Vegetable Pre Buy Season is (almost!) Here!

Though it seems that all we grow is ice crystals around here, we are in fact dreaming, thinking and working towards Spring. Today I will embark upon a website 'fluffing' and 'buffing' and hopefully we will be looking a bit spiffier and more up to date (website-wise) very soon. Working on online CSA signups and some exciting new offerings. Can't wait to share.

We will be in touch with an earnest call for members soon but in the meantime, don't hesitate to call or email with questions.

All the best from here!
Polly

The Abundance of 2011

This lovely picture is our computer's desktop picture right now. To me, it is all Abundance. Smiles. Sunshine. Green grass. Friends. Family. And yes, Abel's hair is quite abundant. I believe we took this picture with the self-timer the afternoon of Zelie's farewell party in September. Goodbyes have a way of bringing out the cameras, right? Let's preserve this perfect moment forever. It does feel nice to gaze at it and it helps us to remember all the lovely, amazing people who we spent the 2011 growing season with.

This here is a small, earnest thank you to Willie and Zac who spent the greater part of 2011 at Village Farm and to Nate who joined the crew in the fall for a couple of months. Zelie joined the farm and family for 8 weeks in July, August and September and her presence was nothing but wonderful.

Would you send your youngest child off in this truck with these fellas? I would and did, many times. Abe loves all rides in the J20, as this old jaloppy (Prentice might object to that description) is called. Abe insists, actually.

We could not do this art/science/life experiment that is Village Farm without the help of farm workers. We have opted for the apprenticeship model as we both worked on many a farm as apprentices and we enjoy the community that creates itself when we work with people who live on the same piece of land with us. We could hire hourly or per diem farm workers, yes. That would be simpler in some ways but we would miss out on the after hours goat walks, card games, sunsets, porch tunes and meals that we end up sharing with the apprentices who choose to come here.

It is not always easy.

But from this point in the seasonal wheel, the glowing faces in that first picture feel like the loveliest and most rewarding of harvests.

We grow a lot of food here in Freedom Village. We are honored to do that buggy, sweaty, heavy, dirty, WONDERFUL work alongside some fine human beings.

We are indebted to this year's crew: Willie, Zac, Zelie and Nate,
all of their friends who pitched in many hours for good food and company,
the sporadic per diem workers (Shana! Dina! Teddy! Alicia! Others!),
the many college students from Unity and Colby and their instructors,
the high school students from Mount View and their instructors,
our parents, siblings and cousins who supported us in countless ways from childcare to deliveries to laundry to construction projects.

Thank you to the earth and sun, the rains, the moon, the creatures and plants that grace Village Farm with their gifts.
Thank you to the humans for their company and efforts as we all work with these gifts.

Best wishes for the year ahead,
Polly

Late fall 2011

There are still a lot of vegetables in our days and weeks. I harvested 20# of brussels sprouts this morning from the field; the hoophouse is green with succulent arugula and spinach; leeks, carrots, parsnips and more are holding well in the walk-in cooler for fall CSA members and for the produce department at the Belfast Coop.
This season is the end of a long fall exhale. Around the first of the year we begin the greater farm inhale again with seed orders, tax preparation, wholesale account meetings and of course, CSA brochures, posters and membership efforts.
For the moment, we are loving up the last days of 2011.
We have been building fairy houses with the children,

enjoying tracks in the snow,

spotting sunny spaces to play

chasing rainbows,

enjoying each others' company,

and the company of elders. . .

Wishing all of you the very best of the season.
Because of a certain burst appendix (Abe's) this fall, we did not properly send the crew off with a word on this here blog. Stay tuned for the Thanks to the Crew, coming soon.
All the best from here, Polly

Pasture raised and organically fed chickens!

Our pastured broilers live their lives on fresh green grass, in these breezy structures.

It is chicken time once more. We are getting 120 birds back from the butchers (a state inspected facility in Gardiner) today and so we will have fresh chickens available for the next 5 days or so. This batch are actually Red Bros, so red feathered rather than these white Cornish cross breed that we raised last year. These slower growing Red Bros have fewer growth issues (lame legs, etc) than the Cornish crosses and we like that they are far better grazers and not hyper-bred to size as quickly as possible.

Our customers repeatedly say that "that was the best chicken I have ever tasted."

So. They are large (4-6#) and at $4.35 /# that makes a hefty price tag but consider that one bird feeds four hungry adults with leftovers. Making stock with the bones, some onion skins, celery tops and carrot nubs really stretches the value and puts the yummiest soup base in your freezer.

Pass this on to others who might be interested, please and give us a call or email if you need any birds for your winter season ahead.
I can smell the chicken and rice soup bubbling away on the woodstove. . .
Best wishes from all of us,
Polly

Late Fall and Winter Shares

Tuesday, October 11, was the last distribution of vegetables to our 17 week CSA season. Thank you for your part in making 2011 such a wonderful growing season. The work parties, visits from members and CSA potlucks are among our favorite summer times.
We farmers felt and continue to feel very much supported and honored by Village Farm's community of members. We are so glad to be growing some of the food that you are nourished by and enjoy!
Last year, when the distributions ceased, so many of you said "I don't want it to end!" and "What will I eat now?" that we got to thinking about continuing to serve up Village Farm's finest for a few more months through a Winter Share. So, we are going to try it. Twenty five of you have signed up for either a farm or a Belfast pick up beginning this Monday, October 17th and running through late December. We have over twenty different crops in the fields, under row cover, in cold storage and in the hoophouse. You will see some of them once or twice (e.g. fall radishes, fennel) and some of them nearly every week (e.g. various winter squash, carrots). Like our summer-fall CSA, we will aim to provide roughly the same value week to week, for a total of $200 value over 8 distributions: weekly in October and November, then every other week around the holidays. Unlike our summer-fall CSA's "farmer's market style" distributions where members pick out and bag their own produce, we will weigh and bag all of the produce for you.
Belfast members will pick up from an in-town covered porch (I will send directions and details in an email) and
Farm members will pick up from the farm's walk-in cooler
Mondays 4-6 pm

Here are the dates for your calendars: October 17, 24, 31, November 7, 14, 21, December 5 and 19.
Though we planned for 20 shares, we have a good inventory of crops available for the fall and early winter and so could take a few more members, if some of you are interested. villagefarm@fairpoint.net is the best way to reach us.

We are very much looking forward to this experiment and to seeing and feeding so many of you over the coming few months!

Again, many, many thanks to all CSA members, friends and family members for your abiding support in our Village Farm (ad)venture.
Gratefully yours, Polly

Autumn's Abundance

A fine group of CSA members and farm interns cleaning onions during our last work party. Many thanks!!

The winter sqauash and pie pumpkin harvest.

The farmers and farm children got away to the western mountains for a couple of days this past weekend.

Nate raking and Zac rototilling Hoophouse 2, readying it for 5 beds of spinach. Thanksgiving harvest?

Many small bottles full of flowers headed to a friend's wedding.

Autumn winds and autumn harvests, that lower light, and shorter days all trigger a new flow to our days here. The squash fruits are all safely in the greenhouse curing away; growing thicker skins for the months of storage ahead. We salvaged some colored peppers after that hard freeze Thursday night that wiped out even plants in Hoophouse 1. The work of digging and washing many, many roots is to come.
Tomorrow is the last CSA distribution of 2011's summer season. We have had a great year. Bounteous crops grown in the fertile loam of our fields have fed all of us and many of you. We are grateful for the favorable weather, excellent farm workers, support from friends, family and CSA members and for the earth's generosity.

I dare say we have had our busiest summer ever. A lot of crops and a lot of people here on the Farm. The revolving door of visitors, guests, college students, friends, CSA members and family has been a-whirling. It makes us very happy to think back on all the feet that have padded through our dooryard, farm fields and farmyard.
Like most Mainers, we relish summer's outrageous beauty and full days but we secretly yearn for wood fires and snow drifts as soon as the autumn chill starts up. Come January, you will find us hunkered down, alright. . .but working, too. There is analysis of 2011 to do and of course, taxes to prepare. And there is always another growing season to plan for.
We look forward to growing for you again in 2012.
With all best wishes and many thanks, Polly and Prentice

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!


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


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  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!


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  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