Hi CSA members!!
I hear that some of you want some direction in your life! Well, here it is!! The fall harvest event season from Saturday, October 6, through Friday, October 19 is almost here.
The directions this year are very easy. If your are coming from Fergus, here is the order in which you will find the harvest events:
Kohlrabi- As you get to the top of the huge hill and see our first Bluebird sign, you will see a yellow flag. You can pull into the approach there. Look for the yellow flag by the irrigator. That signals the row of kohlrabi. You will have to walk a little bit south away from the highway. The kohlrabi bulb is clearly visible on top of the ground so please don't pull up broccoli hoping to find a kohlrabi bulb. This is an event needing no coupon.
Potatoes- As you proceed toward the farm from the kohlrabi, you will see a maroon flag. This is before you get to the wind turbine. (West of wind turbine on south side of the road.) Drive down this approach and for now, you can park at the bottom of the hill. That will change as we move further south in this field. We have 98 rows of potatoes that are a third of a mile long. That is the good news. The bad news is this field did not produce like last year's. There are more small ones and less big. So if you are willing to take the smaller ones as well that will be great. You get four level five gallon pails for a ticket. Each pail is really 30 pounds. After we see how it goes on Saturday, we may lower it to 3 pails per ticket. There is a sign table and a bucket for tickets in the potato field. We will still be doing all the work to get the last two boxes out so call me at 218-205-4739 if you need more potatoes dug.
Squash and pumpkins- On the other side of the tree line from the potatoes, are the squash and pumpkins. The approach you drive in is marked by the orange flag. Drive into the appriach and follow the farm road to the right. You can drive along the tree line the whole length of the field. When you stop to park and pick, park as close to the tree line as possible so cars can pass by you without driving on pumpkins.
The first four rows next to the tree line are pumpkins. We mixed the pumpkin seed together so you will find all kinds side by side. You and your kids will have a blast finding just the right pumpkins for you. And luckily, the field road is right by the pumpkin patch so you won't have far to carry. You receive eight pumpkins for a harvest event ticket. The sign in table is along the tree line a little ways up the field. We didn't want it near the highway and hold up people getting into the field. The four rows of pumpkins are marked by an orange flag.
Squash is right next to the pumpkins marked by the green flag. Each row is a different kind. Here is the order of the rows:
Butternut
Buttercup
Celebration
Delicata
Spaghetti
Pik a pie
Gourds
Delicata
You get twelve squash for a ticket and a five gallon pail of gourds for a ticket.
Note the amazing productivity of both the squash and pumpkins.
Please leave this field by continuing south. When you get to the end of the field, go left back up the road by the outhouse. As you are leaving the squash and pumpkin patch you will see a blue flag. This marks brussels sprouts which is a pick not needing a coupon. Please do not enter this field by the outhouse road since there will not be room for cars to pass without driving on pumpkins.
Beets and carrots- For beets and carrots, drive up our driveway and right by our house, you will see the turquoise flag. You can drive down that field road and find the beet field marked by the maroon flag and carrots are on the other side of that road. Carrots will probably not last much beyond Saturday. A ticket table will be there. You get a five gallon bucket of beets for a ticket and the same for carrots.
Kirk will be here with honey from 1-4 and not earlier as we have been saying. I am guessing he will be near the entrance to the squash and pumpkin field since that will be where most action is.
This info will be updated each day on the website. Come and have a great time on YOUR farm!!
Mark
Dear CSA members,
This is a very difficult email to write.
Last year, the fall harvest event season went on for two weeks. And then, with tons of pumpkins, squash, etc. left, we had the grand finale free pick.
Today's attendance for the opening day of the fall harvest event season was simply amazing. We had three times more cars in one day, today, than the whole harvest event season last year. That is the great news. An unanticipated higher percentage of our members are taking part in the harvest events.
The bad news is we are picked clean in one day. We planted many more pumpkins, potatoes and squash than last year for this. Due to the bees and their amazing pollination, the crop of pumpkins and squash was the best we have ever seen. The potato crop had three times more acres but wasn't as good a crop due to the dry weather.
So the great news is MANY celebrated their farm today. The bad news is the fall harvest event season is over in one day.
