After returning from a much-needed and -enjoyed early January trip to visit family and friends, we’ve launched ourselves into number of important winter projects.
Mid-winter work
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Category Archives: CSA
January CSA share
FIRST CSA DISTRIBUTION
We’ll begin the 2012 CSA season by home-delivering our January share this week, a nice diverse set of seasonal storage produce with some fresh items made possible by the mild weather so far (we don’t use hoophouses).
Market plans (November 12) and other farm happenings
We will not be at market this weekend, following our biweekly fall schedule. We intend to sell at the final outdoor market next weekend (11/19), the last before Thanksgiving, and then be done for good. Restaurant sales continue to be strong, with a nice set of deliveries this week to Sycamore, Red & Moe, and Uprise Bakery.
As usual, the decision to skip market partly reflects other seasonal needs on the farm. This weekend opens hunting season, and I don’t think we’ve ever gone to market that weekend. I’ll be in the woods along with a hunter friend, and Joanna will be doing farm work and waiting for the sound of fresh meat. Deer have been quite active here for months, a large population that could use some thinning to lower pressure on the woods and fields, and I’ll be happy to replace wolves for a few days.
Also happening on the farm (apologies for no photos; it’s been too busy to remember the camera):
Following our fourth CSA tour, we are now nearly full for 2012 (with two tour attendees still contemplating their decision and two more households on a waiting list in case there is an opening). This is a very good feeling. We are looking forward to the efficiency of a system that provides a home for everything we grow; no more bringing home 30% or more of our harvest from market. The 2012 CSA will be smaller than we need for long-term economic stability, but we’re willing to take a lower income next year in exchange for less stress and more on-farm and product efficiency. We (and members) will judge the results at the end of next year and decide where to go from there. We’ll certainly be in the spotlight, with little room for disappointment, as we have 3 Columbia-area food bloggers signed up as CSA members.
Winter preparations continue to move forward, as we remove infrastructure, hoe final weeds, mulch beds, seed late cover crops, plant overwintering alliums, maintain compost piles, and more. We had one load of clean straw delivered; it’s amazing how quickly a few straw-mulched beds can make a farm look tidy and attractive.
Food preservation is an ongoing feature of life this time of year. We recently took a delivery of six bushels of organic apples from Blue Heron Orchard in NE Missouri. Three of these were intended for friends and neighbors who wanted access to organic apples, and three are for our own preservation and winter storage. We held a marathon apple-processing session on Tuesday afternoon-evening, in cooperation with the neighbor, working together to turn a bushel each of our apples into canned applesauce and nine trays of dried apples. We also made and canned apple butter, and another round of green tomato-apple pie filling, a great winter treat. We’ve been drying large quantities of green and partially ripe peppers, and will be starting soon on fermenting sauerkraut. We have more food preserved this year than ever; with no more shelving space, we now have full canning jars lining the front of most of our bookcases. A winter project for me is building more shelving/storage area in the kitchen for such preserves.
We’ve now had close to 3″ of rain in the past week, a delightful occurrence. Our stream still has no flow, an indication of just how desperately dry the ground has been. Many tasks are easier now, such as pulling t-posts from beds and moving portable animal fencing. The pig is now doing a much better job of turning up ground than he did in the bone-dry months.
We continue to rotate animals onto new pastures as long as the weather remains nice. Our goat population is larger than usual, with the temporary addition of a buck for breeding purposes. We moved the pig on Thursday to fresh pasture where he can turn in more fescue now that the ground is actually moist. He later escaped after battering down a cattle panel gate, and we found him happily trotting along near the house. Fortunately, he’s quite friendly and can be lured anywhere just by running in front of him; he follows behind like a well-trained dog. And fortunately he didn’t get into any growing areas or cause any other problems while he was out. We redid the gate with more reinforcement, as befits a large and powerful hunk of live pork. Can’t wait for the cool stretch of days we need to start the processing (a goat and many young roosters are on the list, too).
