This week our field production coordinator, Abby, and our three crop managers, Wylie, Stephanie and Ben, will begin the final push to put together a comprehensive crop plan for our 2019 growing season. We started that work this past November, reviewing the 2018 season together crop by crop, and by visiting our co-op store buyers and managers last December in order to gauge what crops we need to grow and how much of each of them. Of course, our CSA members and their weekly summer and bi-weekly winter boxes for 2019/20 are a big part of that equation, too!
Speaking of our CSA, we're also excited to announce another change to our program (in addition to our customized shares, which we will be carrying over for the summer season!) with a new structural addition to our farm: high tunnels! We believe the key to greater variety and quality in our 2019 CSA farm share program, both in early summer crops and in providing fresh winter ones, will be building 2 new “high tunnels”…essentially large, unheated greenhouses in the field, tall enough to permit tractor work and full scale farming indoors, 12 months of the year.
In an era of destabilized climate (“spring” 2018, when we went from 8” of snow in mid April to a week of 95 degrees less than a month later), these tunnels will help us to nail June crops for CSA boxes like never before. They will provide weeks and weeks of various fresh greens for winter CSA boxes, starting as soon as this December, and eventually they will yield the best June tomatoes and peppers that can be grown in Minnesota… after all, these crops will all be farmed in the very top-notch topsoil we’ve been building all these years!
High tunnels will be a game changer at Featherstone Farm… starting this season!! So if you are thinking of joining our summer 2019 season or even our 2019/20 winter one, now is the time to join! Our Early Bird Special runs until February 28th. Join now and pay in full for a $30 gift on us!
Go to http://featherstonefarm.com/index.html for all the details and to join today! Or, please email us at csa@featherstonefarm.com with any questions.
As always, happy eating to you!
Jack, Patty and the Featherstone Crew
