How does Featherstone Farm plan for the next year? A look into what makes a season!
Greetings Featherstone Members!
This morning Grace and I sat down to look over field maps and talk through detailed questions that have been coming up as she’s been working on field plans for 2025. Where are we going to fit the tomatillos and how are we going to integrate the advice/observations from harvest lead Victor? Are we going to try the new little snacking peppers Nathan suggested would be a great addition for CSA? How do we even begin to start on the Brassica plan? It’s quite a puzzle to figure out how to fit 6 plantings of cabbages, & 8 plantings of broccoli, alongside all of the winter direct seeded roots and greens and napas, ect! For brassicas alone there are 35 different individual varieties over 45 acres. This is one part of the work that keeps Grace and I busy all winter long, and there are a lot of key steps that feed into this process.
1) Record Keeping, Data Entry, Analysis
One key step to making good decisions for next year’s crop plan is the analysis of the records we have kept all summer long. We have crop notes, spray records, harvest records, seeding logs, and planting logs. There are also sales records to consider. All of these are typed into spreadsheets so we can really dig into the numbers. Did we hit our intended acres per crop? Did we hit our financial goals? Did we exceed them? We want to know, objectively, what happened and why so we can identify future risks and opportunities to inform our plans.
2) Subjective Crop Notes
We try to take detailed notes throughout the season on all of our successes and failures. What varieties were most susceptible to disease? How did our new experiment varieties perform? Why didn’t we have enough labor to finish weeding that second succession of winter squash, and why was there a poor stand of carrots in field number 123? Each year is different and there are so many variables at play. During the off season it is very important to review our notes and consider all of the outcomes and lessons learned.
3) Input From Other Key People
We spend a lot of time chatting with other key people who may know better than us about certain successes, failures, and observations. The folks who are working in the fields each day often have the best input on what happened, so we spend a good amount of time interviewing field leads like Victor, Mote, Antonio, and Jose. Through our chats with them we are able to make better decisions about which varieties performed the best, new field configurations to try, and other new ideas for next year. Nathan and James have a lot of input around sales and with their expertise we can make decisions about what to grow more or less of, what to eliminate, and new ventures to try.
4) Field Conditions
Current field conditions play a big role in field plans. If a field is currently covered with a thick rye cover crop, it will dry out slower and be more challenging to prep early April beds. It would be better to plan early crops in a field that was left chisel plowed or planted with oats and peas (they die over the winter!) because they will dry out quickly in the spring. We also have to consider a field’s needs for manure, its texture (sandy fields dry out faster but they may not hold enough nutrients for a long season crop without extra fertilization), rotation considerations, and long term observations about how different crops perform in certain fields.
Crop planning is a big process that involves input from the entire farm team. We are so lucky to have such a knowledgeable and experienced group to help us as we really dig into the 2025 plan and we can’t wait to share it all with you in the New Year! We are focused on doing whatever we can to improve the CSA customer experience, as you all are our most valuable customers! So please do send along any feedback you have, and keep your eyes out for any surveys we may be sending along to learn how to improve the program for you all!
Gratefully,
Abby