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A view of the farm last Spring. Notice the partially constucted house, the not-yet planted pasture, the not-yet built barn, veggie processing structure, fences, chicken coop, greenhouses…… busy bees!
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The Farm’s Farmer. “Over a long time, the coming and passing of several generations, the old farm had settled into its patterns and cycles of work – its annual plowing moving from field to field; its animals arriving by birth or purchase, feeding and growing, thriving and departing. Its patterns and cycles were virtually the farm’s own understanding of what it was doing, of what it could do without diminishment. This order was not unintelligent or rigid. It tightened and slackened, shifted and changed in response to the markets and the weather. The Depression had changed it somewhat, and so had the war. But through all changes so far, the farm had endured. Its cycles of cropping and grazing, thought and work, were articulations of its wish to cohere and to last. The farm, so to speak, desired all of its lives to flourish. Athey was not exactly, or not only, what is called a “landowner.” He was the farm’s farmer, but also its creature and belonging. He lived its life, and it lived his; he knew that, of the two lives, his was meant to be the smaller and the shorter.” ― Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow
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Hello friends & farm-ily,
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After a wonderful extension of summer it looks like some Fall-like weather and the change of seasons are upon us with rain set to hit in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and “cooler” days in the 10-day forecast. The cover crop, the soil, the Fall veggies, the farm critters and your farmers are all ready for the shift in weather. With the excellent season we’ve had so far it feels like a long time coming and a long exhale when it rains after such a dry period.
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A view of the Fall garden in 2013. We were washing and packing boxes at our old farm down the road and we’re harvesting from two different farms – lots of driving to and fro. We moved all the critters over after we finished the barn in November 2013.
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This time of the year there is a lot of winter preparation as well as seasonal cleanup in the garden. The barn is filled with hay and the critters have all been moved to higher ground in anticipation of the coming rains. It is beginning to be a time of “resting” on the farm. The pasture is put to rest until next Spring when all the lush grasses return. We have a sacrifice area for both the cows and pigs on the south side of the farm. An area that will surely take the brunt of hooves and long stays in the same area but in order to preserve the integrity of your pasture you must do this in the wetter, cooler months. It’ll be in a blink of an eye when Spring starts to show itself once again and all the critters will be back out on fresh pasture. For now, their local, organically grown hay will have to do in the comforts of their winter home – the barn.
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This time last year the barn roof was going on, as well as your two farmers building, designing and constructing the new chateau poulet.
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It’s also time to start cleaning up the garden and to get everything tucked away before the coming of winter. We’ve sown in cover crop on all the tilled areas of the farm. We’ve begun pulling out t-posts in the tomato field and t-tape (irrigation). Next weekend we’ll get all the agribon row cover on our tender crops in preparation of our first frost which usually happens in this area around the 21st. Hard freezes that come later will mean draining pipes and getting everything winter ready.
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We’re hoping to put on the greenhouse cover this coming weekend and put that to bed. The crops that we seeded inside are doing well and we look forward to extending the season in the greenhouse. We’re also hoping to trench irrigation lines in the pasture and in the garden once the soil gets soft enough (it’s been so dry in the pasture – like a brick in some places). If not this Fall.. there’s always Spring!
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From Last Fall…Snuggling piglets in the barn, garlic planting and a foggy morning porch view of the garden…
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GARLC! We planted all our garlic this past weekend which means we have officially begun the 2015 growing season! It’s the first season that we planted all our own garlic seed (we’ve been saving incrementally over the past 4 years). We planted 3,000 ft of 7 of our favorite varieties which means if all goes well over the winter and spring with the seed then we will have lots of delicious garlic to enjoy in the 2015 season. *That’s 900ft more than we planted last Fall* Garlic is the gift that keeps on giving and we can’t get enough of it!
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2015 Sign Ups. Some members have been asking about our 2015 sign ups. You guys will be the first to know when we open up the CSA for next season! Over the summer months and through the Fall our waiting list has been growing but all our current members receive a two-week priority before we open it up to everyone else. We can hardly believe there are only 6 more pick up weeks left! Let us all savor what the glorious autumn bounty has to offer us… we love this time of year!
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We hope you all stay cozy and dry this week. Take this opportunity to enjoy your time in the kitchen. If you’re a 2014 CSA member and you haven’t yet joined our 2014 CSA member recipe facebook page check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/696698667079657/?ref=br_tf. Thank you to all those who have participated thus far. We love seeing the pictures and reading all about what you’re whipping up in the kitchen. It’s inspiring to your farmers and fellow CSA members!
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Fall 2013 veggies! We love this time of year…
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Also, of note…
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Attention: Beginning Farmer and Ranchers! Our dearest friend Beth has been working incredibly hard to put together the Farmers Rising! Oregon Beginning Farmer and Rancher Convivium this Friday-Sunday. She says, “It’s a packed weekend with more than 20 awesome trainers teaching sessions on everything from marketing to farm construction, PLUS: good food, farmer yoga classes, social time, and an honest to goodness hoedown (string band & dance caller!). It’s not your run-of-the-mill farmer conference.”
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Check out http://farmersrising.brownpapertickets.com/ to purchase your tickets and spread the good word to any fellow farmers or interested folks you might know!
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See you all this week!
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All the best,
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your farmers
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Jess & Brian
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dirty hands, clean hearts
working hands farm 