Hello, everyone!

This week, our Winter CSA members will find vegan “soysage” in their bags (which is incredibly tasty and made from our own non-GMO, organically grown soybeans), and, due to popular demand, we will also be offering our “a la carte” selection of baked goods again this week. Last week, we allowed our members to choose from a variety of breads baked from our own farm grains–we had challah, rolls, hearth and sandwich loaves of wheat and rye bread, pumpkin and banana quick breads, and more. We’re happy to offer choices to our members again this week.

We are getting ready for our organic certification inspection. This is big news for our farm, as it will increase our certified acreage by 23 acres for production!

Like many others in the U.S., we were not immune to the “polar vortex” that gripped much of the nation last week. We did lose some of our plants in the cold frame and greenhouse to the frigid conditions last week.   Most of our tomato plants survived, and about half of our squash plants survived.   While the loss is rather sad, it is time to utilize that space for starting our outdoor production cold crops.

We will be tweaking our CSA contract and information so we can give you the most accurate list of options and products that we offer. As soon as that has been updated, we will share the new information with you. It is important to us that we include all of the new offerings that we have available since we received our kitchen certification and are now doing small grains processing.

Mark your calendars, as we have the following events coming up on the farm:

-Herbal Teas Class, Saturday, January 18th at 10:00am. This course will be held with our very highly esteemed mentor Becky Wallace. She’ll be demonstrating how to make kombucha and we’ll have discussion on various teas that can be grown in our area. The cost of this class is $20.00.

-CSA Advisory Committee, Wednesday, January 22nd at 4:30pm. This is open to anyone who has had a CSA membership for at least one full year. Tea, coffee, and refreshments will be served.

-Breadmaking Course, Saturday, January 25th at 10:00am: Learn to make bread with our own non-GMO, organic grains. Cost of the class is $15.00 and includes materials and take home product.

-Tapping Maple Trees, Saturday, February 22nd at 10:00am: This class will be weather dependent, and will be followed by a course the following week on maple syrup production.

-Making Maple Syrup, Saturday, March 1st at 10:00am: This is the second in our class series on maple syrup production. This course will be weather dependent.

-Seeding Course, Saturday, March 15th at 10:00am: Receive tips of the trade for getting the very best start to your garden. Cost of the class is $15.00 and will conclude with a free seed swap, so if you have an abundance of something, you may trade with classmates after class. We will discuss seed soil, depth, water requirements, transplanting, and you can take home some of your work.