Twelfth Month

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.