What Happens over the Winter?

The CSA might be finishing up, but the farm education programs, run by our non profit, certainly are not! Clare will be busy all winter continuing her work with Saul classes. She will be teaching about nutrition and cooking in the classrooms, as well as winter growing in the three hoop houses we have at the farm.

Although the growing slows down tremendously with the colder, shorter days, it does not stop completely. We will still be able to harvest a small amount of food from our hoop houses over the winter. This food will either be sold to the Saul cafeteria, or the Weavers Way produce departments at both co-op stores. Other work on the farm includes infrastructural repairs and organizing/cleaning tools, and our storage buildings, as well as equipment maintenance and spreading compost over the entire field.
Other winter work for me is mostly behind a computer or spent at meetings. I try my best to avoid meetings during the growing season, which means I have to make up for lost time during the winter. Working for a larger organization, Weavers Way Co-op, I have to ensure there is good communication in place for the upcoming season with our finance department, our IT department, or marketing department, our produce department and our communications department. Unfortunately my slow season coincides with the busiest time of year at the stores (near Thanksgiving and Christmas).  Other farm administration consists of ordering seeds, editing our crop map and planting schedule (should we plant more beets next year? If so, where? And how many? And how often?) . My coworkers and I also look at applications for our 2014 seasonal apprentice positions and conduct interviews. We usually attend the PASA (Pennsylvania  Association of Sustainable Agriculture) conference in State College as well. And of course, I will be advertising the 2014 CSA shares and tracking shareholder sign-ups and payments. Despite this long list of winter ambitions, I do manage to take some time off and enjoy a less structured schedule. I usually get my winter fix and spend some relaxing time in Vermont with family and old friends.

Info About Next Season

In the blink of an eye one season is finished and it feels like the next is just around the corner. We will have 2014 CSA sign up information available on our Weavers Way website by December. I will be emailing everyone as soon as the form is up and we are ready to accept sign-ups. Current shareholders will get priority for 2014 before we advertise to the greater public and accept new shareholders. You can also keep your eyes open for a 2013 end-of-season survey that I will be sending out in the next few weeks to get your feedback on ways we can improve our CSA for next year. I take your feedback to heart, so please take a few minutes to fill out the survey when it comes to your inboxes.

Highlights of the Season

Harvest on Henry- Without a doubt, this year’s Harvest on Henry festival was our biggest event ever! We had record breaking crowds, which translated into our best fundraiser yet. It truly felt like a collaborative effort between teachers and students at Saul, as well as staff from Weavers Way and Weavers Way Community Programs, not to mention the amazing CSA fundraiser committee who really pulled all the pieces together. The weather was perfect, the food trucks were a big hit and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Pot lucks- Our kick-off-the-season and end-of-the-season potlucks were our best attended potlucks ever, as compared with past years. I am glad to see a community of shareholders that loves these types of gatherings as much as I do! It is a rare thing for me to stop working and sit and relax with shareholders and take in the farm, so thank you for sharing these evenings with me! It is great to talk with you all and enjoy delicious food!

Limited super hot days-  A farmer’s review of the year would not be complete without mentioning the weather. All in all, this was a good growing year. There were moments of too much rain during the summer, but it’s been worse! It was a highlight for me that the brutal 100 degree days with high humidity were short lived this year. I am a New Englander at heart and I don’t fare well with the hot Philadelphia summers, but luckily these unbearable days really only lasted about a week this year.

Highest number of working shareholders- Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this year for me was the number of and level of dedication of all our working shareholders. We have never had so much interest in working on the farm and I am grateful for every minute of it! It is a real pleasure to feel so well supported from the community for whom I am growing food. There were more than one down-pour harvest days when loyal working shareholders came to the farm to help us make sure the harvest was ready for the CSA pick-up the next day. From staffing the pick-up, to harvesting, to event planning and everything in between- thank you all!

First Frost

Saturday morning I went to the farm and saw that the night before marked our first frost of the season. Reaching 32 degrees will rupture the cells of the most sensitive plants on the farm, turning their leaves and stems dark green/brown and structure-less. Friday night’s temperatures killed our basil, summer squash, nasturtiums and beans. It could have done in our tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, tomatillos and ground cherries if we hadn’t already pulled them from the ground due to disease or low productivity. A few of our more sensitive crops were able to withstand the low temperatures because we were able to cover them with the white row cover fabric we use for pest protection. The cold temperatures can be beneficial for some plants. It will cause carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, kale and collards to taste sweeter. This year’s frost came about one week later than last year, but one week earlier than the average frost date for this region (which is Halloween).  It is with both sadness and relief that I say winter is on its way!

