It’s not the end, it’s just the beginning (winter csa share week 17 & 18)

Posted on 13 Apr 2016

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

Whoo hoo! We’re officially SOLD OUT for the 2016 Spring, Summer & Fall CSA Season! If you’d like to be added to our waiting list please fill out the sign up form here: https://workinghandsfarm.com/signupform/and we’ll email you should a share become available! We can’t wait for the 2016 CSA season to start! Thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season!

Winter CSA Success! This week is the final pick up week of our inaugural Winter CSA season and I know we’ve said this before but we LOVE the Winter CSA! We didn’t know what to fully expect back in June when we began planning, prepping, seeding and transplanting for the winter CSA but are so pleased that all the planning turned out even with the wettest winter weather ever – the vegetables proved just how resilient they are and how much we’ve learned over 7 years of growing. It’s given us a whole new perspective on farming and we’ve never ate so good through the winter! Thank you for being willing to experiment with us over the course of this inaugural Winter CSA.

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The Winter Bounty. We started our Winter CSA journey on December 2^nd and we’ve made it all the way to the middle of April! Our expectation for the Winter Shares were 5-10 items (dependent on weather) in each weekly share. Over the course of 18 weeks we had 11+ items in each weekly share. We were also impressed with the variety of veggies we harvested through the winter months – most weeks we had more fresh picked produce than storage veggies which is amazing! To top it all off, it was an average of 400lbs per share which comes in under $1.50 per lb of produce.

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So many different kind of goodies in the winter shares…Asparagus, arugula, beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, cilantro, collards, garlic, greens mix, italian dandelion, kale, kohlrabi, komatsuna, leeks, lettuce heads, onions, herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano), pac choi, parsley, parsnips, pumpkins, radish, rapini, radicchio, rhubarb, romanesco, rutabaga, shallots, spaghetti squash, spinach, sprouting broccoli, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, storage tomatoes, turnips, winter squash and more!

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We are so excited to learn and grow for the next winter season! Keep your eyes and ears open when we launch the 2016 Winter CSA Sign Ups later this summer! We’ll be starting Fall and Winter veggie starts in the coming months (we’re always thinking ahead…!)

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A wonderful family visit. After an amazing 2 week visit my folks headed back east to their home in Massachusetts. I can’t express just how much their visit meant to Brian and I. The last time they were able to visit was at our wedding which was almost 2 years ago! It was amazing spending the days together – eating three square meals, talking, working side by side and just enjoying each other’s company. We accomplished so much in just a few weeks time… we were like loaded springs waiting for the turn in the weather and finally, when my parents arrived, there was sun (and even some 90 degree weather!) All the composting, fertilizing, liming, tilling, and planting began! The start of the 2016 growing season had officially begun and it felt right to have them there with us by our sides. They brought their A game and it felt great to reconnect with them as if a day never passed since the last time we saw them. It’s amazing how much we miss them already and hope it’s not too long until we see there faces again. Love you guys!

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After my folks left Brian worked extra hard into the evenings to disc and seed the lower pasture with our old-but-new-to-us seed drill. The extra soggy el nino winter left that bottom acreage under water for a few months time. We talked to a handful of farmers near by and our local forage land specialist at OSU extension and we came up with a pasture mix that we hope will thrive in wetter conditions. It will be amazing to turn those 4 acres into productive ground to graze the cows through the drier part of the season. Fingers crossed this little bit of rain moving through the valley helps germinate all those seeds!

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Calf Update! The last calf, a beautiful (and giant) heifer calf was born to our mama 1047 last week. She has been warmly taken in by the herd and has been running around the pastures with her other two calf buddies. They are so animated and light on their feet, drinking out of the water trough and getting their fill at the milk bar. All three calves take after their sire Jackson, with the British White markings which makes them easy to spot in the pasture and are pretty darn cute to watch!

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The planting and seeding continues.. we’ll be starting our first curcubits (cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini) in the propagation house this weekend as well as a bunch of greens, flowers and other goodies! We have some cippolini onions, cauliflower, pac choi, greens, herbs etc that will be planted this weekend during the forecasted sunny stretch. It’s hard to believe it’s already the middle of April! Pretty soon harvest will begin again and a whole new adventure awaits! #keepswimming #endlesspossibilities

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We look forward to seeing and meeting all our Spring/Summer/Fall CSA Members next month! We’ll be in touch with updates about the start date etc. In the meantime, follow us on Instagram & Facebook to keep in touch with our daily happenings on the farm. Here we grow! Whoo hoo!

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With kind regards,

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your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

A Planting We Will Go (winter csa week 15 &16)

Posted on 30 Mar 2016

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Let the planting season begin! This week marks the first week all winter and Spring that we are able to get into the garden and plant and seed like mad farmers. Onions, kale, broccoli, collards, chicory, chard, lettuce, kohlrabi, peas, cabbage and more will all be transplanted this week! Carrots, turnips, cilantro, peas, favas and more will be direct sown in the dirt! Yesterday, we were able to get in 9,000 onions with the help of my parents who are here visiting all the way from Cape Cod, Massachusetts and our wonderful hardworking friend Meaghin. With their help we were able to lime, fertilize and compost half the entire farm (usually a task that would take at least a week or two). For the next 4 days we will have our heads down and our hands full of dirt.. planting, planting, planting!

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It surely is an exciting time on the farm! An thank you for all your sun dances – they worked!

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Two out of the three calves due this season were also born last week. One bull calf and one heifer calf. The British White genes are strong with them and they look a lot like their dad, Jackson. All the cows were turned out on pasture over the weekend for the first time this Spring and it sure is one of the best sights to see. They jump and kick and frolick through the grass. The baby chicks are now 6 weeks old and have gotten most of their primary feathers. The piglets are little muscle machines enjoying their time with mom in the sun… once the bottom land dries up a bit they will be moved to the lower pasture where it’s a touch cooler for them in the late Spring and Summer months with plenty of high protein forage to munch on.

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Know your farmers, know your food! The Spring, Summer and Fall CSA is drawing near and we only have 2 shares left for the 2016 CSA season! Help us get there by spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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1 Read all about the 2016 CSA season

2 Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement

3 Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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We can’t wait for the 2016 growing season to start! Thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season!

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REMINDER: that first CSA payments are due by this Friday, April 1st!!

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The WHF Farmstore is full stocked with new nitrite and sugar free items (bacon, fresh sausages, canadian bacon, hams etc), an amazing Winter Pork Sale & individual cuts for purchase! We also have a some fresh Spring Pastured Eggs available too from the Ladies of Chateau Poulet! #dirtybeakscleancrops

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Visit our online WHF Farmstore here: WHF Farmstore

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Be well, enjoy the sunshine, and root your farmers on! It’s officially game time! *And there’s just two weeks left of the Winter CSA!*

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p.s. You Winter CSA-ers will notice that the goats have moved! They are currently in our backyard eating back the ever-growing Himalayan blackberry! They say hi 😉

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With kind regards,

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your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

The WHF Ark (winter CSA week 13 & 14)

Posted on 16 Mar 2016

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Well, we’ve loaded up the ark and are ready to set sail! Just kidding.. (kind of) but the flood is back! After 7+ inches of rain in the valley last week the rushing rivers are cresting as we speak. El nino certainly has had other plans for us this season compared to last year. Last year it was sunny and 70 and we were able to get in our strawberry and onion plantings. This year, we’re waiting out the rains and testing our patience, as these two farmers are ready to go! Our first plantings of chard, kale, broccoli, beets, lettuce etc are all ready to get in the ground too. The 10-day looks promising as the rains begin to taper off. We’re gonna need a week of sunshine to dry out the soggy fields before we can plant. We’re keeping a close eye on things though for any opportunity we might get! We’re ready to get our hands dirty. #dirtyhandscleanhearts

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It’s crazy to think that we have just a month left of harvest for our first ever Winter CSA. Crazy! The Winter CSA has been a blast and we are so excited to reflect on the successes and to do even better next season. In just 4 months time we’ll be planting for winter harvest. Time sure is a funny thing on the farm.

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Some excellent news! Remember when we asked you guys for a little good luck a few months back? Well, we have some good news: we received the funding through the NRSC’s High Tunnel Initiative and will be putting up a few new high tunnels this Spring and Summer!!! WHOO HOOO! This will allow us to grow even more through the winter months under covered space which is coveted on the farm. Having any bit of insurance when you’re working with nature, the elements and everything in between really helps to mitigate risk. Exciting times!

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New Nitrate Free Products & Winter Pork Sale! We are excited to share that the WHF Farmstore is fully stocked with new nitrite and sugar free items (bacon, fresh sausages, canadian bacon, hams etc), an amazing Winter Pork Sale & individual cuts for purchase!

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We are thrilled to announce that we are working with a new USDA certified processor who is also a lady farmer and has been selling custom cuts at the Beaverton Farmers market for the past 16 years. Her and her husband have built a beautiful new facility and proudly provide a completely allergen free environment (for those concerned about peanut, gluten and dairy allergies). Between their knowledge of providing the finest uncured/no nitrate added options and our unbelievable heritage pork we couldn’t be more excited to offer these new products to you. –

Visit our online WHF Farmstore here: WHF Farmstore

As you all know, our pigs live a wonderful completely stress free life and are raised in the sunshine on pasture. They are fed a supplemental diet of certified organic/non-gmo grain that is grown locally by farmers in the NW and vegetables from our organic garden. And as they are raised on pasture they have more heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids and are higher in conjugated linoleic acid, a type of fat that’s thought to reduce heart disease and cancer risks. As with all of our livestock our animals are raised without use of antibiotics or hormones.

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Know your farmers, know your food! The Spring, Summer and Fall CSA is drawing near and we have a few shares left for the 2016 CSA season! We are really excited and are waiting patiently for the CSA to fill up this year… help us get there by spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”
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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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1 Read all about the 2016 CSA season

2 Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement

3 Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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We can’t wait for the 2016 growing season to start! Thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season! Reminder: First CSA payments are due by April 1^st!!

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So send some dry and sunny wishes our way… as we are eager to get our hands dirty. Thankfully there are always things to do on the farm so we will be keeping plenty busy in the mean time.

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With kind regards,

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your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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In Like a Lion (winter csa week 11 & 12)

Posted on 4 Mar 2016

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“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” ― Henry David Thoreau

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Welcome March! Spring is certainly in the air and March has definitely lived up to the whole ‘coming in like a lion.’ Hopefully the ‘out like a lamb’ rings true too. The 10-day is looking awfully soggy and we keep crossing our fingers for a dry stretch at the end of it. There are strawberries and onions to plant in the next few weeks followed by our first crops for the Spring/Summer CSA season. The soil has to be dry enough to plant so keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer to the sun gods above!

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In between the rainstorms we continue to push things forward in the field. The cover crops have been mowed and disc-ed. Brian spent a few solid days drop spreading lime and compost. We picked up our custom fertilizer blend yesterday from Marion Ag. Step by step, now, we wait for the sun so the soil can dry out and become workable (and practice patience!) If we work the soil when it is too wet it will become cloddy and more difficult to transplant, cultivate and weed. But some years you have no choice otherwise it will push back the start date of the CSA too far! Fingers crossed for 3-4 days of solid sunshine!!!

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Besides getting our ducks in a row with our fertilizer order we’ve also been busy researching pasture grasses to seed in the lower area of the farm. With all the flooding and rain this year most of the bottom pasture was under water for 2+ months – December and January. We’ve talked to a handful of farmers near by and our local forage land specialist at OSU extension and have come up with a mix that we hope will thrive in wetter conditions. Now we just gotta wait until the sky clears and the rains wane so we can get out there to seed! Everything seems to be waiting on the sun…

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In the meantime, we will be turning up soil in our 100ft high tunnel/greenhouse and transplanting a few crops and seeding in a few things. We are on week 12 of the Winter CSA which means we have 6 more weeks to go (18 total). We didn’t know what to expect back in December when it started but are so pleased that all the planning turned out even with the ups and downs and slog that the winter weather brought our way. It’s given us a whole new perspective on farming and like we’ve said before… we’ve never ate so good through the winter!

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The true test of a winter CSA. The winter CSA has been filled with new challenges that we have faced for the first time and it has also been filled with incredible unforeseen successes. This period in the season will prove to put your farmers through the ultimate test! We are coming up on a challenging time for harvest. The hunger gap. It’s very much an in-between time where the crops that were planted last fall are beginning to bolt (i.e. rapini) and go to flower. The soil is still too wet and cool for things to really germinate quickly which is why high tunnel/greenhouse space is so valuable this time of year. Many of the storage crops are on their last hurrah (onions, garlic etc) who are all starting to sprout as the longer/warmer day are upon us (they say, let us grow!) This part of the season is the true test of a winter CSA. Thank you for being willing to experiment with us over the course of this inaugural winter CSA.

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New life! The propagation house is really filling up with Spring and Summer starts. We have eggplant and peppers on the heat mats waiting for germination (they like the soil to be hot, hot, hot) and in the next few days we’ll be seeding tomatoes, leeks, onions, etc.. The fun never stops.. whoop whoop! It’s crazy to think that in 4+ months we will be enjoying the bounty of summer – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant etc…

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The trials and tribulations of garlic! Every Fall we plant a significant amount of garlic (this year we planted 3,000 ft/6,000 cloves) that over winters and gets harvested June-July. As past members might remember, our 2015 crop of garlic was hit with the awful Rust fungus which lead to significantly smaller bulbs, smaller yields, less storability and buying all new garlic seed since ours didn’t size up enough. 80lbs of garlic seed x $20/lb adds up quick but we love garlic and are hopeful that this years yield will be better (we buy all our organic garlic seed from a local Pacific NW company – Filaree Garlic Farm)! There’s so much to learn all the time especially with the changes in weather and seasons.

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Beds are prepped and ready to irrigate (before flaming!), planting garlic and mulching with straw

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Garlic can be a tricky crop to grow. It seems easy for the first few years but after that your weed seed bank gets churned up and you have way more competition to deal with from weeds come Spring. They are also in the garden growing for 8 months which is a pretty long time! We usually plant in October and this year we wanted to do better so we decided we would prepare the beds in August (compost, fertilize, till 2 months before planting) and lay irrigation to germinate weeds and put our trusty new flame weeder to good use. After a few weeks (once the weeds were established) farmer Brian went through all 10 beds and flame weeded the germinating weeds. It takes about 15-30 minutes per bed to flame them. Once flamed we watered them again. Waited a few weeks and flamed them again. By October we were looking at some pretty weed free and perfect stale seed beds for planting garlic into. We were hoping all that pre emergence flame weeding would really cut down or eliminate or need to hand weed it in the Spring (ouch my back!) In October, after we dibbled the beds (made holes for the cloves to go into) Brian flamed the beds again while I planted behind him… ensuring once and for all (3 times a charm) that weed issues of the past would be a distant memory. To top off all our hard work we put a nice thick layer of organic straw ontop of the beds. This is where things get hairy….

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Our nice thick lawn of straw popping up in the garlic (center) and (on the R & L)removing all the mulch and cleaning it up last month!

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In October & November, the rains came back which was great because the garden loves the rain. A few weeks after we planted the garlic and mulched we noticed there was a lawn growing – a nice even layer of grass coming up in the whole garlic patch. Our hearts sank. We did not know that the straw was full of viable seed as we bought it from a trusted local source who failed to inform us that the ‘straw’ we purchased was in fact not ‘straw’ at all as it was full of seed (that the grains had been lodged while being harvested.. so they knew, they just didn’t tell us). We had a perfect stand of straw growing where we had just invested so much time, labor, resources and energy into. Would we be able to save the crop? How many hours of labor would it take to remove all the straw and weed the new thicket of rye we had growing (not including all the labor we already put into it). It was crazy. So, for the past month Brian and I have each spent about 40 hours each removing all the straw and pulling out the grass/weeds. It was such a bummer but after all the hard work we have successfully rescued the garlic. We have also decided to go sans-mulch on the garlic this coming Fall. It’s really hard to find an organic local source of straw (especially straw that isn’t full of seed apparently…) so we’re gonna try not using any after seeing the success other fellow farmers have had without mulching. We’re hoping that the worst is over and that any weeding needing to be done from here on out can be done with our Allis Chalmers G cultivating tractor. Onward and upward!

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Spring Piglets! Tami decided to celebrate #nationalpigday on Tuesday by having her first litter of piglets and she did great! She had seven piglets in the wee hours of the morning. This is her first litter and she’s showing a strong maternal instinct and is keeping her little ones close. We are amazed at how different our two mama sows are – as Rosie (Tami’s mom) has a much more relaxed mothering approach. Tami who is 300+ lbs moves slowly and carefully around her 1-lb piglets – lifting a single leg if she hears a squeal or grunts until everyone is on one side of her before she lays down. She has also positioned her body in such a way to keep the piglets in their house so she can easily watch them. Rosie lets you come in and give her a pet and observe the piglets – no problem.. Tami on the other hand seems to like it better when no one else (including other pigs) is around. Her litter is a cross of a few different heritage breeds – LargeBlack/Tamworth/Berkshire x Duroc.

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This year’s newest layers arrived last week so there’s a lot of peeping going on in Chateau Poulet They grow so fast and in 20-24 weeks (4.5-5months) they will be integrated with the rest of the flock and laying their very first eggs. It’s amazing though how quickly they imprint and discover how to eat and drink for the first time. Watching them scratch and dust and fan and do all those chicken things right off the bat is amazing.

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2016 CSA Spring & Summer CSA! Thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season! There are less than a dozen shares available for the 2016 season so be sure to sign up quickly! We are really excited and are waiting patiently for the CSA to fill up this year, more so than ever, as a full CSA and a tight finanical projection means we will be able to hire our first employee! Help us get there by spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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1 Read all about the 2016 CSA season

2 Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement

3 Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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We can’t wait for the 2016 growing season to start!

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So send some dry and sunny wishes our way… as we are eager to get our hands dirty. Thankfully there are always things to do on the farm so we will be keeping plenty busy in the mean time.

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p.s. Has anyone watched the Cooked series on netflix with Michael Pollan? Check out the trailer here. We’ve begun it this week and encourage you all to watch it too (as Farmer Brian said, “finally, something worth watching!) Here is the write up: “Explored through the lenses of the four natural elements – fire, water, air and earth – COOKED is an enlightening and compelling look at the evolution of what food means to us through the history of food preparation and its universal ability to connect us. Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves.” Check out the book too!

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With kind regards,

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your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts–

The February Fly By (winter csa week 9 & 10)

Posted on 19 Feb 2016

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“A seed is small but rich with possibility, like love, which is as humble as it is powerful.” —Pir Zia Inayat-Khan

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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February is just flying by and your farmers are keeping pace as things keep moving right along here on the farm! The first seeds have sprouted in the greenhouse and are even forming their ‘first true leaves’. We worked extra late on Tuesday and Wednesday night to get the first seeds in the ground (outside in the field) and to beat the rain and stormy weather that was headed our way. Hence, the tardiness of the newsletter… one step at a time.

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We’ve had a blast figuring out stuff this month. So many projects to begin and so many fun things to check off the list. We got our soil test results back a couple week ago and our soil is looking healthier than ever! Soil Organic matter is up almost 2% over the last couple years! Based on the this years test results, we’ve just about finalized our 2016 custom organic fertilizer blend, which means let the bed prepping begin! Liming, composting, fertilizing, tilling all that in and getting the ground ready for the first transplants in March. Hopefully we have a nice long stretch of dry weather coming up so we can work the soil. The few days of dry followed by a few days of wet doesn’t allow the soil to dry out quite enough to the texture and consistency that we like to plant and seed into. Fingers crossed!

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The custom cover crop we seeded in late September – of triticale, peas and vetch – has really taken off with the mild temperatures and soon we gotta get that tilled in too. It takes about 6-8 weeks, depending on the weather, to fully incorporate it, break down and let the soil dry out. Cover cropping is so important in our long term fertilizer program as it’s nitrogen-fixing, soil-conditioning, erosion-preventing & bio-mass-building. Since we officially turned ground on this property in 2013 the soil’s health just keeps on getting better (before that we were farming just few miles down River Rd. from 2009-2013). It is because of our CSA members investment and our methodology that we can improve the soils on our farm! And it is working! We have the tests to prove it! We have really enjoyed learning about the history and the soil here and making improvements from season to season. It’s amazing that we get to invest only the best into our soils in order to produce healthy, organically grown, fresh, nutrient rich produce! “If I grow good soil, I can forget about the vegetables.” – Nigel Walker Here’s to another season of growing and learning and everything in between!

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This poem fits. Not Anyone Who Says by Mary Oliver. photo taken in 2011 at the Nile River

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In the midst of the February projects and excitement, Valentine’s day had me looking through some old photos of Brian and I when we first met. Some of you already know the story (if not, you can read about it here) It doesn’t feel like time passes by too quickly while you’re living it but looking at those old photos… it’s crazy to see just how much time has passed or how many things have happened in between. It’s really nice to remember where you were and how far you’ve come and to appreciate the person who’s been there with you through it all.

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Brian and I have both grown a lot as individuals and as husband and wife, as friends, farmers and business partners. Through it all we both feel grateful that the universe brought us together. Together we thrive and we absolutely love what we do every single day. We bring out the best in each other and it’s not always easy – the farm being a manipulative creature and what not – but every day we give it our best shot. Farming is the reason we met and were brought together. We had a good chuckle and a bunch of smiles while looking through those old farm photos. All the hand dug beds, hand seeded crops, city deliveries, extra back breaking labor etc.. that this farm was built upon – the work – the challenge – the risk – the excitement – the bounty – the stick-to-itiveness – the ‘growing’ better from season to season – and the deep satisfaction of providing safe, delicious, fresh produce to our community with a connection to the farm and it’s farmers. In our infancy as farmers these are the things that brought us together and helped us to build upon that foundation and really see it thrive. Those smiles that seemed to go on for miles without a dime in our pockets but plenty of dirt under our fingernails (and vegetables in our bellies). We definitely don’t have it all figured out but looking back on earlier farming days I’d say we have figured out some things… 😉

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2016 CSA Spring & Summer CSA! Thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season! There are only a dozen shares available for the 2016 season so be sure to sign up quickly! Keep spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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Read all about the 2016 CSA season
Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement
Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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We’ll be spending a lot of time in the propagation greenhouse the next few weeks seeding a lot of our first successions of crops (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, chicory etc.. the list goes on..) Pretty soon the greenhouse will be brimming with starts and as the end of March approaches we will be putting plants in the ground. Exciting times!

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With kind regards,

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your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

Winter Momentum (winter csa week 7 & 8)

Posted on 3 Feb 2016

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Welcome February! The ol’ groundhog – Punxsutawney Phil – did not see his shadow yesterday which means an early Spring is coming. And ol’ El nino ,with it’s crazy winter weather all around the states, seems to be telling us that is bringing an early Spring too – we shall see! (Did you see that 2015 was the warmest year on record?!) All we know is that it sure has been lovely weather of late with some extra spring-like weather on the horizon (60’s and sunny next week?!) A break from the rain sure has been nice.. and just in time it seems as we’re all geared up to start the first of the 2016 seedlings in the propagation house in the next few days. Whoo hoo! Let the sowing begin! We’re so excited for the 2016 growing season!

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February really is an exciting month on the farm as it’s a time for pushing many things forward on the farm. It’s a month when we bring out ‘farmer ninja mode’ to the max. A time where we’re feeling rested from the change of physical pace that winter brings and feeling extra inspired by the momentum of CSA sign ups, seed orders, planning etc…. and there’s oh-so-much planning to do!

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Soil tests, crop planning, seed starting, tractor tune ups, building projects and more, oh my! One of the first things we like to do in February is get our custom made fertilizer for the garden all set to go. The first step to soil success is submitting our yearly soil test to A&L Labs which we happened to get back last week. Next to seed orders this is seriously up there with Christmas! How did we do? What can we do better? The challenges and possibilities that farming brings starts right here in the planning stages. Our custom made organic fertilizer mix paired with the omri certified garden compost we’ve been using has really improved the soil over the past 3 years and it’s fun to see those previous seasons soil test results change in a positive way! “If I grow good soil, I can forget about the vegetables.” – Nigel Walker It brings a big smile to these farmers faces to see the land become more productive over time and to see things truly thrive (it’s members and farmers included) from season to season. This week we are working with a local lady soil guru on organic soil recommendations specifically for veggie production on our farm and look forward to feeding the soil and all of our wonderful members through our 7^th growing season! Whoop whoop!

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Feeding and building the nutrition in the soil and rotating all the 70+ different kinds of veggies we grow around the farm is so important (in order to combat disease and pests etc and make sure there is the right amount of nutrition to meet the needs of the many different crops that we grow). We also need to plan out our successional crop plantings in order to have food for our members each and every week! It seems like a crazy amount of information to grow so many different crops for over 120 households for 7 months (+ 5 months of winter CSA) of the year which is why the systems we’ve created are so important for the two of us to run this ship smoothly. We’re buttoning up the crop plans for the season and are really excited about the crops and varieties of veggies that we’re growing this year. With all the hot weather 2015 brought we feel better prepared (mentally and physically) for whatever 2016 will throw at us. Nature waits for no one and the more experience we take on (high fives!) the better prepared we will be.

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Tuning up the tractors to make sure everything is in working order is also at the top of February’s list. Brian has been having fun tuning up and tending to the old 1953 Allis Chalmers G to get it in tip top running order as it won’t be long now before we’re spreading compost, making beds, and cultivating! We even worked on it together one day and it was fun to problem solve with such an old piece of machinery (they definitely don’t make em like they used to! and there sure isn’t a lot of helpful information to be found on the world wide web!) Strawberry and onion plants will be here before you know it and although these two farmers might be a little soft and out of shape it’s nice feeling to know the tractors are rearing to go!

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Farmer ninja mode begins when we’re bringing all the plans together. In any given day you might start 5 different projects and finish one… the work is “never done” as we say but we’re also never bored.. so there’s that 😉 We are multi-tasking extraordinaire’s (or, trying to be!) Starting seeds, prepping ground, mowing cover crops, prepping beds and setting down occultation covers in the garden – where weeds germinate in the warm, moist conditions created by the tarp but are then killed by the absence of light. Thinking weeks and months ahead so that when May rolls around we are greeted with the first bountiful harvests of the Spring season.

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And what kind of Spring would it be without anticipation of new life? We’ve got a new batch of layer chicks heading to the farm later this month as well as Tami’s first litter of piglets. It sure will be a sweet way to welcome the coming of Spring with new life.

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And in the midst of the season that lies ahead, we are just a week away from the halfway point of the WHF Winter CSA! We can’t believe that this is the first season that we’ve grown through the Winter. We are seriously loving it and already talking about growing and making plans for next winter. We really do feel that it’s an amazing addition to the farm to provide produce through the shorter days of the year all while providing supplementary income to the farm that will help us achieve some balance in the crazy months of summer. We are big fans all around – eating delicious farm fresh veg in the winter – yes please! We definitely set a low expectation when we embarked on this journey last fall as the winter weather is more variable than other times of the year. Crop losses can happen from a hard freeze, disease pressure, bugs, etc… and many of these things are out of your farmers control. Also, keep your fingers crossed we applied for a grant through the NRSC’s EQUIP program for a couple new green houses for next winters veggie production! We should find out if we will receive the grant in the next couple of months!

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And we’ve had a pretty up and down winter as far as weather goes – we’ve had cold, and warm, sunny, and frozen, windy and rain – record breaking – rain. Despite the variability in weather we have experienced many winter farming successes and has given us a greater perspective when it comes to growing in extreme conditions! The shares have been larger than we expected – with 11-12 items in each week’s share – as opposed to the 5-10 that we were hoping for (whoop whoop!) It’ll be fun to see what the rest of the Spring will bring! It is February which is also the beginning of the “hungry gap” in the farming world. “The hungry gap” is the “gardeners’ name for the period in spring when there is little or no fresh produce available from a vegetable garden or allotment. It usually starts when overwintered brassicavegetables such as brussels sprouts and winter cauliflowers and January King cabbages “bolt” (i.e. run up to flower) as the days get warmer and longer.” We assure you, as always, that no one will go hungry at WHF as we have some amazing “over-wintering” crops that are just now beginning to produce after 200+ days of growing (so cool) among other fun things. And as we’ve said before, you have gotten to know Brian and I, and our work ethic over the course of this season (and for the majority of you over several seasons) and you know we will do our very best to ensure you have food on your table all winter long!

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2016 CSA Spring & Summer CSA! Thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season! We have just a few dozen shares available for the 2016 season so be sure to sign up quickly! Keep spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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Read all about the 2016 CSA season
Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement
Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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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

The Muck & Mire (winter csa week 5 & 6)

Posted on 20 Jan 2016

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Mire definition: n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. v. 1. To cause to sink or become stuck in mire.

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Hi Farm-ily & Friends,

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Ohhh January and the moss that is beginning to grow behind our ears… We hope you all are keeping busy and enjoying the slower pace that the winter season and rain brings. We had a few days of sun a few weeks back (remember..?) and it appears that the rain is back. Between the overflowing creek and the rising ground water the lower pastures are flooded out again. The Tualatin is just beginning to break it’s banks to join the party. Such a different winter than we’ve had the past two years – both which were a lot drier. They are saying that El Niño is having it’s second peak currently through the early part of the year and we should have higher than average temperatures Jan-March. We shall see!

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We’ve said it before that we are constantly amazed at the resilence of the plants growing in the garden with all the weather we’ve been experiencing (mostly wet, along with a few weeks of freezing temps and some bone chilling winds). We’ve been through it all in the past 12 months – extremely dry conditions and excessively wet… all of it feels like we’ve gained a greater perspective and new found respect for each season. Each one comes with it’s challenges and successes and we welcome the opportunity to grow better through them all and to have the experience and the confidence to know better the next time around.

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We’re still hoping for a little winter sun here in the 10-day. We just need a few days coming up to give the garden and the pastures a moment to drain and feel the ol’ sun on our faces. It’s amazing what a little sun will do! When it graced us for several days in a row Brian and I couldn’t believe the difference it made in our energy level and excitement to be outside. It felt like a renewed sense of vigor! We’ve been making progress though – both inside and outside. Two weeks ago we finally hit send on our big 2016 seed order and are busy making the crop, field and planting plans. A few days ago we headed down to Concentrates in Milwaukee to pick up a few 6 cu ft. totes of organic potting soil and a whole pallet of organic amendments for the garden and minerals for the cows. We spend more time off the farm this time of year (than any other) preparing for the season to come. Once the end of February comes along we seldom leave the farm except when we need some diesel for the tractor or need to restock the pantry with the food items that we don’t grow. My Dad came to visit a few years ago for 10 days in May and still jokes that he didn’t see me leave the farm once… haha. It’s a different kind of lifestyle that’s for sure… that always manages to keep us busy and able to grow amazing, fresh, nourishing food for our community!

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There is plenty to do on the farm too. One of my next projects is to get the propagation house all ready for the first vegetables seeding of 2016.. it’s less than a month away! We’re also getting the tractors all tuned up for another season of growing… so many things to maintain during the winter months and opportunities to improve upon the systems that are already in place. All day long while we’re working we talk about how we can improve the systems on the farm to make the work load easier, more efficient, more enjoyable and more balanced. It seems impossible to talk about farming as much as we do… but somehow there is always something to talk about (and get started on…) 😉

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The Winter CSA has been one of those opportunities that means finding a little bit more balance on the farm. Giving us the ability to spread out some of the workload throughout the year. . which could mean some pretty exciting things for us moving into the future. And can we just say that we have been loving the Winter CSA! The best perk so far is having access to so much delicious fresh food in the winter – with the Winter CSA it means that we (the farmers and the farm’s members) have eaten better than ever before. It’s been a truly enjoyable addition to the WHF CSA growing season and we’d like to extend a big thank you to all the first WHF Winter CSA members for joining us on this new journey! We’ve got some yummy winter goodies coming your way this week and look forward to hearing all the delicious home cooked meals you’ve prepared with them. Keep up the great work!

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And…. a big thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old who have signed up for the 2016 Spring and Summer CSA season! We have just a few dozen shares available for the 2016 season so be sure to sign up quickly! Keep spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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Read all about the 2016 CSA season
Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement
Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. We hope you all have a great week and stay dry out there!

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With kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

Ready, Set, Go! (winter CSA week 4)

Posted on 6 Jan 2016

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Wow! What a whirlwind of excitement it’s been since our last Winter CSA distribution – between the holidays, the weather and the 2016 csa sign ups! We hope you all had a healthy, happy holiday and New Year! Although the winter has its perks with the shorter days, your farmers are feeling inspired and excited for Spring and another year of farming ahead! Thank you for all of your support this last season – we couldn’t be more excited for what is in store for 2016. Because of you and your investment in our farm it continues to thrive and get better and better with every passing year. The learning curve is becoming less steep, and we are feeling more confident no matter what ol’ mother nature throws at us.

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As most of you know sign ups for our 2016 CSA Season began last week! You can read all about our 2016 CSA here – for the Who, What, When, Where, Why & How (much).

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

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Read all about the 2016 CSA season
Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement
Mail or drop off a Check or Make a Payment Online to reserve your share

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If you have any further questions be sure to check out our FAQs section or send us an email. We look forward to seeing you all at the start of the season! Here’s to good food and the amazing community it brings together!

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2016 was our best opening CSA day to date! We are just 6 days into January and we are more than halfway there to being full for the 2016 season. A big thank you to all of our amazing CSA members both new and old! Keep spreading the good word because it makes all the difference. As a farm-ily member once said, “keep your friends close and you farmers closer.”

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And how about that snow, huh? The crazy cold winds and brisk weather before the snow left a lot of crops looking a little lack luster and dried out in the field at the end of last week. But it seems as though the snow and the milder weather that January has brought in has reinvigorated all the veggies that remain in the field. Vegetables really are incredibly resilient! Being a farmer is all about keeping the faith and being willing to take risks (and like it, to boot!) On a personal note, the snow was a warm welcome as it has this way of slowing everything down. The roads get a lot quieter and everything looks peacefully tucked into a giant blanket of white. The crunch beneath your feet.. all of it allows you to be exactly where you are and appreciate nature and the seasons. Change is a welcome thing.

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It seems we went through it all in the 2015 season… after experiencing our driest Spring/Summer CSA season to date ol’ December was the wettest we’ve ever experienced here on the farm. The record breaking rain last month brought the biggest flood we’ve seen as well.. the pigs and cows have had a nice waterfront view for over 3 weeks and we’re happy to see our pastures again.

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As always, we are taking advantage of the mild days and are plowing ahead with projects and are VERY excited for the coming season on the farm. Spring is just around the corner (thank goodness the days are now getting longer). Winter can be a time of rest and recuperation for farmers but it is also a time for planning, revisiting notes from the previous year, solidifying the crop plan, ordering soil amendments, getting the propagation house up and going for the start of seeding, submitting the seed order, going over financial projections, figuring out ways to manage workflow in the busy season better etc, as well as some winter projects outside. This week, we’re buttoning up the rest of our seed order (we’ve made it to Peppers in the ol’ seed catalogues!) and are in the midst of our crop plan in anticipation of our greatest year yet!

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We’re so excited to continue on in this farming journey and to share it all with you.

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Stay warm out there!

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With kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Working Hands Farm CSA 2016

Posted on 1 Jan 2016

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Happy New Years Friends & Farm-ily!

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CSA Sign-Ups begin TODAY – January 1st! We hope the winter and holiday season is treating everyone well. Although the winter has its perks with the shorter days, your farmers are feeling inspired and excited for Spring and another year of farming ahead! Thank you for all of your support this last season – we couldn’t be more excited for what is in store for 2016. Because of you and your investment in our farm it continues to thrive and get better and better with every passing year. The learning curve is becoming less steep, and we are feeling more confident no matter what ol’ mother nature throws at us.

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As for this year’s winter (so far), it’s surely been the wettest we’ve ever experienced here on the farm. The record breaking rain this month brought the biggest flood we’ve seen as well.. the pigs and cows have had a nice waterfront view for the past few weeks and we’re happy to see our pastures again. As always, we are taking advantage of the mild days and are plowing ahead with projects and are VERY excited for the coming season on the farm. Spring is just around the corner (thank goodness the days are now getting longer) and we’re in the midst of our seed order and crop plan in anticipation of our greatest year yet! We’re so excited to continue on in this farming journey and to share it all with you.

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A great many thanks for all your appreciation, support and encouragement through the most productive CSA season we’ve experienced to date! Over the course of our 28-week 2015 CSA season Brian & I harvested and distributed 81,000lbs of freshly picked, organic, thoughtfully grown produce to our CSA members. From Spring to Fall, the shares averaged 27lbs (with lighter shares in the Spring and heavier shares in the late summer and Fall) and included 12-20 items with a great variety of crops and delicious tasting veggies that have inspired many fantastic home cooked meals. That’s 771lbs of produce per weekly share which means our members paid $1.52/lb for all their fresh, local, organic produce during the 2015 CSA season.

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By investing in the CSA we are able to invest in you! Every year we perform a cost comparison by adding up the cost of the produce in each weeks CSA share and comparing it to our local organic markets and in a typical year our members save in excess of $400 -$500 on their produce. Not that we think our produce can be compared to that of the super market as ours is harvested by either farmer Jess or farmer Brian and given to you the very same day – you can’t beat the freshness of our produce! Also, a store can’t give you the sense of adventure and community that a local farm can. With that being said…

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CSA Sign-Up Starts TODAY!

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2015 was not only our most challenging season (due to the extreme weather) but it was also our most productive year yet (over 80,000 lbs of produce harvested and distributed) and we have a feeling that 2016 will be even better! As you know, our 2016 sign up starts TODAY January 1st with a 2-week priority sign-up for our previous 2015 CSA members. We will be limiting our CSA so we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible.

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2016 CSA Info. You can read all about our 2016 CSA here – for the Who, What, When, Where, Why & How (much). As farmers we’ve really come to love the CSA model as members share both the risks and benefits of food production. That by supporting our farm their understanding of nature, the seasons, the bounty, the loss …all of it brings them closer to their own place in nature with the added bonus of supporting a farm that they can get behind, know, trust and thrive with. That together we can live more productive and healthier lives and feel connected to the piece of dirt that nourishes us all. Together we are investing in the future… one that we believe in!

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Two types of shares: Weekly & Bi-Weekly

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Weekly CSA Shares (our best value CSA share!) We estimate that our Weekly Shares feed 2-3 adults (or a family of 4) that enjoy eating their veggies! Starting in May, for 28 weeks you will pick up your share of seasonal produce each week at the farm. Shares are 8-16 different items depending on the season and average to be 26lbs per share. With every Weekly CSA you will be emailed a detailed list of vegetables and 4-6 recipes that correspond with the veggies in that weeks share.

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Bi-Weekly CSA Shares (for individuals or small households that are learning to love their veggies!) This share is ideal for individuals or for small households that are, shall we say, learning to love their veggies! With the Bi-Weekly Share you are investing in exactly half the produce of the Weekly Share as you will come and collect your bounty every other week (a total of 14 shares). Shares are 8-16 different items depending on the season and average to be 26lbs per share. Starting in May, members will pick up their share on weeks 1,3,5,7, etc… or 2,4,6,8, etc… depending on your assigned CSA start date (the farmers assign the start date, you choose your pick up ‘day’). With every Bi-Weekly CSA share you will receive recipes and tips on how to store, prepare and fall in love with vegetables! Note: Our expectation is that each Bi-Weekly share will contain enough veggies to meet the needs of an individual or small household for one week per pick up.

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Market-Style CSA Pick Up At Working Hands Farm we use a Market-Style CSA Pick Up to display our weekly bounty that is reminiscent of a beautiful farmers market stand! During CSA pick up you get to pack your own share with the allotted amounts of vegetables written next to each varietal. It is very user friendly and FUN! Members bring 2-3 reusable bags to put their produce in.

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Over 70 different crops (and even more varietals)! After many seasons of trialing a diverse selection of veggie and fruit varieties we are feeling more confident than ever in our experience – which plants grew the best, produced the most, tasted the best and survived throughout all the seasons! The varieties chosen this past year were some of our most productive to date! We have selected the very best from the past 6 seasons and are excited to incorporate a few new varieties, from local seed companies, that we know our members are going to love. There isn’t much better than fresh-harvested the same day-produce & the first Spring Strawberries! To see a list of crops that we grow click here.

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CSA Member Benefits:

In addition to your weekly fruits and veggies you will receive a weekly newsletter full of beautiful photos and updates about the farm.
Over the course of the season you will have the opportunity to visit the farm at our CSA Member Farm-Day & our CSA Member Pumpkin Day set for late September!
Exclusive access to our Working Hands Farm CSA Members page to share recipe ideas, kitchen prep successes, food preservation ideas etc. You have permission to get creative in the kitchen! Now go for it!
WHF Grass-Fed Beef, Pastured Pork, Pastured Eggs! As CSA members you will have the opportunity to buy our 100% organic, grass-fed black angus beef, pasture-raised pork, pasture-raised chicken and pasture-raised eggs.

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Pastured Eggs. After 4 years of raising laying hens, 2015 was the first year that the egg enterprise on the farm paid for itself! The ladies of Chateau Poulet appreciate all the love and support this past season. 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 are proud to support and share the goal of feeding our communities the best possible product (their tag line is “you are what your animals eat!”). We believe in our farming practices and in offering the best possible product to our members and community – a product that you simply can’t find in the store. Everything we do on the farm, we do it out of love for nature, the animals, our environment and the health and safety of our community.

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Grass-Fed Beef & Pasture Raised Pork. As CSA members you will have the opportunity to buy our 100% organic, grass-fed black angus/british white beef and pasture-raised pork. We will let you know when these products are available throughout the CSA season and we sell them on a first come, first serve basis. Currently, our online Farm Store is stocked with Winter Pastured Pork Shares (12-13lbs)! Check out the details here: WHF Farmstore.

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3 Steps to Signing Up:

Read all about the 2016 CSA season
Fill out the CSA Sign Up Form & Member Agreement
Mail or drop off a Check or Make Payment Online to reserve your share

Pay by Check: Make checks out to ‘Working Hands Farm’ and send it to 7705 SW River Rd. Hillsboro, OR 97123. If you would like to drop off your payment in form of a check on the farm, there is clearly marked white CSA lockbox located to the right of the greenhouse. We check it daily. Checks only! Please make sure to put the shareholders name & type of share in the memo.

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Pay Online (new option!) Visit the WHF Farmstore to pay for your share online. Please note that the online payment option includes the 3% + .30 online processing fee. If you wish to avoid this online fee you can pay by check.

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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. We encourage those members who can, to pay more than the deposit upon signing up as 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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Quick Links: 2016 CSA Season (the Who, What, Where, Why, When & How Much) & our 2016 Sign-Up Form. If you have any further questions be sure to check out our FAQs section or send us an email. We look forward to seeing you all at the start of the season! Here’s to good food and the amazing community it brings together!

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And a very important favor to ask of our members… word of mouth is the best way to help us grow and sustain our small farm. Please share the link, forward this email and 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 this link to our favorite photos from our 2015 season: it’s amazing how much can happen in a year and there’s so much to be thankful for! Enjoy this compilation of our best shots of the year.

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Happiest of days to you all!

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Jess, Brian & the rest of the farm-ily…

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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The Crest (winter csa week 3)

Posted on 16 Dec 2015

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“The leveling of the water, its increase,

the gathering of many into much:

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in the cold dusk I stop

midway of the creek, listening

as it passes downward

loud over the rocks, under

the sound of the rain striking,

nowhere any sound

but the water, the dead

weedstems soaked with it, the

ground soaked, the earth overflowing.

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And having waded all the way

across, I look back and see there

on the water the still sky.”

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– The Winter Rain, by Wendell Berry

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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It’s been a crazy week in the ol’ pacific northwest hasn’t it? Or, atleast perhaps the rainiest December on record! Thank you all for your good thoughts the past week. The flood waters are receding slowly but surely after the major flooding and we’re happy to see the pasture reemerge after being under water for so long.

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The crest of the flood was last Thursday afternoon at 134.2ft. Major flood stage in our area is at 134 ft and above. Since then it has been receding slowly. The Tualatin River in our location typically moves at 4600 cfs and is currently moving more than 3x the normal speed at 15000 cfs. The rain has been off and on, heavy at times… It’s been an extra soggy week everywhere on the farm. The flood came up about 15ft from our high tunnel but that’s as close as it got to our main garden area. We did lose fencing and a few beds of trial crops that were planted in the lower sections. Hydrology is such an interesting thing. We now know more than we did before and will be better prepared in the future.

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We feel thankful.. even with the long nights and anxiety we know we are the lucky ones. So many farmers in Tillamook County had to evacuate their animals in the middle of the night. Driving tractors with stock trailers full of animals through standing water. We really can’t imagine how scary that must have been. We continue to keep those farmers in our thoughts. The farmers and critters here at WHF were safe and sound during this extra stormy week.. should be just another week or so before this here lake/moat turns back into our unnamed creek and the Tualatin River.

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Historically, the largest flood this area has seen reached 137ft. which would be just to the barn area. The house and garden are set at 140-145ft which is well out of harms way. Fingers crossed we never see a flood bigger than that in our lifetime. We did get quite a bit of rain though and are hoping for some drier days ahead to give the ol’ garden a break from the slog (and the slugs and slime that follow such wet weather).

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During the rainier days we spent time looking through our 2015 CSA season photos and updating ol’ WHF website. There is so much excitement and anticipation surrounding a new growing year. So many opportunities to grow better and new veggies to try (let the seed catalog ordering begin)! Brian and I are getting really excited to begin sign ups for our 2016 CSA season on January 1st! So mark your calendars and stay tuned for another year of endless possibilities.

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And a friendly reminder that this week is the last CSA pick up of 2015! There will not be a CSA pick up next week – the week of Christmas (12/23) or the week of January 1^st(12/30). The Winter CSA will resume on Wednesday, January 6th!

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WHF Pastured Pork! Just a few more weeks left to celebrate the holidays ahead with our sweet offer of 15% off all orders of our Pastured Pork Shares with the discount code STOCKTHELARDER. Click the link to our Online Store to purchase.

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You will receive 15% off your pork order when you type in or copy/paste the discount code: STOCKTHELARDER during check out. Discount code will be valid through January 1st. Help us spread the good word and share the link with family and friends! #buylocal #knowyourfarmer #knowyourfood

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Stay warm and dry out there!

With kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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The Slog (winter csa week 2)

Posted on 9 Dec 2015

This picture was taken after the first day of rain on Monday. Paints a much more peaceful picture than Tuesday night’s torrential rain..

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Wow! We hope you are all safe and dry this week. December started out extra cold and now ol’ el nino is throwing us some rain – and not just any rain – record breaking rain! With over 6 inches in the last 72 hours, our little ‘unnamed creek’ that runs through our riparian area has turned our pasture into a lake.

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This perennial creek runs down to the Tualatin River which borders the most western part of our farm. The Tualatin floods out annually but has yet to breach it’s banks. This flood is all from rain water. Our bottom land floods out annually but typically not until February. After a very dry year the cup seems to be filling up rather quickly!

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The lake was a touch unexpected and happened rather quickly. We spent the entirety of Monday moving animals and equipment to high ground. It was definitely a mad house for most of the day. Everything is safe and secure now but more record rainfall has fallen and is expected over the next couple days and we hope everyone is staying safe out there.

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Needless to say, it’s been a Slog. verb \ˈsläg\: To work diligently for long hours. To make (one’s way) with a slow heavy pace against resistance.To strike with heavy blows. A long exhausting march or hike. A long session of hard work.

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You just never know what to expect when you wake up in the morning. Especially when the water is rising so fast like that. Farmer Brian even threw on his trusty old wetsuit at some point to retrieve a few things from an area that had flooded too quickly. His surfboard was waiting in the wings just in case – remnants from a “past life”… you just never know when it might come in handy.

