Ed James in his cover-crop filled groves in Florida, successfully growing citrus while the rest of the Florida citrus industry continues to falter from the citrus greening disease
January 27 Home Delivery Options: We have a number of items available at the Barn2Door site ( Barn2Door ) if you might be interested, which would be delivered to your home, on the 27th. (Some of you will fall outside of the delivery area, depending on your zip code, and will not be able to order; apologies for that! You could still come to the farm to pick up, though, if you are game for a road trip!) Some items that we had last time are now finished (cranberries, cabbage, shallots), while a few others are new to the list (other apples from Brightonwoods Orchard, honey from Honey Land Farms, whose bees reside at Springdale Farm during the spring, summer and fall, and some meat from Full Circle Farm, which is up near Green Bay). We have citrus again (including lemons!) from the orchards of Ed James (see picture above!) If you order, you could also include, if needed, any special instructions that we should be aware of about where to place your order, etc. Order by Sunday night for the Wednesday delivery! We will also send you a text right when we drop off your order at your place so you will know when it arrives. You can hang onto the tote(s) for pick up at the next delivery, or when we start delivering again in June. A note on the origin of the sausages and ground beef: Val Adamski, of Full Circle Farm, is also a teacher (for the classroom part of her apprenticeship) of our apprentice, Angela Rivers, who is one of the first ever apprentices to go through the state of Wisconsin's official Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship. (Great to have Angela with us again, as she concludes her apprenticeship with us, this coming season!) As always, we are happy to be able to help support other organic and 'sustainably-minded' farms in our region, by making their products available to you as well. So take a look if your supplies of some vegetables, butter, processed items (like the sauerkraut, which is excellent!), and fruit may be in need of re-stocking! And finally, a note also on the sweet potatoes we are offering: our sweet potatoes are now long gone, but Junior Miller, who is also providing us with his pullet eggs, has some still that he asked us if we could help find a home for, so we are happy to oblige, especially since they are storing much better than ours were! The pullet eggs, relatively inexpensive for organic eggs, are slightly smaller than the "Large" grade that the Millers' wholesaler requires, so we are also helping the Millers out by buying their eggs, which, incidentally, will last a month or more in a cool place.
Farm Doings: January, for us on the farm, always involves: finishing up the books (and taxes) from the previous season; ordering seeds and supplies; planning exactly what crops (and cover crops) will be planted in our fields; and going through our tractors and equipment to be sure that they are ready to go for the new season. And, of course, we are still selling some items to you, and to the nearby coops and restaurants!
As we review how we have been farming, we continue to be excited about the possibility of reducing, or (even better!) eliminating, the tilling of our soil, on initially at least a small percentage of our fields. At the same time we are a little scared of the prospect, as our trials from the previous seasons have been only occasionally successful. There is so much to learn about how plants find and absorb nutrients, and how and why pests and diseases appear or, in a healthy soil, are not a problem at all. But also how the constant tilling of the soil can do detrimental things even while following organic principles. To learn more we also look forward to winter farming conferences, which unfortunately are not taking place in their usual form this season, though on the other hand there are almost unlimited resources available for further education and inspiration through podcasts, on-line videos and tutorials, webinars, private discussions with other farmers, etc., Our education never ends!
It was nice to spend a bunch of time exploring the amazing scenery in the national and state parks in Utah, where we were also able to listen to some exciting podcasts from a couple of stellar interviewers and guests, namely John Kempf and his Regenerative agriculture podcast, and Jesse Frost with his No-till organic market gardening podcast. Do check them out if you have an interest! Agriculture is--however gradually--changing, as more and more research and successful farms show that we can grow higher-quality, more nutrient-dense food, without the use of any toxic chemicals, while also building soil at the same time! Amazing! But it takes a very determined effort to both psychologically change the way we have viewed our agricultural systems, even "organic" systems, to properly function, and then to implement, with new technology, and with new or modified equipment, into a better system. But there are also many failures along the way! A couple of incredible pioneers in this regard are Gabe Brown, from North Dakota, and Joel Salatin, from Virginia. Both have developed systems of producing exceptional (and much higher than conventional) yields (admittedly mostly of animal products, or commodity crops, and not vegetables, as is our focus), on soil that is never exposed and is continually being improved, with their livestock never needing any vet care (including vaccines!) at all! It is exciting to be part of a grand attempt to change how food is grown and processed, from a system highly dependent on chemical inputs, GMO's, herbicides and pesticides, with livestock treated abominably, and our soils ending up more like beach sand or concrete, to one where the we can follow the direct relationships wherein healthy soils create healthy plants, which lead to healthy animals, and healthy people. Hopefully we here at Springdale Farm can continue to build on what successes we have had, and learn from the many mistakes we still make!
2021 Sign-ups: We appreciate that a great many of you allowed yourself to be rolled into the new season with the auto-renewal option! That's awesome! For those who are likely to eventually sign up (either by a check, or by credit card), do keep in mind that there is greater interest in supporting local farms, like ours, and that we will likely fill up before too long. (We will actually be reducing our share numbers slightly, as our physical and managerial capacity is utilized to its utmost at the scale that we are at, and we could hardly fathom taking on additional shares!) Remaining spots at this point will be filled on a first come, first served basis. If you would like to pay by check instead of credit card, then simply start the process of signing up through our website (click on Sign-up), then when you get to the "Payment" section send us a check for the total due, and then upon receipt of the check we will direct you back to finish the signing-up process. A little more cumbersome, but not impossible! (Also, this year we are not offering a discount for paying by check; although we save something by avoiding the credit card fees, there is still some administrative time to monitor and oversee, and utilizing the Harvie system provides enough office work for us already!)
Thanks much for your support, and we are excited as we make plans for the new season! We are likely to need additional help, though, to pull it all off, so if you or someone you know might have an interest in participating in what we do, think about joining us! We need help both with deliveries, and with tractor and field work, and with prepping the veggies in the packing barn. Holler, and come visit, if that might appeal to you! (These would be paid positions!) Part-timers or full-timers welcome!
Peter & Bernadette