I’ve finally gotten started on our new chicken house, a larger building intended to overnight-house our growing laying flock in a more secure and convenient setting. Its location will allow the birds access to multiple acres of pasture and woods, including our developing orchard. I’ll be sneaking time to work on this when possible, but at least have the foundation done and the frame up. We intend to move the birds in by early December.
Logging is on hiatus as my chainsaw developed an attitude and is in the shop. Just as well, there’s more than enough to do as it is. Still, I’m itching to get back to one of my favorite jobs.
Then there’s the weekly restaurant sales calls, harvest, and deliveries, along with market prep and attendance (probably) by the end of next week. Things don’t really slow down here until well into December.
Market plans, November 5
Joanna will be at market this Saturday with some good seasonal items. There won’t be many greens, as the lack of rain has effectively kept these from regrowing. We’ve had to pull our drip irrigation due to repeated freezes, and sprinklers can’t keep up. The plants are alive, and we hope will recover and regrow with potentially wetter conditions upcoming, but for now we’re not willing to harvest from them any more. Plus, at our last market two weekends ago, we hardly sold any greens (half pound collards, few pounds of lettuce, few pounds of baby braising mix, etc.) so we’re mostly reserving greens for restaurants at this point. Given that we finally recieved some decent rain Wednesday night (over an inch), with more in the forecast for next week, we expect the greens to recover and start growing again, just not in time for this market.
We’ll be hosting our last CSA tour of the year Saturday afternoon at 2pm. The CSA is currently about 60% full, and judging from the response to the first three events, could well be nearly full by the end of the weekend. If you’re considering it in the background, this would be a good time to let us know.
AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Napa cabbage: Juicy, tasty cabbages; they range from 3-7+ pounds each. We just love these for slaw, fresh kraut, stir fries, and more (but especially slaw). We can go through multiple heads a week, keeping a big bowl of slaw in the fridge. For more on using fresh fall cabbages, see this post from 2009; it notes that we hadn’t yet tried growing these for market sale. Now we have, there are lots, and they’re excellent. We charge a high price for these, but for fresh organic cabbage, they’re worth it.
Green tomatoes: Like greens, these sold poorly two week ago, despite being abundant and tasty. I wish more people experimented with all the ways to prepare and preserve green tomatoes; local foods will be most successful when customers use the abundances when they’re available (another reason we’re looking forward to CSA).
Garlic: Some varieties are sold out, but there are good quantities of others. With our only remaining market being the weekend before Thanksgiving, this weekend would be a good time to stock up on some winter storage garlic.
Daikon radishes: A reasonably mild, long white radish. Works well for cooking or pickling, or slicing onto salads. Can have a bit of heat, though less so than many fall radishes, and gets sweet with cold weather.
Watermelon radishes: A pretty green radish with a red core that earns its name when sliced. A bit spicier than daikon, but still sweet enough for use on stronger salads. Also a good stir-fry radish.
Leeks: Several short, thick varieties that have a lot of volume and good flavor. One of our favorite fall/winter meals is potato-leek soup. These should be sliced and given a good wash, as we hilled them with soil to increase the white flesh.
Pumpkins/winter squash: We will have a small quantity of pie pumpkins and delicata squash. These are hard to grow organically, and we spent a lot of time squishing squash bug eggs and nymphs on these plants, so they won’t be cheap. The delicatas that we’ve been eating have been delicious. Sometimes winter squash need some assistance from sugar and spices to taste good, but not these delicatas. We’ve been eating them straight out of the oven without any additions, even salt.
Herbs: Parsley is available in abundance. We’ll also have thyme, oregano, tarragon, mint, and maybe some cilantro.
Market plans & CSA tours
We will not be at market this coming weekend. We currently plan to attend three more markets (unless bad weather intervenes):
October 22
November 5
November 19 (just before Thanksgiving)
Last week we gave a preview of some items available for the rest of the season.
Our CSA tours last weekend went well, we thought, with interested people enjoying beautiful weather to tour the farm and some good discussions of farm management methods and CSA details.
