more retrospection and feedback

Evening everyone:
Did you get something from us in the mail in the last week? Hopefully so. It's time to get feedback from you about this year and give a little glimpse of what's to come in 2011. E-mail back straitaway if you need a copy.

Now we're at a moment (both grower and shareholder), to ask ourselves what we appreciated about this past season and if there were any sticking points.  In the best case scenario, we will have communicated back and forth clearly, so everyone understood what was expected of them and what they would receive in return. 

To address the feedback intro that we sent last week, a central reason we are leaning towards year-round shares exclusively is to create an even plane amongst the shareholders.  With both Fresh and Year-round shares a question is born. 'Who deserves what food, and how much of it?'  Without the Fresh/Year round distinction the question simplifies to, 'How much seed needs to be planted to feed everyone the best we can?' The effects of this distinction has become clearer to us throughout the past year.  Only with the group engaged equally can we find out what our and the lands limitations are and more importantly our mutual potential.  Each month we learn more of the lands dynamics which has also shaped our shifting perspective.
 
This ag model (CSA- community supported agriculture), is increasingly available in St. Lawrence County.  This further encourages us to go right to the edge and offer an experience for Canton area residents that is not available otherwise, be it in the North Country or elsewhere.
* an immersion in eating locally year round
* wide diversity of organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers
* hands-on experience in the garden
* ample food to store, can, freeze, dry, ferment
* potlucks/networking/community building
* practical information sharing
In the future we can see more sharing of tips between members, group canning efforts, value added food, protein options, and continued improvements in infrastructure allowing us the ability to host community events.

We had no intentions of sounding short when describing our inclinations of next year.  And socially, we would not want to lose any of this group due to ramping up our mission.  But it is important that you ask yourselves some questions too:
1. Do I like the inclinations of littleGrasse?
2. Do I have the enthusiasm and energy to devote to the work, social and food aspects of 
    the CSA?
3. Is it worth it to me, or are they just asking TOO DAMN MUCH!?

That's entirely possible.  Our efforts are not intended to be heavy-handed so much as forge towards something new.  We want to hear your feedback either positive or negative.  As time goes on, I'm beginning to understand that it's not what you say, it's how you say it. We're open to meeting in person as well.

It was a pleasure.  Look forward to hearing back by Dec.22nd.
Flip and bob

Wading through the reflection pool

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                                             Some friendly trading in the works

                                 Our loot on display upon returning home from the swap

Greetings Folks,

  Yesterday was the Food/Preserve Swap that we hosted at the "Church on the Park" in Canton.
This being the first year we were very pleased with the smooth and trouble free nature of the event.
Although the active  participants only numbered twelve, the food groups represented were that of many more.  Some of the items included goat cheese, fig wine, beer, yogurt, maple syrup, jams and jellies,
pickled and fermented vegetables of all sorts, vinegar, pumpkin seeds, tomato sauce, salsa, granola, canned venison and more. It was really a wonderful event and we are already very eager for next year.

 Ah next year, as the seed catalogs start to roll in and as are bodies start to recover from the busy season
now behind us, the day (and night) dreaming begins. Quickly however the dreaming turns into actual and specific planning. As growers before you begin to make the next seasons plan you must first reflect
on the past season. What worked? what did not? What do we need to do better? Because we are only in so much control of things (if at all) farming boils down to managing risk and making good decisions based on that risk. The risk comes in many forms, weather, insect and animal pressure and disease. This season we were afforded the opportunity to experience many of these factors at play. Our garden is planned and planted with more than sufficient diversity to hopefully balance out most losses as they occur. So as shareholders when you pick up your food and you have a full box it is difficult to discern what may be going wrong in the field. With out going into great detail the following are some of the challenges that we faced this season and ultimately affected your overall share.

 -An April without measurable precipitation resulted in a far less than average onion and leek crop.
We now have in place an irrigation system to deal with this problem.
 -A woodchuck wrecked havoc on the soy beans, parsnips, early broccoli and anything else it chose to. This resulted in a very poor edamame crop and no early or mid season broccoli We have know put chicken wire around the whole garden and forcibly removed the woodchuck.
 -Mice and voles continue to be a problem in the beets. For many gardeners and farmers this is an on going problem. Some of you might not mind but many of us miss having an ample supply of beets in the root cellar for raw salads.
 -And last but certainly not least was our very, very wet september that included the now infamous 100 year flood of Taylor Park. To tell you the truth, i have yet to go back into the park to this day with out reliving what i felt as i showed up that morning for harvest. Witnessing months and months of planning and all of our hand work under two feet of running water does something to you. It definitely did something to the crops. Looking back now it is clear what the overall effects were. Small fall carrots and other roots, no fall lettuce or spinach, reduced yields and storage quality in the winter squash and fall cabbage, no fall cauliflower, poor fall broccoli, reduced tomato harvest and no germination of the fall and overwintering cover crops. This list is not insignificant. Consider however that we continued to offer much variety and full baskets right through mid November and a Upick of greens still available today. As in nature, diversity in agricultural systems works. Our bellies, pantries, freezers and root cellars prove it.
 Because of this we are making the necessary changes as to how we will use the land around Taylor Park. This includes opening up more land up front and out of the flood plain.

 I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge one of the most important parts of the equation regarding a growers responsibility, that is soil management.
We will continue to employ extensive use of mulch, cover crops and green manures(legumes), use crop rotations and specific livestock rotations to ensure that we are continually building soil and creating the optimal environment for crops to thrive.

   In the next week we will be sending out a form to solicit your feed back on your personal experiences this season. Please fill it out. This information is invaluable to us.
Information for the 2011 season is also on the horizon.

 Thanks so much for being part of our project and we look forward to hearing your thoughts soon.

be well,
bob