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We’re keeping our chins up and hoping for the best. It definitely felt good to have the cows all safe and sound in the barn, the goats in their dry hut, the chickens in the coop etc. The piggers were moved to higher ground and given giant beds of dry straw in their pig huts. They are such hardy creatures they barely seemed to notice the gusty winds, constant rain and MUD. They probably found us pretty entertaining frantically running laps in our head to toe rain gear over the past few days. Oy. (Or, Oink…) And by the looks of it this morning, it looks like we might be moving everybody once again.

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We also had a few record breaking high temperatures as well – 60 degrees in December. Needless to say it’s been a balmy slog out in the garden. Crazy. Feels like ol’ mother nature it toying with our emotions.. just when we’re ready for cold and dry it’s sopping wet and warm. We shall see what the rest of the month will bring.. <fingers crossed for a drier weather stretch>

Keep the farm in your thoughts. The rain continues to fall and the water continues to rise. We are hoping for a break in weather so the lake can get a chance to recede a bit. It’s already higher than we’ve ever experienced! We’ll just continue to do the best we can in keeping all the critters and equipment safe.

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Before the weather came our way, we sat down and did some 2016 financial projections with our secret weapon… Papito (aka Brian’s dad). It doesn’t sound like fun but we absolutely love it! Our favorite quote from Brian’s papa, “if you torture the numbers they will confess” For the past 3 years Brian’s dad has been teaching us the mystical ways of excel and how to build sophisticated financial models for each of the farm’s profit centers. We love having him on our team and figuring out how to make the farm sustainable in the long run. Every year we get closer and we appreciate all the time he puts into helping us grow better. ‪#‎growingbetter ‪#‎familyfarming

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We’re just 3 weeks away from launching our 2016 CSA season on January 1st… so stay tuned!

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And just a reminder… to celebrate the holidays ahead we are offering 15% off all orders of our Pastured Pork Shares with the discount code STOCKTHELARDER. Click the link to our Online Store to purchase.

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Be happy, be well and do your best to stay dry out there!

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with kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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The Beginning of Something New (winter csa week 1)

Posted on 2 Dec 2015

– farmersnovember

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Happy December! We hope the Thanksgiving holiday treated you all well. It was a chilly end to November and we hope you kept warm by making many delicious homemade meals in the warmth of your kitchen. It’s been extra frosty in the mornings here on the farm which has us all (the farmers and the critters) hunkered down in the warmth of a house or a cozy bed of straw for a few extra moments before the morning light .. as we wait for the sun to thaw the ground and warm up the crops and our faces.

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To prepare for the cold snap (2 weeks ago) we decided to continue working and harvesting full-time after our epic double-share harvest for the last pick up of the Spring/Summer CSA season (whoo hoo! 5,500lbs in one week and 81,000 lbs for the whole Spring/Summer season!) This time of the year that quote, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes” rings true. With our long johns on, wooly layers and Grundens rain gear we were good to go. When the real cold weather hits, all of the tender crops (i.e. fully mature romanesco/cauliflower, tops of radishes, mixed greens, chard, beet greens etc) turn into slime- from freezing and thawing- and whither away. The sun definitely helped to warm up the soil during the day to endure those freezing cold nights. Some of the crops we grow actually taste better when they go through a freeze (turnips, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, etc) because of all the sugar they create in order to protect themselves from freezing. To find a balance and to protect some of the more tender crops listed above, before the bitter weather hit we kept busy and worked extra hard – to ensure that our winter CSA members had the best possible CSA experience. We covered crops with row cover, mulched roots and continued harvesting crops over the weekend for storage before those 20 degree nights hit. <phew>

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harvestj –

One of our members commended us for our stick–to–it·ive·ness. noun \stik-ˈtü-ə-tiv-nəs\. : the quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult or unpleasant. This is farming and the weather, may it be good or bad, is all part of it. Besides, we’d rather work in cold weather than extra hot weather any day. Nothing that 3-4 layers, a wooly cap, warm gloves and insulated boots can’t fix!

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We have also been fueled by our excitement! It’s exciting to grow through our first Winter for our members. We’re used to growing for ourselves but really love a new challenge and there’s no better place to try than in the Willamette Valley. For those of you who are joining us for a winter growing season we think you are the bees knees. You understand that the winter weather is more variable than other times of the year and you haven chosen to support the farm and these two farmers through the winter months. Crop losses can happen from a hard freeze, disease pressure, bugs, etc… and many of these things will be out of your farmers control. This season perhaps, more than any other, speaks to the nature of CSAs shared risk. You invest in the farm and the farmers and we do our very best to provide you with organic seasonal produce that is sure to inspire. We have taken measures to give the Winter CSA the best possible chance at success like building a 96′ x 30′ greenhouse, building a storage cooler, researching specialty winter hardy crops, etc… All that being said, you have gotten to know Brian and I, and our work ethic over the course of this season (and for the majority of you over several seasons) and you know we will do our very best to ensure you have food on your table all winter long! Thank you for supporting our farm through this time of exciting ‘growth’! We grow better each and every year with the support, encouragement and inspiration that our CSA members bring. It’s a mutual admiration society around here!

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radicchiofrench –

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Aside from growing winter veggies, we’re just plugging along on the winter projects… cleaning up, organizing, little building projects, packing and storing, planning, scheming etc and staying hot on these cold days i.e. by moving several hundred bucket loads of cow pies from the barn to the compost pile to get the herd into the dry barn for the winter. We’re still chippin’ away at the ol’ to-do list but we’re also taking time to rest and recuperate (thanks to the growing darkness that winter brings). The days are growing shorter and we are just a few weeks away from the shortest day of the year – the Winter Solstice. It doesn’t feel like the summer solstice or autumnal equinox were that far away. The seasons they go by in an instant. As we near the holidays and the new year we’ll be spending the longer evenings inside, brainstorming and dreaming about the future and pulling out all of our inspiring seed catalogs to begin our adventure for the 2016 season! January marks the beginning of our season as we open up registration for the main season CSA, order our seeds, fill the propagation greenhouse with soil amendments, and begin this exciting process all over again! We have some exciting plans and ideas to make 2016 our greatest growing season yet – so stay tuned 😉

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Pastured Pork Shares! And to celebrate the holidays ahead we are offering 15% off all orders of our Pastured Pork Shares with the discount code STOCKTHELARDER. Click the link to our Online Store to purchase.

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Be happy, be well and stay warm (or, in this week’s case – stay dry) out there. We’ll leave you with this beautiful poem by Mr. Wendell Berry entitled, “The Cold”…

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harvestgogogo –

“How exactly good it is
to know myself
in the solitude of winter,
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my body containing its own
warmth, divided from all
by the cold; and to go
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separate and sure
among the trees cleanly
divided, thinking of you
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perfect too in your solitude,
your life withdrawn into
your own keeping
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–to be clear, poised
in perfect self-suspension
toward you, as though frozen.
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And having known fully the
goodness of that, it will be
good also to melt.”
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With kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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The Season Finale (week 27 & 28)

Posted on 17 Nov 2015

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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We’ve made it to week 27 & 28 of the 2015 CSA.. which means it’s last pick-up of the Spring/Summer CSA season! We can hardly believe it has been 28 weeks since the start of 2015 harvest season. We are proud to say that this season was our best season to date and that we grow better and work smarter each and every year. As farmers, every season that we farm proves to be an incredible journey with so many things to learn and many delicious homegrown goodies to grow. Thanks for believing in your farmers every step of the way and for being a constant reminder of why we do what we do each morning when we rise. We look forward to serving this community for years to come. We think y’all are the bees-knees.

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Exciting news for your farmers! Your farmers had the amazing opportunity to be interviewed for the Farmer to Farmer podcast with Chris Blanchard a few weeks ago. Chris asked us about the start of the farm, how we manage the farm as a couple and we even take a trip to Uganda. The Farmer to Farmer podcast has been a huge inspiration to us and many other farmers and we couldn’t be more excited to participate! Have a listen at the link below and enjoy.

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Podcast Link: farmertofarmerpodcast.com/episodes/powers or look up the Farmer to Farmer podcast episode #40 on iTunes.

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2015 was one for the books! And we think you’ll be amazed at our total CSA numbers this year… (keep reading for the total lbs produced as well as CSA cost breakdown below..)

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We hope you all had an inspiring journey during our 28-week CSA season. Whether it be your first, second, third, fourth or fifth season at WHF we hope many meals were shared and enjoyed in the warmth of your kitchen, that you enjoyed expanding your veggie horizons with new varieties, flavors and methods of preparation, found inspiration in becoming a more confident cook and feel really good about where you’re at in your own personal food journey. We hope you will be thinking of the Spring and Summer goodies fondly come the middle of winter… we’ll all be dreaming of tomatoes and freshly picked goodies come the middle of January <sigh>.

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This week there will be a “Week 27″ share table and a “Week 28″ share table in the Member’s pick up area for pick-up – be sure to check off your name and grab the appropriate share(s).

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Weekly CSA Members will receive a double share (shares 27 & 28) to better prepare you for the Thanksgiving holiday (think storage crops!) Be sure to bring a big enough vessel or enough bags to carry all your goodies home in.

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Bi-Weekly Share Members All Bi-Weekly Share members will pick up on that week. Depending on your assigned weeks, you will pick up either Share 27 (weeks 1,3,5,7 etc) OR Share 28 (weeks 2,4,6,8 etc)!

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Thank you for being part of this farm, and the WHF farm-ily!

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So, without further ado, the final numbers are in for the Spring/Summer CSA Season..

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Over the course of our 28-week Spring/Summer Season these two farmers provided…

81,000 lbs of produce!

3,000 lbs of pasture-raised pork & beef!

500 dozen eggs!

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Over the course of our 28-week 2015 CSA season your (two) farmers have harvested and distributed 81,000lbs of freshly picked, organic, thoughtfully grown produce to our CSA members.

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That’s 771lbs of produce per weekly share which means our members paid $1.52/lb for all their fresh, local, organic produce this season.

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(Some high fives- all around -are definitely in order!)

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All while supporting the ecosystem of this farm, two full time farmers by ensuring a livable wage, and the best possible produce you can find…Amazing! FYI: the total lbs of produce per weekly share in 2014 was 675lbs @ $1.74 per lb. Your farmers are getting more efficient (especially since it was the hottest and driest farming season of our farming careers) and learning quickly which contributes greatly to the lower price point this year!

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From Spring to Fall, the shares averaged 27lbs (with lighter shares in the Spring and heavier shares in the late summer and Fall) and included 12-20 items with a great variety of crops and delicious tasting veggies that have inspired many fantastic home cooked meals. Thank you all for your recipe contributions, affirmation & excitement at the CSA pick ups, through emails and on the members facebook page. We have enjoyed this year’s CSA so much and feel great about ending the 2015 Spring/Summer CSA season on such a high note!

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We love our little corner of the World, our community that surrounds us, our friends, family and farm-ily members that all believe in us and the food we work hard to provide. We’ve been enjoying the variety (over 70+ 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 to brassicas to winter squash and tomatoes we can grow just about anything here! Every season we try out a few dozen or so new veggies and varietals. 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. In the coming months we look forward to sitting down and beginning that process all over again.

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Mark your Calendars! Our 2016 CSA sign-ups will begin on January 1st. Our 2015 members will have the opportunity to sign up for a share before we open it up to the public. Whoo hoo! Until then, keep in touch with your farmers through our website, facebook and instagram!

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A BIG thank you! Thank you all for being a part of our story, for supporting your local farm (and farmers), for buying direct, for believing in the small farm and for choosing to feed your household with the best possible farm fresh produce, meat and eggs that you can both know and trust.

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From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. We are just so proud of our members and are constantly inspired by all that you accomplish from season to season! Your commitment to eating well and nourishing yourselves and loved ones takes time, thoughtfulness, motivation, energy and inspiration. We are only as successful as the community that surrounds us, so, thank you for all your inspiration, dedication and commitment in being a part of our CSA. We look forward to cultivating these relationships into the future by growing the best possible products for you, your family and friends. Know your farmer, know your food.

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It’s gonna be a wet and windy slog this week with our big double-harvest share so send some good (and warm and dry) energy our way!

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After 8 months (!!) of CSA pick up you have come to know and trust your farmers. We never missed a harvest day and always worked our hardest to ensure that our members had the best possible CSA experience. You were there every step of the way and we appreciate all your support, the time you took to share your food journeys, the little notes of encouragement and everything in-between. We look forward to sign-ups in January and the start of the 2016 season!

