I remember reading somewhere, at some point, an author’s view that gardeners (and by extension, farmers) are intrinsically optimistic due to the nature of their work. In the interest of full disclosure, among my friends and family I am not particularly known as an optimist. But I’m already happily planning for next year, as well as planting for this winter. We’ve been slowly increasing what we can bring to the farmers market, as well as increasing our sales. Truly, nothing is as encouraging as regular customers with rave reviews of one’s produce, and I only wish we were able, this year, to offer more variety. (Next year!) Our standbys - remember, folks, we’re on the coast - have been various lettuces, arugula, and kale, with garlic and basil as recent additions, and cameos by sugar snap peas and bush beans. We’ve had a few types of herb and vegetable starts to fill out our table, and have had pretty good success with those.
Matt spent today working on the temporary enclosure for the chicks, who won’t go out with the rest of the flock until they can eat layer feed - in a few months. So our dog Sammy kindly gave up his house, and Matt fenced and bird-netted the surrounding area. Tonight is their first night out of the garage, where their brooder was located. I spent today transplanting, and cleaning up the greenhouse.
We’d had dreams of getting away a little this summer, but realize it’s not really possible. Our entertainment has to be here. A bit of goofing off with the goats is always good fun!
This year at DeepSeeded Farm, we’ve decided to keep the harvest coming for a few weeks into winter. I planted an acre or so of crops that would mature in the fall and provide harvest a ways into winter. Though it is possible to harvest something from the garden all year long in this climate, I decided to keep the winter CSA to just 6 weeks for a couple of reasons. One, it’s great to get a break from harvest at some point in the year. Secondly, after a while into winter the diversity of crops available for harvest in our climate starts to diminish, and keeping the CSA baskets diverse and interesting becomes challenging. Two farms I like to keep tabs on that are doing all-winter CSA’s are Oakhill Organics in Dayton, OR, and Mendocino Organics in the Redwood Valley area of Mendocino county, CA.
Our winter CSA runs 6 week for $120 ($20/wk) and includes eight to ten of the following items each week: Arugula, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Bok Choi, Cabbage, Carrots, Cilantro, Chard, Celery, Cauliflower, Fennel, Kale, Lettuces, Leeks, Parsnips, Potatoes, Spinach, Sunchokes, and Winter Squash. We are now full at 90 members!
They are turning the dirt and hoping to be successful enough to turn a profit, and to become a valuable part of their communities as suppliers of organically grown food.
Peaceful Valley is giving them a head start by offering them special pricing as part of this Freshman Farmer program.
| Freshman: | |
| New Farms Coming Soon! | |
| Sophomores: | |
![]() | Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA |
![]() | Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT |
![]() | Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA |
| Graduates: | |
![]() | Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA |
![]() | DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA |
![]() | Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA |
![]() | EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO |
![]() | Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA |
![]() | Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA |
![]() | Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA |
![]() | Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA |
![]() | Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA |
![]() | Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA |
| Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA |
| Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA |
| DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA |
| Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA |
| EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO |
| Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA |
| Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA |
| Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT |
| Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA |
| Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA |
| Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA |
| Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA |
| Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA |