We just put up the sign up information for the 2019 season over on the CSA page!
It took us a little longer than we hoped to get confirmation that we’d be able to grow on the same site again in 2019, but it looks like we’re good to go and we’ve been working hard on updating our planting plan for the coming year.
There are a few minor changes in the works so I’ll list some of those here:
The share price has changed a bit, and is actually lower for the full season. We base our prices loosely on the retail equivalent of our projection. Despite the season being one week longer this year due to Thanksgiving being one week later, changes in the crop mix are actually bringing the price down slightly.
We’re planning on giving out all of the potatoes with the summer share this year. We’ve been having good potato crops, but we don’t really have space to grow a lot of potatoes or space to store them so we’ll give them all out when we harvest them in the summer. As a CSA member you can decide if you want to store them yourself, or eat them right away (I’m still enjoying the ones I saved for myself in my refrigerator!)
There won’t be any garlic or garlic scapes this year. We’ve had serious trouble with rust (a fungal disease) for a number of years and for the past two years we’ve grown garlic off site which was a real pain. Last fall we decided to give ourselves a break, we skipped planting it and just gave out our saved seed stock to the CSA. We’ll miss the scapes especially – but you should still be able to find good garlic and scapes at the farmers market!
We’re changing our winter squash spacing. Last year’s experiment in tighter spacing with the corn and beans was a real bust and yields were very low, the squash just got buried. Our fingers are crossed for a much better winter squash year in 2019.
As we do every year we’ll be experimenting with a few new varieties and continuing to grow a lot of the same ones that have been working well for us. Notably, there are a few new sweet peppers I’m excited to try and we’ll be experimenting with some new lettuces.
We’ll be continuing with the pick your own section and the little farm stand. For the farm stand this year our plan is to sell any surplus at a deep discount to CSA members and also make the stand available to folks who aren’t CSA members at more normal prices. We’re always looking for ways to get more of the vegetables into the mouths of eaters, and to cover our costs at the same time.
We had enough income at the end of last year to invest in a few tool upgrades that we’re hoping will improve our yields. One of those upgrades is a fancy new seeder that should improve our yields on crops like salad turnips and winter radishes.
That’s most of it. The weather will determine many of the changes. Every season is different but we’re hoping for another good one!
Cully Neighborhood Farm 