Celebrating Our 20th Growing Season
I heard from a customer the other day that she considers the Cedar Circle opening as the official first day of Spring. This opening day had a lot of special meaning behind it. With many of us slowly coming out of our quarantines, looking for safe, pleasureful ways to engage with our community, the farm gives us a space to safely gather with friends and enjoy good food.
This growing season also marks a very special anniversary. We are celebrating our 20th year of operation as an organic farm! In 2001, Will Allen and Kate Duesterberg were handed the reins of the farm and began farming pesticide and herbicide free, for the benefit of our customers and our ecosystem! In the past twenty years, Will, Kate, and many countless dedicated staff have built Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center into a community treasure. A big thanks and appreciation to all of you who have worked to make Cedar Circle what it is today, and that means you, our customers most importantly.
In our 20th year, we are also celebrating our first official year as a mission-driven non-profit organization.
Our Mission
Cedar Circle Farm and Education Center is dedicated to agricultural scientific research in the public interest and providing agricultural education and training to children, parents, educators, farmers, consumers, students and other members of the public to promote organic, regenerative farming and the transition to a localized food economy, including by producing healthy, organic food for the local economy in a way that enhances resources for future generations.
We received our determination letter from the IRS last March and made the official transition in October of last year without a lot of fanfare. This year, we’re ready to celebrate! We’re beginning this year with a strategic planning process with our board of directors, staff, and community stakeholders. The plan will guide us for the next five years as we build on our existing education programs and regenerative agriculture research.
Along with our strategic planning, we’re moving forward with our no-till trials. Some of our trials yielded some less-than-desirable results. Others have given us great hope in our mission to regenerate and build healthier soil on our farm. This year we have ten rows of no-till strawberries that we hope will yield a lot of delicious fruit. If you come out for you-pick you won’t be able to miss them.
There are many other new developments in the works for this, our 20th year and I am looking forward to sharing them with you in the next few weeks. Please stay tuned to the newsletter for more updates.
I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend with your loved ones as we take time to remember those who lost their lives serving our country.
Be well,
Eric Tadlock
Executive Director
