Hello Farm Friends!

Our final summer share back in November feels like a lifetime ago. The past couple of months have flown by in a blur as Jeff and I have found our footing outside the routine of the CSA. When we last left off we were working towards selling the farm and moving on to non-farming lives, but it turns out we weren’t quite finished with this place yet.

So, without a Winter CSA to schedule our time (and pay the bills) what have we been up to of late? Just after Thanksgiving we decided to take the farm off the market, only days before the first legitimate offer was made through our realtor. Despite the amazing offer, we decided to stick with our decision to hang-on to the property until we’d worked out our plans for the future. December was full of fun hiking adventures and spending time together outside of farming, a whole new reality.

I’ve been working part-time for our friends out at Adaptive Seeds helping clean seed last fall and now packing seed for sale. It’s been fun participating in the other side of the seed world, and I get a little thrill each time one of the seed lots we grew comes up on my list for packing. Jeff was hired on at Entek, a local Lebanon manufacturing company with global reach, and he’s been learning all sorts of new machinery assembly skills that have already come in handy when working on truck and tractor repairs. His favorite parts of the new gig are getting off work at 3:30pm and having a regular paycheck. Can’t argue with that!

As farm planning season sets in, I’ve been feeling the pull of farming. Given our decision to keep the farm for the time being, I’ve decided to undertake a small CSA this upcoming season. Jeff will be keeping his job, though he may help with some field work at times, and I’ll be farming mostly solo at first with the goal of hiring on labor as the season progresses and finances even out.  I’ll be focusing on the Salem area initially, but hope to get a farm stand together for local folks to purchase directly from the farm in the near future.

Big things are in store for this upcoming year.  We recently received a conditional use permit from Linn County to build a house on the farm and we’re reviewing our options and next steps.  We’re settling into the new routines of work and life and are ready to tackle the changes ahead.  As I look forward to the farming season, and begin to put plans in place, I’m nervous about taking on the challenge of the CSA without Jeff always by my side, but also excited to return to growing food for this community.  It will be hard work, but I’m hoping I’ve learned some things over the past nine years and that this tenth farming season will be a successful adventure.

Shoot us an email at farmers@pitchforkandcrow.com if you have any questions about the farm and the farm’s future.  Head on over to the Summer CSA page to get all the updated program details, and think about joining me on the summer/fall vegetable adventure ahead!

– Carri & Jeff