FINAL WEEK OF SQUAMISH HARVEST SHARES! Cheers to an incredible summer and fall harvest share season together!
A few end of season notes:
-Not yet signed up for our winter boxes? Still a few spots...4 boxes over 8 weeks, delivered to your door. Sign up here: https://csa.farmigo.com/join/fourbeatfarm/
-Keep forgetting to reserve your spot for the coming spring? Share prices will increase at the end of the year and we are nearly halfway full already, so it's a good idea to do it now: https://csa.farmigo.com/join/fourbeatfarm/2021fullseason *In case you're wondering, egg shares will be available in 2021 but exact supply details are TBA. All confirmed members will have first priority for egg shares when we open that up in the new year.
-If you have shares that are "on hold" in Harvie from the summer, this week is your last chance to reschedule and receive them
-For everyone who picks up at A-FRAME, take a minute to say a big THANK YOU to their staff for hosting us this season! They are doing an incredible job of keeping the brewery open in a safe and friendly way throughout this pandemic, and a few words of support from you can go a long way :)
Alright, now for your final farm update for the fall season...
What to say, what to say. Yes, the season is kind of wrapping up. Yes, we are still out harvesting every day (albeit with a smaller crew this week...good-bye to Sarah and Matt for the season!). There are Brussel sprouts, hardy greens, kales, parsnips, and rutabagas still in the field, as well as some leeks that don't seem to be getting any bigger but are simply delicious at their small size. There is also equipment to be put away before the snow falls, and plenty of chores to get done in time for winter on the farm.
We are hustling to get a whack of veggies washed this week before another cold snap, as we've got hundreds of pounds of carrots, potatoes, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, and beets tucked away in the cooler for the upcoming winter veggie boxes.
Overall the produce seems to be storing well, and it looks like there is a good amount of variety to keep us all going for the rest of the year. We had a moment of disappointment on Friday when we discovered neck rot in our storage onions that meant that our few remaining crates of onions got added to the compost pile. We hope that not too many slipped past us and ended up in your kitchen. Our apologies if you got a few in last week's delivery that were less than stellar...we do our best to quality control as produce leaves the farm, but inner rot can be tricky to spot until a few weeks down the way. Luckily we've been putting lots of onions in the harvest shares earlier in the fall, so not much of the crop was lost and hopefully you got to enjoy plenty up until now! On the to-do list for next season is to identify some new onion varieties to grow that might have fared better in a wet July like the one we had, and to look into how we can improve our onion storage techniques. Always something to improve on and learn from!
Overall, though, there are many successes to be proud of this year. We had salad greens available nearly every week for four months straight, we were able to harvest way more carrots than the past few years thanks to a new electric fence to keep the bears out (and the carrots in, of course), the potatoes came out of the ground beautifully, and, while there are always some kinks to work out, we are loving the new customizable system for our CSA shares (and, from the overall response, you are too!). Hooray for trying new things! On the farm in 2020 so far, there's been lots of growth: we opened up a new vegetable field this spring, built a new propagation greenhouse, installed a new walk-in cooler and pack shed, and figured out ways to grow and distribute food in a responsible way throughout this pandemic. As a farm, we are so proud of weathering this season amidst all of the uncertainty, and we are incredibly excited to have a few less construction projects on the to-do list for next spring. Who knows what 2021 will bring, but we are excited to welcome it with open arms when the time comes.
So that's your farm update for this week's final main season harvest share.
Thank you for embarking on this local food eating extravaganza together
Thank you for trying new vegetables
Thank you for believing in what we do and how we grow
Thank you for caring about having good food at home
With love
Naomi and the entire Four Beat Farm team