Thank You, 2013 Henry Got Crops Team!

This season the Henry Got Crops crew was the most experienced group to work on the farm yet. Almost everyone on our 2013 staff had either worked or volunteered on the farm in 2012. The skills of this team really brought the growing season to a new level of efficiency, productivity, education and fun. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love this farm with all my heart and soul, and the farm is inseparable from the people who work alongside me in the field. If I could have my way, I would have next year look just the same as this year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hard work, passion, commitment and love for this funny little place in Roxborough.

Tara- Tara did her co-op hours at the farm last July and well…simply has never stopped coming to the farm since then! She was all eyes and ears as she was eager to learn and help with anything and everything. Tara even volunteered over the winter when it was freezing rain outside and the hoop houses were small oases of warm green space. The farm education apprenticeship was a natural fit for Tara as she was particularly interested in working with youth. Tara- the farm education programs have grown so much in the last year, due to your ability to help realize their full potential. You are always there to lend a hand, stay till the job is finished and turn any moment on the farm into a learning opportunity for the students at Saul.

Clare- I have had the pleasure of working with Clare for three years now and I have witnessed her take on the leadership and dedication necessary to create in-depth, organized year-round education programs at Henry Got Crops. Clare, you are always the first to notice if I am having a tough day and offer the unconditional support necessary to get through a long season. Over the years, Clare has deepened the hands-on learning at the farm with big picture, full-circle curriculum that brings the learning experience at Saul high school to a level that every other high school should be envious of. Clare, you take care of all those around you and I am lucky to work alongside you.

Chris- Chris came to us as the apprentice from 2012 and I just couldn’t bear to let him go. After a few conversations over the winter about what his next farming move might be, I somehow was lucky enough to have him back. Chris maintained the orchard in its pivotal, critical, first year of growth.  I don’t think Chris or I knew what to expect in year one with the new orchard. Without Chris’s attention the orchard would surely be a dry, weedy jungle instead of the beautiful, clover-lined, thriving space that it is. Chris wrestled with 300 feet of fire hose once a week to ensure the trees got the water they needed. He weeded, and then weeded again, and then weeded again. He replanted the trees that didn’t survive the winter. And on top of it, he also helped out in the vegetable field twice a week and was just the added energy we needed to wrap up the harvest before dark, and get that week’s transplants in the ground on schedule. Chris, I can always count on you to make me laugh, even when (or especially when) the chaos of the farm almost seems unbearable. You have seen this farm through so much growth in the last two years.

Hannah- Hannah and I met six years ago when she was volunteering at the Weavers Way Mort Brooks farm the year that I was apprenticing there. Hannah probably wins the prize for wearing the most hats with Weavers Way. She has been a dedicated volunteer at all the farms, an intern at the Mort Brooks farm for a full summer, the Program Coordinator for the Beginning Farmer Training Program, which was partially hosted by Henry Got Crops, and this year she joined our harvest team once a week, PLUS she used to work in the Weavers Way Mt. Airy store. Hannah (almost) never tired of harvesting eggplant this season. She has a way of finding the silver lining in every moment, whether it was harvesting in the cold rain all afternoon, or biking home in the cold and the dark after a full day of work. Hannah- your enthusiasm is an inspiration to me and I always appreciate our conversations in the field about the bigger picture significance of the type of work we are doing.

Nancy- Nancy and I first met when she was doing her co-op shifts at the farm in August of 2011. She told me her story about her connection to Weavers Way and the Mort Brooks farm, and after working with her for only two hours I felt like she had come home to this farm even though she had never been here before.  Nancy and I immediately struck a chord as we talked about being women in the farming world. I remember thinking, “wow, she really knows where I’m coming from.” For the past two years Nancy has been a part of our farm team, and has earned the endearing nick name of “Auntie Nance” (which she may not know about!) because of her amazing ability to listen and remember everything you ever tell her. Nancy, no matter what you are doing, whether it is listening to what I did over the weekend, transplanting herbs, or making a map of the farm, you do it with 150% of your heart. You have been a huge part of what makes this farm feel so emotionally nourishing and supportive to so many people.

