Posts from the “Newberg CSA” Category

Stop, Look and Grow (week 4)

Posted on 10 Jun 2014

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Sowing the seed, my hand is one with the earth. Wanting the seed to grow, my mind is one with the light. Hoeing the crop, my hands are one with the rain. Having cared for the plants, my mind is one with the air. Hungry and trusting, my mind is one with the earth. Eating the fruit, my body is one with the earth. – Wendell Berry

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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We’re a month into the CSA and we hope everyone is feeling lighter and brighter with all this farm fresh food. We certainly have been enjoying watching the garden grow and really take shape this season. We’re constantly amazed by farming.. that over 5 months ago – back in January – we began this season.. ordering seeds, planting the seeds etc and we are now reaping the rewards of all that energy, growth and time. It’s an amazing cycle that we are so happy to be a part of.

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Stop, look, grow. Farming is all about planting. From January until October we are planting. Planting, planting, planting (Farmer Brian knows I mean business whenever my farming notebook is out!) Most of our crops (from February – April) are started indoors in our propagation greenhouse. We seed in 50 cell trays and fill up the tables, then move to the floor until the greenhouse is overflowing with starts. Come early to mid-March we are able to till and transplant, transplant, transplant. This time of the year (May-September) we direct seed in the garden as well as start seeds in trays for our Fall crops. Always thinking 2-5 months ahead.. of course, every season is different (there are just too many seasonal/environmental factors that contribute) but over the past 5 years we’ve found a balance and a planting schedule that works for us. Lots of hard work, trust, paying close attention and taking risks have led to us feeling pretty confident about when and how to plant. It also helps that we make a pretty darn good team.

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Farming is a craft.. part intuition part passion part science. Each season we get one chance to grow most of our crops…such as Potatoes, Tomatoes, Peppers, Berries, Winter Squash, Sweet Corn etc. For others, we get 2-4 chances a season. Added up over a lifetime that’s about 30-40 chances to grow the best potatoes, tomatoes etc that you can grow which means make every season count! Farming is a way of life (24 hours a day) that is full of endless possibilities, yes, but is also full of opportunities that need to be seized and paid close attention to. Your “farm” and everything else are very much a reflection of you… which reminds me of the post I made on gratefulness (Gratitude on the Farm) this past Spring.. a great reminder during such a busy time!

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Over the last two weekends we’ve seeded beans, summer squash, cukes, melons, greens etc. They are all germinating well and loving this early summer weather. This week we’ll be seeding in our winter squash, corn & pumpkins. We’ve been catching up with the weeds, block by block and see a lot of healthy growth on all our plants. As we near the summer solstice, the plants really do thrive in the garden with all the extra sunshine. The bees have been busy in the garden too and there is an endless supply of wild blackberries for them to forage on around the perimeter of the farm (the highest nectar flow for local honey bees comes from the blackberries).

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Sun up to sun down. These longer days also mean longer hours for your farmers (don’t get us started on our to-do lists) and it feels incredible to check a few things off before the next thing sneaks on to the list… like putting the first lines on the tomato trellises or hilling the potatoes one last time. We are hoping for some rain (even just a little bit of moisture in the soil?) later this week to till up some space for new succession plantings (think: Fall) of carrots, parsnips, beets, etc. The farm is just brimming with goodness and we love it. It’s also been a very warm and very dry Spring this season. With all the sun and warmth it’s hard to find a balance when there’s so much physical labor to be done (not to mention all the water that needs to be hauled to thirsty animals). But we do what we can and enjoy the crisp, cloudy mornings until that hot afternoon sun makes way for a mid day respite.

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Flower Power. The onions are beginning to bulb out as well as the garlic. The potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers & tomatillos all have their first rounds of flowers as well as some fruit on the tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. The taste of sunshine in every bite..

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The dirty dozen. We read an article last week – that we wanted to share- highlighting the fruits and veggies found at the grocery store with the most pesticides (a single strawberry tested for 13 kinds of pesticides – yikes!) As CSA members, you know that it’s so important to know your farmers and to know your food. When buying in bulk, at the market or directly from a farm, be encouraged to ask the farmers about their growing practices (especially now that it’s veggie and fruit season) or to look for the organic label. Unfortunately, the labels at the grocery store (organic or conventional) don’t reveal all that much… but it’s important to be informed! We’re a no spray farm but not all farms are. Here’s the Environmental Working Group’s – Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. And the article that sums up the list of the dirty dozen fruits and veggies.

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Remember your crates this week (berry boxes and rubberbands too)! You guys have been doing a great job remembering! We will have some A LA CARTE EGGS available this week at the CSA pick-up. First come, first serve. They will be in a red cooler if we have any available! $7.50/dozen Please bring checks only.

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See you all soon!

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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

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Striding Ahead (week 3)

Posted on 3 Jun 2014

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Week 3 is here and everyone is getting into the groove of the CSA (including your farmers!) Making more home cooked meals, feeling more confident in the kitchen, being open to trying new veggies! We decided to keep the encouragement high with some helpful tips for CSA success. These aren’t all the ways to be successful as each person’s journey is there own but eating well, preparing food at home, being conscious of our own food journeys, and staying inspired and curious about nourishing ourselves, our families & friends is what it’s all about. If anything, reading through these should encourage and make you feel great about the choice to sign up for CSA and be a part of your local farm!

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Newsletter & Recipes. First and foremost, read the weekly newsletter and recipe print-out each week! There are lots of farm updates that you don’t want to miss out on.. as well as some tried and true recipes and suggestions from your farmers on how to prepare your weekly share. We love growing the food but it’s just as important to us that you are eating and preparing the food and therefore have a life changing and positive experience!

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Broccoli and lettuce and mix – oh my!

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Meal planning. This is a great way to utilize each week’s bounty. For those who have their meals planned each week you know that planning goes as follows, pick recipes, make a list, purchase groceries. That’s because we cook from the recipe, not from its ingredients. With CSA cooking the idea is to start planning your meals after you pick up your share. If meal planning seems overwhelming, start with just a few planned meals a week. This change in the process means cooking with what’s in season, and it’s a good habit to get into to eating better and feeling great.

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How to stride ahead. This is a great video showing the simplicity and ease of processing veggies when first bringing them home. Oh, the practical pleasures of eating.. of just how washing or soaking the greens, pre-roasting/cooking, & storing veggies can make for many more homemade meals in a busy week, increase the longevity of the produce and make cooking enjoyable (as it should be!)

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Our bagged greens should keep wonderfully during the week but it’s important to prep bunched greens and lettuce heads by washing, chopping and storing them in a tightly sealed container with a moist paper towel or try washing them wrapping them in a moist towel/paper towel and putting them in a bag. Otherwise the refrigerator has its way with them and sucks out all their moisture… leaving much to be desired. Take those tops off! Root veggies (beets, carrots etc) and other bulb veggies (radish, turnip, kohlrabi, onions, fennel etc) all have leafy greens attached. Make sure to cut the greens and store them separately so that they stop drawing moisture out of the veggie (if your carrots, radishes, beets etc get floppy.. now you know why).

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The bees are keepin’ beezy and the first flowers are blooming…

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Freezing and canning. Our Week 4 newsletter from last season is full of helpful information and places to start. Don’t forget that although you’re enjoying your veggies now there’s something satisfying about saving your extras for later in the year! We are on our last dozen jars of homemade tomato sauce and can’t express how lovely it is to pop open a jar of our summer tomatoes!

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Save those scraps! Save the stems from the kale, collards, chard, spinach, the thick stalks from the broccoli, the ends and peels of carrots, tops of peppers, radish stems etc… Wrap up the scraps as you accumulate them (a pyrex or a bag with a moist towel works) and stash them in the fridge. At the end of the week you can make a delicious stock. Some folks make a gallon sized bag of “stock items” and freeze it for later… Check out this helpful blog post with all the details!

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Our newbies this year… the cows and the piggers are happy, healthy and mowin’ up a storm… just something about all that Spring grass.

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Enjoy eating new vegetables! One of our greatest examples of this is the amount of people who grew up on boiled to death beets.. or worse, canned tasteless beets. When people try the beets from the farm in a new way (roasted, in a salad, as burgers or even in brownies) they change their minds and there are so many things that contribute to that. Mostly, it’s the openness of trying something new or trying something in a new way. Branch out and explore your palette and see what tastes great to you. You have your farmers to consult and a wealth of resources at your fingertips so don’t hesitate to be inspired!

