Friday, September 23, 2011

Start Where You Are

Prentice and the lads sowing rye in between the potato rows. Sept 1st?
Goodbye to Zelie from the Village Farm Crew!



Nightly chores include tethering Pheona in the barn so that Phoebe will have milk in the mornings.


A bit of farm art. We slaughtered a dozen Bard Rock roosters that were supposed to be hens.



As the fall arrives, the weeks and crops fly by and I am aware how seldom I have posted here with news, recipes and photos. As I work in the fields, I often think, "Oh, I wish the CSA members could see this incredible bed of fall lacinato kale. . ." or you could insert any number of vegetable wonders for the kale, really. There is such a lot going on here, it is a challenge to stay on top of the blogging/sharing with friends, farm members and customers. I can let myself off the hook, however. We have been down an intern all season so it is not surprising that my precious few hours at the desk have been spent making deposits and invoices.


Hearing the words of Pema Chodron in my head, "Start where you are. . .", I will not attempt to catch you up an all of the news and workings over the last weeks but rather offer just a snapshot of some highlights and some present moment projects.



  • Welcomed Nate to our farm crew a few weeks ago. Most of you have met him by now. We feel lucky to have another fun and talented person in our days.


  • Bade dear Zelie, from France, a tearful goodbye in early September. Zelie entered our home, farm and hearts in July and after eight weeks, she was such a part of things around here, it was hard to understand how we were all going to cope and survive without her. She is on to attend university in France and we plan to see her here next fall. Merci, Zelie, and Abiento!


  • Entered several vegetables in the the Common Ground Fair's Exhibition Hall -- a showcase of farming and gardening, seed saving and Vegetable Beauty in Maine. Scored some blue ribbons --and other colors, too.


  • Prentice and the boys made hand rolled pasta, fresh pesto, tomatoes and salad for lunch last week. So festive!


  • Cleaned hundreds of pounds of onions with a group from Unity College. Thank you so much!


  • Sowed many many beds to winter rye, a cover crop, whose roots hold the soil from fall and winter and spring erosion.


  • Begun to dig fall turnips, beets and radishes for selling to our wholesale accounts, sharing with our summer CSA and storing and distributing to our Late Fall CSA members (sold out!)


  • Enjoying the last of the zinnias and sunflowers. Goodbye until next year!


  • Excited to harvest Brussels Sprouts, gargantuan (or ginormous, to be hip) cabbages and hopefully a whole new crop of broccoli and cauliflower.


  • Looking forward to shorter days, slower days and the foods from the fall fields, full freezers, root cellar and pantries.

CSA members are receiving winter squashes and the many sweet roots, also leaves like kales, chards, cilantro and the last of the basils. We have a hoophouse full of peppers of red and green, so everyone will see those again. A carving pumpkin will be on your way as well as a pie pumpkin--but not in the same week.


We are hosting a work party this Saturday morning 9-11 with a soup and bread lunch to follow. Please join us if you are able!


Harvest Potluck next Tuesday, October 4th here at the Farm. 5 pm. Take a walk, share some good food and listen to Prentice recite a Holman Day poem or two. Hope you can make it!!


And finally, we will have the annual CSA survey to you soon. This helps us evaluate how we did according to YOU. These are so important to our business and our planning for next year, so be ready with your suggestions, thoughts and the like.


Thank you for your support, friends!


Polly and the VF crew