of you are wondering, “Was it the end of the world and I wasn’t told?” Fortunately not. The world kept spinning and I kept holding on – not easy to do at 733 mph for those of us residing around the 45th parallel. I would prefer to say that I’ve been just too darn busy to write anything but in reality I have just been too darn uninspired to write anything. Not a whole lot of exciting stuff happens on a vegetable farm in Minnesota in the winter. I could tell you about how I had to fill out all the paperwork for employees’ w-2s. I could tell you about the 2013 US Agriculture Census. I could tell you about buying a new computer running Windows 8 (affectionately called “Windows Hate” in our house). I could tell you about them but it would be too darn boring – plus talking about Windows Hate just raises my blood pressure. So this winter I pretty much just sat around trying to think of something to write for a newsletter. I’ll let you know when I think of something.
In the meantime, we still have shares available for this coming season. We are ahead of last season from a recruiting standpoint but we’d prefer to be sold out. Last season we had 17 new members who found us through referrals from existing members. It would be nice to exceed that this year. So please spread the word to all your friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. And as always, we still have the $25 referral bonus. For every new member you recruit we will credit your account $25 toward the purchase of anything we sell as our way of saying “Thanks!”
Another quick announcement: For those who put down a deposit on this year’s shares please remember to send in your final payment by the end of March. Of course you can send it in earlier if you’d like (and we’d appreciate it since we just spent $1600 on seeds). If you don’t remember how much you owe please ask.
Speaking of seeds, one of the more pleasurable things that I recently finished was the seed order for the 2013 season. We are growing most of the same things we did last season with a few changes/additions. I must have been in a color funk since most of the vegetables I added were ones that come in unusual colors. Of course these are all trials for this season so they may not be available in large quantities but if they do well they could be pretty cool. New this year are golden beets, red carrots, red celery, red popcorn, lemon cucumbers and various replacements for existing items that are no longer available. Lettuce and onions seem to be the most in flux with several of our usual varieties gone from the marketplace. I’m not sure why varieties disappear but it makes it tricky to find replacements. Actually I know why varieties disappear – consolidation in the seed business – but it still makes it tricky to run a farm.
Other than that it is mostly planning for the season, recruiting new workers and figuring out how to market our products. Speaking of products, we are looking at adding a new offering for this coming season: SalmonShare. What is SalmonShare you ask? SalmonShare is a monthly supply of wild, Alaskan line-caught salmon purchased from a group of small boat fishermen and fisherwomen from Sitka Alaska. It is a five month program starting in July and ending in November. Each month you will receive two (for the small share) or five (for the regular share) pounds of salmon. In July you will get King salmon, a delicious variety not normally found here in the heartland of the US. August brings us Sockeye salmon. Finally in September through November we will get Coho salmon. The availability coincides with the fishing season in Alaska. The price for SalmonShare is $450 for a five pound/month share or $200 for a two pound/month share. To learn more about the organization and the fisherpeople who are providing the salmon you can visit Sitka Salmon Shares. Do not order through their web site since this offer is for our CSA farm only. We have a minimum amount we have to order so at this time please let me know if you are interested and if we get enough takers we will proceed. I think this is a great way to get your omega-3s while supporting small businesses like our farm. And finding wild, line-caught instead of farmed salmon is pretty difficult here in the center of the continent!
Well that about wraps it up for now. Hopefully things will start to pick-up over the next few weeks then starting in March we open the greenhouse! In the mean time, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, jokes, etc.