February News

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

I looked at my flower beds last weekend, before the latest snow, and thought – “wow!  Spring is coming!”  The bulbs are growing and in some cases are almost an inch or more above the soil surface.  This made me formulate ideas for a “signs of spring” newsletter.  But, I took a step back and realized it is only the first part of February.  These signs I am seeing are most likely do to the goofy mild and snowless winter we have been experiencing.  In fact, as I type this newsletter, there is snow on the ground, the temperature outside is a balmy 10 and lows the weekend are predicted to be below zero.  So, yes, Mr. Groundhog there are plenty of weeks of winter left.  But, have you noticed how long the days are getting?  Now that, you cannot argue, means spring is coming!

On farm, we are still in rejuvenation mode.  Farmer Don and I spent a weekend at a Bed and Breakfast in Gettysburg in January.  We had an extremely relaxing time, but one entire day was spent in our room having our annual farm business meeting.  We did lots of brainstorming about what has historically worked for us and what we still struggle with.  There will be no grandiose changes for next year.  We have plans to really build our soil and possibly cut our production numbers a bit to focus on taking better care of what we have in the fields.  Most of you already know, we have added a poultry share to our CSA.  Depending on how successful the poultry share is, in the future we add a pork or mixed meat share to the CSA.  Our vegetable share will remain a full choice CSA, allowing members to choose exactly what they receive in their boxes each week.   We are hoping to expand our winter buying club somewhat by increasing delivery dates and products offered.  Our plans are to extend our season in the spring and into the fall and market this product, primarily, through our winter buying club.

Last week we made our annual pilgrimage to State College for the Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Conference.  This conference is a premier event in the sustainable agriculture community.  We gather, each year, with literally thousands of like-minded producers and consumers to attend lectures and workshops and to exchange ideas.  It really is a special conference and Farmer Don and I return home each year energized and excited to be sustaining our small farm for future generations.  For us, and for many farm families, this conference is our main vacation for the year.  Not only do we enjoy the educational and motivational presentations, but we kick back a bit and visit with many friends whom we only see during these few days each February.  At this year’s conference, we both attended workshops on soil health and we had the opportunity to hear fermentation guru Sandor Katz speak.

Speaking of the conference and fermentation.  We came home with a fermentation crock!  There is a large fundraising auction at the conference each year and we had the winning bid on the crock.  I seriously could not be more excited, as I have been dreaming of owning one of these crocks for years!  It is a German style crock with a lid and gutter for water to keep the air from entering the fermentation chamber.  We returned home from the conference late Saturday night and Sunday we put a batch of sauerkraut!  Stay tuned for how it turns out.

We are still busy in the kitchen making dog food!  But, have also been making some really good people food as well.  The other week we made delicious pulled pork and decided rather than serve it on a bun we topped a baked sweet potato with this tangy pork.  If you have never tried pulled pork on a baked sweet, I would highly recommend it!  I think we have found a new favorite way to prepare pork shoulders.

I want to personally thank everyone who has signed up and sent us payment for the 2016 CSA.  As I have said in the past, we are always humbled not only by the number of people who return to our CSA every year, but also by how many new names we see each year.  We do still have spots available for 2016, but please be aware that we will be capping membership this year and memberships are reserved by when we receive your payment.  If you have questions about the CSA or our farm in general, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We do not have a date for our next buying club delivery.  Please watch your email for announcements.  We do have eggs, pork and chicken available for on farm pick up.  If you are interested in picking up product on farm, please email us and so we can have the items in our cooler for you.

Farmer Don will be placing his seed order in the next few weeks.  He is always looking for feedback on crops our CSA members and customers would like to see us grow.  If you would like to provide some suggestions, please email us.  We are considering a greater variety of snap beans and increasing our production of shelling peas. 

I think I have babbled long enough here.  The sun has come up and it is time to move onto the next chore.

Thanks again to each of you for your support.  We are excited to, once again, get growing, for you, our community.