I’m sitting here by the woodstove, enjoying my first fire of the winter. The greenhouse froze last night at 25-degrees. That sharp smell of frozen vegetable carcasses signifies the very near end of our year. I can’t believe how fast the summer has gone and that next week is our last until we start all over in June. I’ve been thinking about what a wonderful year the CSA had together. We shared a lot of food and recipes and as I see each member every week, I take great pleasure in the food community that has formed around Rainshadow Organics in just two years. I am amazed at how much I have learned, the improvements we’ve made, and the excitement for next year.
I want to thank you so much for your commitment to local, organic food and for actively working to support your local farm. CSA members find out what that means on an intimate level—the backwards cooking, the adventure, the divine morsels, the dozens of different recipes for fennel and cabbage. Members show up each week with enthusiasm for whatever might come from the farm, waiting in line so that I can share the food with each of them. It was an absolute pleasure to farm for the CSA and I’m afraid I’ll go into quite the decline when I don’t get to see them all regularly.
As the season winds down we kick into a different gear for all that we have planned for the winter. This week we are planting and mulching next year’s garlic, finishing a communal kitchen structure in the garden, the farm stand for u-pick gleaning, and building next year’s compost piles. Next week we are hosting the Sisters High School Interdisciplinary Environmental Education class who has taken on the project of refurbishing our old root cellar. We will be cleaning out the last thirty years of accumulated hay, pouring a new foundation, replacing posts, patching insulation, galvanizing the roof, and designing storage for potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, garlic, onions, shallots, and cabbage. The students will be approaching the school administration with a proposal to use local produce in the cafeteria. This project will also help us to provide more staples to CSA members with the ability to store winter crops for a future winter CSA option. We will also be building a room in the root cellar for milling grains. I hope to offer fresh ground flour next year with sourdough starters and recipes so that you can easily bake your own artesian loaves each week.
We have had a wonderful experience raising pigs this year. Our nine pigs have eaten loads and loads of garden waste, our organic wheat and peas and some feed corn that I traded with another organic farmer in John Day. We are hoping to integrate more protein production into the farm in the coming years, because the dynamic of animals in an organic system seems incredibly important, for nutrients, tillage, beneficial use of vegetable byproducts, etc… Plus, providing a more balanced diet for the families who are committed to knowing their farmer.
As I take this old farm as my own, I am striving to grow a complete diet for my family, friends, and community. The symbiosis of a diverse organic system is my dream. I intend to take the Rainshadow CSA to a new level next year. On top of the weekly vegetable boxes, members will be able to add regular meat boxes that include our organic beef and chicken. We will also offer whole and half pigs again as well as Thanksgiving turkeys. I intend to have a farm-fresh egg option and a grain option that includes whole grains and fresh flour. I am including a survey to collect your ideas and desires for a more diverse diet from Rainshadow Organics that I hope you will send back, because your feedback is so valuable to me.
I want to tell you what an important role you play in providing local food to the community. Many people talk about eating locally, but you all really eat locally! That means every week, all the stuff that you see over and over and all the stuff you’ve never seen before, and trying recipes and sharing recipes. YOU make it possible for me to farm. Your commitment allows me to operate a small family farm that is incredibly diverse and diversifying more each day. Your commitment also allows me to have extra that I work hard at getting into the greater community through our hospitals and schools, because fresh, organic food should be available to people, especially ones who are learning or sick. Your commitment allows me to work all winter long on projects to make next year better. Your feedback helps me to buy new varieties and make next year more fun with more diverse abundance. I start planting in February, which feels right around the corner and having your commitment helps me to plant what we need for the coming year.
I want you to please consider signing up for the 2012 CSA before the New Year. I would like to extend an offer of $30 off both the large and small shares if you sign up before then. I am also happy to take payments, WIC, and Farm Direct Coupons. Also, please return your survey. Let me know if you are interested in signing up for pork, which we will purchase in March so they are ready by September. We will also be building our infrastructure for integrating beef and chicken into our system this winter and need to know the demand. And thank you so much for spreading the good word about Rainshadow Organics to other friends and families!
