Newsletter sent to our email list on Mar 13, 2015. See the original newsletter in full format.
Welcome, Spring!!
The great weather over the past week has melted nearly all of the snow around the farm. The soil is starting to warm up, and we’re looking forward to getting some seeds in the ground!
CSA sign-ups are coming along. A BIG thanks to those of you who have already signed up – this REALLY helps us cover costs early in the season. And we’re half-way to our goal for the year! We’ll have a big push with one of our company partners on March 23rd, and another big push with our farm cruise on April 25th. If you want to make sure that you have a spot this year – please sign up soon (info below)!
The nice weather also allowed us to get up a new, bigger greenhouse. With our hopes to expand the number of members in our CSA, we needed a little more space! This year we plan to start over 17,000 plants in the greenhouse, which we will then transplant into the field.
Spring Farm Cruise is April 25th!
Spring Farm Cruise
April 25th – 10AM to 4 PM
Come join us for a fun filled and educational adventure touring some diverse local farms in the central Iowa area. The “cruise” will include both Polk and Story counties just a short drive North of the Des Moines Metro Area. Come look around, talk with your local farmers, see demonstrations, purchase delicious, decorative and fresh local products, sample some treats, watch the animals, and learn about where and how your food is produced.
The hens are also happy that spring is here, and they’ve been showing it! Our hens have LOTS of space to roam during the day. (It’s kind of fun to watch them because every once in a while a hawk will fly over and they will all head for cover. A few minutes later, and they’re all back to scavenging. All that to say – we’ve got lots of eggs ready now. Send me an email me if you want some, and we’ll figure out a time for you to come out and pick them up or a way for us to get them to you! (We’ll also put information out about adding eggs with your weekly delivery of vegetables at a later time.)
Would you like to feast on your farm fresh produce all year round?
Learn about the safest methods of
•Freezing •Dehydrating •Water-bath canning •Pressure canning
•Pickling •Making Jams and Salsas
with your CSA deliveries (or extras from the farm)!Sign up for the ISU Extension Home Food Preservation Course
Preserve the Taste of Summer
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/registration/events/conferences/preservation/
Only $35 for 8 online lessons and a 4-hour hands-on workshop!(This is not connected to our farm in any way – just an opportunity we saw and thought might appeal to some of you!)
I’m really looking forward to this year, and fully plan to build on last (our first) year’s success while continuing to learn a lot from a wide range of people. Your support for both our farm, and for local foods more broadly – in whatever form it takes – is much appreciated!
This spring there will be several opportunities to lend a helping hand at the farm. Even though CSA deliveries don’t start until June, we have started getting really busy… preparing equipment, starting seed trays, and soon we’ll need to be building fence, planting, weeding, and several other things that require much hands-on work. If you or someone you know is interested in coming out and volunteering to lend a hand for a few hours, contact me (tony@newfamilyfarm.com) to see if we can get something worked out.
Finally, we would appreciate you passing on this newsletter or information about New Family Farm to anyone who might be interested in joining our CSA next year! We are looking forward to providing you with safe, healthy, yummy food in 2015.