Now that we know that many of our members value the fall harvest event season, we will plant even more of those crops for next season. I realize that for those who planned to come in the future days, that is of little conciliation. For that we are very sorry. We had no way of knowing it would be such a popular event today.
Sincerely,
Mark
Hi CSA members,
You can imagine the outpouring of emails has been huge. Do get to the end of this email as you will like what you hear.
The fall harvest event ending early has nothing to do with the boxes. There are still two boxes left to go this season. The last box is the week of Oct 15.
Emails ranged from:
I hear that some of you want some direction in your life! Well, here it is!! The fall harvest event season from Saturday, October 6, through Friday, October 19 is almost here.
The directions this year are very easy. If your are coming from Fergus, here is the order in which you will find the harvest events:
Kohlrabi- As you get to the top of the huge hill and see our first Bluebird sign, you will see a yellow flag. You can pull into the approach there. Look for the yellow flag by the irrigator. That signals the row of kohlrabi. You will have to walk a little bit south away from the highway. The kohlrabi bulb is clearly visible on top of the ground so please don't pull up broccoli hoping to find a kohlrabi bulb. This is an event needing no coupon.
Potatoes- As you proceed toward the farm from the kohlrabi, you will see a maroon flag. This is before you get to the wind turbine. (West of wind turbine on south side of the road.) Drive down this approach and for now, you can park at the bottom of the hill. That will change as we move further south in this field. We have 98 rows of potatoes that are a third of a mile long. That is the good news. The bad news is this field did not produce like last year's. There are more small ones and less big. So if you are willing to take the smaller ones as well that will be great. You get four level five gallon pails for a ticket. Each pail is really 30 pounds. After we see how it goes on Saturday, we may lower it to 3 pails per ticket. There is a sign table and a bucket for tickets in the potato field. We will still be doing all the work to get the last two boxes out so call me at 218-205-4739 if you need more potatoes dug.
Squash and pumpkins- On the other side of the tree line from the potatoes, are the squash and pumpkins. The approach you drive in is marked by the orange flag. Drive into the appriach and follow the farm road to the right. You can drive along the tree line the whole length of the field. When you stop to park and pick, park as close to the tree line as possible so cars can pass by you without driving on pumpkins.
The first four rows next to the tree line are pumpkins. We mixed the pumpkin seed together so you will find all kinds side by side. You and your kids will have a blast finding just the right pumpkins for you. And luckily, the field road is right by the pumpkin patch so you won't have far to carry. You receive eight pumpkins for a harvest event ticket. The sign in table is along the tree line a little ways up the field. We didn't want it near the highway and hold up people getting into the field. The four rows of pumpkins are marked by an orange flag.
Squash is right next to the pumpkins marked by the green flag. Each row is a different kind. Here is the order of the rows:
Butternut
Buttercup
Celebration
Delicata
Spaghetti
Pik a pie
Gourds
Delicata
You get twelve squash for a ticket and a five gallon pail of gourds for a ticket.
Note the amazing productivity of both the squash and pumpkins.
Please leave this field by continuing south. When you get to the end of the field, go left back up the road by the outhouse. As you are leaving the squash and pumpkin patch you will see a blue flag. This marks brussels sprouts which is a pick not needing a coupon. Please do not enter this field by the outhouse road since there will not be room for cars to pass without driving on pumpkins.
Beets and carrots- For beets and carrots, drive up our driveway and right by our house, you will see the turquoise flag. You can drive down that field road and find the beet field marked by the maroon flag and carrots are on the other side of that road. Carrots will probably not last much beyond Saturday. A ticket table will be there. You get a five gallon bucket of beets for a ticket and the same for carrots.
Kirk will be here with honey from 1-4 and not earlier as we have been saying. I am guessing he will be near the entrance to the squash and pumpkin field since that will be where most action is.
This info will be updated each day on the website. Come and have a great time on YOUR farm!!
Mark
Dear CSA members,
This is a very difficult email to write.
Last year, the fall harvest event season went on for two weeks. And then, with tons of pumpkins, squash, etc. left, we had the grand finale free pick.
Today's attendance for the opening day of the fall harvest event season was simply amazing. We had three times more cars in one day, today, than the whole harvest event season last year. That is the great news. An unanticipated higher percentage of our members are taking part in the harvest events.