We are starting to officially sign up people with a $50 deposit to guarantee a space in the 2012 program. Our goal is to have all slots reserved with this deposit by mid-December, and to take the first real portion of payment in mid-January (we’re targeting a three-part payment plan for the year, maybe Jan-March-May?). Given that we consider the CSA to cover January-December of a given calendar year, it will be best to start the program off right with all members signed up. At the same time as the January payment, we intend to distribute the first share of the year, composed of winter storage items possibly including garlic, onions, sweet potatoes, winter squash, leeks, cabbages, and/or more.
Many people responded to the first tour offerings with interest but regret that they were out of town or otherwise unavailable that weekend. Thus we will be offering two more tour days:
Sunday, October 30, 2:00 pm
Saturday, November 5, 2:00 pm
We hope these dates will accomodate many interested people, and we can move toward really filling up the program. If you’re interested, please consider making time for one of these events, and/or otherwise letting us know of your serious interest in the CSA. As before, we ask for people to RSVP for the tours so we know what to plan for. We’ll be accepting reservation deposits at the tours or at market on days we’re there (or we can work something else out). Just to be clear, like most CSAs, deposits and payments are non-refundable.
Market plans, October 8
We’ll be at market this Saturday, kicking off a busy weekend for us. Saturday and Sunday afternoons we’re hosting CSA farm tours for interested customers; please let us know ASAP if you’re interested in attending. Many have written to say they’re interested but out of town that weekend, and we will be holding more events later in the year, but both of this weekend’s tours will be happening as we have signups for both days and can still accomodate more.
At market this weekend:
Garlic: We are sold out of two varieties (German Extra Hardy and Chet’s Italian Red), but have all the others. Like the last market we attended, we’ll be bringing extra garlic as people tend to start stocking up this time of year, and looking for planting stock as the planting season is about to start (mid-October through early November).
Onions: We’ve sold most of the braids we initially made, and it’s so dry here the onion necks won’t braid properly, so we may end up just selling some loose.
Green tomatoes: A nice seasonal specialty, explore all the possible uses for these underappreciated items. We love the traditional Southern way, skillet-fried in fresh-ground cornmeal, but there are so many more options. Find lots of ideas in past blog posts here and here.
Greens: Mustard, chard, and kale will all be available as loose greens. Lots of uses for these; saute them with garlic, chop into soups and stews, top pizzas, etc. We may have some baby greens to offer, though it depends on on total yield and restaurant needs.
Sweet peppers: Our usual mix of shapes and colors, great for eating fresh or almost any cooking use. Our top uses are pepper salads, and cooking/roasting for sauces.
Hot peppers: Anaheims & jalapenos. Anaheims can be roasted and frozen for later sauces (or make & freeze the sauce now), and are excellent dried if you have a food dehydrator. Jalapenos can be dried as well, and exceedingly useful.
Daikon radishes: A reasonably mild, long white radish. Works well for cooking or pickling, or slicing onto salads. Can have a bit of heat, though less so than many fall radishes, and gets sweet with cold weather.
Peanuts (hopefully): Fresh green peanuts, perfect for Southern-style boiled peanuts. We haven’t found time to do a test dig yet, but we know there are (or were) some peanuts down there because there are vole holes in the bed and peanut shells at the surface in places…. We hope they’ve left some for us, and we hope to get some to market on Saturday.
Herbs: Parsley, cilantro, dill, thyme, oregano, tarragon, sage, mint & possibly more.
Rest-of-the-season preview:
We plan to continue on the every-other-week market schedule for the rest of the season, assuming weather cooperates. So, the current plan is that we will be at market on Oct. 8, Oct. 22, Nov. 5, and Nov. 19. Here are some of the product that we expect/hope to bring in the remaining weeks.
Leeks: These look big and beautiful. We usually like to wait for a nice cold spell to start harvesting these, as it improves the flavor. They’ll need a good cleaning before use, becuase we hilled them with soil to get a nice, long blanched stalk.
