Here we are, the last week of the 2020 CSA season and, as usual, we begin reflecting on how the season went, what we could do better, what we did well at, and what changes we want to make for the following season. It's also a bit of a bittersweet time as well. We love growing and harvesting produce but we're also looking forward to the slower pace of life that winter brings. The seasonality of farming is one of our favorite things about it.
Overall, we're very pleased with the way the season went. Our produce on average yielded well and while we did have some minor crop failures as we do every year, we had no major crop failures. This year has been challenging at times - we were without water for irrigation for half the summer. The heat in June and July was fierce and our pack shed didn't get finished as quickly as we'd hoped.
We were disappointed with the way our peppers and tomatoes turned out. The transplants we outsourced were not up to the quality standards we hold for ourselves and an untimely frost in the spring damaged the transplants we did have. Luckily, we won't be moving a farm next spring and that will be an easy one to fix! We also need to grow more peas. We just flat out didn't have enough.
We're not 100% sure what we'll change yet for next year. We spend a good chunk of the winter thinking about that while we develop our 2021 farm plan. We do know we want to keep our own flock of laying hens next year and we're adding two more caterpillar tunnels to our farm.
Finally, if you could take a moment to fill out our 2020 CSA Member Survey it would be much appreciated. You can find that here: 2020 CSA Season Survey
A huge thank you to all of our 2020 CSA members. Our farm would not be possible without you and we're truly grateful for all of our new and returning members!
