The critters don’t seem to mind the cold snap we’ve had the past week. The farmers on the other hand are feeling ready for the thaw…
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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,
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Wow! What a whirlwind it’s been since our last Winter CSA distribution – between the holidays, the extreme cold snap, the snow, the ice storm and the 2017 Spring, Summer & Fall CSA sign ups! We hope you all had a healthy, happy holiday and New Year! Winter CSA pick ups begin again this week! (hurray! Gotta have those veggies!)
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January 1st, 2017 was the best opening CSA day we’ve had in the last 8 years! We had more return members sign up on the 1st than we could have ever expected! A big thank you to our die-hard CSA members whose early investment makes a huge difference in our ability to make decisions on the farm. And those decisions ultimately allow us to provide a better experience and product to you, our members! You guys are the bees knees!
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All the Winter CSA Shares so far!
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Sign up for the 2017 Spring, Summer & Fall Season! We are just 10 days into January and we are more than halfway there to being full for the 2017 season. A big thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old! Keep spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”
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Small farms are making a big impact! Keep up the great work everyone – let’s do it even better in 2017! #workinghandsfarmcsa #dirtyhandscleanhearts
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3 Steps to Signing Up:
- Read all about the 2017 CSA season (the Who, What, Where, Why, When & How Much)
- Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement
- Mail or drop off a Check or Make Payment Online to reserve your share
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Harvest, cover, harvest repeat!
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If you have any further questions about the 2017 CSA be sure to check out our FAQs section or send us an email. We look forward to seeing you all at the start of the season! Here’s to good food and the amazing community it brings together!
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And how about this extra-extra cold snap we’ve been having? The crazy cold winds and frigid temps certainly have us running around the farm. After Christmas, we continued on our quest of harvesting and washing all the things before the cold snap hit. Carrots, celeriac, kohlrabi and more root crops for the cooler. Last week, we prepared for the possibility of single digits temps. Two nights in a row we got down to 14* and it looks like another 14* night is on it’s way later this week. We covered and double covered everything and when we ran out of row cover we thought to use a 8 year old sheet greenhouse plastic that we kept in the bone yard. We thought if it gets into the single temps and lose some veggies it certainly won’t be for lack of effort. #whfwintercsa #winterfarming
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Our sweet and attentive working pups love this cold weather, some lettuce hiding under multiple layers of agribon in the high tunnels…
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So far, so good out in the field from what we can see – we’ll know more once the thaw comes. Keep your fingers crossed and the farm in your warmest thoughts as we head towards another small cold snap with potential of snow.
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We’ve been making some major headway on crop planning and seed orders in the WHF office (first we had to dust off all the cobwebs from our 2016 season…farmers don’t see much ‘office’ time during the growing season). We also took several soil tests before the ground froze and are expecting our results back this week. We’ve had a blast figuring out soil interpretation over the past 7 seasons and even help out a few of our farmer friends with their soil interpretations. We saw a lot of improvements in our soil last year from all our inputs we’ve put in (organic fertilizer and organic compost etc) and are excited (in the best, most nerdy way possible) to check out how we did this past year!
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Gloucester helping to write emails, the best place to be on a cold day and brussel sprouts hanging tough in the cold snap!
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We are VERY excited for the coming season on the farm. Spring is just around the corner – thank goodness the days are now getting longer. Winter can be a time of rest and recuperation for farmers but it is also a time for planning, revisiting notes from the previous year, solidifying the crop plan, ordering soil amendments, getting the propagation house up and going for the start of seeding, submitting the seed order, going over financial projections, figuring out ways to manage workflow in the busy season better etc, as well as some winter projects outside. This past weekend we sowed our first seeds of the season (lettuce, spinach and beets) and this week, we’re buttoning up the rest of our seed order (we’ve made it to Peppers in the ol’ seed catalogues!) and are in the midst of our crop plan in anticipation of our greatest year yet!
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We’re so excited to continue on in this farming journey and to share it all with you.
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Stay warm out there!
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With kind regards,
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Your Farmers
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Jess & Brian
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dirty hands, clean hearts
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working hands farm 
