Welcome to the Henry Got
Crops! CSA. This is our fourth season and every spring brings a new sense of
excitement, curiosity, nervousness and ambition. I’m excited to meet new
members and introduce you to Saul High School and our little farming world on
Henry Ave. I’m curious about new varieties and systems I’m trying for the first
time. I’m nervous about the weather and people’s reactions to new vegetables.
Was the warm spring an indication of a record setting hot summer to come? Will
shareholders like the okra? Did I plant enough, or too much? I’m also always
ambitious when it comes to new projects and expectations- but this is what keeps us reaching for
the sky! I will plant an orchard! I will keep the grass mowed in my pathways
when the students aren’t around to help! I
will outsmart the groundhogs! I will raise money for our equipment and
grant-funded education programs!
As
always, I have a fantastic team that has been working hard since April to make
sure everything is precisely ready for this first week. Clare and I both have our largest team
of interns this year, which has already made a huge difference. Perhaps it’s
just all the sunny weather we have had, but I really think this is the best the
farm has ever looked in May! Over the next few weeks I’ll be sure to introduce
you to this invaluable crew that is working closely with Clare and I this year.
One
aspect of this spring that feels different is its anticlimactic arrival, a
result of the strange winter we had. It really wasn’t a winter at all
(especially by my standards, having grown up in Vermont!) and I spent more time
on the farm during the winter than ever before. My coworker from the other
Weavers Way Farm, Rick, and I harvest biweekly from our hoophouses (greenhouse-like
plastic structures) and sold more winter produce to the Weavers Way stores than
ever before. The flip side of a warm, productive winter is the potential for
increased pest and disease pressure during the summer. Many of these pests
likely did not die over the winter like usual. Cabbage moths and harlequin beetles have unfortunately been
spotted on the farm much earlier than usual this year!
The
most energizing part of this week is thinking about how our farming community
is always growing and strengthening with new and returning members and Saul
students. Growing this much food in the city is a unique accomplishment.
Growing at a public high school is a unique accomplishment. Having over 100
members from the immediate community take a short commute to visit the land
from which they are eating is a unique accomplishment. Although challenging, I cannot think of
a better job for me and I thank all of you for supporting this educational farm
and making it possible!
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