Well here we are, having arrived in 2019! We’ve had some glorious weather of late, allowing us to accomplish some much needed infrastructure projects. We run full tilt during the growing season, and there is not often time to do the deeper work of building out the farmscape. During the slower season, taking the time to help create efficiencies and more effective methods will allow us to be better farmers in the year to come.
We reached a significant milestone in our lives as farmers; we built our first barn. It is a small construction, ten foot by twenty foot, but it marks a point in our progression that we are very pleased to reach. Over the last few years as we have grown into being farmers, our production has expanded but our storage space had not kept up. This resulted in the various farm implements, tools and other articles being crammed into our personal space, creating frustration and difficulties.
Having the opportunity to move things into a space that is created for them has allowed us to make our operation much more capable in just a few days. In the barn we can keep our walk-behind tractor and implements, straw, animal feed, chicken processing equipment, fuel, ladders and other odds and ends. Coolers can now be stored in the woodshed, opening up space on the deck that had been crammed with farm stuff. It is a joy to begin to find order from chaos!
We are in the process of ordering metal, gable caterpillar tunnels that will allow us to have winter production in the years to come. This is part of our commitment to year-round food production, leveling us into a new arena for next season. Like the barn, these hoophouses have been years in the making, and it is a dream come true to have reached the point in our careers in which we are able to take these steps to professionalize our work.
This is the first time in several years that we have been operating the CSA at this time of year. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring these stellar veggies to you; we are thankful for the farmers who have worked so hard to grow them! Our farm is very much in between harvests, with such limited quantities of produce coming in that we are not able to reach the volume required for the CSA.
It was a joy to spend time harvesting beets and carrots and processing cabbages down at Irene’s farm this week. Our partnership with Irene, and the FoodHub (through which we access produce from many different farms in Mendocino County) is an active process of imagining a wholesome and localized food system. With you, the fabulous eaters, we are all engaged in the journey out of the industrial agribusiness model and back towards a tradition of human agriculture that is defined by deep connectivity. We are glad to share the journey with you!