Chinese cabbage: We have quite a few heads of Bilko cabbage, a very tasty variety. The heads are large and may look daunting, but they store well and are so good that we power through them in the kitchen. A huge bowl of slaw can disappear very rapidly at our table.
Sweet potatoes: We had a reasonable yield this year, in spite of some rodent damage. These are currently curing, a process that enhances the sweetness & overall quality. The varieties that we grow produce mostly smallish roots that are perfect for cubing and roasting. Yum.
Winter squash: These are also curing, for the same reasons as sweet potatoes. We’ll likely bring some of the Delicatas and/or Acorn squash to market, since these are short-storage varieties. The long-storing butternuts we’ll reserve for CSA members after the new year (when the flavor tends to be best anyway).
Parsnips: We expanded our parsnip planting compared to last year after reasonable success, though we’re a bit concerned about possible damage from carrot flies or other burrowing insect pests based on a couple of roots that we’ve looked at. Plus, we’ve had to irrigate these a lot, and rodents have been burrowing right along the irrigation in other beds; that’s not a good combination for a root crop. We won’t know the yield until we harvest, and these benefit from remaining in the ground until late fall/early winter.
More CSA Details
We’ve collected many names from folks potentially interested in the 2012 CSA, and will continue trying to hold on-farm events to build that connection. Meanwhile, we’ve roughly fleshed out more details on the CSA’s structure, though these are all open to discussion with interested parties. For information and reference, here’s what we’re leaning toward at the moment (also available on our website).
The CSA will be a single-farm CSA; everything distributed will come from this farm only, and customers will share in the risks and rewards of this single farm. As Localharvest.org accurately puts it: “…implicit in the CSA concept is the idea that members share with the farmer the risk that some crops might do poorly due to bad weather, pest problems, and the like. With so many crops included in a CSA, it is expected that even if some languish, others will flourish and there will be plenty of food overall. Members pay the same whether it turns out to be a bumper year or a skinny one.” We strongly suggest potential customers, particularly those new to CSA, read through Localharvest’s excellent collection of information and guidance on defining and choosing a CSA.
Farm tours for prospective members
Starting in October, we’ll be hosting several on-farm events for prospective members interested in learning more about the farm and the CSA. The first two will be held on:
Saturday October 8, 2pm
Sunday October 9, 2pm
If you’re interested in attending any of these events, or to discuss the CSA, please contact us or call 474-0989.
Details While we haven’t settled on the exact structure of the CSA, partly to wait for input from potential members at fall on-farm events, here is a rough look at the structure we’re leaning toward:
Share sizes:
Full share, suitable for a family of four that uses some produce or a single/couple household that cooks regularly.
Partial share, intended for one-person households. In theory we’d like to do just one share size, but we know of interest from a number of one-person households. These may be limited in quantity, because the reality is that the work of administration, packing, delivery, etc. is the same for a full share as a partial share, and so it is less efficient overall.
Price: Not yet set in stone, but approximately $1100 for a full share, $700 for a partial share, plus sales tax.
Deposit: We generally want to wait until after Jan. 1 to accept full payment for accounting/tax purposes. But we will likely set up a system for households to guarantee a membership slot by putting down a small deposit in advance.
Payment plan? This can be a difficult single payment for customers, but part of the core value of CSA is financial & planning stability for the farm, which means up-front payment. We’re considering how to balance these needs and don’t want this to be a deal-breaker. Payment plans also mean more administrative time, so we’re likely to offer this option but charge a fee to offset the extra time that it takes us to track, request, and handle multiple payments.
Limited share customization: We intend to build an online system that allows members make limited requests to customize their shares. A day or two before each share distribution, we plan to post online what we anticipate to be the “standard share” for the week. Members will have the option to opt out of given items, and when available, request extras. This is a compromise between full customization, which is not practical on our end, and complete inflexibility in share content. A CSA should encourage members to try unusual produce, but some folks simply don’t like certain products; if certain products won’t be used or appreciated in one household, we’d rather be able to free those items up for a household that really likes them. Similarly, we want to share the bounty when it is available, but we don’t want to overwhelm a member’s kitchen with lots of extra product unless they are prepared to use it. Those who request a lot will get the best overall deal, but this allows others to take lesser amounts when desired.
