Jan 23 Update

Well the 2011 season is off to a good start, at least for the mice! I realized that my seed trays for broccoli were feeding the mice quite well, but now we seem to have a handle on it! The mice in the hoop house did make me start to think of all the trials that farmers run into during the course of a season, such as pest, blight, drought, early/late frost, excess rain..... Our first season was really good, and we did learn a lot, and we had a lot of good feedback from our CSA members, as well as the repeat customers at the farmers markets searching for the "amazingly sweet" Zephyr squash, and the "Ok, I guess I'll try them.....WOW those are good, give me 2" pea shoots! Its fun to grow produce and raise chickens that people start to crave! Tonight we had cooked spinach, sauteed turnips, green onions (all fresh from the garden, not the freezer!), and 2 whole pastured raised chickens. It was amazing, and a treat, to have such good food, that we raised, in the middle of winter. We hope to do a lot more storage this year with potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and herbs. Our 2011 calender is also showing us that we plan to process twice as many chickens; that's exciting! It's also exciting to see articles in our area about eating locally.(http://www.nc10percent.com/) Last year we heard some pretty scary statistics about how little we are spending locally (markets, home business's, small business's), thankfully we are turning the page on that issue, however it is a slow turn! Another big issue that farmers face is getting started in the spring, meaning the financial area. Seeds and material for the year are usually bought all at once, for some cost savings, early in the year, usually late winter, so that spring can run a lot smoother! Therefore, our 1st CSA deposit deadline is Feb. 1st so that we can financially get rolling! This deadline, however, is not an "in" or "out" meter, meaning there is still hope for you! Memberships are limited, so we do encourage signing up early, but we also understand that some of you may need to work out a different payment schedule, or even a "work day trade". If this is your case, please email us so that we can get you involved in supporting local food! We really appreciate all of your support as we tackle this year, and "Thank You" to those of you who have pre-paid for this year's Real Food CSA. If you would like to share this with a friend or need more information, we will be at Talia's this Tuesday (25th) from 11-1:30pm with a farm slide show, freshly picked spinach, and a basket of eggs (and an amazingly good cup of coffee!).