June News 2009

Dear All,

A week of rain is Mother Nature’s polite memo to farmers that we work for her. Comparing what we see in our crop plan spreadsheets to what we see in the fields, we are reminded that we are still pretty green at this. Resignation is not the right word, but learning to be calm and have faith amidst the oscillations of the seasons is part of what we are faced with this year. It may not feel like June; it may not look like June; but June will come – even if it comes in July.

Pick Your Own Strawberries Opens June 13th – The patch opens this Saturday and will remain open daily from 10am-5pm throughout the strawberry season. Rain, shine, wind… (and did I mention rain…) the strawberries are certified organic, and the many different varieties mean lots of interesting and subtle flavor differences. Taste a few of each to be sure!

The Stand Opens June 13th, too! – Our fruit and vegetable stand on Lounsbury Road opens this weekend 11am- 6pm and will remain open on weekends only until July when it will be open seven days a week. We look forward to seeing you and sharing our harvest. We are picking several varieties of spring lettuce, spinach, arugula, beet greens, and other early crops. As the summer progresses, The Stand will fill up, so visit often to follow along with our seasonal offerings.

The Hickories is Certified Organic - We are proud that we have, after three years of building our track record and soil strength, applied for and received our USDA Organic certification from the Baystate Organic Certifiers. The process is rigorous but the meticulous record keeping, extensive research and careful planning have yielded a genuine improvement in our tilth (soil health) and farm habitat, as well as a fancy new label on the food we sell.

We want to introduce and welcome Suzanne, our capable and energetic apprentice for 2009. She is learning and laboring alongside us this season with the intention of starting or managing a farm on her own next year. Learning through experience should never be underestimated. She has, in a month, proven a quick study on the tractor, a tough farmhand with the stirrup hoe, and a boundless source of good energy for our little community here.

In other news, we have managed, with the help of a few local heroes, to ride out our first major crisis of the 2009 season: our beloved ol’ blue tractor bit the dust in its first week out of the garage. The catastrophe kicked off a month long intensive tractor research and test-driving frenzy. Patrick Kinney of Precision Performance in Wilton, the kind of gentleman mechanic you can leave your car, your credit card, and your children with, spotted us a loaner tractor in a flash. Dean Schultz, from Larson Farm in Brookfield, gave a series of tractor buying 101 lectures to Dina over the phone. Dan Levinson, from the Westport Green Village Initiative, made countless calls to unearth tractor dealers all over the tri-state area. You know who your friends are when things like this happen. And, in that, we count ourselves very, very lucky.

Eliot Coleman, a farmer, writer, and local food system advocate, puts it perfectly when he says, “Make good easy.” We are trying our best – and it is not always easy - but organic strawberries you pick yourself cut over a bed of fresh arugula is a pretty sure example of that today.

All the best,
Dina and Rob