Share splitting: We request that shares not be split among more than one household for several reasons. Customization of shares (described above) would be neither fair nor effective with multiple households drawing on one share. Membership also includes benefits such as on-farm events, and we cannot provide these benefits to multiple households for a single share price. Finally, we feel strongly that a core strength of CSA is the members’ connection to the farm and their understanding of the farm’s methods, and this is diluted by share-splitting.
Distribution pattern: Each household will receive a weekly share during the core growing season. Most shares will be distributed late week (probably Thursday?). There will also be an early week share-distribution day (Sunday/Monday?).
Distribution calendar: Weekly May-October/November, monthly or occasionally through winter and spring.
Share contents: Diverse seasonal produce and herbs May-November. Storage or off-season items through winter/spring (garlic, onions, root crops, mushrooms, possibly dried beans/corn, etc as available).
Disribution location: We’re leaning toward home delivery for those who live in central Columbia or along our route into/out of Columbia. There may be an extra fee for deliveries that require a lot of extra driving. This is a detail we’ll have to work out based on where member live &/or work. On-farm pick up could be a possibility for a small number of members, but we don’t want to do too much of this out of respect for neighbors’ privacy and the practicality of receiving regular visitors while running a farm.
Are work shifts required? No, we will not require paying members to take part in work shifts. While this is ideally a way to involve members more directly in the farm, it can also be hard to organize and manage effective work for very short-term and occasional visitors, and we don’t think the hassle will be worth the benefit.
Special benefits: Farm events like bird & nature walks, on-farm meal invitations, kids’ activities, newsletter with cooking/preservation advice & ideas, etc. Limited quantities of eggs and raw goat milk (for cooking or cheese/yogurt-making) may be offered for sale to members, depending on production and circumstances.
Farm visit for prospective CSA members
Now that we’re officially converting to a CSA model for 2012, we’ve updated our website with more information, including the current official brochure. Take a look if you’re at all interested.
We are scheduling several farm tours in early October for potential CSA members. These events will provide a chance for interested folks to visit the farm, see how we manage it, and discuss details and options for the 2012 CSA with us directly. We feel strongly that all customers should visit the farm before signing up, and this will be the first official chance to do so.
There is no obligation or payment attached to these events other than an expressed interest in CSA membership next year. We would like to start truly gauging interest and making serious contacts with potential members, and this is a good way to start. Occasional off-season shares may begin as early as January with storage items such as garlic, onions, root crops, and more. We will also be working on seed orders and planting plans in early winter, so having an early understanding of potential interest and membership is important to us.
EVENT TIMING
Based on feedback from those who have signed up at market, weekend afternoons are the best option for the majority of people. Thus we will be holding the first two events on:
Saturday, October 8, 2:00 pm
Sunday, October 9, 2:00 pm
It usually takes a couple hours to show people around the farm and discuss all the different things happening here. There will also be discussion of CSA details, so we expect these to potentially last until 5:00 pm. Because the farm is very spread out and not really set up for people to wander about on their own, we do ask that visitors arrive punctually at 2 pm so we can all move about the farm as a group and discuss things together.
Even if you’ve been here before, this will be an excellent chance to come back, and take part in important discussions of next year’s setup. If you’re at all interested in joining up next year, please consider coming out that weekend.
HOW TO ATTEND
Please email (<removed for spam prevention>) or call (573-474-0989) to reserve a place on one of the days. Knowing the tour size and attendees ahead of time will make life much easier for us. If you cannot make either of those dates, but are interested in the CSA, please let us know that too and we will work on having you out another time.
For those who have not been here before, we are located 12 miles north of Columbia, not far off US-63, roughly a 20 minute drive from downtown. Access to the farm is via a gravelled private road that can accommodate most vehicles except the fanciest and lowest-riding (our 1993 Honda Accord handles it just fine).
