Hi y'all!
We made it through the hard freeze! We still have a day or two of potential frost, but we made it through the big whammy. We managed to create enough of an inversion blanket with our smokey fire to keep the temperatures at the fields the same as 100 feet up at our house. We can't do better than that and everything looks fine. Phew!
Why is there produce (occasionally) not from Tumbling Shoals Farm?
For a couple of reasons, we sometimes offer produce from other farms. One reason is that with the spike in demand for local food due to shortages elsewhere, and our customization of our harvest shares, we've found plenty of people wishing to join. Other farms may not be set up in this same way and are seeing their traditional markets diminished under the current circumstances. We believe strongly in keeping the local food economy running so that it's there to support us in times exactly like these. And so, we offer other farms the opportunity to sell excess product through our harvest shares. These farms are sometimes not certified organic. While I'd like all farms growing organically to certify so it makes things easier, not all of them do. For example, Cory of New Life Farm is a Tumbling Shoals Farm alumni and a good friend. I know exactly how he grows and trust him with y'all. So even though they're not certified, I feel comfortable including his produce but I legally have to tell you that it's not certified organic.
Another reason to include other local produce from neighboring farms is diversity of products. For example, we don't grow everything, and if we can get something good (like sweet corn!) from a neighboring organic grower, we're happy to support their efforts and make y'all happy at the same time.
A third reason to include local produce from neighboring farms is that sometimes our own crops fail (this week's planting of arugula) or (especially in the case of early crops) we simply planted the amount we thought we would need before Covid-19 changed everything (turnips).
Thanks for being an important part of the local food system!!
Your farmers,
Shiloh, Jason, Mallory, Kelsey, Andrew, Hope, and Ethan (this is who grows your food, not our kids ;))
Tumbling Shoals Farm