Again, Thank you so much for your commitment!
Much love and all the very best for a wonderful winter season!!!
Your Farmer, sarahlee.
I want to thank you so much for your commitment to local, organic food and for actively working to support your local farm. CSA members find out what that means on an intimate level—the backwards cooking, the adventure, the divine morsels, the dozens of different recipes for fennel and cabbage. Members show up each week with enthusiasm for whatever might come from the farm, waiting in line so that I can share the food with each of them. It was an absolute pleasure to farm for the CSA and I’m afraid I’ll go into quite the decline when I don’t get to see them all regularly.
As the season winds down we kick into a different gear for all that we have planned for the winter. This week we are planting and mulching next year’s garlic, finishing a communal kitchen structure in the garden, the farm stand for u-pick gleaning, and building next year’s compost piles. Next week we are hosting the Sisters High School Interdisciplinary Environmental Education class who has taken on the project of refurbishing our old root cellar. We will be cleaning out the last thirty years of accumulated hay, pouring a new foundation, replacing posts, patching insulation, galvanizing the roof, and designing storage for potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, garlic, onions, shallots, and cabbage. The students will be approaching the school administration with a proposal to use local produce in the cafeteria. This project will also help us to provide more staples to CSA members with the ability to store winter crops for a future winter CSA option. We will also be building a room in the root cellar for milling grains. I hope to offer fresh ground flour next year with sourdough starters and recipes so that you can easily bake your own artesian loaves each week.
We have had a wonderful experience raising pigs this year. Our nine pigs have eaten loads and loads of garden waste, our organic wheat and peas and some feed corn that I traded with another organic farmer in John Day. We are hoping to integrate more protein production into the farm in the coming years, because the dynamic of animals in an organic system seems incredibly important, for nutrients, tillage, beneficial use of vegetable byproducts, etc… Plus, providing a more balanced diet for the families who are committed to knowing their farmer.
As I take this old farm as my own, I am striving to grow a complete diet for my family, friends, and community. The symbiosis of a diverse organic system is my dream. I intend to take the Rainshadow CSA to a new level next year. On top of the weekly vegetable boxes, members will be able to add regular meat boxes that include our organic beef and chicken. We will also offer whole and half pigs again as well as Thanksgiving turkeys. I intend to have a farm-fresh egg option and a grain option that includes whole grains and fresh flour. I am including a survey to collect your ideas and desires for a more diverse diet from Rainshadow Organics that I hope you will send back, because your feedback is so valuable to me.
I want to tell you what an important role you play in providing local food to the community. Many people talk about eating locally, but you all really eat locally! That means every week, all the stuff that you see over and over and all the stuff you’ve never seen before, and trying recipes and sharing recipes. YOU make it possible for me to farm. Your commitment allows me to operate a small family farm that is incredibly diverse and diversifying more each day. Your commitment also allows me to have extra that I work hard at getting into the greater community through our hospitals and schools, because fresh, organic food should be available to people, especially ones who are learning or sick. Your commitment allows me to work all winter long on projects to make next year better. Your feedback helps me to buy new varieties and make next year more fun with more diverse abundance. I start planting in February, which feels right around the corner and having your commitment helps me to plant what we need for the coming year.
I want you to please consider signing up for the 2012 CSA before the New Year. I would like to extend an offer of $30 off both the large and small shares if you sign up before then. I am also happy to take payments, WIC, and Farm Direct Coupons. Also, please return your survey. Let me know if you are interested in signing up for pork, which we will purchase in March so they are ready by September. We will also be building our infrastructure for integrating beef and chicken into our system this winter and need to know the demand. And thank you so much for spreading the good word about Rainshadow Organics to other friends and families!
Again, Thank you so much for your commitment!
Much love and all the very best for a wonderful winter season!!!
Your Farmer, sarahlee.
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