Every day, one or two new people sign up for our produce pack.  Yay!  We are welcoming new folks into the Abundant Acres fold if you know anyone who is interested.

Meanwhile, what is happening on the farm?

1) David and Jen are out on Red Bank Rd. doing the ‘middle-aged shuffle’ so we can be in shape for the spring season.  This might eventually lead to jogging, or even running.  We were inspired by the Mexican Taraumara runners who are fast and happy.  You will notice I have not included a photo with this item.  ‘Nuf said.

2) Bruce and David are doing a lot of crop planning.  That means deciding what to grow, how much, where to plant it, and making sure there is an abundance of delicious food available for our customers every week through the spring, summer, and fall.  Crop planning is somewhat tedious.  It is probably the least desirable part of farming, but oh so necessary.  

3) Ordering seed.  Once the crop planning is finished, the seed has to be ordered.  We got a real shock when David discovered several seed companies had run out of curly kale seed!!!  I guess it is popular.  Don’t worry, we found some.  

4) Keeping the livestock fed and happy.  This means picking up straw to bed the animals, making sure the truck to pick up straw is working, cleaning out the cattle shed and building the compost pile, and then collecting up the cattle (or bribing them) who escaped during the clean out process.

The return of Gertie the truck

Compost pile in the sun

Escape!

5) Cutting firewood.  Ack!  We haven’t started that yet.  We always have to cut firewood a year ahead of using it.  It serves the double purpose of clearing the edges of the fields and keeping us warm in the winter.  Sorry, triple purpose.  It keeps the little seedlings warm in the seedling greenhouse in the spring.  Gosh, that will be starting soon!

6) Gathering supplies.  David spends a lot of time sourcing tools, equipment, and amendments.  He has to have everything in place and ready to go at the right time when the temperature rises.  He actually loves this job, which is good because he has to do it for the Bethany Garden project too.

7) Hiring the crew.  We’ve hired Bruce and Marshall, and hope to hire Cassie and Stephanie from last year.  I have been spending time figuring out payroll and integrating it into my Macintosh accounting system.  I’m very stubborn about sticking with Mac.

That’s not all of what we do in the winter, but we wanted to share a few highlights.  And welcome the new folks!