While our winter tunnel is ramping up crops out in the field are winding down. Our neighbors are busy harvesting their corn and soybeans and we’re day dreaming about what 2027 might bring. I’ve spent a lot of time in my head the past few weeks thinking about what worked this year, what didn’t work this year and what opportunities do we have. Here are a few things I’m hoping to switch up for next season.
Thursday Markets - We are very much leaning towards dropping the Thursday farmers market for a couple reasons. First, the Thursday market hours are inconvenient for our family. It means either Lara or I miss a night with our girls and that sacrifice is getting to be too much. Another reason is that while July and August are good sales-wise the rest of the months are pretty slow. Without the CSA, it wouldn’t be worth it to be there. We’d like to focus more on community drop sites & home delivery. Still figuring out how this would work but
On Farm Events - One of the biggest downsides to dropping the Thursday market is missing out on seeing our wonderful CSA members. We are thinking about switching to a monthly on farm event (farm tour, pot luck, music, pizza night, etc). We think it would be a better way to connect with our CSA members and share the beauty our farm has to offer. Plus, it’d be a great opportunity for you to connect with other CSA members!
More Beets & Carrots - While our early season carrot and beat game was the best we’ve ever had the mid and late season left a lot of people wanting for beets and carrots. I’ll be looking very closely at our beet & carrot crop plan so we can bring you more of these tasty and healthful root veggies for more of the season.
Tunnel Tomatoes More and Better - Our tunnel tomato management has improved greatly in the past couple years but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. We are planning to move nearly all of our tomato production into our high tunnels next year. We are also going to do a better job with mid-season fertilization which is an area where I really felt like I dropped the ball this year.
Fall Variety - I think we could have better selection of crops in the fall. Part of this feeling stems from loosing so many crops in the flooding earlier in the fall but there is room for more. Kohlrabi, bok choy, more broccoli & cabbage.