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Get inspired by Seasonal Cookbooks & Recipe Blogs. Books, such as, An Everlasting Meal, Vegetable Literacy, From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce, Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Vegetables, The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook, Simply in Season or The Flavor Bible . Blogs, such as, The Year In Food, Smitten Kitchen, Happy Yolks or any of the others listed in the week 3 newsletter from last season!

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Truffle is the best mama pig ever. Her little ones are not so little and are gettin’ ready to be weaned. Hard to believe they’ll be 8 weeks soon!

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Eating in season! We live in such a fertile part of the US and should relish in all the wonderful things that grow where we live. Waiting for those first seasonal crops can be hard after a winter of root veggies, brassicas, soups & bread but everything tastes that much sweeter (because it’s fresh, in season and grown just down the road in the dirt & in the open air!) It’s easy to enjoy the conveniences of the grocery store (that’s what it’s there for) but we tell ya that waiting all winter and spring for that first seasonal vine ripened tomato is the best thing for ya! -

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Getting your fridge ready for fresh goodies! Take the time the night before to make space for a new box of goodies, and to take inventory of any veggies that would love to be used up in a ‘end of the week’ stirfry, curry, soup, roasted veg, kale chips, smoothies, or green pesto! Making vegetable stock is always a happy solution for extra veggies – rough chop them, simmer them in a few quarts of water (a cup or two of veggies to one quart of water) for 30 – 40 minutes, and you have stock. Strain it, freeze it, and so versatile! Flavorful, rich in vitamins and minerals..

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We still can’t get the thought, “you only have 30 chances to grow potatoes” out of our heads… we love farming!

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More veggies, please. Add or double the amount of vegetables in your meals! See how many different vegetables you can pack in to what you’re already cooking.

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Eat or drink vegetables for breakfast! For breakfast try a simple sautee with greens & garlic, biscuits, with eggs, in a quiche or veggie pancakes. Drink your veggies! There are so many great veggie smoothies out there – whatever you have give it a go!

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As your CSA farmers, throughout the 28-week season we provide you with the most nutrient rich, organic, thoughtfully-grown–with-love, fresh picked & seasonal produce! We strive to…. grow produce according to the seasons and to the best of our abilities. To introduce you to new varieties of veggies & include delicious ways to prepare them! To encourage you to enjoy your time in the kitchen, be playful and to have fun. Each week that you pick up your crate full of bounty we pass the torch to you. We’re a part of each others food journey and we look forward to hearing week to week about what you’re cooking, what was eaten first and what you really enjoyed. It completes our food journey here on the farm to hear and see how the hard work is being utilized and enjoyed!

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Ahab and Una on their lunch break.. these workin’ dogs sure do enjoy a good nap in the shade…

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Remember your crates this week (berry boxes and rubberbands too)! We may have some A LA CARTE EGGS available this week at the CSA pick-up. First come, first serve. They will be in a red cooler if we have any available! $7.50/dozen Please bring checks only.

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See you soon!

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Our kindest regards,

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Busy as a Bee (Week 2)

Posted on 27 May 2014

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“There are moments when the heart is generous, and then it knows that for better or worse our lives are woven together here, one with one another and with the place and all the living things.” – Wendell Berry

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Hello Friends & Farm-ily,

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your enthusiasm and encouragement last week! After only a week of harvest we are feeling GREAT about all the hard work, thoughtfully built infrastructure, love and sweat that has been put into the dirt in preparation for feeding our awesome members. This is what it’s all about! We feel like the luckiest farmers ever and think our farm-ily is the bees knees.

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We are ready for Week 2 of harvest here at the farm and we are seeing RED (lots of it) – did somebody say strawberry season? Well, in case you didn’t hear… the season is here! And what crazy weather we’ve been having… not so much rain this Spring and lots of sun. We’re seeing flower buds on the peppers as well as our first tomatoes forming on the vine.. it’s true! And it’s only May 26^th? We’ll take it!

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The freedom rangers out on fresh pasture and red berries for days…

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The farm is looking great! All our fruits and veggies are growing, growing, growing and loving these longer days. We hope you’ve been enjoying the tender greens that only Spring brings. Your farmers have sure been eating a lot of fresh salads for breakfast (with a couple hardboiled eggs), lunch (as a side or right on a sandwich) and dinner (sometimes just a touch of olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, salt, pepper & parmesan will do the trick) with some of those delicious radishes too! YUM. We’ve been busy seeding in successional crops of greens, brassicas, melons, squash, cukes, beans etc.. with corn and winter squash on the horizon… (these farmers are already thinking Fall crops). This time of the year is amazing for planting/growing as things start growing like weeds (just so different from early Spring.. when you’re waiting, waiting, waiting, sooo patiently for things to sprout!) It’s amazing to think how many hours, days, love & light it takes to produce vegetables. From the seed starting process, to transplanting, weeding & tending, to harvesting.. it can be anywhere from 2-5 months before a veggie is brought to your home. What an incredible food journey!

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‘Tis the time of the season for Brassica crops.. beautiful kohlrabi and kale. The flea beetles have been doing their best at getting the first few bites of the leaves.. pesky little guys..

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Though it’s our busiest time of the year of the farm, these hardworking farmers have had an extra set of hands this past week – my amazing Dad! But – in reality – when my dad is around it’s like having a whole team of hardworking folks by your side! We’ve accomplished an incredible amount in the 7 days that he’s been here.. and the farm has never looked better! In the weeks leading up to his trip out here he was working real hard on finishing up all his lobster traps and getting his gear ready for the beginning of his lobster season back on Cape Cod. He put his stuff on pause to give us a hand and spend some quality time on the new farm – his first time out here – and it has been amazing having him here. We’re surely going to miss him…

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My dad is someone who knows a lot about all sorts of things… from gardening and beekeeping, to fishing and hunting, machinery and tools etc, he’s a pretty talented guy with a fine attention to detail and basic understanding of most things. It’s amazing that with almost all things he knows, he knows the most efficient way possible to get the job accomplished. He’s like the ultimate puzzle solver and I’ve never met anyone else quite like him. And for those who have had the chance to meet him.. I think they’d say the same. He also has endless energy and it’s easy for us to work the long hours (5:30 – 9) and have fun doing it. Sometimes I realize the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree…

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Gloucester follows us everywhere on the farm… even during egg collection. We’re not sure how we managed it but we hit the kitty jackpot upon taking him home!

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My dad and the tractor have been getting to know each other pretty well while he’s been here (after all.. we’re the young farmers who should be doing the heavy lifting!) and he’s managed to mow a good 20 acres + which hopefully means encouraging the grass to grow and outcompete any pesky weeds. Having a third person around the farm helps to move projects forward and to always have an extra set of hands to help if you need it. Plus, Brian and I both love being around my Dad. We learn so much from him and he’s funny to boot. He loves us and believes in us and it feels great having him here. Now we just have to get him to retire and make him the official grounds keeper at Working Hands Farm. (THANK YOU DAD for all your help!)

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Bees. One of my favorite moments of his visit was going through and inspecting /cleaning the hives. We added a second medium to all the hives as they already have one deep and one medium full of healthy brood and even capped honey! It was amazing. It helped that we started this year with equipment left over from last year’s hives with lots of happy built up comb to give these new bees a nice start as well as some saved honey frames for food. It also helps that we’ve had a very sunny Spring which has led to 9 thriving hives! My dad and I were in awe of how well all the hives were doing. The hive that survived the winter last year is going just as strong (if not stronger) than the new hives. The blackberries and raspberries are flowering and those little buggers couldn’t be happier…

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Poultry. After finding 8 little eggs a few days ago our little layers have been moved in with our big layers. So far, so good in the hen house… The freedom rangers are also moving up in the World and have happily relocated to their spacious moveable chateau. We’ve been enjoying the Freedom Rangers a lot and are very pleased with our experience thus far! The little turkeys are almost feathered-out and ready for their own brooder expansion in the coming week… they certainty have minds of their owns and are making trouble already. So far we’ve found 3 little turkeys upstairs in the barn. They jump from stair to stair and perch amongst the stored bee equipment.. we have to admit.. they are pretty darn cute.

