December 19, 2022
Happy Winter Solstice!
by Farmer Derek

We made it! And just in time, with the challenging cold and wet weather headed our way late in the week and over the weekend. Thank you for your support during this brief Late Fall CSA season, it sure flew by. I hope you enjoyed the produce mix this time around. It's a bit different every year thanks to the vagaries of Mother Nature, as well as our own decisions, but we do try our best to craft a balanced share.

Because we are adding two additional weeks to next year's Main Season, which will probably extend that season until the week before, of, or after Thanksgiving (depending on when distribution begins in May), we aren't sure what the 2023 Late Fall CSA will look like. At this point anything is possible. The farm could hibernate earlier and descend into winter slumber with the conclusion of Main Season, there could be flash sales in December, or there could be something like a 4-week Late Fall season. This winter I'll be developing our 2023 Crop Plan and there will be plenty of updates and edits to make for growing and harvesting next November since we'll have 300 members picking up each week instead of the 100 we now have for Late Fall. Timing and space arrangements in the tunnels will need to be heavily adjusted and modified. We can all look forward to more spinach!

We began our late season experiments following the 2011 season, so I think this was our 12th Late Fall CSA (or maybe 11th). It has been an interesting journey, one where we've learned a lot, realized what's possible, made many mistakes, and tried our best to get better every year. We couldn't have done it without your support, and we're grateful. A lot has changed since those early days. Growing under the protection of tunnels went from nothing to more than a quarter acre of sheltered growing this year. Two additional rodent proof climate controlled produce storage rooms in the barn were built. Proper storage techniques for roots, tubers, cabbages, alliums, etc. and having fresh quality greens from protected spaces are the bare essentials for a successful winter program and we realized early on that that was what we needed to figure out.

I hope you have a nice winter and are able to enjoy the holidays. We'll be in touch.

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Happy-Winter-Solstice-2893/

December 19, 2022
Pick Up Only Wed 1-7pm This Week!
by Farmer Derek

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Pick-Up-Only-Wed-17pm-This-Week-2894/

December 19, 2022
Food For All
by Farmer Derek

Late Fall Harvest #5 (Week A+B) should include carrots, red cabbage, rutabaga, salad + watermelon + daikon (purple & red) radishes, hakurei turnips, lettuce mix, garlic, rosemary, arugula, red mustard, bok choy, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

Regarding carrots, due to a failed first sowing and a late and much smaller second sowing, the haul is a bit small. This will be a sampling of sweetened winter carrots. It's the first time we've harvested carrots in December. Roots only; tops didn't like the nights in the teens.

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Food-For-All-2892/

December 12, 2022
Frost Sweetened
by Farmer Derek

Late Fall Harvest #4 (Week B) should include rutabaga, potatoes, beets, spinach, salad + watermelon + daikon (purple & red) radishes, hakurei turnips, lettuce mix, garlic, rosemary, arugula, red mustard, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Frost-Sweetened-2888/

December 12, 2022
Late Fall CSA Pick Up Info
by Farmer Derek

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Late-Fall-CSA-Pick-Up-Info-2889/

December 12, 2022
Thankfully Green
by Farmer Derek

What's happening outside on the farm these days? Mainly harvesting, with some clean up and maintenance thrown in. We're harvesting lettuce mix, spinach, arugula, mustard, sometimes kale, from the tunnels, and outside kale when the weather allows.

About a third of total tunnel space is devoted to lettuce mix so we can have a consistent late season supply. We finished harvesting the two plantings from the 450' of beds in the upper caterpillar tunnel and are now pulling from the 160' of beds in the hoop house. Soon we'll switch over to the 210' of beds in the minimally heated greenhouse where quality is more consistent probably due to keeping the temperature from dropping below freezing, constant airflow, and dry heat at nighttime (set for 35 degrees). The greenhouse is our guaranteed harvest space for mid and late December lettuce mix. The other two plantings have interior hoops and supplemental row cover on top to prevent cold injury.

We're thrilled to have a good supply of spinach again. It caught illness each of the previous three seasons and we were close to giving up on it. Hopefully its productivity this season will be replicable in the following years. Our goal is to have spinach for a longer period of time next fall. We may even try to grow it in the spring again. Spinach has a much higher tolerance to low temperatures so it doesn't receive extra hoops and cover on the inside of the lower caterpillar tunnel. We do close it up on subfreezing nights though.

Two plantings of arugula and one planting each of mustard, bok choy, and red russian kale live in our high tunnel. These are treated the same way as lettuce mix with interior hoops and cover. We've been growing winter brassica greens for over a decade now and are fully confident in their abilities, though bok choy is the most sensitive to airflow/cold/moisture issues. This year's batch will hopefully be harvestable but it currently looks a bit unhappy.

Curly kale currently occupies 560' of beds in the hoop tunnel. Like the spinach, this also doesn't get hooped and covered due to its exceptional cold tolerance. We've barely touched this crop and will probably have a lot leftover after Late Fall for some flash sales in January and February. Currently field curly and toscano kales are holding up well. Toscano kale is almost done. I think this is my favorite variety.

I hope you're enjoying all of the greens!

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Thankfully-Green-2891/

December 4, 2022
Root for Rutabaga, Radical Radishes
by Farmer Derek

Late Fall Harvest #3 (Week A) should include rutabaga, potatoes, beets, spinach, salad + watermelon + daikon (purple & red) radishes, hakurei turnips, radicchio, lettuce mix, garlic, rosemary, arugula, red mustard, and kale. Some items will be a choice.

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Root-for-Rutabaga-Radical-Radishes-2885/

December 4, 2022
Late Fall Info/Dates
by Farmer Derek

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Late-Fall-InfoDates-2886/

December 4, 2022
Twelfth Month
by Farmer Derek

I've been spending more time inside than outside lately. I'm sure I've already mentioned this, but before the end of December I try my best to complete all of our cold-season administrative tasks such as ordering potting soil, irrigation components, fertilizer, miscellaneous tools, millions of seeds and plants (literally), and anything else we need to run the farm for another year. (Plus, the World Cup is on and is now in the knockout rounds.) My goal is to finish this work so that I can actually take some extended time off, both mentally and physically, after the Winter Solstice.

Besides ordering off-farm supplies, I also attempt to put the finishing touches on our crop plan and rotation, largely done in conjunction with ordering seeds and plants since quantity needed is directly related to harvest goals and in turn field space required, tabulated through our crop plan and rotation spreadsheets. Farm needs, inputs and outputs, are also 100% related to our number of CSA shares sold because 100% of what we grow is distributed to our members. There's a bit of a gamble, or calculated assumption, that we'll once again meet our membership goal, which is one reason we try to encourage early registration by offering a 5% share discount. More shares sold by the time we're ordering and planning gives us more confidence in our expectations, as well as helping with the farm's significant winter cash outflow. We've been fortunate to meet our membership goal each season and aren't increasing the number of shares sold, so as long as retention remains stable, we feel fairly confident we can plan for the same number of shares each year.

In this latitude, in this climate, for now at least, winter still separates the growing seasons. The blank canvas we're given each spring can feel auspicious and heady as we're able to basically start fresh with the goal of perfection. We can modify varieties of crops, methods of growing in a continual attempt at improvement. We learn from last season's successes and failures as we embark on the new one.

Link: https://www.anchorrunfarm.com/blog/Twelfth-Month-2887/