The bad news is we are picked clean in one day. We planted many more pumpkins, potatoes and squash than last year for this. Due to the bees and their amazing pollination, the crop of pumpkins and squash was the best we have ever seen. The potato crop had three times more acres but wasn't as good a crop due to the dry weather.
So the great news is MANY celebrated their farm today. The bad news is the fall harvest event season is over in one day.
Now that we know that many of our members value the fall harvest event season, we will plant even more of those crops for next season. I realize that for those who planned to come in the future days, that is of little conciliation. For that we are very sorry. We had no way of knowing it would be such a popular event today.
Sincerely,
Mark
Hi CSA members,
You can imagine the outpouring of emails has been huge. Do get to the end of this email as you will like what you hear.
The fall harvest event ending early has nothing to do with the boxes. There are still two boxes left to go this season. The last box is the week of Oct 15.
Emails ranged from:
Our family was planning on heading to "our farm" tomorrow. Are we disappointed? Yes. But, I recall your words, "the harvest events are a bonus, not part of our CSA fee". We have been truly blessed with the amazing quality, taste and nutrition from each box this season. We are especially grateful to have such a bounty in a year of so little moisture. Thank you and your team for your hard work and love of the land that has helped so many families to better health. We look forward to the next few boxes and we will cherish each morsel.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for an awesome year.
to ones of major disappointment. We totally hear you and understand what you are saying.
I have always believed in the power of giving and its huge effect on people. During the frost party, one member said, "God must be smiling on your farm!" What a cool thing for her to say. (Right now He might be the only one smiling!) The harvest events are a gift...a huge gift to our members. Gifts are a wonderful thing...until they become an entitlement. Our government has proved that very well.
I checked last night with other CSA's in the area and they are more expensive, have a shorter season and offer no harvest events. They are all wonderful and I am not putting them down at all. But for those who say the whole value of our CSA is shot to heck because the fall harvest events ended in one day, well, there is a bigger picture. You do not pay for the harvest events. They are a gift subject to the bounty of the farm. What gifts did your farm give this summer? We had the free picks like basil, kale and cut flowers. (We misnamed the free picks since even the coupon events were a free gift as well.) We had the free pea pick, the pea pick, the green bean pick, the broccoli pick, the pickling cucumber pick, the sweet corn pick, the tomato pick, the free melon pick, the frost party tomato and pepper pick... Last year the picks were limited to certain days, but this year they were seven days a week, morning to night because we realized the schedules of our members were so busy.
Nothing is ever as easy at it looks. I have always found that armchair quarterbacks never know the whole picture. Balancing the box, which is our major priority for twenty weeks, foreseeing demand for each harvest event, managing the many stages of plantings, managing labor are all daunting tasks. The average life of a CSA farm is three years due to the stress of juggling so many balls all at one time. Anyone is welcome to walk in my shoes. You can even have them!:-)
The use of the gift of coupons varies widely within our membership. Many are content with just the box and don't use the free gifts of harvest events at all. Others use them throughout the summer. Many have emailed the proud pictures of full pantries and freezers. Some save them all until the end.
The farm is in continual change to meet the needs of our members. Those who were members last year remember how the fall harvest event season slowly bumped along for two whole weeks. And that was even sharing the squash fields we used for the boxes. And we still had squash and pumpkins left for the grand finale free pick. This year you had your own untouched patch much bigger than last year with squash on the ground thicker than hair on a dog's back. So how did they all go even with the great turnout? We are still in shock. But knowing now how our membership wants the fall pick, we will definitely adjust our planting and have extra fields of the fall harvest events for next year.
One great suggestion from member emails is the need to monitor. Although we hate to become militant in harvest events, it is currently very easy for non-members to read the website and show up at these events. Next year, each member will have a badge along with the coupons. That means our members would need to remember their badge and coupons. ( It would be of great help if members read their emails and actually pick up their coupons with the fourth box of the season.) We will also check quantities at the big events as members leave.
But what about this year?? We are going to do three things.
1) We make the last box on Oct 17. We have already picked the squash for these two last boxes. I am sure there will be some left. Starting on the 17th, email us and we will box your squash with your name on it. This is for those who missed the event on Saturday and still want our squash for winter. We will box squash til it is all gone. At this point, we have no idea how much will be left.
