Catching up with a friend the other day, he joked: "you must be bored out of your mind this time of year! I bet you can't wait to get your hands in the soil!" My friend was spot-on about my excitement about the upcoming season, but we are far from sitting idle.
These winter months have brought a steady workflow of planning, preparation and set-up for an improved 2020 CSA season.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to those of you who've made the leap to join the CSA early - with your help we've ordered seeds, seed potatoes and onion starts from Johnny's Selected Seeds, Annie's Heirloom Seeds, and the Maine Potato Lady. Some new (to us) varieties we'll be excited to share with you in 2020 include King Richard Leeks, "Citrine" orange cherry tomatoes, and "Banana" fingerling potatoes.
We've started some tomato seeds already, in order to get them established in the hoop house in April, and we’re going to try grafting some interesting varieties to a vigorous and disease resistant rootstock in hopes of strong and sustained yields for our CSA members.
Our winter pigs are growing beautifully, and will be finished on spring pasture and natural forage just in time for the start of our CSA season.
That said, 2020 is off to an energizing and auspicious start! There's a lot of work to do, of course, but it is work worth doing.
Finally, we are seeking more CSA members, so please share with any friends and neighbors that might be interested in local, sustainable and nutrient-dense food that is grown with love and respect.
Thanks for checking in, and hope to see you soon!