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The first tomatoes are appearing… and are the best looking maters we’ve ever seen! The turkeys have won over our hearts the past month and can’t wait to see them out walking about..

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Cows & Pigs. The Angus herd has made friends with Ellie and Maribelle and are enjoying the sunny days in the never-ending pasture. They’ve been eating an incredible amount of Spring grass and are doing a great job maintaining our new pasture and there’s no better feeling than that. All the pigs are back at the beginning of their pasture rotation. So much lush, green grass! Those little American Guinea Hogs are just the coolest. Truffle and her little piglets have successfully been moved to fresh grass where they are now all enjoying the green stuff! As for our trio, they continue to grow at an exponential rate. They are fast and curious creatures who are getting more and more used to us all the time…

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A few reminders… please remember to bring back your empty crate this week in exchange for one full of fresh, delicious produce. Your farmers thank you in advance. If you are sharing a share and you are unable to coordinate returning your crate each week, the best way to ensure a crate is always being returned to the farm is to transfer your weekly share into a couple of reusable bags and to leave the crate at the CSA Pick-up. Also, any rubber bands or berry boxes may be returned as well!

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Artichokes and sweet potatoes… it’s gonna be a great season!

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The CSA recipe books were ordered last week and we expect them to arrive sometime this week. With the holiday (and them being such a small company) we imagine we won’t have them until later this week… but if they miraculously appear we’ll have them at the drop with folks names on them!

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Keep being awesome and stay inspired in the kitchen.. there are lots of new goodies on the horizon that we’re getting hungry for already…

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All the best and see you all this week,

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Your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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Dirty hands, clean hearts

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Let the Harvest Season Begin! (Week 1)

Posted on 19 May 2014

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Let the 2014 harvest season begin! We are so happy and appreciative of all your support and encouragement over the last 5 months (since our 2014 season started). It’s been months in the making and we look forward to the season beginning and to celebrate with a bountiful harvest this week! Yeah!

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Flow of the CSA. Over the next few weeks we will all begin to get into the flow of pick ups, harvests, seasons, you name it. Spring is a great time to adapt-to and learn new habits, to eat seasonally and fresh. We remind you to be patient, to be excited and to enjoy it. There are so many decisions that one person must make everyday – a daunting task at times – revel in those food choices your farmers and the changing of the seasons are making for you each week. Get creative & be inspired. Ask questions & be open – you’ll be surprised what you might find as the season unfolds. Past members have suggested going to the grocery store after you have received your crate. It saves you trips and also may save you from going to the grocery every week (your farmers know that you always leave the grocery with way more than you intended) thus cutting down on food costs!

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Enjoy all the benefits of eating fresh (picked THAT morning), eating seasonally (sorry, no tomatoes in May), and local (your local farmer, Brian and I, need the support of our community)!

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Watching the garden grow in the last few weeks has been a joy. Lots of sun, longer days and warmer temps means happy, happy plants!–

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Farm Pick Up Time. Farm Pick Ups take place on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday from 4 – 7pm (please double check on your assigned day). It’s important to come between the pick up times (and not a minute before) as it’s just the two of us and we harvest everything fresh that morning so your farmer’s need the time to harvest, wash and pack all the CSA shares.

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Parking & Pick-Up Area. We have created a new parking area at the farm for a convenient and stress free pick-up (for those of you who are familiar with the old farm parking lot you will understand)! Park thoughtfully as folks tend to come in waves and the parking will fill up fast! Our hope is to build a more permanent lean-to structure but for now you will find your share under the white market tents next to our old farmhouse (between the beautiful black walnut and maple tree). We are breathing new life into a very old forgotten farm property so you will see it become more and more beautiful as the seasons and years go on… Thank you for growing with us and for being a part of this process!

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Farmer Brian has been dreaming up our herd since we first met. With the help of our family we have invested in a beautiful little herd of Angus of our own.

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The Pick-Up. All the crates are packed exactly the same & everyone should sign in before grabbing their crate. Your farmers will be available at pick ups from 4-5pm – this is a great time to catch up on the going-ons on the farm, share cooking tips, talk recipes, etc… basically chat about all things farm related. *After 5pm it’s back to the ol’ farmer to-do list, evening chores and eventually farmer dinner. Pick-Up is also a great opportunity to meet other members and share over the common bonds of food, health and community! If you are unable to come pick up your share from 4-7 on your assigned day, you can either arrange for a friend or family member to pick it up for you. If you cannot find anyone to pick-up the box on your behalf please give us 24hr notice (emails are best) so we don’t harvest the box for a no-show, your farmer’s least favorite thing. All unclaimed boxes will be donated to the pigs, cows and chickens after the CSA drop has finished.

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–We are busily finishing up the last of our crates, washing/packing area, new greenhouse you name it!

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CSA Crates. Our CSA crates are hand built (by your farmers) as the hope is to use them for years to come. We believe this to be a more sustainable practice as the alternative (cardboard, paper, plastic, etc) only last a year or two – not to mention we love the aesthetic and nostalgia it brings together with all the fresh bounty brimming over. It is an extra thing we do for the CSA and we love it. It’s very important to return them each week. It’s one of those things that makes a huge difference in efficiency as it’s just the two of us harvesting for 30 families everyday (if we don’t have enough crates there is nothing to put your produce in…) Past members suggest leaving it in the trunk of you car, on your door step or by your back door (so you remember to grab it.) It’s a small but very important role that you play in order to make this CSAflow smoothly! We thank you in advance for helping us in that regard.

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**For those folks who are splitting a share (picking up every other week)**…if you’re unable to coordinate returning your crate each week, the best way to ensure a crate is always being returned to the farm is to transfer your weekly share into a couple of reusable bags and to leave the crate at the CSA Pick-up.

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Get ready for lots of tender Spring greens! Oh-so-good!

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Egg cartons, Berry Boxes, Rubberbands etc. For all those who purchase egg shares (with the WHF label) please save up your egg cartons for us and return them. We also reuse all berry boxes (1/2 pints, pints, quarts) and rubberbands so you can return those as well. We are a thoughtful farm in terms of minimizing waste and reuse what we can!

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CSA Recipes. There will be 2-4 recipes included with each weekly share. These recipes have been tried and tested (and doubly approved by your farmers)! If you happen to try a different recipe with some of the veggies from the box feel free to send it out way so that we too can try it and share it with others! Check out the CSA Cookoff, Food Preservation Tips from your farmers, and some of our favorite food blogs for more ideas! CSA Recipe Book: For those of you who put in an order for the CSA Recipe book don’t forget to bring a check this week at pick-up! There will be a jar for checks by the sign-in.

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These little buggers are the newest members of the WHF crew. They’ve been busy mowing down blackberry and other invasives at the top of the property. Goats are so cool…

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Farm livestock. All of our members will have the opportunity to see/visit the livestock on our farm during our to-be-scheduled CSA Farm Day. Keep in mind that almost all of our livestock are kept inside of electrified fences so parents please keep a close eye on you children during this day. On a weekly basis, feel free to say hello to our wee farm greeters and blackberry management team – our goats – just don’t touch the fence as it’s hot!

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Volunteering, CSA Farm Day, Movie Nights, Newsletters etc. Throughout the season we offer opportunities to volunteer, enjoy a CSA Member Farm Day, summer movie nights etc all on the farm. Also, to keep our farm-ily connected to the farm, the seasons and what it takes to grow food locally we send a weekly farm newsletter so be sure to read the whole thing through! We post frequently on instagram & facebook to share in our day-to-day and to stay connected with people (as you can imagine we spend 99% of our time with 2-4 legged critters ha!) All of these opportunities are a great way to see the farm, chat with your farmers, meet other CSA members in the community and enjoy the seasons on the farm.

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Our fearless pups are learning their place on the farm as working dogs. Meanwhile, our freedom rangers are enjoying their new open space!

