This Week at the Farm: Thanksgiving Gratitude

Another week, another snowfall. The weather seems to be a couple weeks ahead this year – it’s not even December and the fields are already covered in quite a bit of snow.

Although the cold has nearly brought our greens and kale production to a halt, the farmstand is stocked full of organic produce – potatoes, carrots, squash, turnips, radishes, etc. We have so much to be grateful for.

The season’s harvest. We celebrated the bounty of the season at our annual Pumpkin Festival event back in October. Now that Thanksgiving is upon us, it’s worth saying again that we are extremely grateful for the season’s harvest. Each year brings its own challenges, and yet, we always have an abundance of produce to share with all of you.

Our employees. Each and every one of our employees (up to 65+ in the high season!) adds value to the farm, no matter what their role. We’re grateful for all of the work they do throughout the season to keep the farmstand filled with delicious produce, food, and baked goods and beautiful plants and flowers, and to make it a special place for our community.

Our community. We are fortunate to be surrounded by so many people who share our passion for organic food and farming. Because of your continued support, we are able to offer organic produce and tasty prepared food options to the community, to develop farming practices that will rebuild and improve the soil, and to help lower income populations gain access to both fresh produce and our invaluable education programs.

Our partnership with Willing Hands. This year, over 30,000 pounds of produce were harvested from the Willing Hands Garden (behind the blueberry patch down Pavillion Rd.) by their wonderful volunteers and delivered to our neighbors in need throughout the Upper Valley.

Organizations that are raising the standards for organic certificaton. Organizations like The Real Organic Project and The Rodale Institute are pioneering add-on certification programs which reward farmers who go above and beyond the USDA’s National Organic Program regulations. Their efforts provide an incentive for farmers to use better farming practices and also strive to create more transparency for the consumer.

Our greater mission. We’re grateful for the opportunity – through our education programs and outreach – to engage the community to develop and share practices that promote regenerative agriculture, good health, and a resource-rich environment. (In case you missed it in last week’s email, in the coming year we’re transitioning the structure of the farm to a a nonprofit organization focusing on climate resilient agriculture.)

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope to see you at the farm in December.

Upcoming

• Friday, Nov. 23 – Farmstand CLOSED
  
• Saturday, Nov. 24 – Small business Saturday
  
• Sunday, Nov. 25 – Knife Sharpening (10–2)
  
• Tuesday, Nov. 27 – Giving Tuesday **Donate to our education scholarship fund
  

December Hours

The farmstand is open the next four weekends – closing day is December 16th.

• Friday (12-6)
• Saturday (10-3)
• Sunday (10-3)