Scott- Scott came to the farm late summer 2011 when he responded to a poster in the co-op which read: Weavers Way Farms looking for someone with mechanical skills! We not only gained a handyman who can fix our weed-whackers, but a jack-of-all-trades who can (or at least has us fooled that he can) fix or build anything. Scott is a constant idea generator, from veggie bargain bins, to “Adopt a Row,” to the entire composting project. Scott, you are always there when I need a hand and always willing to lend an ear. Scott is as dedicated as if this was his family farm, and that generosity has gone beyond the vegetable field at Henry Got Crops to the larger Saul community.

Emma- Emma came to interview for the 2013 apprenticeship on a cold rainy day back in February. She was completely unfazed by an interview in our dark, dingy, cold CSA building which looked more like a storage unit that time of year, or a tour of the farm in the pouring rain as the sun was setting. I knew right away she was tough as nails and a perfect fit.  Emma has never once complained and has picked up my spirits on more than one occasion when the work was getting to me. After a 13 hour day when we are delivering produce to the Weavers Way warehouse on a Friday night in October, she will be as happy and motivated as can be. I have never seen Emma tired. Emma would hear me say, “Oh wouldn’t it be great if we had a way to keep track of how many volunteers come to the farm,” or “I wish I had better records of our sales,” and before I knew it she would follow through with something that was just an idea and help actualize it into practice. Emma’s strengths lie in working with volunteers and detailed quality control. No bunch of greens would leave her hands without looking perfect, and no volunteer would leave  without Emma remembering their name and unique strengths and interests that they brought to the farm. Emma carried more than her weight in a particularly demanding season. The one thing that seemed constant this year was the ever changing schedule of people helping on the farm. Emma was my constant rock who helped me keep track of every detail necessary to keep the place functioning and moving forward. Emma, thank you.

End of Season Potluck a Success!

Thanks to all of you that came out to our end of season Potluck!

2012 CSA Basket Share Values

Running a CSA farm entails a surprising amount of record keeping. Shareholders are our first priority as we make decisions about what to grow and how to sell it. If there is extra produce beyond the CSA baskets, we sell what is left to the co-op stores, local restaurants and Farmer’s Markets.  The price for a Henry Got Crops share has stayed the same for the four years it has been offered ($410 Small, $700 Large). We are grateful to returning shareholders for supporting the farm as the value of the baskets has fluctuated between year to year.

This year was excellent and shareholders were compensated generously for investing in the farm.  The baskets offered 53 produce types with 23 of 24 baskets calculated. The numbers are based on the average of the weekly basket value from each pickup’s 2:00 basket items. Great effort is made to substitute equal priced items as the day continues but this is how we start to value the weekly share.

The share value we calculate is based on averages between the pickup days and can include the average of the U-Pick item choices. We use one average retail price per produce item per season. U-Pick items are valued at wholesale prices.  Averages mean that the basket value may be slightly different from what your share actually was in a particular week but it is a close enough number to be useful  to evaluate our products from week to week and year to year.

We thank you for investing in HGC! and we hope you will return as 2013 shareholders! We had a great year and met our goals to start some longer term projects such as the tractor acquisition, planting of the fruit orchard, the perennial herbs, even new soil and raised beds in the greenhouses. Scott’s compost operation is in full swing and we will applying it to the beds in the next month allowing the manure from the Saul barn to be returned to Saul land as a safe soil amendment. We continue to work to improve the land and the products we grow at Henry Got Crops!
2012

What you paid

Share price/24 weeks in 2012 season

Small: $400/24 = $16.67

Large: $710/24 = $29.58

As of week #23, including the value of U-Pick, Total value you received:
           Small    $546.55

Large    $1,050.55

Week High/Low
            Small    $45.95, $16.80

Large    $89.90, $31.60

As of week #23, U-Pick separated, Total value you received:

Small

Items on table $473.72

U-Pick   $71.80

Large

Items on table $943.11

U-Pick   $107.45

 2011

What you paid

Share price/26 weeks in 2011 season

Small: $400/26 = $15.38

Large: $710/26 = $26.92

As of week #26, U-Pick included, Total value you received

Small     $400.03

Large     $790.32

Week High/Low

Small     $28.17, $7.68

Large     $56.34, $15.37

We do not have corresponding numbers for other years at this time.