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Thank you again for all your support! It’s been a busy Spring and there is much anticipation to get this season started (WHOO HOO!) We have another exciting season ahead with over 60 different types of vegetables and several different varieties of each (it’s never a dull moment on the farm!) Enjoy the leafy greens and cool weather brassica crops that you will find in the first few week’s of the CSA (the Spring seasons natural cleanse… after a Winter full of root crops and heavier foods). As well as the sun sweetened strawberries whose season is never long enough (perhaps this is why we plant everbearing)! The greens will be tender, delicious and untouched by the heat that summer brings. Enjoy them while they are here! The bounty will continue to grow and grow and grow as we near the longer, warmer days of Summer! Thanks again for all your support and we look forward to sharing in the bounty with you this season.

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With kindest 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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p.s. If you see a guy with a big tempest of a beard be sure to say HELLO! My dad is visiting from the East Coast to help us out with a handful of projects. It’s his first time coming out since we started this new farm last Spring…. he’s the best!

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A Season of Endless Possibilities

Posted on 25 Apr 2014

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“Where are you, what are you doing, and who are you with when you most feel like yourself?”

– from one of our favorite posts by Happyolks

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Hello friends,

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April showers bring May flowers…. The past month has been one for the books. We’ve been graced with plenty of sunshine and warmer days mixed with Spring showers & cloud cover – perfect for transplanting and prepping the soil. The happy greenhouse starts are beginning to flourish outside in the soft, brownie mix like soil (soil that has been farmed for the last 130 + years) and we couldn’t be more excited! We love Spring in the Pacific Northwest!

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Everyday there’s just a bit more green and a whole lot of inspiration. Our days toiling the Earth may be growing longer – 7am-9pm, seven days a week – but we are more encouraged than ever. Our farm lists never get any smaller but we enjoy waking up with the sun, prioritizing the next things on the list and getting them done. So much food is currently growing outside with much more to be planted in the coming weeks (we’re talking our first tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash…. they’re coming!) The brassicas all love this weather (kale, collards, broccoli, romanesco, cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower etc) as well as our first successions of carrots, beets, chard, mixed greens, lettuce… are you guys hungry yet? We know we are….

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The bees are back in town!

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This month we also welcomed new life onto the farm. Our dearest sow, Truffle, had a litter of 5 healthy piglets. She’s doing a great job being a second time mom and we couldn’t be more pleased. We love our little American Guinea Hogs and were pleased to see that they’ve moved from the Livestock Conservancy’s “critical list” to the “threatened list.” Our newest trio of pigs (large black/tamworth crosess) are still on the critical list but we aim to preserve & encourage species diversification from heritage breeds to heirloom seeds here on the farm.

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We also received 100 healthy and thriving Freedom Ranger broilers and with any luck they will be ready come the end of June. It will be our first experience with broilers but we look forward to offering a product that our members know and trust (ourselves included)! Lastly, we are so happy to have a flurry of honey bees back on the farm! After the up and down winter weather this year we only had 1 out of 7 of our hives survive. We recently picked up 8 new nucleus’ that are now happy and thriving in their new homes. There is nothing like the the buzzing of bees working beside you… we are just so happy to see them thriving again. It truly is the beginning of the season that holds the most possibilities…

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April is a month of plant, plant, plant & build, build, build, build!

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Spring is always a busy time on the farm and a great reminder that everything we do on our farm is done with the utmost love and appreciation for the environment and our community! Whether it’s growing and providing nutritious, safe, organically grown produce & berries for our CSA members or happy, healthy eggs for our Egg Share members or the other avenues that Brian & I are personally exploring on the farm (bees, animal husbandry, honey, meat, dairy etc) we do it all with love. Throughout the season we encourage and welcome you to ask us questions about anything that relates to the farm, food, food policy, nutrition, recipes, etc. These conversations are the connection that we have to each other and why you’ve joined the CSA and why we do what we do… so let’s get excited about food & farming together!

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The start of the CSA. So let’s get down to it… our projected start of the 2014 season is the week of May 20^th.As the seasons vary the CSA may begin up to two weeks before or after our estimated start date of Tuesday May 20th and continue on from that date for 28 weeks. We will keep everyone posted as we get closer! Our bodies and minds are eager to begin harvesting from the garden…

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Time to get ready for the CSA with a few recommendations from your farmers…

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Finding a quiet moment every once in a while to take it all in…

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Farmer Recipe Book recommendations:

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From Asparagus to Zucchini – This book is a great guide to cooking farm-fresh seasonal produce just for CSA members. 420 original recipes written by farmers, members & cooks who love veggies in Wisconsin. **BULK BOOK PRICE: If more than 10 of our members are interested in purchasing this book we would be able to get a bulk price on them. $13/book + UPS ground shipping cost + $1 handling fee per order. Email if your interested and we’ll see if we get to 10 or more!**

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An Everlasting Meal – I love this book written by Tamar Adler. It breaks down cooking and preparing foods in the most simple and delicious of ways. Great recipes for using what you have, wherever you are. From how to properly boil foods to ‘suggestions for what to do when cooking seems like a chore, and strategies for preparing, storing, and transforming ingredients for a week’s worth of satisfying, delicious meals.’ Here’s a little video that reminds us of the practical pleasures of eating – of just how washing or soaking the greens, pre-roasting/cooking, & storing veggies can make for many more homemade meals in a busy week, increase the longevity of the produce and make cooking enjoyable (as it should be!)

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Vegetable Literacy – A beautiful cookbook written by Deborah Madison featuring over 300 vegetable recipes. “Destined to become the new standard reference for cooking vegetables, Vegetable Literacy shows cooks that, because of their shared characteristics, vegetables within the same family can be used interchangeably in cooking.” Fascinating and inspiring (both in written and visual form) for the cook in the family!

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The girls have been loving their luscious new pasture.. it’s so amazing to see cows out there everyday..

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Recipe Website Recommendation:

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CSA Cookoff – Get Farm Share Recipes – The CSA Cookoff is HOMEGROWN.org’s ongoing series devoted to putting their weekly farm share bounty to good use. Click on their photos for their weekly CSA recipes.

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Preservation! Check out our write-up on preservation ideas (and book recommendations) for all your extra weekly goodies and getting creative in the kitchen.

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Our recommended food blogs – Check out our write-up on some of our favorite food blogs. Also, be sure to check out one of our member’s blogs – Miss Kali Martin – who is the cook and creator of all this delicious at Bird is the Word.

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PIWe’ve decided that piglets are the most adorable baby animals on the planet (look at those wrinkles!)

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Farmer Documentary Recommendations:

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To Make A Farm – This one hits close to home. It was inspiring, heartwarming, hopeful and very real. A must watch! This doc explores the lives of 5 young farmers who have decided to become small-scale farmers. “exceptionally hopeful, giving us a close-range view of humanity along with a detailed portrayal of the nuts and bolts of agriculture.” The trailer can be found here… it’s available on Amazon, google play & itunes.

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Food, Inc. – This one is a few years old now but it’s one of our favorite food documentaries. This is a great example of why we do things the way we do and keep it small, safe and the best! Here’s the trailer and it’s available on Amazon, google play & itunes.

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More than Honey – These little honeybees are at the heart of our food system so why are they facing worldwide extinction? Beautifully filmed revealing a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Find the trailer here and it’s available on Amazon, google play & itunes.

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Chickens LOVE this time of the year.. they are just so darn productive! In a month’s time our immature layers will move into the Chateau!

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Quick Web Videos/Interviews:

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Author Jo Robinson in this interview on NPR ‘Eating On The Wild Side:’ A Field Guide To Nutritious Food. The book talks of how wild forage that our ancestors used to eat was more nutrient dense than the food we eat now – to “cultivate the wild plants that were the most pleasurable to eat.” More pleasurable generally meant less bitter and higher in sugar, starch or oil. It’s a great listen. She has some interesting facts too.. like how it takes 10 cups of iceberg lettuce to get the same amount of nutrients as ½ cup of loose leaf lettuce. Or, “compared with spinach, one of our present-day “superfoods,” wild dandelion leaves have eight times more antioxidant activity, two times more calcium, three more times vitamin A, and five times more vitamins K and E.” It’s why we grow the diverse crops that we do… and probably why you joined the CSA – for the diversity, to eat seasonally and to feed your body the best that you can.

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Birke Baehr: What’s Wrong With Our Food System – How can you not love this kid? 11 year old Birke explains what’s wrong with our food system and what we can do to help.

