Post New Years, Musings Around The Farm.
Hello CSA members!
Happy New Year to you all! Week 6 of our 9-week winter CSA is here, and alongside our staple Featherstone crops, we have a couple of exciting specialty products this week.
First off, we have one-pound bags of Dakota Black Popcorn from our local Meadowlark Community Mill. Meadowlark is a family-owned and operated farm and mill located just across the border from us, in the Driftless area of Southwestern Wisconsin.
Secondly, we have half-gallon jugs of fresh-pressed sweet cider from Hoch Orchard. Hoch Orchard is a small orchard located only 30 minutes from Featherstone Farm. The history surrounding Hoch, their business model, and their view of local agriculture in this increasingly complex world are all reasons we are extremely excited to be working with them. Finding other farms to partner with can be a big task, and it’s important to trust that they uphold the same standards our members have come to expect from us. So when opportunities like this one arise, with a local farm partner we know and trust, we get very excited. To read more about Hoch Orchard, you can visit their website at www.hochorchard.com. I especially like the "History" section—it details how interesting and unique the past of those 60 acres has been.
Over the last few months, we have been working at Hoch Orchard—picking, packing, and now pressing these apples. This has been a bit of a trial run for us, with the intent to move forward in an even bigger way with Hoch Orchard. We are really excited about the current product offerings from this partnership, and moving forward, we hope to see LOTS more cider and apples in future seasons.
Here are a few more updates from the farm:
We have been taking a lot of time to discuss the 2024 season and plan for the upcoming year. This is a months-long process, and we are currently in the thick of it.
Washing and packing continue strong. Lots and lots of hours are spent listening to the spin of the barrel washer and the hum of the wash line. We still have a strong supply of all of our CSA crops for your remaining winter shares.
The coming cold weather slows everything down around here. The extended forecast shows many nights with sub-zero windchills, but it does finally start to feel like winter, which is welcome.
We are enjoying the slow season. The farm has been quiet over the holidays, with many of us taking time to rest and enjoy the break. As we enter the new year, we are hitting the ground running with lots of preparation work to do before we start seeding in less than two months.
A little past the halfway point of our winter CSA, I want to again say thank you for your support of our farm. Being a winter CSA member shows a high level of dedication to being part of the local food system. I am so grateful for our members who come along with us every winter. In these final four deliveries, we have some exciting add-on items, but the bulk of the product will be storage veggies that require a creative kitchen to make use of after months and months of deliveries. Thank you for your dedication to Featherstone and for being willing to support us in this way.
Gratefully,
Nathan