The final days of the harvest season are here. We just have one final harvest before we shut things down for the summer.
On the farm, we are mowing down the fields and getting crops turned under. We will get our cover-crop seeds sown over the next week or so. The green cover-crops will grow in the fields during the summer to replenish the soil for fall planting.
This week, we completed our yearly organic inspection on the farm. We are inspected on-site each year by our certifying agency. Our fields, facilities, and practices are inspected, and our records are closely audited. It’s helpful to remember that being a USDA Certified Organic farm is not a one-time application. The organic status of all certified farms is reviewed and renewed each year once compliance and commitment to the standards is proven. We are granted a new certificate and product verification each year.
We are shifting our attention to farm projects for the summer. We get a short window each summer to work on repairs and improvements for the farm before we begin planting again for the new season. We will be working on multiple irrigation and greenhouse projects this summer – more on that in future newsletters. Once projects are underway, we will finalize our growing plans for the next season, and we’ll get growing again! Part of the reason we like to enroll Farm Members so early in the year is to help guide the planting decisions we make for the coming season. It helps to know how many people will be eating the food we produce!
We thank you all for the support this season. We hope to see all of our market friends for the last market this weekend. We will be thinking of you throughout the summer, and we are looking forward to an abundant return to the harvest season in October.
All the best,
Ellen and Cole
