The start to outdoor farming is temporarily on hold due to weather. We hope to move outdoors next week when the weather warms.
Potato planting party. Just a reminder to RSVP for our potato planting party on Saturday, April 26th. The forecast calls for a perfect spring day! (And the forecast is never wrong). Start time is 2:00. End time is 4:00 or until we get the potatoes planted. This is a great event for everyone to see the farm and get your hands dirty. No stooping required!
We still have shares available but some sites are close to full. Still, we’d like to sell all the shares so continue to send people our way. If they sign-up we credit your account $25. Referrals are our number one marketing avenue. So far this season 26% of our new members came from referrals by our existing members. Thank you to all who have sent people our way. We appreciate your confidence and support.
Just a quick plug for FruitShare. This is a great compliment to the veggies. All the fruit is certified organic, from small family orchards and is incredibly delicious! The summer fruit includes blueberries, cherries, peaches, plums, pluots, apples, pears, Asian pears, nectarines, grapes and other fruit I don’t recall. As an example, this week’s fruit is strawberries, oranges, avocados, pears, apples, grapefruit, and mango. Check out FruitShare for details or just send me an email letting me know you are in and I will add it to your account!
Responses to farm event survey.
This year I decided to have a pre-season survey to gauge customer interest in farm events. The goal is to put the resources into the events people want us to have. Thank you to all who responded to the pre-season survey. There is still time to do so though the potato planting event has already been scheduled. If you didn’t get the email with the link to the survey please let me know. We may have the wrong email address on file.
As typical with these types of surveys, the comments give far more information than the survey itself. As is also typical, I will respond to a couple of the comments. So without further ado (what is ado anyway?) here are the comments and my responses.
“Too old for farm events, but we appreciate the work done by others”.
At all the events we currently schedule there is an opportunity for all people to participate regardless of their physical abilities. For example, with potato planting some of the potatoes need to be cut. All it takes is a chair, a knife and a cutting board. No stooping, bending, crawling in the dirt, etc. Plus you get to ride in the back of the pick-up truck so you don’t even have to walk! Similarly with the garlic planting the bulbs have to be split into cloves. With the right technique it is pretty easy and again can be done from a sitting position. Finally, the fall film fest only requires your ability to sit down, eat food and watch movies. There is no age restriction on this level of physical activity. So don’t let age restrict you from all this fun!
“a kid friendly event or a kids’ day where they could come and see the farm, help harvest some things to take home”.
All our current events are kid friendly. Typically we have kids from 1 to 70+ years old at these events. There is always something for the younger kids to do – we pick these specific activities for that reason. The upcoming potato planting event is great for kids. No small seeds for less than nimble fingers, just grab a potato and drop it into the trench. And if the kids come back in the fall for the potato harvest event they can harvest some of the potatoes they planted. What better way to teach kids where food comes from? Plus it gives them the opportunity to dig in the dirt and at the end of the day they are welcome to grab some potatoes for the evening’s dinner.
All the films at the film fest are reviewed prior to the event to ensure they are family friendly. They may not be geared toward children but we try to ensure the films don’t raise uncomfortable questions for the ride home. Finally, during the harvest season (mid-June through October) we harvest Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If you want to bring out the kids to help out with the harvest (or if you want to get away from the kids for a quiet day on the farm) just contact me ahead of time so we can figure out where they/you can help out. There is usually something they can’t break.
“a mini tour for the kids so they can see where our food comes from”.
My intention is to offer a tour or two at every event. Sometimes it doesn’t happen due to forgetfulness or lack of time but usually it is due to lack of interest since most people who show up for events are the same people year after year so they’ve already seen the farm. But if any member wants to come out for a tour any time we are here we’d be more than happy to show you around. Just gives us a day’s warning so we can get the place cleaned up prepare for your arrival.
I’m surprised by the number of people who want a “Dinner on the Farm” event – somewhere around 90% of the respondents. I don’t know why that surprises me. Maybe if I put a price tag on it the number would be different. I don’t think we will be able to put it together this year but will put the process in motion and see what comes of it. Are there any event coordinators out there interested in helping out?
One item I forgot to put on the “possible events” question was a Fresh Earth Farms Golf tournament. Since I started farming I haven’t had much chance for golf. And it seems I won’t have much chance for golf unless I somehow make it a work requirement. So one of these years I need to have a golf tournament. There is the Afton Alps golf course just down the street a couple miles! Who’s in?
I have more comments and analysis to write about but this newsletter is long enough as it is. As always, comments, suggestions, jokes, etc. are always welcome.