Down on the Farm

More Cornelia

Cornelia watering bok choy and more.

Planting tomatoes

Cornelia seeded sun golds.

I transplanted the first two rows of red (buffalo) tomatoes.

Those are our new greenhouse fans at the back. Almost all tomato disease problems come from moisture on the plant, so the fans should help keep the plants healthier. Also the air moving through the greenhouse also helps to develop the plants develop lignins.

Planting another row of peas

As Peter mentioned in his post, yesterday the kids and I planted another row of peas along the south side of one of the new hoophouses up top. When we went up Saturday, we went up first thing in the morning, so the snow was still frozen and hard enough to bear our weight. Yesterday we went up in the middle of the day and the snow (and mud!) was soft so it was tougher hike up that hill. Wavy and I were fussing at each other on the way up -- it was not quite as idyllic as these photos suggest, though we did have fun. Another effect of going up later in the day is that it was warm and steamy up there -- even the lense of the camera got fogged a bit.

Also this time even Henry got in on the planting action.

Spring has sprung

Or "What a difference a week makes."

Puddle

Last Tuesday was the first day of spring, but on Wednesday morning it was -5 F on our porch, and there was three plus feet of snow lying around. But all week it has been in the 40s and 50s, and one night it didn't even freeze. So we have lost a huge amount of snowpack, there are actually bare spots up in the field, and the greenhouse is starting to fill up.

Tomato seedlings almost ready to be planted out

All this also means that we are in full-on mud season, which turns out to be somewhat challenging with two young children who have cabin/spring fever. They want to go outside each day, but usually end up completely covered in mud from even the shortest outings. Today Waverly's boots got sucked off her feet by the mud when she and Maryellen were going to plant more peas, and she literally went a few steps in just her socks before flagging the problem for our attention. Henry, on the other hand, attempts to go over to the sandbox everytime we step out the door, but the sandbox is still covered by drifted snow. Soon! Although spring has already come to most of the northern hemisphere, it will soon come to us!

Planting peas

We planted a row of peas up against the north wall in the hoophouse up top.

Planting trays

The first day of spring and a lot of planting going on. Cornelia came up and worked the morning with Peter seeding trays out in the greenhouse. Waverly and I seeded a tray of cosmos for fun in the kitchen. I helped her keep track of where she had left off seeding, which is always tricky with those big trays.

The kids and I came out to visit the greenhouse for a bit in the afternoon. Henry loved having unslippery outdoor space to run around in. The sun and warmth was so so nice.

Goodbye to the bees

We gave all of our beekeeping equipment to a neighbor. It was sad but it was time. After the bear smashed the hive, I hadn't started a new hive. Part of it is me cutting back on activities that I can't do with the kids. It's pretty much impossible to work the bees while taking care of the kids, and I already have too many demands on my kid-free time, so this was something that goes, at least for now. Maybe when the kids are bigger I will do it again. I really liked keeping bees (though I love having kids way more!)

Trying out new things and then cutting back is also part of developing the farm into a workable enterprise. Lately we have been realizing that what we really like doing, and what makes the most sense for us on a number of levels, is concentrate on growing vegetables and on selling them locally, mostly directly to customers, for as long a season as possible. We like meeting people, we like doing markets, we love the CSA. So we are dropping the seedling sale, for example, in order to concentrate on early tomatoes and other early veggies.

It's mud season

CSA 2007!!!

Here is a reprint of our CSA flyer. For a printable registration form, click here. To see what folks in the CSA got in their baskets each week last season, click here.

Comments from past CSAers

We hoped you’d be able to equal last year’s wonderful baskets, but this year was even more fantastic.

- Susan and Ted Houle, Danville

Being a part of the CSA felt great. It was nice to be part of a community.

- Jean O’Neil, Kirby

Always tasty, the Old Shaw CSA basket is definitely a highlight every week!

- Aaron and Eileen, Littleton

Talk about how to stay well!

- Carolyn Wheeler, St. Johnsbury

The safety of our food is in much better hands when kept nearby at a scale that is familiar to us.

- Sharon McDonnell, Peacham

We have been completely spoiled by such tasty vegetables.

- Lisa Whitney, St. Johnsbury

Who We Are

We are the Griffins - Peter, Maryellen, Waverly, and Henry. We live in Peacham, and this is our fifth year growing vegetables on this land and our third year of CSA.

In addition to the CSA, we do two farmers’ markets a week - Danville and Waitsfield - and we sell from a farmstand at our farm. We grow about five acres of organic vegetables, and we have two greenhouses and two hothouses.

Rich History

Our farm’s good history starts with the glaciers that left us dark, deep soil without many rocks. The glaciers also gently sloped the land southward for good sun and drainage.

Our farm is named after the Shaw family who farmed this land for more than 75 years. The Shaws raised cows and chickens and built most of the house and barn. The Seiden family, who owned it next, conserved the farm by donating an easement to the Vermont Land Trust. We are happy beneficiaries of this farm’s great history, and we strive to continue the good stewardship!

Wicked fresh

Our vegetables taste great because they’re wicked fresh. We grow everything organically (we’re certified), in healthy soil, with lots of love, and then we get it to you usually within a day of being picked. Supermarket produce can’t compete. It takes ten days or more for most supermarket vegetables to even get to the store. Fresh vegetables are more delicious, and they’re also more nutritious!

