Hard to believe we are here...the end of the season. It's bitter sweet to end every season but this season was like no other. I don't need to dwell on how difficult life has been due to the pandemic and how hard it has hit many people, both financially and mentally. But we ARE going to get through this. It's a long process and huge test of our patience but we will see a change back to "normalcy" eventually. And eventually we will get to eat fresh asparagus again, and have a juicy ripe red tomato fresh from the field, and crunch on some super delicious green beans, and eat the 2021 season garlic being planted in the photo from this farm happening! The seasons will change and so will our lives.
We are busy at the farm these days hauling in (and washing, and sorting, and storing) the last harvests of the season. We are almost there with just a few frost hearty crops to go. Don't worry last-of-the-carrots...we are coming for you! In November, we will sit down and crop plan for the 2021 season. We plan to bring a few back (eggplant and napa cabbage!) and expand on our spring plant sale. It's one of the most refreshing parts of seasonal farming, a chance to adjust and modify our plans each and every season.
On October 27th, the AUTO RENEWAL FOR CURRENT MEMBERS will run and we are anticipating a high rate of renewal. Remember we are dropping our share capacity (see previous farm happening about our plans for 2021 season) and more members want to renew than we had planned! We will take all members who want to renew and likely be full for the 2021 season. Wow....that is amazing! So IF YOU WANT TO BE A MEMBER in 2021 it would BEHOOVE YOU TO AUTO RENEW! If you are not interested in a being a member, please be sure to log into your Harvie member profile and change your auto renew settings to OFF. Or call us and we can help: 920-539-2083.
I would like to send out a couple thank you's before signing off for the season...
TO YOU, our members, our customers, our backbone, our eaters. THANK YOU. Your support is priceless and makes us keep growing and going. Thanks to your support, we are able to maintain a hard working staff who know how much you love good tasty food. That's why they work so hard! Thanks to you, our farm is a viable business contributing organic food to our community. Thanks to you, we get to be a farm and I get to be a farmer.
TO THE FARM EMPLOYEES, my crew, my friends, my cat petters and chicken talkers. THANK YOU. This season has been our biggest production year ever and despite some large changes in labor (we miss you Jeff, Noah, Grant and Lex!) we are getting through it. And doing a great job I might add! You all work SO hard and I appreciate you SO much. You work through the heat and wind and rain and snow without complaint. And you lift, bend, squat, pull, push, and move so many times in one day it's unbelievable. And at the end of the day, you all still manage to smile and laugh as needed. Thank you.
TO THE WORKER SHARES, our volunteers, our work-for-food takers, our secret links that keep the machine running. THANK YOU. You are all super good human beings for subjecting yourselves to farm work. It ain't easy. Without you, the produce would be dirty, unbagged, the containers unlabeled, unpacked and so many other things left undone! We can't have any of that so thank you.
TO MY FAMILY, my people, my listeners and my favorite people. THANK YOU. To Brad and Frances, thank you for helping me get through a very challenging season by being there to support my decisions and help me make the right ones. To my parents, Dan and Linda, thank you for dreaming up this crazy organic farm dream! And for being the BEST grandparents a daughter could ask for and for watching Frances MANY more hours than people your age should have to. Special thanks to my dad for being a creative genius and making so many things at the farm work and stay working. And or teaching me the tricks of the trade.
With that I say HAPPY END OF THE SEASON EVERYONE! We will still be distributing produce via our Extended Season Share, Wholesale to stores and restaurants and via a few popup Farm Store open dates (watch our facebook page for those) so it's not totally over yet. But it's close enough:)
Robyn Calvey
Farm Owner
Park Ridge Organics
