From left to right: Eric and Max in the field; the team pruning the orchard; Sarah and Nolan at the Hastings Market
As we enter our seventh year operating, I think of all the work that has gone into this place, and all of our goals for stewarding this land into the future. We have installed miles of fencing, built drainage systems, greenhouses, and roads, improved our pastures, and planted trees all over our property and along waterways. I may be biased, but I think we have raised a lot of incredible produce, beef, pork, eggs, and more. It has been exciting, and challenging. We have faced historic rain and flooding, drought, and smoky wildfires, and pushed through a global pandemic. Most importantly, I’m grateful for our community who has buoyed us through it all: all our amazing crew who have worked here over the years, and our customers who motivate us to keep doing what we do.
One of the most rewarding parts of having a few seasons under our belt is building an incredible, and growing team. We are fortunate to be welcoming back team members from last season. You will see several familiar faces at the market and packing your orders: Sarah, Nolan, Anna, and Whitney. We’re excited to welcome two new people to our team as well; Olivia is joining our livestock crew, and Max is jumping in to lead our crops production. We’re thrilled to have both on board! As we move into the high season, we are looking for a couple more people to join our crop team - If you or someone is interested please apply, or spread the word.
Max, left, has joined us as our Crops Lead and Olivia, right, is part of our 2024 livestock crew.
The farm is kicking into gear quickly. We are expecting nine calves this April to join our cattle herd. The chickens that were born last fall will start laying eggs any day now. We also have 30 heritage breed piglets arriving in May from a local farm that we will raise in our woods. It will be our biggest year for harvesting meat, with 30 pigs and 12 cows, and we just launched our inaugural meat CSA in March. We are excited for this new chapter with our meat customers where you can subscribe to a monthly box of meat at a discounted rate. If you are interested in joining, you can do so here.
Anna, left, with our new chicks this winter that are now grown; Olivia, right, in the field with the cow herd.
On the crops side, everything is waking up. Our garlic and tulips have emerged and are growing quickly, as are the greens in our greenhouses. We have started picking one of my favorite crops, kale raab (similar to broccolini), which has a short season in early spring as the kale starts to flower. We have already planted our first greenhouse tomatoes that we hope to be harvesting in June. Before we know it…(after many long days and weeks of planting, weeding, trellising, and irrigating) our fields will be full of produce.
Max and Nolan Trellising our first succession of tomatoes
I’m so excited for a new season with our crew and for another opportunity to share all of the wonderful food we are raising on this land!
- Eric Harvey, Farm Manager