2013 Shares

2013 is our 10th year running our CSA. We started off very small with Karl still working off the farm, but in 2006 we went full time and haven't looked back.

2013 shares are available now. If you sign up before January 1st we are guaranteeing you last year's prices. After January 1st we may raise the price as we do not yet know what our seed, nutrient and gas costs will be for next year.

Even though the 2012 season is officially over there is still plenty of work to keep our fingers cold on these frosty mornings. We have garlic to plant, asparagus beds to prepare (these will not be producing for a year or two), and chicks to brood. We want to add more shelving to the packing shed - the lovely packing shed - I cannot believe how many years we worked in a tent! We want to extend the herb bed and add more varieties. We want to add an experimental aquaculture set up to grow leaf lettuce and salad mix in a more controlled environment than the scorching hot field. More bees - we absolutely must have more bees!

Some of our wants are contingent upon early CSA sales. When you sign up early we get a better idea of how many people we are growing for and what our budget will be for the year. Later sales are still nice (gotta pay the mortgage)- but the grand plans are absolutely tied to the early sales.

If you would like to help support a small, family farm in return for a share of the harvest, please visit our ordering page to see our prices and share options.
http://karls-farm.com/CSA/order.html

Frost Warning

Karl harvesting pan di zucchero by lantern light.

We're expecting a heavy frost tonight. Rather than wait until late morning for the crops to thaw out, we began harvesting this evening. The fancy light system is a Coleman propane lantern on an upside down 5 gallon bucket - it throws light a lot further than you might imagine. With two lanterns I think we could have worked a whole row at a time without having to more them.

The more tender vegetables are covered with floating row covers to protect them from the frost. In windy weather these tend to lift no matter how much we weight them down, but it is quite still outside and the forecast isn't calling for high winds.

Karl tucking the row covers in.

Delivery Routes and Technology

I am supposed to be drawing up the final delivery routes. I promised Karl I would have them finished today, but I am going cross-eyed (and the new specs really don't help, I am better off not wearing them at all).

I am a bit of a tech geek but I don't think technology is helping me as much as it should. I have addresses in the accounting software, in two different email programs, on private Google maps, in my phone and on the GPS. At the moment I have to make most of the updates manually. Google maps refuses to talk directly to Garmin, but I can copy the link to another website that will. Outlook will not talk directly with Gmail or my phone, but Gmail and the phone sync perfectly (hence the 2 email servers - I don't actually use the Gmail address unless our server is down). QuickbooksPro syncs with Outlook - the only reason I use Outlook, but the sync is not very good and I have to reinstall it quite often. I still prefer Pegasus as an email program, but it doesn't talk to anyone.

Most of today has been spent making sure that each batch of data matches exactly with the others.

I swear the first person who makes a program that can sync everything with a couple of button pushes will make a fortune, but only if they do it before Google takes over the world!