(CSA Newsletter: Late Season Week 10)
Meet this week’s vegetables:

This morning the sun is shining over my shoulder as I write the newsletter. If I don’t look at the thermometer, I could easily fool myself into believing that there is warmth in the air outside.
Of course, there’s not.
Last Tuesday, many of you asked us if we were ‘ready for the big chill,’ and we shrugged it off. I suppose we hadn’t paid close attention yet to the forecasts, but we soon grew very alert as the papers and radio predicted a record long cold front moving in. We did then prepare: we harvested for the CSA several days early, since we knew harvesting becomes futile once temperatures drop below freezing. Our early timing put the harvest work right in the middle of the first wave of storms: a warmer, wet and windy squall. We worked in short periods, coming inside frequently to dry out and warm up.
To add to the drama, the strong wind finally convinced us to pull the plastic off our field greenhouses. Unfortunately, it convinced us by doing some of the work first, which in the process bent some of our new metal anchors. The damage was our fault — we should have taken the plastic down weeks ago during the calm dry weather, but we used those periods to work on fun projects instead. So, on Friday we found ourselves rushing around doing the job sloppily in the middle of a storm. We’re hoping that maybe next season we can finish the year without any greenhouse drama.
To continue preparing for the cold weather, we spent all of Sunday (usually our day off) putting row cover over beds in the field. We debated row covering for several days as we checked in with other farmer friends. With extreme temperatures forecasted as low as 11°, we were uncertain whether row cover (a filmy white cloth) would help at all. Other farmers we spoke to were certain that everything in the fields would die during this storm, including hardy cabbages and leeks.
That prediction certainly frightened us. Our fields are full of vegetables — about two acres in total right now. As we harvested for the CSA, Casey and I both grew sad looking at the many different kinds of vegetables we’d hoped to over-winter for the 2009 CSA. We realized how much work we’ve done and how much could be lost.
So, even though it might be wasted effort in the end, we knew we had to do something. We were able to effectively row cover 25+ beds of veggies — certainly not everything, but a bed or two of most things. We even covered a bed of cabbages and a bed of leeks, just in case. We’re hoping that at the very least the covered vegetables will pull through in some fashion, but we also hope that everything survives alive. We already know that we’ll be facing a lot of immediate damage to the plants after this extended cold spell, but the days will begin to get longer soon and new growth can and does occur in January and February.
We’re happy to report that Monday night’s low here on the farm was nowhere near the predicted low: 19.6° instead of 11°. When we get that cold, a few degrees matter. Also, we’re hoping that Sunday night’s snow helped insulate the vegetables from the cold weather. We walked the fields Monday and were pleased to see a snow blanket over the row covers — the veggies were tucked in, and the ground under the snow hadn’t frozen yet.
Who knows what the end result of this series of storms will be … we’re still very much in the middle, but we’re trying to be optimistic. But, Casey and I are also already talking about the big bad ‘what if’ scenarios — what if everything dies? How will we alter the plan for 2009? We have some early ideas, but of course we can’t make any decisions until we have more information. I assume we’ll have that information before we send out the 2009 reminder letters, so watch for any changed details in your January mailing.
To help us make any hard decisions, we also want to form a small core group of CSA members who can be available once or twice a year for meetings to discuss big issue questions about CSA stuff, such as what to do after an extreme weather event. Obviously, the farm is our business and livelihood, but the CSA has become much bigger than just us: 93+ households are committed to this endeavor as well. And as we turn to focus our business more on the CSA, we would like to involve more than just the two of us in keeping the CSA alive and moving in a positive direction for everyone. If you’re interested, contact us and we’ll provide more details. Depending on the outcome of the storm, we might try to pull a few of you out here soon to discuss 2009. This decision, we realize, might be too big for just Casey and me.
On some level, I think we’re feeling a little sheepish right now about our headfirst dive into being a year-round CSA. Ultimately, we realize that our planning and preparing was the best it could be and that we’re facing some very extreme and unusual weather, but it’d be easier to say that with a few more seasons under our belts. Of course, we felt sheepish during the earlier cold and uncertain June too, and we survived that difficult period just fine. So, we’ll see …
Although we’ve managed to stay pretty darn chipper through all this (the sun helps), there have been other minor winter dramas here on the farm as well: a stray momma cat died in our pole barn on Friday morning, and one of our hens mysteriously died on Saturday. Dead cat, dead chicken, (possibly) dead vegetables — even though the solstice isn’t until Sunday, winter has forcefully arrived in tone and temperature.
Maybe I’ve said this before, but farming has given me greater appreciation for the timing and spirit of December holidays. Although most privileged Americans are safely buffered from the hardship of this season, its reality is difficult indeed. December is the month when winter stretches ahead with uncertainty in everything: weather, food stores, illness, comfort. With today’s global food economy (winter here; summer there), very few of us truly worry anymore, but the reality exists around us regardless. This year, I feel it more than ever before as I look out at frozen fields and listen to economic reports on the radio (recession, deflation, lay offs, debts). It would be easy right now to succumb to depression and feelings of pointlessness.
But the holidays arrive to remind us: this too shall pass. In the midst of the darkest season of all, the holidays bring us light. The light of a lamp that burned miraculously for eight nights. The light of a star over Bethlehem as an infant is born, new life precious to mother and father. The light of a yule log burning in the fire, bringing warmth and wishes for the new year.
We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and begins 2009 joyfully. And, may we also all stay aware of how we can help those for whom the light has gone out. So many people are hurting right now within our own communities. Let us remember the ‘reason for the season’: it’s not gifts or candy or cookies, but love and grace in the midst of darkness.
Thank you all for an absolutely fabulous 2008 — our best year yet as a farm! We will see you in 2009, which will hopefully be another abundant season. In the meantime, enjoy the vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla