Nov 22, 2022- End of CSA Main Season Newsletter

Dear Woodland Gardens Produce Box Members,

This is the last box of the 2022 Main Season. Thank you for supporting our farm with your membership. I am happy to report that we have had another successful year.  It feels good to be back to “normal” for the most part after a couple crazy years weathering covid and the havoc it wreaked. 

We have continued to make small improvements to the farm this year.  Since we have all our available ground in production at this point, my work has moved more towards fine-tuning our operation.  I am very focused on long term soil management in our hoophouses and greenhouses which are used very intensively.  Hoophouses present different challenges than our uncovered fields.  We have set up some cover-cropping rotations and are even removing some houses from production each year to give the soils a rest.  I’m also always looking for new varieties to help us weather greater disease pressure or higher temperatures.

We added a very impressive solar-tracking system to the farm this year, in an effort to reduce our use of non-renewable energy sources.  The fans in our big, heated greenhouse and our well pumps use a lot of electricity so we are excited to be off-setting some of this use.

Like most years, at this time, I announce the departure of some of the young people who join our farm to help manage the operations and sales side, along with production support.  This year’s CSA manager, Katherine Hagan, will be leaving us at the end of year to move to Nashville and we wish her well.  We have really appreciated her level of organization that helped keep things running very smoothly this year. Our cut flower grower, Morgan Folsom, will be moving on as well, with plans to return to her former career as an engineer.  We greatly appreciated her beautiful flower bouquets each week as she had quite an eye for arranging.  They both worked incredibly hard this year and we are so appreciative of their contributions.  

We will welcome the new crew members that will fill their roles over the next 2 months.  I am learning to adjust to these roles being more transitional and appreciate what each of them brings to the farm during their time here.

Fortunately for us, our core farm production crew, made up of Adan, Wil, Torivio, Ivan, Yenni and Rosa, have been working tirelessly as always and will continue on with us into next year.  I call them the “heart and soul” of the farm as they are responsible for the core production work behind the produce everyone receives each week, and I am so thankful to know and be able to work with each of them.   They are all enjoying the slower pace that fall weather has brought to the farm.  Our lives have to adjust each year to the intensity of the main season, but we get through knowing this slower time is around the corner when we get to watch things grow much more slowly and appreciate the cooler temperatures of course.

We are including a jar of fig preserves in your bags this week — a small token of our appreciation of you all for being such supportive customers. For those of you who are not signed up for the winter box program, please look to hear from us in March about re-signing up next year. The main season will likely begin around the beginning of May with the start of strawberry season. Some of you will continue to receive veggies through the winter months and we look forward to seeing you again next week. We always love and need your feedback, so please let us know your thoughts via email.

Again, thank you so much for supporting our farm. Without you, we would not be doing what we love. And we wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season!

Celia Barss