Greetings from a windswept Dancing Hen Farm!
Our buying club will be open this coming weekend. As always, ordering will begin Tuesday at 5
am and close Thursday at 5 am.
Deliveries and/or pickups will be Friday or Saturday, depending on
location. We continue to have eggs,
apple orchard pork, storage vegetables and a limited amount of Dancing Hen Farm
sauerkraut. Please note, there will be
NO buying club next weekend.
Today, again, the wind is really whipping. Hopefully all our trees and structures will
survive this latest blast. But, wasn't
it nice to see some snow this past week?
It was a pretty and enjoyable snow, until the wind started. The wind was strong enough to send Shady sprinting
to the barn during our evening walk. She
stayed out of the wind and with dry feet, watching Rose and I struggle with
wind and drifts. I have to admit, I was
slightly envious of her and wished we had not ventured so far from the house! We will see how tonight's walk goes with our
most recent Arctic blasts of wind.
Hopefully it will die down a bit by sunset. Thankfully drifts will not
be a problem after yesterday's rains and today's temperatures have firmed up
the mud.
Here on farm, we are eagerly awaiting spring. This is always a tough time of year. We are starting to get excited to get things
growing, but we need patience for a few more weeks. We have learned, the hard way, that even with
heat, our transplants will not fare well during the dark days of late winter
and the cold overnight temperatures which are, most definitely, still on the
horizon. We are hoping our new heated
nursery greenhouse will allow us to get transplants going earlier and will
provide the warmth needed to keep the tender plants from freezing. For now, we will plan, plan and plan for the
upcoming growing season and continue to procure supplies.
Speaking of greenhouses.
I have been peeking in our large unheated greenhouse and I am excited to
see the baby lettuce plants growing, ever so slowly, but none the less, growing! With the gradually lengthening days,
hopefully we will have greens to harvest in a month or so. We also have some low tunnels (or mini
greenhouses) in our lower field. I am
not as enthusiastic about the survival
of the plants under these structures.
The latest snow, combined with deer and dog traffic has collapsed some
of them and unfortunately, this is not a good sign for the kale and chard
overwintering underneath. Once the snow
melts and the wind stops, farmer Don will lift and repair these structures and will
be able to get an idea of the status of the plants underneath. Hopefully some of the plants will be fine and
we will be harvesting from these in March as well.
As I mentioned, we are busy planning for our 2017
season. And we have some work
opportunities available. We are looking
for 1 or 2 summer interns and also have some work share positions available. Our interns become immersed in the operation
of our farm and work alongside us to learn about farm operations, as well as
all aspects of our CSA and our farm markets.
We offer paid intern
positions. If you or someone you know is
looking for a seasonal job and wants to
connect with how and where their food is produced, please contact us. Work share positions generally involve
working on farm approximately one day a week or at one of our farmers'
markets. For your work hours you will
receive a CSA share and/or other farm products.
If you are interested in a work share, please contact us for more
details.
Speaking of farm needs.
The farm can always use clean five gallon food grade buckets. Those of
you who have worked in the food service industry are very familiar with these
"pickle buckets". If you or
someone you know has access to these buckets, please contact us. These buckets are one of the most versatile
tools on farm. Among other tasks, we use
them for collecting eggs, harvesting veggies, hauling water and feed for
animals, compost, and the list goes on....
We do still have CSA memberships available for 2017. We are a full choice CSA, meaning each member
is able to sign onto our website and choose the exact items they receive in
their box. New this year, we have split
our CSA into two seasons. We are now offering an 18 week Summer share, followed
by an 8 week Fall share. We will
continue to offer add on egg and chicken shares. If you have questions about our CSA, please
do not hesitate to contact us. And a
HUGE, thank you, to all members who have already signed up and remitted their
payment to us. Your support is what
keeps us growing!
Time to get some work done!
Have a great week.
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