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Hey friends & farm-ily,
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Week 12. We’re well on our way into the summer season and your farmers are lovin’ it! We know you could get used to fresh veggies all year round, couldn’t you.. It’s funny how you start to miss certain veggies or even begin to crave them. With the change of the season comes the change of the bounty and as we make our way into August, the colors on the farm are beginning to resemble all colors of the rainbow.. red, yellow, purple, white, striped, gold…. it’s getting really pretty in these parts. We spied a few sizeable melons (water, honey dew, cantaloupe, tropical, Asian – to name a few) this weekend, which means they can’t be too far away (aka sunshine in every bite). And there’s a whole lot of baby green as we get ready for fall crops… new successions of greens, brassicas, root veggies, vines of winter squash bearing loads of tiny fruit… too exciting! It’s been such a great season so far and we’re excited to see what’s in store over the next few months!
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Bee update. The bees are keeping ‘beesy’ as they make their way into the final push of storing up for the winter. It’s their first year here on the farm so we want to be sure they have plenty of food to keep them nourished and strong through the winter. This means we’ll have a smaller harvest in order to better their chance of survival. As you all know the winter honey bee survival rate has been at all time lows in recent years with colony collapse disorder, nosema (disease bearing parasites), pesticides etc. According to a recent article on the subject, Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought, “it has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years.” Although the odds aren’t in their favor for winter survival we will do our best to give them what they need to flourish, grow and survive through the wet grey winter months. We love keeping bees and they are vital to our little farm and are doing our best to work with and better understand our relationship with them. They are such a fascinating creature.. did you know that worker bees live for 6 weeks during the busy summer, and for 4-9 months during the winter months? We just love having them on the farm!
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A BIG THANK YOU to all those who came out over the weekend to get their hands dirty & to help out with the great WHF potato harvest. We can’t thank you enough. What took us 2 months last year (just the two of us, digging with our hands in the dirt, no tractor, implements etc) only took us 3 days this year. Your encouragement, hard work and big hearts really made the difference and we can finally cross potato harvest off the list for this season! We had a great time with you all and are seriously amazed at the wonderful members and community that surrounds us. We are blessed.
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Our Fall CSA sign ups are here and we’ve been thinking a lot about what this time of the year means for us as farmers. It gives us a chance to slow down (for just a minute, in the height of the season) to reflect on all our experiences thus far, what we’ve learned and what the farm needs in order to sustain. As a farmer you are constantly looking at the puzzle – building piece by piece – learning – growing and moving forward. Each year on the farm is different (with weather, life changes, etc) but as the members of our CSA you hold an important piece – the backbone and foundation of this farm – you support and believe in what we do, this farm and the food that is produced as a result of all the hard work & love.
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The Fall marks a time in the year in which the farm receives the remainder of it’s income in order to sustain through the late summer and fall. This is always a scary time of year. A time where we have to ask ourselves, “is it working?
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As we reflect on all of this we’re reminded of a blog post that farmer Brian wrote more than a year ago call The Scary Part. Here’s a little excerpt…
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We want to build a community of people that are passionate about the pursuit; the pursuit of healthy living, healthy food, healthy relationships and healthy conversations over wine at old wooden farm tables. We want to see families on the farm playing catch with dad and watch children munching on veggies straight from the soil. All just because their favorite farmer told them that it was delicious and safe. To watch parents watch their kids eat veggies for the first time and then glance at me like, ‘how did farmer Brian get them to eat that?’ And to see our “lost generation” of young professionals invest their money in a CSA because they want to choose a sustainable lifestyle, to pursue a diet that keeps them energetic and their healthcare costs to a minimum. We want to attract those folks who take time to do the math. All of the math. Folks that realize that the produce we are growing is cost effective. That it costs about forty bucks a week and it is enough food for three people to share. That breaks down to thirteen dollars per person per week and the food is fresh, it is harvested just hours before you have it in your home.
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We hope to have the types of members who’ll take the time to understand that their farmer works eighty hours a week and make $1,500 a month, which equals four dollars and sixty three sense per hour, half of the minimum wage in Oregon. And we want those people to know that this salary is not a problem because we are happy and we love what we do. For that we are so grateful, we are living our dream.
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It is the families, the friends, the time we get to spend alone, thoughtfully harvesting our carrots or watching a community of strangers come together to watch ‘Cool Hand Luke’ in the pasture on a hot summers night. These things are a gift.
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We believe that the CSA business model is sustainable for us and for our community, we have to believe it . Through this process of learning to be better farmers/small business owners we have come to a new definition of wisdom. That wisdom is the renewed faith in ones self that leads them to believe they are capable of surmounting all fears that lie ahead. Now is the time when we choose to believe that we are capable. We believe that small farms are necessary for the health of our communities and our local economy. And maybe that is just it, maybe community isn’t something that one finds but is built by all of us.
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And the funny thing is… it is happening! The potluck was such an amazing time to share and be challenged by likeminded folks and the potato harvest this year went off without a hitch thanks to the help of a dozen friends/members. We continue to move forward and we continue to build this Community Supported Agriculture farm. Thanks for believing in us and for investing your time, energy and money into something we believe in. With all of us here we make one heck of a farm-ily!
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And with that being said, Sign ups for our Fall CSA are now open to everyone! We’ve been working real hard and are SO excited for the fall season ahead. In order to be added to our official member list be sure to sign up online and drop off/mail your CSA deposit as soon as you can. CSA shares are available on a first come, first serve payment basis and we expect to fill up quickly. We look forward to sharing in the bounty with you through the Fall season!
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Thanks again for all your love and support. We look forward to seeing you all this week and to sharing in all that the garden has to give us this week.
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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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