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Happy Holidays to you all! Our 18-week Winter CSA begins after the Thanksgiving Holiday so to our die hard winter veggie eaters this is not the end! 😉

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With kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Falling Forward (week 26)

Posted on 10 Nov 2015

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“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness — just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Here we grow Week 26! Wow, it’s amazing that we’re just a few weeks away from the Thanksgiving holiday. After the long (mostly hot) summer it’s amazing how quickly the Fall season has passed by. We can recall so many detailed memories from the 2015 season. From opening the 2015 CSA registration last January to all the planning and hard work and bountiful harvests… we somehow have made it to November. Thank goodness for the seasons.. otherwise we would never know which way was up! But one thing is for sure – we’re deeply appreciative and impressed by all of our CSA members.

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We’re a community and a team and our success (both in the field and in the kitchen) depends on each other. To grow the food, develop the tools, run with it and live happy and productive lives. Each week we see, hear and witness the impact of eating seasonally, fresh and beyond organic.. which means more meals at home, stocking up the freezer, cooking meals with friends and family, feeling energized and maybe coming in a few notches on the ol’ belt . Eating good food is a way of life… something that we believe in. We wanted to thank you for believing in us and the food that we grow here on our farm. Thank you for your dedication and commitment – you’ve been coming to pick up you share for the last 25 weeks (or 13 week for our bi-weekly members) on your pick up day and every week you are inspired, challenged and ready to bring it all home and make glorious things happen. Thank you for sharing bits and pieces of your food journeys along the way. You guys rock and we feel so thankful to have you as part of the farm-ily!

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Some of the awesome posts from the CSA Members Group..

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High fives all around! Like we mentioned in last week’s newsletter, you guys are seriously kickin’ some butt. Thank you for all the contributions in the CSA members group. It is an absolute highlight of our day when we see the array of photos, ideas, links and cookbooks that are being shared in the members group. Seriously, so many high fives. We tried out a few of the recipes that folks recommended and they were all delicious. If you haven’t been there recently you should check it out! Here’s a link one of our members shared called Peels, Stems, and, Leaves: 22 Reasons No Scrap Should Go to Waste as well as this cookbook all about Roots by local Portland author, Diane Morgan. Keep it up y’all, we’re inspired!

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It truly has been a great harvest year for us throughout all the seasons – spring, summer, fall. Our fall season shares have been averaging around 28-30 lbs with 14-16 different items in the share which means we’ve had quite the bounty! And at 110 shares per week that means over the Fall months we’ve been distributing 3,300+ lbs of produce per week. We’re really looking forward to adding up our 2015 numbers for next week‘s newsletter… here we grow! And a date to remember: Sign ups for the 2016 CSA season will open on January 1st!

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NEXT WEEK IS THE LAST CSA PICK UP WEEK! As a reminder to all our wonderful CSA-ers: the last CSA pick ups for the Spring & Summer CSA will be November 17th, 18th, 19th.

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Bi-Weekly Share Members All Bi-Weekly Share members will pick up on that week. Depending on your assigned weeks, you will pick up either Share 27 or 28!

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The pick up area will be set up into 2 areas (Shares 27 & 28) – so be sure to read the signs and pick up produce from your assigned pick up week. Your farmers will be available during the last pick up should anyone have any questions.

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Most of the veggies in the final shares are storage crops and can be kept for weeks and weeks (some even months). Storage onions, sweet potatoes, winter squash will all keep in a cool place devoid of light (around 50-55 degrees). Root veggies such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, rutabaga etc 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 etc.

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There is so much to look forward to as we move through November. We’re continuing on our quest of bringing in storage crops for our winter CSA – the days are growing shorter and we’ve been chasing the sun – oh so much mud! If you see us out there this week be sure to give us a wave!

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Enjoy this week’s goodies and we’ll see you soon!–

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With fond regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

Can You Smell What the CSA is Cookin’?! (week 25)

Posted on 3 Nov 2015

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“We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it. And to take good care of it we have to know it. And to know it and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.” – Wendell Berry

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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The month of November is here. Quieter days and longer nights. The first few days of November have been absolutely beautiful – crisp, blue skies, sun showers and rainbows… the slight change of pace and weather has truly rejuvenated our spirits! The first of the month also brought along daylight savings. We love starting the day earlier and heading in earlier – by 6pm! – which means an early dinner and farmer bedtime for us (two thumbs up). The change of daylight hours has us slowly adapting into new schedules… getting to animal chores earlier – around 4:30pm and buttoning up last minute farm chores before losing the last moments of light. Instead of chasing the sun during the peak of summer (to avoid the excess heat) we now make the most of the hours that we have from sun up to sun down. With the change of the season it automatically carves about 4 hours off of our typical work day which is a much welcomed change of pace.

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Our hearts and minds are gearing up for the 2016 season (there’s just so much to look forward to!) and now that November is here we are feeling ready to nest and write and look over notes and better prepare for the next growing season. Even though this season felt like a slog at times and we were challenged more than ever by the relentless heat our spirits are feeling lifted and we are so excited to start planning for next year. For the first Fall ever we still have energy to give ourselves and this farm and it feels like a big success.

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$fractalz$

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Part of it is for the first time this Fall, it actually feels like fall and we are loving it. The last few days of October brought the first real rainfall of the season. Over a 48-hour period we had almost an inch and a half fall from the skies. It saturated the ground, and gave your farmers a much needed break on Saturday afternoon. And the smell… the earth was alive with rich scents and sounds. The ground gurgled and the worms came to the surface. Our boots sloshed in the mud and we let out a huge sigh of relief.

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During the rains I cooked up a storm. As you guys know we make it a priority to cook 3 meals a day even during the busy season. Eating well has a lot to do with how productive we’re able to be on the farm and we honestly don’t think we could keep up with everything if we didn’t eat well. Plus, it’s fun to create fresh homemade goodies and it’s delicious to boot. For inspiration, I went online to the WHF Members Page on Facebook to try out a few recipe suggestions there that were bookmarked in my mind. This West African Peanut Soup – to which I added turnips, carrots, sweet potato and bell pepper & this Spicy Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup. Both of which were absolutely delicious.

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sunfall –

All throughout the season, the WHF CSA member’s page has been active and buzzing with many delicious recipes, helpful hints and encouragement. (Thank you to all our members for your continued participation and excellent efforts!) Way back in May, we posed a question to one of our 3^rd year member’s and asked her what advice she would give herself as a 1st year member. Here is one of the take a way she mentioned… “Make friends with your knife, cutting board, sink, dish towel, salad spinner, stove, and oven. They aren’t instruments of drudgery, they are keys to liberation. The time you spend prepping and cooking food is time to think and be present in the moment–“mindfulness” is a free benefit of CSA membership, so take advantage and enjoy it!” (for the rest of her sage advice check out the week 3 newsletter) We hope all of our members have enjoyed this free benefit of membership not to mention the many delicious meals that have been created and savored in all 110 households that our CSA program grows for.

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Proud Farmer moment: So far we’ve distributed 680 lbs per weekly share which means by the end of the Spring/Summer CSA we will have distributed close to 800 lbs of food to each weekly share member. Which is a $1.47/lb for fresh, local, organic produce! All while supporting the ecosystem of this farm, two full time farmers by ensuring a livable wage, and the best possible produce you can find…Amazing! (FYI the price point for our veggies last year was $1.67 per pound of goodness. Your farmers are getting more efficient and learning quickly which contributes greatly to the lower price point this year!)

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Remember when we shared this photo and fact at the beginning of the season? This is exactly one pound of veggies. According to Michael Pollan if you eat 1 pound of fresh veggies every day you will reduce your chance of developing cancer by 50%.

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For us, the Members Page is a really important component to our CSA. Hearing how everyone is utilizing all the fresh produce, pastured eggs, grass fed beef and pastured pork is an important part as it completes the circle. It acts as a window – in seeing how the fruits of our labour are being prepared. In the same way that our social media posts and newsletters provide a window into how your food is grown and harvested. It’s part of the conversation that farmers love to be a part of but often times don’t get to experience. In our own insecurity we wonder, “Is our produce being eaten? Are folks cooking more often? What are they making with the produce we have grown for them?” On the Facebook Members Page the conversation and experience continues well after the produce leaves the farm and the visual component really hit’s it home for us. The interaction and shared experience validates all the long hours and hard work we do. It shows that its worthwhile and the goals of the farm are being met because the food is being utilized and thoroughly enjoyed. This part of the experience is important to us… because beyond the delicious produce and pasture raised meat and eggs our CSA aims to improve our CSA members quality of life! We want to play a part in ensuring that they can live long, healthy lives and be productive members of society. This interaction helps us to see that our goals are making a difference in our community. And it is you our members who are making the upfront investment for the betterment of us all! Pretty amazing stuff!

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And this is the other reason why your farmers have energy this November.. The Members Page, the thoughtful emails and conversations, the mindfulness, all of it inspires us and continues to fuel us through the 2015 season. We must have one of the few jobs in the world where folks come to us and tell us how grateful they are and how important our role is in this community and for that we are so grateful. That kind of support from our members gives us the fuel your farmers need to get the job done. It’s amazing how energized we feel even at the tail end of the season because we are growing better and have some seriously cream of the crop CSA members. This year more than any other year we feel connected to community and deeply rooted in our vision. It all feels like it is coming together and we couldn’t be more proud or encouraged of what our community and our farm are accomplishing.

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Keep up the great work in the kitchen and keep sharing your experiences, recipes, etc. We hope you take a moment to reminisce about your first CSA share pick up of the season and how far you’ve come and all the beautiful meals you’ve enjoyed since then. A 28-week commitment is no small thing and we thank you all for choosing us as your farmers. Thank you for choosing to be a part of this farm and for investing in our small farm so it can provide the best possible food we can for you and your household.

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Beef & Pork Shares. A big thank you to everyone for your enthusiasm about Grass Fed Beef & Pastured Pork Shares! There is just one beef share left for the 2015 season (if you’re interested, be sure to order soon!) We expect to have our freezers stocked with pork through the winter so please check back on the site periodically as we will be keeping our inventory updated! Tis’ the season for soups, stews, braising, roasting and more so keep us in mind for the holiday season! Thank you in advance for your support! The Grass Fed Beef Shares & Pastured Pork Shares & Sausage Shares we have for purchase are available to both members and non-members so feel free to share the workinghandsfarmstore.com link with family and friends…
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We might be seeing our first signs of ol’ jack frost this week which means we’ll be busy covering up a few of our fall crops, boxing up the last of the cured squash, and harvesting the last of our peppers. This weekend we’ll be bringing in storage crops. Let the washing begin! If you see us out there this week be sure to give us a wave!

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With kind regards,

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your farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

The Fall Hath Cometh (week 24)

Posted on 27 Oct 2015

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“Now constantly there is the sound,
quieter than rain,
of the leaves falling.

Under their loosening bright
gold, the sycamore limbs
bleach whiter.

Now the only flowers
are beeweed and aster, spray
of their white and lavender
over the brown leaves.

The calling of a crow sounds
loud—a landmark—now
that the life of summer falls
silent, and the nights grow.”

– Wendell Berry, October 10

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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We hope you are all happy and well and enjoying the last week of October! The rain gods have spoken and we finally got some rain worth talking about! 1 whole inch of the good stuff. It’s the first week all season that we haven’t turned on the irrigation for the crops. We still have a long way to go to get that water table up but it’s starting to really feel like Fall in Oregon. The colors, the crispy nights, the dewey mornings, the shorter days… it’s such an incredibly beautiful time to be outside and enjoying the true feeling of fall before ol’ winter comes knocking on our door.

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Over the weekend, we were able to get another 1/2 acre in cover crop before the rains came. It feels good to put the ol’ summer crops to bed and focus our attentions on harvesting the Fall and Winter roots. At the end of this week we’ll begin taking in our storage crops for the winter CSA. Since there are so many we’re starting as early as we can. It’ll be a lot of harvesting, washing, and packing bags between the two of us. We’re excited to “stock the larder” and ensure we have crops through the dead of winter. Time will tell if the predictions of a milder winter in the Pacific NW (thanks to el nino) will come true.. until then we’ll continue to do what we always do and go with the flow. We’re planting the last few crops outside to see how they do. These crops weren’t planned but we’re going along with the crazy mild weather. If that predicted winter rings true we should have plenty of fresh greens for our Winter CSA.

