Wow, we made it! Thank you for joining us this year for the CSA season – an unprecedented season in many ways. This year brought unforeseen challenges for all of us. In the midst of spiraling and pivoting, life keeps going on. From our little corner of the world on the farm we don’t always get to know about the miraculous, mundane, or monumental things happening in our members lives throughout the CSA season. Many of you have welcomed new babies, experienced loss and deaths of loved ones, loss of jobs, changes in careers, retirements, relocations, and so much more. The CSA is a small part of your lives, but it is our hope that it was a positive part that brought your family nourishment.
For our small farm, CSA means that we have a community of supporters that are alongside of us through the ups and downs of a growing season. It means that although the weather, the climate, and the economy may bring instability, our customer base has a stability that we can count on. This year, that stability certainly was a bright light. While many farms and small local businesses watched their business plans burst into flames, our CSA remained strong and steady. I am so very grateful for that. CSA members are my heroes- this is certainly not a typical way to buy your groceries, and we thank you for pushing yourself to do it this way. We know it’s a fair amount on sacrifice and commitment to dive hardcore into seasonal eating and to chop, preserve, compost, wash, and COOK all those fresh veggies! We hope you tried some new veggies, ate more veggies, and maybe even found some new favorites.
So what’s next for us? We have a Fall CSA! The land is still bursting forth with fall goodies so we are launching our optional 4-week Fall Season next week. We are almost sold out, we have 30 spots left so if you’re planning to sign up, go ahead and do so. We will also keep our webstore open for one-time orders with weekly pickup option here at the farm. You can buy veggies from us as long as we have them available, and eggs will be available all winter long via our webstore.
Heading into winter, the farm staff will shrink down. 9 of our 15 full time employees are H2-A temporary agriculture workers from Mexico. Beginning this week, they will travel back home to be with their families over the winter months. 4 of them (Jose Ramon, Juan Ramon, Pedro, and Cristian) have been here in Kentucky working since February, and the other 5 have been here since May. They have little kids who have grown inches since they last saw them. They’ve worked incredibly hard and we know they are eager to be back in the place they call home. They will all be back next Spring and the cycle begins again.
In addition to Ben and I, 3 additional staff will be here working through the winter- Bucky, Daniela, and Kelley. We will be hauling water for animals, breaking up frozen water for animals, assisting in birthing baby lambs, fulfilling orders, harvesting and washing, managing plants in the greenhouse, building high tunnels, digging into spreadsheets, removing water lines, building websites, accounting, and so much more! Winter days are full, but they are a different pace and we welcome that too.
Our eyes are already on our 2021 CSA. We will start our 2021 CSA signups in January, so stay tuned for an email from us. This winter we are building high tunnels so we are hoping to launch our season a little sooner in the late Spring, taking advantage of the jump start and flexibility that covered growing will provide us.
Please stay in touch with us through the winter, we will update the blog and are always active on social media so be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Thank you again for being a part of our CSA community!
Sincerely,
Bree Pearsall