2) We have a tentative grand finale free pick on Sunday afternoon, Oct 21, from 1 - 4. We are hoping for spinach, radishes, cabbage, kale, etc. We will also chisel plow the potato field so those who missed the potatoes can get some.
3) This one time only, we will extend our free gift of coupons to next year. In other words, 2013 members can use their 2012 tickets next season. The 2012 tickets have to be used by September 1. And we are no longer replacing lost tickets.
Each year, your farm learns and evolves. Remember the first season and there were few tomatoes in the box?? Or the first two years when a pepper rarely got in the box?? We are still evolving and hope to get better each year. The feedback from you and our own experience watching you is the rudder that guides the ship.
Sincerely,
Mark
to ones of major disappointment. We totally hear you and understand what you are saying.
I have always believed in the power of giving and its huge effect on people. During the frost party, one member said, "God must be smiling on your farm!" What a cool thing for her to say. (Right now He might be the only one smiling!) The harvest events are a gift...a huge gift to our members. Gifts are a wonderful thing...until they become an entitlement. Our government has proved that very well.
I checked last night with other CSA's in the area and they are more expensive, have a shorter season and offer no harvest events. They are all wonderful and I am not putting them down at all. But for those who say the whole value of our CSA is shot to heck because the fall harvest events ended in one day, well, there is a bigger picture. You do not pay for the harvest events. They are a gift subject to the bounty of the farm. What gifts did your farm give this summer? We had the free picks like basil, kale and cut flowers. (We misnamed the free picks since even the coupon events were a free gift as well.) We had the free pea pick, the pea pick, the green bean pick, the broccoli pick, the pickling cucumber pick, the sweet corn pick, the tomato pick, the free melon pick, the frost party tomato and pepper pick... Last year the picks were limited to certain days, but this year they were seven days a week, morning to night because we realized the schedules of our members were so busy.
Nothing is ever as easy at it looks. I have always found that armchair quarterbacks never know the whole picture. Balancing the box, which is our major priority for twenty weeks, foreseeing demand for each harvest event, managing the many stages of plantings, managing labor are all daunting tasks. The average life of a CSA farm is three years due to the stress of juggling so many balls all at one time. Anyone is welcome to walk in my shoes. You can even have them!:-)
The use of the gift of coupons varies widely within our membership. Many are content with just the box and don't use the free gifts of harvest events at all. Others use them throughout the summer. Many have emailed the proud pictures of full pantries and freezers. Some save them all until the end.
The farm is in continual change to meet the needs of our members. Those who were members last year remember how the fall harvest event season slowly bumped along for two whole weeks. And that was even sharing the squash fields we used for the boxes. And we still had squash and pumpkins left for the grand finale free pick. This year you had your own untouched patch much bigger than last year with squash on the ground thicker than hair on a dog's back. So how did they all go even with the great turnout? We are still in shock. But knowing now how our membership wants the fall pick, we will definitely adjust our planting and have extra fields of the fall harvest events for next year.
One great suggestion from member emails is the need to monitor. Although we hate to become militant in harvest events, it is currently very easy for non-members to read the website and show up at these events. Next year, each member will have a badge along with the coupons. That means our members would need to remember their badge and coupons. ( It would be of great help if members read their emails and actually pick up their coupons with the fourth box of the season.) We will also check quantities at the big events as members leave.
But what about this year?? We are going to do three things.
1) We make the last box on Oct 17. We have already picked the squash for these two last boxes. I am sure there will be some left. Starting on the 17th, email us and we will box your squash with your name on it. This is for those who missed the event on Saturday and still want our squash for winter. We will box squash til it is all gone. At this point, we have no idea how much will be left.
2) We have a tentative grand finale free pick on Sunday afternoon, Oct 21, from 1 - 4. We are hoping for spinach, radishes, cabbage, kale, etc. We will also chisel plow the potato field so those who missed the potatoes can get some.
3) This one time only, we will extend our free gift of coupons to next year. In other words, 2013 members can use their 2012 tickets next season. The 2012 tickets have to be used by September 1. And we are no longer replacing lost tickets.
Each year, your farm learns and evolves. Remember the first season and there were few tomatoes in the box?? Or the first two years when a pepper rarely got in the box?? We are still evolving and hope to get better each year. The feedback from you and our own experience watching you is the rudder that guides the ship.
Sincerely,
Mark
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