WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
We've been slacking off on these posts for awhile....but here he is, in all his Wednesday glory, hiding in a fallen down old outhouse.
FARM ON, YOUNG FARMERS.
When I came in from seeding carrots Hannah was sitting in her chair calculating our income. "Do you want to know how much we've made this year," she asks, grinning.Using my shirt to wipe the sweat from my face I say, "Oh God, not really.""$13,000."Truth be told, that's more than I expected her to say. I expected her to say $10,000, or less. Zero wouldn't have surprised me. Still, $13,000 is a pretty sad number to be relieved by, as it represents the combined income for two full-time workers nine months into the year. I did some quick math and figured that if everything goes more or less perfectly, we will earn around $16,000 in 2014, total.But we lost $4,500 worth of turkeys. We had a bad mushroom year. Our main season tomatoes crapped out on us early, and we didn't start late tomatoes. I admittedly made a few costly gardening mistakes. The market we attend in Nashville failed spectacularly this year. And of course, the drought wasn't particularly merciful. However, if we had earned everything we should have earned this year, or even most of it, it wouldn't have been so bad. Really, the year would have been good. And all signs point to next year being better, so we try to take comfort in that. You live and learn and move on.Despite our struggles, though, we're still pretty happy farmers. In fact I've never, poor or not, been more proud of, or satisfied by, what I do. I love this job and wouldn't do anything else. And it's only our third year living (almost) solely off a farming income, so we're still learning how to make it work for us. But we know what we're capable of now on what kind of scale we'd like to grow. Looking towards next year, I can say with confidence we'll be alright no matter what the season holds. If we survived this year, still happy, with not a lot of money but a winter's supply of storage crops in the cellar, I'd say we can survive just about any year. Especially since no year going forward will depend on the survival of turkeys. Ever again.- Jesse.
ANNOUNCING THE FALL SHARE.
We are excited to be extending our season this year to offer a seven week fall share starting October 7th and going until November 25th, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The price is $154 ($22/wk) for a single share, or $266 ($38/wk) for a double share. As usual, spots are limited, so please let us know as soon as you are interested. Also, fall share members will be first on the list to buy one of our, sigh, remaining turkeys.Veggies to expect:Sweet potatoesTomatoesOnionsGarlicKaleChardButternut SquashPumpkinsSpaghetti SquashEtc. Etc. Etc.!We ask that everyone who can, please pay up front so we may get the supplies we need to get the season going (we do still take SNAP Benefits on a weekly basis!). If you cannot pay upfront, please contact us and we will work something out. We also want to offer to anyone interested the chance to donate a share. We can find a recipient, or you can pick them yourself, but we want to give that opportunity to anyone who would like to support our farm and our community, but may not need the food or live in the area.Please email (roughdraftfarmstead@gmail) or call (270.457.4956) as soon as you can to get on the list. We're only taking fifteen members, so act soon! Deliveries will still be on Tuesday at the Community Farmers' Market in Bowling Green from 1-6 p.m..- J + H.
MUSHROOM WALK.
There are about one hundred feet in between the road and our spring, and all of these mushrooms were spotted in that short walk. Wish we could have had these rainy days during morel and chanterelle seasons!