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We actually got pretty close to our first frost at the end of last week. Looks like we have another week before we’re in the 30’s again at night. A frost makes the Fall veggies sweeter because in order protect their cells from bursting they convert their complex carbohydrates (bonded sugars) into simple sugars! Although, after trying those Nelson carrots in the share last week we can’t imagine them getting much sweeter (and there will be more in the share this week! YUM!)

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On Friday we finished planting the last 600 ft of garlic (of 3,000 ft total) and tucked them in with straw. Feels good to cross something off the ol’ Fall list. This is our 5th season planting garlic together. And as Farmer Brian says.. garlic should be the foundation of any good relationship. And weeding it in the spring should be the test of that relationship. Here’s to many more years planting garlic together and to the first crop of the 2016 CSA season!

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New Online Farm Store! Yay! We’re excited to share that Brian & I put together a new convenient online farm store (click the link to visit)! It can also be accessed from workinghandsfarm.com (click on “Farm Store”) or you can copy and paste this into your browser: http://workinghandsfarmstore.com

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The Grass Fed Beef Shares & Pastured Pork Shares we have for purchase are available to both members and non-members so feel free to share the link above with family and friends…

A big thank you to everyone for your enthusiasm about Grass Fed Beef & Pastured Pork Shares! We only have a few beef shares available for purchase (if you’re interested, be sure to order soon!) but we expect to have our freezers stocked with pork through the winter so please check back on the site periodically as we will be keeping our inventory updated! Tis’ the season for soups, stews, braising, roasting and more so keep us in mind for the holiday season! Thank you in advance for your support!

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We hope you are all enjoying the change of season in your kitchens and are feeling more inspired than ever to get that stove going and those yummy homemade dishes created in the warmth of your home. These shorter days welcome time in the kitchen spent with loved ones around the table. Keep up the great job, enjoy this week’s bounty and we’ll see you all soon!

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With kind regards,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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Put Me In Coach (week 23)

Posted on 20 Oct 2015

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“Recall that whatever lofty things you might accomplish today, you will do them only because you first ate something that grew out of the dirt.” – Barbara Kingsolver

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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When Jess asked me to write this weeks newsletter I have to admit I was a little bummed. I don’t like writing newsletters because when I write I always seem to offend somebody and sometimes it can even be a CSA member or two. So I have sort of sworn off pros and stuck to short form and poetry. It’s hard for people to get too mad at a poet because rhyming is pretty adorable and it is almost impossible to mount a powerful argument in the small square that Instagram provides us with. I think folks tend to get upset because I laud honesty and transparency far above all else, which and this is my point, often falls in direct contradiction to their belief system as it pertains to food. I just get so hungry for folks to understand the real, true, honest, transparent, sincere, unfeigned VALUE of food and its COST that I often forget that emoticons and abundance of sheepish exclamation points that win hearts and minds. SO what do I do? I sit and write what comes naturally to me and I keep my fingers crossed..

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Jess has taken to calling me ‘coach’ lately because when I am making casual food and farm related conversation with members at their CSA pick up and notice when someone skips a bunch of dandelion greens or their collards I am compelled to ask them why? And if it’s for any reason other than a food allergy I switch over to coach mode. I can’t help it. I don’t do this because of the effort it has taken to grow those greens or because they will go to ‘waste,’ after all nothing goes to waste on our farm it is always reincorporated back into the ecosystem. I do this because it is my purpose. Because my goal is to see to it that the community that supports our farm eats healthier and as a result is more able, at least in a small way, to contribute to our society in a positive way. It’s a pretty high expectation you say? Well, I sure as hell am not doing this for the big bucks. It’s because I believe that the only work worth doing is work that makes the community and the environment better, so that those communities can make their communities better and so on and so forth. It’s pretty simple really. So why take those bitter dandelion greens? First off, because they are delicious and secondly because you’re a grown adult and if you don’t find bitter greens to your liking eat them because they are good for you.

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Time & Too Much. These are the two excuses I hear most often from folks that don’t eat their vegetables. And those excuses just are not good enough and they aren’t true anyways. The only real excuse is because they don’t have enough experience. After all, it takes the same amount of time for earth to rotate in and out of the light of sun for all of us. We all have the same amount of light and dark hours depending on our longitude not our perception of time. And don’t give me that it’s not time but free time jargon you know I’ll shoot holes in that bucket too. And the “it’s too many vegetables argument.” I know this may seem true for you now but thankfully you are a smart and adaptable member of a phenomenal CSA farm and your habits will change.

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Trust me I didn’t grow up on fresh vegetables either. It was frozen burritos and TV dinners for my adolescence for a myriad of reasons and the only fresh vegetables I ever really saw came out of the small garden my mom kept once a leap year when we had a landlord that would allow it. Trust me I get it. Even in my first couple years of vegetable farming I struggled to eat very much of what I had produced. I just didn’t think I had the time and to be completely honest I didn’t have all that much interest. I started farming because I thought it would allow me to have some peace and quiet and after all it was the vegetables that needed to be cleaned, cooked and prepared by the members not me.

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And that’s when Jess showed up and gave me a lickin’ you can’t believe. She taught me that you must lead by example. She taught me to fall in love not with just growing vegetables but cooking and eating them too. She taught me that cooking and eating isn’t something you do after all the other needs of the day are met it is something that you do so you can meet the needs of the day. She taught me that eating well is a matter of priorities.

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These days Jess and I prepare 3 meals during one revolution of the earth together and we always start with veggies. If we are making a dandelion salad we grab a bunch each, yes that’s two bunches and we wash them, cut them into large bit sized pieces, toss them with finally grated parmesan cheese and a homemade dressing of balsamic or apple cider vinegar, a strong Dijon mustard, a mayonnaise made from scratch, honey, salt and pepper to taste and we throw them in too large bowls and set them aside. Then we take a few tomatoes, eggplant, squash, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, beets, basil, leafy green, broccoli(and if we want too we will add our own sausage from our sausage shares) and we cut everything up sauté or roast it and throw it with pasta and dinner is served. We typically make enough for one dinner and two lunches and that is with a ½ of a CSA share for just the two of us. And that provides us with 3 meals of the 21 meals in a given week. Let me repeat that a ½ of a CSA share for the two of us provides us with 3 of the 21 meals a week! So when folks say there CSA share is too much I frankly don’t understand what the hell they are talking about. We eat on average about 3-4 CSA shares a week just the two of us. Can you imagine how confused Jess and I get when we hear this excuse from a household of more than 2 people? Or when households are splitting shares. I mean come on – if this is the case it can mean only one thing you are simply not cooking! You are going out to eat or buying premade meals and that is not going to cut it in the CSA program. If you want to eat more vegetables it is a matter of prioritizing the time and being patient while you learn and gain experience. Understand that Rome was not built in a day and it usually takes more than one CSA season to get your skill level up to where you are comfortable. And it is my commitment to you (and as soon as you get comfortable) that your CSA coach will be standing there and waiting to challenge you and to help you out with extra greens on top. You are not a CSA member because it is easy you are a CSA member because you are a grown up who knows that importance of feeding their household healthy whole foods so they are more able to contribute to society in a meaningful way. It is not supposed to be easy, but it is supposed to be delicious.

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I am proud of all of our members because you have all made the decision to make a change in your life and you put your money where your mouth is and signed up for our CSA. For that alone you have my heart. That whatever brought you to our little CSA farm, whether it be health related, for reasons that help protect the environment, to support small farms, to know your farmers or simply because you were hungry for delicious food etc.. whatever the reason (s), you decided to make a change in your life happen and now you are here. I am proud of all of you. This is where change happens. When a community comes together with a united voice we are empowered to make positive change. And because of all of you this land, these two farmers and this farm’s members are becoming healthier, happier and more productive. Thank you for your trust and your support. We are making change happen one green smoothie, stir-fry, veggie kebab, beet brownie or whatever suits your fancy at a time! So here’s farmer Brian signing off fingers crossed.

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Through writing this newsletter I think I have learned something and that is that we are not a CSA farm that will size our shares according to what sells but will always size them according to what we believe promotes good health in our members and according to the bounty the growing conditions allows.

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So, keep up the great work, eat well, enjoy the seasonal bounty and remember to grab your greens.

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Enjoy the week!

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Your Farmers

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Brian & Jess

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dirty hands, clean hearts

To Adventure! (week 22)

Posted on 13 Oct 2015

caulichoi

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“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

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Hi Friends and Farm-ily,

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Ohhh October…. how we love you so! Here we grow Week 22 which means we have 6 more weeks to go in our main season Spring/Summer CSA! As a reminder to all our wonderful CSA-ers: the last CSA pick ups will be November 17th, 18th, 19th and on that week, our Weekly CSA Members will receive a double share (shares 27 & 28) to better prepare you for the Thanksgiving holiday. ALL Bi-Weekly Share members will pick up on that week as well (either Share 27 or 28 depending on your assigned weeks)!

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a few pictures from the first time that Brian and I met…

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October is one of my favorite months. Growing up a New England gal Fall was always my favorite season and October’s rich colors, shorter days and cooler nights have always inspired me. With all the inspiration that October brings, it’s no surprise to me that Brian and I met in early October (4 years ago) for the first time. At the end of last week we were reminiscing about when we first met and marveled at how fast time goes by, how much we’ve grown and all the things (big and small) that we’ve accomplished together in the past 4 years. It makes me smile to think about it … since the beginning it was full of magic and possibility.

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It was farming that brought us together in the first place.. followed by the coincidences and connections that still give me goosebumps! As young farmers, we both had a vision and shared similar goals of feeding our community and when we came together we were able to share that vision in the best way possible. Two farmers on the opposite ends of the country, living parallel lives. At the time I was farming back east as Powers Flowers & Produce while Brian was farming the soil in Oregon as Working Hands Farm. We met in the only way two farmers can meet (who’s got time for anything other than farming?) and that was following each other’s farm blogs online. Letters were exchanged and as time went by we rebelled against the 3 hour time difference and made time for phone conversations. A while later a hurricane completely wiped out my farming season back east and so I bought a one way plane ticket to Oregon to meet this Farmboy and help him finish out his season. A few weeks later Brian was offered a contract in Uganda to design and build sustainable cookstoves for vanilla bean farmers over the winter. His “past life” as he describes it.. working as a humanitarian before his farming days and throughout the winter months in the first few years of farming… those years brought him to Uganda for almost 2 years, Argentina, India and Haiti. He said that he didn’t have much interest in returning to Uganda.. only if I wanted to go because he could show me that country like nobody else could. I, of course, said yes, (I was learning how to jump) and Brian likes to tell people that was our “first date” …it truly was just the beginning of this lifetime of adventure..

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Demoing the stove project in the village, a “you shall not pass” moment with a bull elephant and working on a few stove prototypes…

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While in Africa we even got our first taste of really farming together. A 3 week work trip ended up becoming a 3 month long trip. The self made Ugandan man we were working for was really inspired and intrigued that we were both young, organic farmers. He had a 5 acre parcel nestled in the forest that he offered to us to start an organic farm on. With an amazing group of 8 young Ugandan women and men we cleared a fallow field with nothing but homemade pickaxes and hoes. Trees, stumps, 10ft tall clay ant hills.. all had to go. There were so many obstacles to overcome unlike farming here where so many things are at your disposal (where to get seed, building infrastructure, irrigation… etc). We became the ultimate team and got things done with help from our trusty home away from home – an 1980’s land rover defender. Despite the craziness of the World around us we made it work and we had a blast doing it. Half way through our time there (after finally locating some vegetable seeds on the black market!) we were able to plant our first crops and started to see things come to fruition. As well as seeing the stove project through with success. We figured if we were able to accomplish all we did that winter that we could accomplish just about anything no matter where we were.

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Our sister farm in chambogo, hand dug beds and getting our first crops in the ground!

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Since that October we’ve been steadily moving ahead. As a farm, as a couple and as individuals….

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4 years after meeting this farm boy, I can say with much confidence that Brian has taught me more about myself than anyone else and I’m so happy that the universe brought us together when it did. I am constantly in awe of how easy it is for him to try something new (to jump “all in”) and his ability to empathize and be an amazing listener. He knows himself so well and that confidence has reminded me that if you trust yourself anything is possible. His moral fortitude, intelligence and strong nature make him a natural born leader… one that I would stand next to in any situation. He is a person that gives me strength – he constantly reminds me of how wonderful, hardworking and smart he thinks I am. That I am strong and capable of doing all the things I want to do. I knew from the start that there was something special about Brian. And as the years unfold, and we continue on this adventure together I have never felt more sure about anything… as we grow food for our community (of all ages), make our little corner of the World better with time and grow to be better farmers and people… I know no matter what life and nature may bring that we will continue to seek out all the possibilities that this life has to offer and to always do our best. To practice patience, understanding, respect. “To adventure, We ride” – as we always say. And to endless possibilities…

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Helping Farmer Brian wrap up his 2011 farming season…

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I do hope that someday, maybe soon, Brian and I will be able to venture off this farm together and get a few days to think, breathe etc something other than the farm. It’s been more than 2 years since we’ve both been able to leave the farm for longer than 12 hours together. It sounds kind of crazy – I know – but with large bovine, it sure does make it harder to leave. This season more than any other we’ve learned about the old proverb, “necessity is the mother of all invention” and I know that without a doubt we will find a way to grow better with time – even if that means just taking some time to do a few other things than farming.

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For now, we will continue to enjoy this beautiful October.. those chilly mornings and warmer days, the changing colors of the leaves and shorter days… the month that allows for more opportunities to check in, take care, be inspired, to sleep and reinvigorate.

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This smile might be one of the best parts about farming..

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Thank you, Farmer Brian for believing in the magic and mystery of nature as well as all the handwork and for helping me to jump when I need it most. I love when this time of the year rolls around because for me, October will always be ‘our month.’

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Enjoy the week and the bounty!

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Our best to you all,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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In it together (week 21)

Posted on 6 Oct 2015

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“In the loss of skill, we lose stewardship; in losing stewardship we lose fellowship; we become outcasts from the great neighborhood of Creation. It is possible – as our experience in this good land shows – to exile ourselves from Creation, and to ally ourselves with the principle of destruction – which is, ultimately, the principle of nonentity. It is to be willing in general for being to not-be. And once we have allied ourselves with that principle, we are foolish to think that we can control the results. -Wendell Berry, The Gift of Good Land

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily!

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We hope October has been treating you well.

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This week’s newsletter was inspired by the Farmer to Farmer podcast. Farmer Brian and I have been enjoying the Farmer to Farmer podcast with host Chris Blanchard. Back in August there was an excellent interview with Dan Kaplan (long-time manager of Brookfield Farm, a non–profit 501(c)3 farm and one of the first CSAs in the U.S.) In this episode they discussed at length the core values of CSA and how CSA, like no other farming model, is about consumers and producers sharing risk (which means sometimes sharing loss). Check it out here!

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Farming is the ultimate adventure. (ad·ven·ture “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity. bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome). Every growing season is different. It’s the same farm, farmers, types of vegetables, animals, etc but in nature things are constantly changing. A method that you might have used successfully in years previous may not pan out in years to come. There are new challenges, new pests, new diseases, crop failures, drought, extreme change of weather patterns and many other things in nature that are beyond our control.

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There are of course many successes throughout the season: abundance of certain crops, better management techniques, better successional plantings, more adaptable varieties, healthier soils, healthier plants, many bountiful meals, experiential learning, growth, and know how to get through the challenges mentioned above.

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At heart of farming there is risk. It takes the experience of these successes and losses to manage that risk and it is through its management that Brian and I become the most productive members of society we can be. And ultimately, it is this concept of shared risk that allows us to be the best farmers we can be.

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Our CSA members know the true meaning of shared risk. The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model is rooted in the transparency of relationship and immediate community that allows them to understand that they are in this with their farmers through the thick and thin of the season. And they also understand that nowhere else in our modern day lives does the producer want them to know about loss. Our culture hides it well. At its core is the modern day conveniences of finding an overwhelming amount of abundance at the grocery store any time of the year. This modern day model tries to create a very controlled experience and as much as this model tries to hide loss or risk it comes at a great cost… whether “the cost” is an underpaid farmer or the exploitation of migrant laborers, or the many miles food travels when it doesn’t have to, the fossil fuels it takes to get to where its going, the runoff and pollution of our streams and rivers, or the great disconnect between the consumer and their food (i.e. “Do carrots come from the ground mom?”) Our members understand that this system does not provide our community with the opportunity to live the most healthy and productive lives, or ensuring the health of our families and the health of the ecosystem its derived from.

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In nature, nothing is guaranteed. Months of planning, prepping, planting, and tending to crops can be lost in an instant. When I was farming back east, after months of tending to our tomatoes, the dreaded late blight would roll in and take the crop and sometimes before the crop had really even begun. Once a hurricane whirled through and shut down my season early. A whole seasons worth of effort shut down in a matter of 24 hours. Loss is a part of nature despite all the work and all the plans… nature waits for no one.

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As you guys know this year has been an unseasonably hot and dry season (and continues to be). At times it was unbearable to labor in the heat but it forced us to come up with better ways of working around the sun. In order to produce the same amount of produce we produced last season we had to work twice as hard and even then some crops never paned out. Our summer carrots had to be tilled under because they were enveloped in a carpet of weeds. The weed pressure among other things this season had us scrambling but again, forced us to come up with better strategies for management as we are just two people and there are only so many hours in the day (especially when it’s blazing hot outside). Through these challenges we come up with the best solutions that we can. Nothing is a silver bullet solution on the farm but we hope that being adaptable helps us to grow better and make the unpredictable nature of farming a little bit more controlled. Nature has a lot to teach us and by golly, do we learn.

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We experienced a major crop loss this year for the first time with our potato crop. Normally, this crop is a no brainer for us. For the past 5 years our potato crop has always gotten better with each passing season. For the last two years, we even had enough of a bumper crop that we were able to save our own seed potatoes so that we could plant even more than the seasons before. This year we’ve been watching our potatoes (all 2,000 ft) and although they all had “eyes” when they were planted, the plants that emerged were spotty. We wondered if water was an issue. So we replaced drip lines and watched closely. A little while later after we hilled it looked as if they were under attack by a new to us kind of flea beetle. Despite our best efforts of amending, composting, watering, hilling etc it is the first time where we have experienced a total crop loss. In June we were worried that the crop wouldn’t produce and we planted a few back up rows of taters for our Winter CSA. Thank goodness for the quote “the only way out is through” because when you’re digging up rows, upon rows of taters and coming up short it’s hard to stomach the idea of pushing through and continuing the job. But we got through it. It was a hard blow because we spent so much time composting, fertilizing, prepping, cutting seed, hilling, watering.. you name it only to experience loss in such a real way.

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It’s interesting, that as a farmer, even though you experience loss on a daily basis, that loss never leaves you.. it still very much affects you. I feel as though it is this connection to loss that we grow to appreciate nature and the world around us. We see things differently and our perspective changes. No matter what the circumstances, we do our best – giving it 110%. We respect the World around us and sometimes despite our best efforts it doesn’t always work out like you think it will. We work long hours and devote much of our time to growing the best damn food that we can for our members and our community. To ensure that everyone is fed well week by week. To build the soils and invest in this piece of dirt so that it will feed our community for generations to come. This model looks towards the future…

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Through loss our community is connected to the shared risk on our farm and I feel that is truly a special and unique thing. That by supporting our farm their understanding of nature, the seasons, the bounty, the loss …all of it brings them closer to their own place in nature with the added bonus of supporting a farm that they can get behind, know, trust and thrive with. That together we can live more productive and healthier lives and feel connected to the piece of dirt that nourishes us all. Together we are investing in the future… one that we believe in!

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And to put it in perspective just how quickly things do change.. just a few weeks after we harvested spuds, we harvested the most sweet potatoes we’ve ever grown in the past 3 years. One variety was even pumping out twice as much as we had projected for. In farming, you just never know what a season, week or day will bring…. and the success of farming is based in optimism… for both the farmer and the consumer (our members)… we have to hope for the best even if we’ve just experienced the worst. Through experiencing both the shared loss and shared bounty, both the Farmers and CSA members experience satisfaction of doing something and having it work. Despite all odds we’re in it together and whether things go smoothly or nature throws us a curve ball that community is there rooting for us every step of the way.

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Thank you all for believing in us and this farm and for partnering with us in this adventure. We will continue to give it 110% with the goal of feeding you all the best damn food possible while being good stewards to this land, learning from nature every moment that we can and growing better with time.

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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

Making it Count (week 20)

Posted on 29 Sep 2015

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“Geese appear high over us,

pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,

as in love or sleep, holds

them to their way, clear,

in the ancient faith: what we need

is here. And we pray, not

for new earth or heaven, but to be

quiet in heart, and in eye

clear. What we need is here.”

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– Excerpt from The Wild Geese, Wendell Berry

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Hi Friends & Farm-ily,

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Wow, it’s already time to enjoy the last bits of September… time moving by quickly is no joke. We’ve been having some picturesque autumn weather though, haven’t we? 70-75 and sunny with crispy Fall mornings. Oh it sure does feel nice to be out there in the World.

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Thank you to all of our wonderful members that came out to CSA Farm Day this past weekend! It was a great opportunity to visit with your farmers, enjoy a farm tour, great food and a pumpkin pick! It sure was nice to chat with folks about the goals of our farm and the role it plays in our community. #dirtyhandscleanhearts

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We had a perfect turn out paired with perfect 75 degree weather! 60 folks joined us on Saturday and it’s crazy to think that those 60 members make up 17% of our total members (!!). It boggles our farmer minds to think of what a picture of all of our CSA community would look like! As we grow better as farmers and are able to produce more food for our community it sure does feel nice to take a moment to share that connection .. of our role in the community as well as our community’s important role in the farm.

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Folks had the opportunity to walk the vegetable garden, check out the Fall crops curing in the prop house, the chickens, honey bees, cows and pigs. They learned about our rotational grazing methods and about our ethical standards of growing safe, nutritional and thoughtfully grown produce/fruits. They were able to chat about food, recipes and seasonal eating with their farmers and other members in the community. To top it off, everyone brought potluck dishes that were enjoyed amongst good company on some hay bales. It was surely a great feeling looking around and seeing all the different people in the community being brought together by food..

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It’s a powerful reminder that food has brought so many people together over the centuries and it’s brought so many people together here on our farm over the past 6 years. Wherever you may be in your food journey there are kindred spirits here. Our farm is a place to discuss all sorts of food related things from seasonal eating to sustainable growing practices, to inspiration in the kitchen & new favorite foods and varietals or to changing lifestyles/habits – and feeling good about yourself – to being happy and productive members of society. All these things are part of it and we welcome you to share a little bit about your food journey over the next 9 weeks of the CSA. You are all doing a fantastic job and by doing so it’s the greatest motivation these two farmers could ever have.. here we grow Week 20!

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We even had a fun surprise for all those who joined us – Miss Rosie had 7 healthy and vibrant baby piggies a little over a week ago. On the farm tour everyone did wonderfully and even got a chance to go up for a closer peek while everyone was nestled in their pig hut. They have grown so much over the course of the week.. it’s amazing to see their muscles and strength. This batch of piglets sure have wiley personalities and are quite curious and friendly. Mom has been doing exceptionally well.. we really couldn’t ask for a better sow on the farm. She is top notch! Members also had a chance to visit with Kit & Dot our two gilts that we kept back from Rosie’s first litter. They are also full of personality and have the breeding traits that we look for in future mamas. We hope that they will become new mamas in the early Spring of 2016.

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With each passing, day, week, month, season and year there is something new that nature teaches us. We look forward to what the week and weather will bring. We are getting our last transplants in the ground in anticipation of late fall and early winter CSA crops. Soaking up the last bits of September and making this week count! Thank you all for your encouragement and darn-right awesomeness. Our farm would cease to exist if it wasn’t for the amazing community that surrounds it. Enjoy the week!
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All the best,

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Your Farmers

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Jess & Brian

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dirty hands, clean hearts

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