Is it still raining?
It’s grey and wet today, but we’re busy as ever with CSA veggie planting, bottle-feeding kid goats, and keeping our sheep in check in the vineyard. Spinach and peas are popping up out of the ground as are the beets and carrots. Potatoes have been planted in Potter Valley and starting to break the surface. Lettuce is thriving in the high tunnel. We have one soil test back and we’re calculating nutrient requirements for the different crops to see if we need to add any amendments. And our yearly organic crop inspection is coming up next week!
Yes, it’s busy on the farm, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have time for you to come visit with us! Many thanks for supporting our farm – your farm. There are currently 26 CSA shareholders, with the hope for at least 50 members this year.
Cashflowing the farm is extremely tight, meat sales are helping subsidize the vegetable cropping, and we’re making cuts in the budget to make ends meet. We are keeping up on bills, but we still need to put significant investment into upgrading our postharvest handling, including the walk-in cooler. But, we’re still getting crops in the ground and hope that commodity prices are favorable this year. We will most likely have to sell certain surplus crops to Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op and restaurants. Local restaurants are tricky to sell to because they typically pay very low prices for very low volume, but we have a good relationship with Bar Agricole (a James Beard Foundation Award Finalist this year!) in San Francisco who always wants more of our produce. The Ukiah Unified School District is also interested in our produce.
If you know someone interested in joining our CSA but is not sure, please invite them to the April 13 farm tour at the home ranch. This will be just one of a couple farm events we’re hosting this year.
We’ll also be at a big CSA Open House in Hopland on Saturday, April 20, from 11am-5pm. It’s part of the Solar Living Institute’s Earth Day Festival, and we’ll be one of eight CSA farms with farm information, looking for more sign-ups. There’s also going to be a couple cooking demos with food from CSA farms, as well as the entire Earth Day Festival happening!
Hope to see you at one of these events, and thanks!
Adam & Paula Gaska
And a suggestion from another CSA farm: send post-dated checks. It’s like automatic withdrawals, so of.
