Good evening, everyone!

It's the last newsletter of the year! After this we're taking a break for a little while. Next week Rachel, Joe, and I will be at a farmers' conference for three days and after that Rachel and I head down to MD for the holidays. We have one more market tomorrow morning and then we're done with veggies for a few weeks (tending to them, at least, we're always eating and thinking about them!)

The conference we're going to next week is through the New England Vegetable and Berry Grower's Association and is three full days of speakers on every topic you can think of when it comes to farming. Tracie recommended I go my first year managing the farm and I have attended ever since. The conference has been instrumental to my farming career and I have learned so much about soil health, cover crops, cultivation strategies, crop specific growing practices, and general insight into what it takes to run a farm. I was able to meet and attend the talks of many farmers whose books I was reading leading up to managing the farm. Plus a lot of our farmer friends from Cheshire County attend the conference as well which is always an added bonus. It's a special event for farms in New England and the first time that Joe and Rachel will be coming with me.

After the conference we have a few days to tidy up the farm before Rachel and I head to MD for the new year. We've been picking veggies weekly since March, so these next three weeks are gonna be a nice reprieve, but we will be back at it in January. A few folks have reached out to ask if we'll have greens this winter and the answer is: yes! We'll be doing the farmers' market every other Thursday from January 9th through til March. I'm thinking while we are packing for that we will also stock the store for Fridays and Saturdays on the same schedule as long as it doesn't get too cold in the barn. That means that through the winter we will have greens in the farm store on the weekends of 1/10, 1/24, 2/7, and 2/21. Don't worry about remembering all those dates, I'll still send out a notification the week of.

CSA signups will be open through the holidays and thank you to everyone who signed up early. It really helps us plan for next year and get our big orders in early before things start to sell out.

I already thanked everyone for leaving a review of the farm online, but I realized there was something I meant to include. This time of year I hear a lot about supporting local businesses, which is great, but it doesn't always have to be monetarily. Leaving a review is free and can do a lot to help our local economy, plus we all read them and it's really nice to feel supported. Thank you again to everyone that left us a review, and I encourage you to do the same for other businesses you frequent!

So with that I'm signing off for the year! Happy holidays, happy New Year, happy Christmas and Chanukah and Diwali and anything that you celebrate. I've always loved this time of year when it's cold and it gets dark early but there is a strong sense of community and festiveness. People got it right when they decided to kick off the start of winter with a period of celebration--one last party before we settle in for the winter. Thank you all for a great 2024 and we'll see you in 2025!

Click Here to Sign Up For CSA!