We sell everything locally – we don’t worry about shipping – so we grow for taste. We grow French melons and leave them on the vine till they’re perfectly ripe and dripping with flavor. We grow tender, perfectly balanced mesclun. We grow sun gold cherry tomatoes so juicy and bright that you’ll be sorely tempted to eat them all in the car on the way home!

Our baskets

In our CSA, we pack a basket for you every week. We include tomatoes and salad fixins in almost every basket. We write a flyer each week with cooking tips and usually a recipe based on the weeks’ vegetables. We grow some unusual vegetables for variety, but we mostly give you vegetables everyone knows and loves.

Last year's baskets included (in rough order of the season) mesclun, cucumbers, beets, salad turnips, kale, cooking greens, arugula, spinach, radishes, sun gold cherry tomatoes, garlic scapes, broccoli, zucchini, red tomatoes, strawberries, new potatoes, colored peppers, lettuce, carrots, dandelion greens, green beans, yukon gold potatoes, cabbage, eggplant, cauliflower, summer squash, sweet onion, yellow beans, melons, heirloom tomatoes, corn, basil, hot pepper, leeks, garlic, brussel sprouts, winter squash.

People often ask how much is in the basket. The regular size share comes in a half bushel basket and its usually full. We figure the basket by price, aiming to average $22.50 worth of vegetables each week. You only pay $19.50 per week – it’s a great deal!

Community Supported Agriculture

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The name CSA comes from the idea of linking local residents with nearby farmers in order to get fresher local vegetables to consumers at lower prices. CSAs also help sustain local farms by getting revenue to farmers early in the season.

Fall Add On

This year we are also offering a five week fall CSA add on. These are smaller baskets (worth about $15 each) that start when the regular season CSA ends and go through the Friday before Thanksgiving, with the last basket being a double-sized one.

The fall add-on is $75. Pickup is Fridays at the farm only. The signup deadline for the fall add on is July 1. (We start growing the fall vegetables sooner than you might think!) Please call with questions or for more information.

Farm Share Program

NOFA-VT (the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont) has a Farm Share Program to make CSAs available for folks who can’t afford them. A Farm Share member pays ½ the cost of the CSA, NOFA-VT pays ¼, and the CSA Farm raises ¼ from donations from members. More information about Farm Share here. If you can, please include a $10 or more donation when you sign up (please make check out to NOFA-VT).

Join with a friend !

A lot of CSAers join with a friend, neighbor, or relative. Sometimes each friend gets their own basket, and the two take turns picking up baskets for each other. Sometimes friends split a basket. It can be fun to get together for a veggie filled meal on pick up days and then split up the rest of the basket. We are happy to provide extra flyers and bags to folks sharing baskets.

Price

The price is $350 for the 18 week season. It breaks down to $19.50 per week for $22.50 worth of vegetables. You save at least 15%.

We also offer a large basket for $495. The large basket gets a 20% discount, $27.50 each week for a basket worth $33.

The season runs from the week of June 13 through the week of October 10.

The deadline to sign up is June 1.

Pickup options

Wednesdays Danville Farmer’s Market 9am-1pm
Fridays At the farm in South Peacham, 4-7pm
Saturdays Waitsfield Farmer’s Market, 9am- 1pm

To order

Call Maryellen at 592-3349
Email Maryellen@oldshawfarm.com
Mail your check to Old Shaw Farm, Box 181, Peacham 05862
Click here for order form

Making up the CSA flyers

CSA flyers are done! We spent the afternoon folding the brochures and making up little flyer holders for them to go in on community bulletin boards. Even Wavy got in on the action. She actually did a really good job gluing. The flyer holders are 6x9 envelopes with the clasp cut off then a small flyer glued on with various wallet size photos of CSA baskets. They came out really nicely.

Next steps are putting the flyer up on the blog and mailing it out to last year's subscribers. We're also thinking about buying some ads in newspapers.

Italian seeds

We got a bunch of seeds from Italy today.

Henry running off with the zucchini costata romanesco seeds. It's nice to have a professional food writer for a neighbor and customer; that's who prompted us to get that variety of zucchini.

Other fun things we got in our box of Italian seeds that we are trying this year for the first time -- cardoon (!), artichokes, some new pepper varieties, and some fancy Italian torpedo onions. Plus, we also want to try jerusaleum artichokes, salsify, some new melon varieties, and Peter even ordered a little bit of horseradish root (!). This time of year is fun because the possibilities for the upcoming season seem endless! And although it was -18 degrees F this morning, spring is right around the corner!

Time on CSAs

Got a very nice email from someone looking for information about our CSA (the flyers are just about done!) after having read an article in Time. "I loved you web site and the fact that one feels like part of the family reading the various pages." Thank you!!

Anyway, the article in Time is here. Actually that's a link to the part of the article talking about CSAs. It's an interesting article in a number of ways.

Tomatoes started

Tomatoes are up and going.

Everything is still inside for now.

Getting ready

Greenhouse season is almost here.

Henry picking rocks.

Waverly with a really big rock.

Peter figuring out a better system for getting water to the greenhouses.