Putting the farm to bed
Personally, I feel like I just no-clipped to 2025 with a startled look on my face. Sage and I both started the day off like, wait what actual day is it? before she rolled over to go back to sleep. While I worked just a wee bit over Christmas, I genuinely tried to do as little as possible over the holiday season and actually take a break - get some sleep, read a book. Normally this time of year, as we get things back into order, I'm slower moving and easing into it. I actually enjoy the cold dark mornings we have this time of the year and I want to revel in these slow starts while they last.
2024 was one of our hardest seasons on the farm, and it was a tough year personally for myself and many of my crew. Yet the team still had a successful production season supported by our community and neighbors. Life is funny like that I guess. And the difficult season has only fueled us to come back stronger than ever. Many of our crew actually committed to returning in 2025 and I’m excited to see what long term projects we can complete.
I have some exciting things to announce in 2025, and it's all I can do to not blab it all to anyone who stops by. Over Christmas break, I was working with NRCS and some neighboring food access groups on a couple of those projects, and things are rolling! I am so lucky to have awesome folks to work with and it’s pretty amazing to start to see the labors of many people poised to bear fruit this year.
One of those not-so-secret projects is, of course, our upgraded farm stand that is poised to reopen mid-May. I've gotten many questions on a ReOpening date, and it’s looking like it’ll be mid-may, though we haven’t decided quite yet. You'll be the first to know once we do! And it will tie in with the return of our Annual Seedling and Plant Sale. I have some exciting *new* things to share on that front, so know there will be more info coming to your inbox soon.
Another thing I do every January is work on our farm plan for the season. It's a huge task, fueled with an insane amount of coffee and as much bread and pastry I can get ahold of, that starts with my massive planning spreadsheet. This document includes all the seeding and field production planning for all of the farm’s programs: cut flowers, wild forage, honey, fruit, mushrooms, edible flowers, herbs and vegetables. It’s an epic living document that gets crafted, built and refined every year and every year I think it’s just a little bit better than the year before.
It's actually one of my favorite farm tasks. There’s a methodology to crafting a good farm plan that my brain finds very satisfying and I end up drafting the impending farm plan on paper long before I ever start outside. I joke that I have to take this time to plan for every single contingency I can think of so that when something happens that tosses a spanner into the works (like having to close the farm to replace a bridge!) the farm can carry on while we find a work around. Farming is many things, but it is never dull.
So whether you're here for the tomatoes or the flowers or just enjoy the little trip down our driveway to visit the farm stand, I am delighted that you have joined us while we enjoy this beautiful farm. I hope 2025 is a joyous time of possibility for you and yours and I look forward to sharing with you all of the new things to come! Take care.
- Jenn