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Robyn O’Brien at TEDxAustin 2011 – Say no to GMOs! Just another reason why we do what we do…. she’s talkin’ kids, food allergies from GMOs, and why every other country bans the “food” that we consume in the U.S. here.

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Our pups are getting too big, too quick… farmer Brian is already on schedule for his 5 minute recharge nap after lunch.

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There are plenty more books, videos, documentaries etc that we could recommend but this is a great place to start! We are looking forward to the season ahead and sharing the bounty with you all. Thank you for your support, encouragement and positivity! All that energy gets stored up in us and inspires us to grow better, not bigger. You’ll be hearing from us soon.. until then keep root-ing on your farmers… it’s GO TIME!

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Kindest 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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p.s. You will find the biggest slideshow of images ever below…

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Forward March!

Posted on 12 Mar 2014

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“Why do farmers farm, given their economic adversities on top of the many frustrations and difficulties normal to farming? And always the answer is: “Love. They must do it for love.” Farmers farm for the love of farming. They love to watch and nurture the growth of plants. They love to live in the presence of animals. They love to work outdoors. They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable. They love to live where they work and to work where they live. If the scale of their farming is small enough, they like to work in the company of their children and with the help of their children. They love the measure of independence that farm life can still provide. I have an idea that a lot of farmers have gone to a lot of trouble merely to be self-employed to live at least a part of their lives without a boss.” – Wendell Berry

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Forward March! March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb… and in the first week of March it has definitely felt like both (a rainstorm, some flooding, sun, clouds, light rain showers and warmth). With all the snow and rain in February our bottomland on the property flooded out into a glorious pond. A week ago the water level was already back to where it started and then another rainstorm came through at the end of last week – and it has risen again! We appreciate the water though as it is the perfect way to bring in March and celebrate the coming of Spring (not to mention all the beautiful minerals the flood brings to our farm from the coastal range). There is so much growth and green already around these parts…

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Many new things have been happening on the farm since our last update. We’ve been seeding like crazy and are pumped for the coming months and the glorious transformation of the farm. Seeds are sprouting in the greenhouse and we are just a few weeks away from planting them in the ground. For us, there’s nothing better than a greenhouse brimming with glorious & healthy seedlings. This week we are starting all our peppers and tomatoes as well as leafy greens, our second round of brassicas (cauliflowers, kohlrabi, cabbage) etc. Now is the time to spread the good word as we have less than 10 shares available for the 2014 season and are so excited for fresh vegetables and fruits! Help your farmers to grow better and spread the farm love!

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Also, just a friendly reminder that your first CSA payments are due by April 1^st. Please email us if you have any questions. Checks can be mailed to 7705 SW River Rd. Hillsboro, OR 97123 or if you would prefer to drop off your payment in person send us an email to arrange a time.

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Ahab our pup and Gloucester our barn cart..

Welcome to the farm-ily! We welcomed a few new (furry) members to the Working Hands Farm-ily last week. A very fuzzy pack mate for Una, little Ahab and our amazing new barn cat, Gloucester that we picked up from the amazing folks at Quail Run Creamery in Gaston (if you haven’t tried their little goat feta you are missing out!) Gloucester is already the best barn cat we could have asked for. He fancies his new life here on the farm and greets us each time we step into the barn. True to his nature – he is a great mouser and Ellie and Maribelle are big fans of him as well.

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Our little pup Ahab is a great pyrenees/maremma mix which means he’s a working dog through and though. Ahab and Una have been a great balance for each other. We’re excited to see how they learn and grow together as they teach these two farmers a thing or two. Raising pups takes a lot of hard work but they are eager to learn, discover and find their place here on the farm.

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They have such a sweet bond already…

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Greenhouse # 2. We’ve been busy putting up our second greenhouse – piece by piece – and have hopes of raising the bows later this week! We are just too excited about season extension here on the farm….

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Pasture, pasture, pasture. With all the rain and sun our pasture is really taking off! Last week we moved the pigs out to pasture and let us tell you, they are some real happy pigs. We’ve been rotating them around an area we had a hard time tilling up last Summer/Fall and are letting them plough it up and fertilize it for us. So far they’ve done a great job. The flooding has taken over their area a bit so we’ve had to improvise on our rotation but nonetheless they have been extremely adaptable and are meant for this kind of living! We’re hoping by the end of the month that the cows should be out on pasture too (it needs to dry out a little bit before we turn the heavier critters on it). We’ve been busy enclosing the main pasture fence and aren’t too far away from seeing the cows out there in the fresh grass and sunshine…

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Piggies on pasture.. what could be better?

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The chicken pasture is now enclosed with electric netting (to keep them safe from the many predators who enter the farm as well as making it highly moveable for your farmers). The girls love all the bugs and sprouts they are finding outside. We will over-seed their second pasture this week and rotate them between both pastures throughout the season.

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In just a few months time the younger laying hens will be ready to move into Chateau Poulet. Until then, we built a sweet little mobile chicken coop for them (also, in anticipation for our Freedom Ranger – meat birds – that will be arriving later this Spring). When the Freedom Rangers are old enough they will be out on pasture in their new cool pasture shelter. So far the little ones love their new little space and even after a few seasons of raising chicks – still can’t believe how quickly they grow! Also, we will have egg shares available to purchase for the upcoming season SOON!

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Not so baby chicks are moving on to greener pastures…

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Fresh, pasture-raised eggs! ‘Tis the time in the season to support the ladies of Chateau Poulet. With the longer days the hens are starting to lay again. If you are already signed up for the CSA and are interested in buying the best darn eggs this side of somewhere. Email us and we will put them in the cooler for you. All of our hens are fed an organic, corn/soy free, verified non-GMO diet and have access to pasture 24hrs a day. A quick tip-trip saver- our eggs are super fresh so buying several dozens at a time will keep longer and save you a weekly egg trip! Give the ladies some love!

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Volunteer Day – Strawberry Planting. Many Hands, Make Light Work… This week we will be receiving a large shipment of strawberry plants, which means we’ll be planting 10+ 100ft rows of strawberries this weekend (here’s hoping for dry weather)! Last year we planted a similar amount and it took us 2 full days with a dozen or so enthusiastic helping hands! Please send us an email if you are interested in coming to help and we will keep you updated towards the end of the week with all the details!

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The green garlic grows and the fencing continues..

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‘Tis the time of the season to send your farmers some love as we continue to seed, till up the first ground of the season, finish up the pasture fencing and construction of greenhouse #2, construct the new shade structure and pick up area for the CSA, lay irrigation for the vegetables etc etc… phew.. (we LOVE it!) Here we go! Bring on Spring!

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Enjoy that (almost) Spring sunshine,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Gratitude on the Farm

Posted on 4 Mar 2014

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“And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home.” – Wendell Berry

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Life on the farm (and in general) is full of opportunities. Everyday that you wake up they are there – some of them may be routine, some of them may be new or scary, some may even be hard but if you look at them as opportunities you will always see the best in each situation and feel grateful for something.

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Growing up on a little homestead in Marstons Mills, Mass nature was always at the heart of the world around us. My parents were the greatest teachers and gave my sister and I a deep appreciation for the little things, the big things and the basic necessities of life.. to be self sufficient, to take care of yourself (emotionally, physically and spiritually), to appreciate the World around you and to be open to all possibilities. It’s no wonder that after college and a move out of the country that I would find myself reflecting on the importance of being connected to my community, nature and my surroundings. Being far away from that idyllic world I grew up in made me hungry for that connection to nature and community, and to that accomplished feeling of being self sufficient. It didn’t take very long before I was back in the states pursuing my love of all those things…

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Back in ’88…

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So, fast-forward a few years (8 to be exact) to where I followed my dream all the way across the country to Hillsboro, Oregon where I met someone just as crazy about this way of life as me.

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As CSA farmers – my partner and I – work for ourselves. Each day we have our routine chores (feed the cows, chickens, pigs, check on the seedlings, walk the dog, collect eggs, cook food etc), the unexpected opportunities that arise (frozen pipes, broken pipes, runaway pigs, wilting plants, floods, pests… you name it), and the goals we plan to accomplish for the week (the list is constantly growing and is always keeping us on our toes).

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The CSA is at the heart of our farm. The community, the support, the encouragement, the gratefulness all lend to balancing the hard work, long days and productive dedication with happiness, fulfillment and gratitude. We feel blessed and inspired all through the day. We get to grow food (healthy, nutritious and delicious food) for our local community and there’s nothing better than that.

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Maribelle, our sweet jersey calf in 2012…

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A lot of people say, “I can’t believe how hard you two work,” or “How do you keep up with it all?,” or even “Don’t work too much…” The funny thing is, it isn’t work to us it’s what we love to do. And it starts with seeing it (all of it) as opportunities for living healthy, happy and productive lives.

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We’ve adopted a philosophy over the past few years that sums it up in a nutshell (and is easy to remember throughout the day)… the trick is to say, “this is what I get to do today” not “what I have to do today.” Everything rides on those two verbs. No matter how long the list gets. Everyday is precious.

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Practicing gratitude is a way of life. It’s important because everyday that we wake up it’s not always the obvious things that we are grateful for on the farm. The unexpected things, the hard things, the things we don’t really want to do – those are the moments where being grateful teaches you to be grateful for all things. That through choosing to do the hard things you learn more about yourself. Whether it’s how you react to a stubborn animal, how to build something you’ve never built before, a confrontation or a hard decision to make, or the hardest of them all, believing in ones self… all things come back to becoming a better person and it’s easier to let things go and move on because there is always another opportunity waiting for you there to learn, improve, and make forward progress…

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Transplanting the third round of summer crops last season…

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Every time we grow a new plant or invest in a new animal, we read all the books, we get all the tools and materials that we need to care for that animal, or to grow that plant, and then slowly overtime we figure out what works and what doesn’t and at time’s it can be a steep learning curve. There’s a funny idea about farming that makes you believe you have to do everything yourself in order to have some semblance of control… but what time and trust and being in tune with nature and your senses tells you is just this… stop and look. Observe an animal, know this animal, understand it. Your senses are heightened when something is off and you notice those things more quickly and you are far more in tune that you ever imagined. Over time we learn what it is that the animal or plant needs to thrive. And sometimes the most surprising findings as a farmer are the things you learn about yourself along the way. This keeps everything moving forward in a positive way. When I stop and look each day it gives me a clear reflection of myself and all things (for better or for worse). Being open to those lessons that life has to teach you is the gift of gratitude. To keep a good perspective on all the things that we get to do and get to learn about (in this very short life!)

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Sometimes it’s hard because you work long days and you don’t always allow yourself to stop and look and appreciate. Some days it’s “go, go, go” but if you can sit at the end of the day and be grateful that’s important. I know this is something that I need to work on throughout the day. To stop and look. And go.

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The bounty and the beauty of the growing season…

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Nothing is final on the farm. Everything moves in a circle – just the like seasons… and it’s a great reminder that there is always another opportunity waiting for you. The more experience and knowledge that you have the more you grow, learn and work smarter.

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They say that happiness stems from gratefulness – it’s not the other way around. It’s not, ‘happiness makes you grateful,’ it’s when you are grateful, that you are happy. It means you are connected and open to all the opportunities that each day gives you.

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I have a partner who is pretty much the most – one of the most, maybe THE most – grateful person that I know and because of that he has no fear. We all have our harder days but he’s pretty much my biggest inspiration for practicing gratitude every day and for keeping a positive and healthy outlook on the world. Because of his outlook, all of the opportunities he’s had/taken, he’s met each one with vigor and excitement and he’s learned a lot. In my book that makes him incredibly successful. He enjoys each and every day. Which is really important because life, again, is too short.

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We all kind of start out that way – being kids we approach all things with “child-like wonder” which is kind of like being grateful for all opportunities.

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The bees have a lot to teach us as farmers… and it’s been one of our favorite projects yet!

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It’s hard to feel the highs without the lows and if you can keep it all in perspective I’d say each day is pretty darn good. It can start small too… my mom likes to tell the story of a friend who was in her 80’s-90’s and when she woke up and saw the ceiling in the morning she knew it was going to be a good day. Just goes to show… perspective is everything and on the farm there is always something to learn.

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Gratefulness has everything to do with it (i.e. living life happily!) The more you practice it the better you’re perspective and the more often you will be happy.. no matter what pops up in life. Seek out all the “opportunities” that come your way and see them through and you might be surprised with what you find…. happiness is just a ‘stop. look. go.’ away..

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Farmer Jess

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Many thanks to my great friend – Danne – of 12 Months of Lent for inspiring this blog post and for motivating me to write more!

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Also, a big thank you to our community for all their help yesterday in our search for our smallest pup, Ahab! We are so thankful to the person that found him and turned him in to the local shelter. There was much practice of hope, positivity and of course, gratitude! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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In the meantime stay connected for all things farm.. at facebook & instagram.

A Winter’s Day

Posted on 10 Feb 2014

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“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

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We took advantage of the down time to share a Winter’s Day with you all. We hope you are enjoying the snow, the quiet, the coziness & inspiration… you just never know what mother nature will bring so enjoy it while it’s here. A good friend wrote and asked, “is it really this idyllic?” and our response was.. “It is – although appropriately balanced with all the blood, sweat and tears.” About sums it up. Many thanks to you all for watching our little film! Drive safe out there.

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Our warmest regards,

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

February on the Farm

Posted on 5 Feb 2014

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One of our farm mottos…. The trick is to say, “this is what I get to do today” not “have to do today.”

Everything rides on those two verbs. No matter how long the list gets. Everyday is precious.

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Hello Friends & Farm-ily,

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Happy February! The month is off to a very frosty start but it looks as if the rains will return soon enough (fingers crossed)! Things have been moving right along on the new farm. We spent the weekend amongst great friends who helped us resurrect our greenhouse in hopes of starting our first seedlings next week! We’re getting closer and closer everyday and after 3 moves already it feels great to have a forever home for our greenhouse and a place to “put in our roots.”

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CSA Update. A big THANK YOU to all of you who have signed up for the CSA in the last month! There is no greater encouragement than having only a handful of shares available come the beginning of February. We are working hard to make 2014 the best season yet and we thank you all for your support, love and encouragement! So far we’ve been feeling the farm love and look forward to growing and providing for you all this year!

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Word of mouth. Also, a big thanks to all of you who have shared the CSA love with friends, community and family members. A majority of our new members have been led our way by you – our community – and word of mouth really is the best way to help us grow and sustain our small farm. There are only a dozen or so spots available so please encourage interested friends, family, neighbors & community in signing up for their CSA share – this small gesture goes a long way! Quick links to our 2014 CSA Season (the Who, What, Where, Why, When & How Much) & our 2014 Sign-Up Form.

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We also have a few cute February farm updates for you all…

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We welcomed a few new feathered and furry members to the farm last week… the newest layer chicks (a mix of pearl white leghorns, red stars, arucaunas & americaunas) to be added to the rest of the flock this Spring. They grow SO fast. In just a week’s time they already have their wing feathers and are trying out their hand at flying. After this week’s cold spell they will go to live in their fancy brooder in the chicken coop. They’ll be out on fresh pasture, laying eggs before we know it…. Check out this sweet little sneak ‘peep’ of the girls set to a little diddy by Pete Seeger.

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We also welcomed Una – our 3 month old Great Pyrenees/Anatolian cross to the farm. Her breed is also known as a “LGD” (Livestock Guardian Dog). They are incredibly smart and have been bred to be independent thinkers. They imprint/bond with the animals they live and grow up with and will protect those animals within their perimeters at all costs. They are also nocturnal and she will be our eyes and ears during the night – watching and listening for predators while we’re sleeping. There are plenty of coyotes on the new property and it seemed a very natural fit to have a guardian on the farm that is bred to protect. They are very cool farm dogs to say the least.

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So far she’s been a quick study (walking on a leash, commands – sit, come, lay down & stay are all under her belt) and we feel so lucky to welcome her to the farm-ily. It has been unbelievably good for us to learn to be ‘leaders of the pack’ – giving us confidence and understanding through this process and in all areas of our lives. Farming, animal husbandry, running a business, leading the “pack,” etc all teach us so much about ourselves… and if you are willing and eager you will learn so much and become a more positive and productive person. A big thanks to Cesar Millan & his dog whispering ways.. we love that guy. Here’s a little video of miss una being sweet.

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Ellie, Maribelle and the pigs are doing exceptionally well in the new barn. These sunny, warmer winter days have been a tease and we can’t wait to set everybody up outside come Spring. Ellie has been the most “interested” in the new pup. She was pretty fixated on her (in a very dominant way) and now that a week has gone by she seems less interested but still displaying some signs of fight (definitely not flight). We know with time Ellie will begin to accept her into our herd and farm-ily and will grow to tolerate the pup as she gets older (Maribelle seems to care less about the whole thing..) The piglets are continuing to grow oh-so-fast and we just love having them on the farm. Here’s a funny little Pigs n squash video. They aren’t so good at sharing…

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This month we will continue to move forward as we near the start of Spring and have officially declared February as “fence month.” We’re hoping to have our 3,000ft pasture fence finished come the start of March – the animals (pigs, cows, chickens etc) can’t wait to forage on their new pastures. We have officially sent in our seed orders for the 2014 season and can’t wait to get started in the greenhouse in the coming weeks… so many things to look forward to in just a matter of a few months time. Whoop whoop! And look.. we finally have barn doors!

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Farm Fresh Eggs Available. We have our organic (non-gmo, no soy, no corn) eggs available for purchase (at $7.50/dozen). Please send an email with your order/# of dozens as well as your preferred day/time for pick up and we will promptly respond with our availability!—

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Be well and keep warm out there! In the meantime, stay in touch with what your farmers are up to – on our facebook or instagram page. We look forward to seeing you all later this Spring! Until then.. enjoy the stillness and quiet that Winter brings.

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All our best,

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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 2014 CSA

Posted on 1 Jan 2014

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“No man is born in possession of the art of living, any more than of the art of agriculture; the one requires to be studied as well as the other, and a man can no more expect permanent satisfaction from actions performed at random, than he can expect a good crop from seeds sown without due regard to soil and season…Nothing is more conducive to happiness, than fixing on an end to be gained, and then steadily pursuing its attainment.”

— J.C. Loudon – An Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 1825

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Happy New Years friends & farm-ily!

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We hope the winter and holiday season is treating everyone well. Although the winter has its perks, your farmers are feeling antsy for Spring and another year of farming ahead! We’ve been keeping busy with many little projects around the farm to get ready for the coming season (clearing & cleaning the front of the property, re-building the greenhouse & shade structure/veggie processing area, putting in irrigation, as well as animal infrastructure for the pasture and clearing out the last bits of farm stuff at the old farm). We still can’t believe we get to do this every year.. we love what we do and couldn’t be more appreciative of the community around us. We are so excited for the endless possibilities that 2014 holds..

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This time of the year we’re surely missing homegrown, fresh, organic goodies from the garden.. we’re getting hungry for the 2014 season already!

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As for this year’s winter (so far), it’s surely been a funny season since the end of the Fall CSA. The end of November and December have been awfully cold for this area and we’ve only had 25% of the rain that we usually do this time of the year. But because of this we’re making headway on the new property and are VERY excited for the coming season on the new farm. Spring is just around the corner (thank goodness the days are now getting longer) and we’re gearing up for our seed order, raising of the greenhouse, seed starting and planning in anticipation of our greatest year yet! We’re so excited to continue on in this journey and to share it all with you. And as always.. a great many thanks for all your appreciation, support and love through one of the busiest CSA seasons we’ve experienced to date!

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CSA Sign-Up Starts TODAY! 2013 was not only our busiest season but it was also our most productive year yet (over 36,000 lbs of produce grown) and we have a feeling that 2014 will be even better! As you know, our 2014 sign up starts TODAY January 1^st with a 2 week priority sign-up for our previous 2013 CSA members. We will be limiting our CSA to the first 85 members to sign up so we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible.

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The piglets are growing up so quick and are as cute as the day they were born!

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2014 CSA Info. You can read all about our 2014 CSA here – for the Who, What, When, Where, Why & How (much). We have some exciting new CSA updates in store for you all so please read carefully (below)!

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28 week CSA. Our 2014 CSA season is 28 weeks and now includes the “Fall CSA.” We had initially started the Fall CSA 3 years ago with hopes that we could grow successfully through the cooler Fall months. Well, the last two Fall seasons have been a success (the most recent Fall CSA was probably our favorite CSA season to date) and have decided to permanently extend the CSA to 28 weeks. We love eating seasonally and there’s nothing better than seeing the seasons through when you’re eating fresh out of the garden! As the seasons vary the CSA may begin up to two weeks before or after our estimated start – the week of May 20th and continue on from that date for 28 weeks.

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The bees taking a moment a few weeks ago on a 50 degree day to clean out the hive.. they might have moved farms but haven’t skipped a beat!

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Crops. As we prepare for the 2014 season we feel more confident – about the varieties of crops that we grow – than ever! Last year we grew the most diverse produce we’ve grown to date. We did this to get an idea of which plants grew the best, produced the most, tasted the best and survived throughout all the seasons. We have selected the best from 2013 and are excited to incorporate a few new varieties of veggies that we know our members are going to love. We will be investing in some new perennial crops this year like Artichoke, rhubarb asparagus, apples, pears, etc… and our raspberries we planted last season for this year are looking great – as do the strawberries and we’re excited for that first taste of homegrown berries…

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Sign-Up & Deposit. Once you’ve read about the 2014 CSA season you can sign-up online. In order to reserve your share we require a $250 deposit that is non-refundable and is applied to the total cost of the CSA. The deposit is due within two weeks of submitting our online CSA form. Once your deposit of $250 is received we will send you a confirmation email welcoming you to our CSA program.

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We encourage those members who can, to pay more than the deposit upon signing up, this helps your farmers absorb the initial expenses that happen at the beginning of the season. Our farm is a livable wage farm and by being part of our farm-ily you are directly investing in a sustainable agricultural model that doesn’t make compromises! Because of your investment we will be able to provide safe, delicious and nutritious food for many years to come. Remember that our CSA operates on a first come, first serve basis so sign up ASAP!

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The ladies of Chateau Poulet LOVE their new home and can’t wait for the coming of Spring!

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Egg Shares. The ladies of Chateau Poulet appreciate all the love and support this past season. We will be keeping a flock of 150 heritage birds in the 2014 season and that means a lot of eggs! They are raised on fresh pasture as well as an organic, non-gmo feed (no soy, no corn) made in the Pacific NW by Scratch and Peck – a local feed supply that we feel lucky to be working with. Our chicks are due in January which means they will be laying come the start of the CSA season. Egg shares will be available for purchase in May coinciding with the start of the CSA season. Remember eggs are limited and will go to CSA members on a first come first serve basis.

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Farm Pick-Up. All weekly CSAs are collected at our farm from 4-7pm. You will be able to choose the pick up day that you prefer while space is available (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday) and the pick up day you select will be your assigned day for the duration of the season. Your famers make a point of being available from 4-5pm at each drop and do this to facilitate a sense of community within our CSA with good food at its core. Our farm is located in Hillsboro at 7705 SW River Rd 97123 – just 2 miles north from our old farm (on the other side of Farmington).

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Ellie & Maribelle are queens of the barn in their spacious new barn stall & can’t wait to let them loose on pasture in the Spring. What a glorious day!

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Quick Links: 2014 CSA Season (the Who, What, Where, Why, When & How Much) & our 2014 Sign-Up Form. If you have any further questions be sure to check out our Q&A section or send us an email. We hope you will be joining us again this year as we can’t imagine a season without you!

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And a quick but very important favor for your farmers… word of mouth is the best way to help us grow and sustain our small farm. Please encourage interested friends, family, neighbors & community etc… in signing up for their CSA share. Many thanks for your help from all of us at Working Hands.

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Check out the slideshow below for wintery updates from the farm as well as this link to our favorite photos from our 2013 season.

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May 2014 be filled with love, adventure, laughter and all good things for you and your family!

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Happiest of days to you all!

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Jess, Brian & the rest of the farm-ily… Ellie, Maribelle, Truffle, Otis, the piglets & the ladies of Chateau Poulet

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Working Hands Farm Fall CSA Week 7 & 8

Posted on 18 Nov 2013

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Hey Friends & Farm-ily,

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It’s Week 7 & 8 of the Fall CSA, which means the last pick-up of the season! We can hardly believe it’s been 28 weeks since we started our 2013 harvest season. Little did we know what a season we would have when we began seeding trays back in January. We’ve come a long way this year and what a fruitful season it has been! Thanks for believing in your farmers every step of the way and for being a constant reminder of why we do what we do everyday. We look forward to serving this community for years to come. Y’all are the best.

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We hope you all had an inspiring journey during this 8 week season (and for many, all 28 weeks) – we hope many meals were shared and enjoyed in the warmth of your kitchen, that you enjoyed trying out some new veggies/varieties & won’t miss the farm fare too much during the winters months… we’ll all be dreaming of tomatoes come the middle of January <sigh>. This week there will be a “Week 7” share table and a “Week 8” share table in the barn for pick-up – be sure to grab one of each! There will be another table with greens, eggs and a few other choice items. Your farmers will be there to greet you until 5pm and will leave the barn lights on until 7pm.

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The Fall CSA shares all averaged in at a weight of 30lbs per week! And for organic, fresh picked, local produce we think $1.20 per pound is a great deal! All of the Fall shares contained 13-16 items with a great variety of crops and delicious tasting veggies that have inspired many fantastic home cooked meals (thanks for sharing all your delicious accomplishments in your kitchens!) Thanks so much for your recipe contributions, affirmation and excitement. We have enjoyed the Fall CSA so much and feel great about ending the 2013 season on such a high note!

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Fun Farm Fact. We’ve grown, harvested & distributed over 36,000 lbs of produce to our members and community this growing season. Who says small farms can’t feed the World? This is a number that we’re super proud of (and more then we initially projected..) as it’s a lot of food being produced on 3 acres of land by two people! And…12,000 lbs of the total number were produced during the 8 weeks of the Fall CSA! Cheers to our biggest (and best) year yet.

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Feelin’ blessed. We’ve been enjoying the variety (over 60 different kinds of vegetables and even more varieties) and bounty these 28 weeks. We feel blessed as farmers in the Pacific NW to be able to grow such a beautiful array of vegetables for our community. From berries and melons to brassicas and winter squash we can grow just about anything here! Every season we try out a few dozen or so new veggies and varieties. Making our seed list in January is one of our favorite things to do in the winter… checking our notes and remembering which varieties grew the best, tasted the best etc. What we’re some of your favorite veggies this season?

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Keep Moving forward. We’ve made some awesome headway on building winter housing for the animals in the barn. Ellie & Maribelle’s spacious stall is built out and then we’ll continue on with the pig stalls in hopes of moving everybody over at the end of the week. We’ve moved all our hens over this weekend into their new coop far away from the barn (and are so happy we’ll never have to do THAT again.. what a ta-do…). They seem to love the new coop and have plenty of space in there. With breezy windows, better roosts and egg boxes what’s not to like? Plus, we’re pretty pumped that we can “build stuff now.” The year of learning (all around).

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Ending the season with a bang. Looks like we’re in for a chilly double harvest for our last CSA week (with temps in the 40’s during the day and high 20’s at night). But, luckily, for us, we have our dear friend – Farmer Beth – who will be helping out with our double harvest and with her help we haven’t any doubts that cold, wind, rain, or double harvest will slow us down! All the hard work will keep us nice and warm anyway…

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Winter Veggies & Eggs. We’ll keep everyone updated about any veggies we may have available during the month of December. Eggs will be available for purchase during the Winter and Spring months as well and will be taking orders via email!

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2014 CSA sign-ups will begin in January and we’ll keep everyone in the loop (our members will have the first chance to sign-up before we open it up to the public). Whoo hoo! We’re excited to overhaul the website, make a new farm-y video and nestle in a bit and get creative! Keep in touch with your farmers through our website, facebook and instagram!

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Crates. Just a friendly reminder to return any CSA crates – that you may have at home – this week! We’re missing a dozen or so and are hoping to get them all back as it’s the last week for pick-up. This week’s “double share” pick-up will be in the barn (just too many goodies to fit under the shade structure) and there will be a spot to leave them there. If you have any at home be sure to set them out or put them in your car to make it easy! Thanks so much in advance.

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Hope it’s a great start to the week. We look forward to seeing you all soon!

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Many thanks and the happiest of holidays next week,

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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 Fall CSA Week 6

Posted on 11 Nov 2013

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Hey Friends & Farm-ily,

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We’ve made it to week 6… which means there is only one more week of pick-up left for our Fall CSA! We’ve had an amazing time with the Fall CSA this season – such a wonderful bounty with incredibly thoughtful & amazing CSA members!

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Turnip the beet! Next week’s “double share…” Next week you will be picking up shares for week 7 & 8. This is a great way to spread the love during the Thanksgiving holiday! Most of the veggies are storage crops and can be kept for weeks and weeks (some even months). Storage onions, potatoes, winter squash will all keep in a cool place. Root veggies such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, rutabaga & leeks & cabbage too will all keep in the fridge (when preparing to store carrots, beets and other root vegetables in plastic bags in the refrigerator, sprinkle in a few drops of water as you pack each bag. Ideally, a few drops of condensation should form inside the bags after they have been well-chilled in the fridge.) Blanching and freezing is also great for any extra hardy greens, carrots, or broccoli.

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Depending on what Mother Nature is up to we might have some extra goodies for harvest during the month of December. For those interested in purchasing greens, storage crops, eggs & other goodies throughout December please let us know and we’ll keep you updated week by week of what we have available here on the farm.

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Progress, progress, progress… We are getting there! Thanks to the help of our dear friends – Beth & Erik – we were able to disassemble our green house this weekend. It took about two days but we did it (thanks to the help of our tractor… that machine gets MVP for all the things it’s helped us accomplish this year…)! The new chicken coop is finished and awaiting the arrival of our ladies. This week, we’ll begin building out a few stalls in the barn for Ellie and Maribelle and make plans for pig shelters and fences. We’re cruising right along now and it’s only a matter of time before we’re moved over completely! <big farmer smiles & high fives>

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It’s been an exciting process this year and we’ve never worked harder. We welcome the hard work and although it’s made for some long days we have chosen to live this life because we believe in it. Thanks for believing in us and being the best kind of positive reinforcement these two farmers could get. We so appreciate it and can’t wait to share in the beauty, the bounty, the hard work and the excitement during the 2014 season at the new farm! Cheers to that!

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Crates! As we begin to wind down our Fall season we will be keeping an eye on our crate inventory. If you have any crates piling up at your house be sure to bring them by to this week’s pick up. You have all been great about returning crates this season and we so appreciate it! Thanks so much in advance.

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Favorite Thanksgiving Day recipes. Have any veggie related turkey day recipes that you’d like to share? Feel free to email them our way for next week’s recipe handout! Yum.

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Just a heads up… we have taken the green house down but most of its metal parts won’t make it to the new farm until next weekend. The metal pieces are around the periphery but please be mindful when parking and exiting the parking lot this week!

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Enjoy the start of your week and we’ll see you all soon…

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Our best,

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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 Fall CSA Week 5

Posted on 4 Nov 2013

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Hey Friends & Farm-ily,

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Here we go, Week 5! We missed seeing you all last week – your farmers have been unbelievably busy with building/creating new infrastructure for all the animals and moving the farm (piece by piece)! Our heads are still above water so no need to worry about your farmers – all the “sweet” treats we received last week surely put smiles on our faces. We appreciate our amazing CSA members – such thoughtfulness and inspiration is found in our connections to our community. We think you guys rock!

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We hope you all are appreciating that “extra hour” of sleep this week. We can get the day started a bit earlier but of course that means sunset is now around 5 pm (those long summer days are gone…) It’s officially Autumn in our minds.. even though the weather is just starting to show signs of November the shorter days and colder nights remind us that the season is slowing us down (even though there is much to do).

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We’re keeping it short and sweet this week as we make our way through the longest farmer to-do list of 2013… Thanks for all the love and support! Remember your crates. Eggs will continue to be available for purchase and email us any recipes you might have discovered with the help of your CSA bounty!

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We look forward to seeing you all this week. Stay dry and enjoy the warmth of your kitchens.

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Our best,

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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p.s. You might notice that our Farm Sign is no longer out on display on the road (we’re slowly taking down and moving all our farm stuff this month). We are still there and pick-ups will continue at this farm for the remainder of the Fall season!

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