Online ordering details this week

Thank you everyone who participated in online ordering last week! This is completely new for us (and developed in the midst of an already very busy time of year), so we really appreciate your patience as we try to work out a new and efficient system for safely providing food for you all in these new circumstances.

We will once again offer vegetables (asparagus!), tulips and seedlings for online pre-orders this week. Pick-ups will be available Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and ordering will be available starting at 2pm the night before pick-up and closing at 5am the day of pick-up. (So the first cycle of orders for the week opens Tuesday 5/12 at 2pm and closes at 5am on Wednesday 5/13, with pick-ups available 2pm-6pm on Wednesday 5/13). Please note, we are not taking orders on Monday for Tuesday pick-up as we have found that we need extra time for inventory and order prep at the beginning of the week. We are once again using the Open Food Network platform for placing orders for this week. Please see our previous blog post for directions on how to place orders. We are still working on setting up another platform that will help us streamline how we track Barrett’s Bucks and will hopefully be more intuitive for users, but that is another week or two away. In the meantime, we are again asking that for this week, CSA members please do not use Bucks for purchases as we are still working on our system for tracking those purchases and only have the capacity to track our regular Bucks members for now.

The website for placing orders is: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop. Please do not place orders over the phone or via email.

This week we will have the following available:

• Asparagus

• Salanova (Wednesday only)

• Microgreens

• Tulips

• Seedlings - Parsley and Basil. Tomato seedlings will be available at the end of this week.

• Raspberry Jam and Vinegar infusion from Silferleaf Farm in Concord (certified organic)

• Mushrooms from Fat Moon Farm in Chelmsford (certified organic)

Online ordering opening today for the farm stand - PLEASE READ directions!

The farm store is now open for online pre-orders of tulips, daffodils, microgreens, pea shoots and parsley plants! We may be changing our online order set-up for next week but for orders for pick-up this Thursday, Friday and Saturday please follow these ordering instructions:

• We are currently using a platform called Open Food Network. The link for orders is here: https://openfoodnetwork.net/barrett-s-mill-farm/shop#/shop

• You do not need to create an account to place an order (in fact, we may be switching platforms later on to better integrate with our POS system in the store).

• Be sure to choose your pick-up time (there is a red drop-down menu in the upper right-hand of the screen). If you don’t choose a time, you won’t be able to see the items in the shop.

• You can find out details about each item by clicking on the product name or photo.

• After you’ve added the items you’d like, click on the cart and select “Checkout now”

• Payments can be made by credit card. Barrett’s Bucks members may select the “Bucks” payment option. (it says “free” in parentheses behind both payment options - this just means that it is free to use that payment option, not that the product is free!). In order to keep our record keeping to a minimum this week we are asking that CSA members do not use their Barrett’s Bucks this week.

• For this week, orders may be placed starting at 2pm for the following day, and ordering will close at 5am on the day of pick-up. Pick-up times are available 2pm- 6pm on Thursday and Friday, and 11am - 3pm on Saturday.

• Pick-up will be on the porch of the farm stand. Your items will be clearly labeled. Please wear a mask and if there is someone else picking up at the farm stand please wait at the cone until they leave before approaching. Please use maximum caution when on the farm and keep over 6 feet of distance between yourself and others.

• Please leave the jar or bucket holding your flowers and just take your items. Crates should also be left in place. If your order is in a brown bag please take the whole bag.

• To minimize the number of people on the farm pick-ups should be done by just one person per order.

We have been working really hard to get this contactless system going, but we have also been quite occupied with planting season at the same time, so we know that there are going to be a lot of things to iron out as we go. Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding while we try to get this going!

What is available:

• Tulips - more varieties coming for Friday and Saturday pick-ups - just in time for Mother’s Day!

• Daffodils

• Parsley plants

• Microgreens

• Pea shoots

• Salanova will be available for Friday pick up

• While the asparagus is poking up out of the ground, nights are still too cold for a harvest. We will add them to the store as soon as they are available!

Our new store set up is an effort to offer contactless pick up in response to COVID-19. Other measures we are taking include employees wearing masks at all times, frequent handwashing aided by new handwashing stations in addition to our barn sinks, and daily sanitizing of all frequently touched surfaces. Pick-ups are outdoors (despite the wind!) for good air flow. Our usual food safety concerns still apply in this time of added challenges. We are continuing our practices of washing and sanitizing all food contact surfaces such as wash area tables, scales and bins. As always, please wash your produce before eating. Thank you so much for all of your support, we are looking forward to providing you all with veggies in the months ahead!

March Farm Update: Growing goes on as we adapt to changing conditions

We wanted to start off by saying that our farm community is such an important part of our lives and we are thinking of you all and hope that you are staying safe and healthy. Right now we are planning and making preparations to try to ensure that the farm is a safe place to come get your vegetables and flowers once asparagus and tulip season begins in May. It will obviously mean some adjustments in the farm stand and CSA this year, especially as we think about layout configurations to maximize social distancing. We are also looking at doing more prepackaging of items. This was not the direction we had been intending to move this year, but public safety is the highest priority right now. We and our staff have always followed strict hygiene practices for food safety - those will be continued and enhanced this season.

Taking all of these extra precautions will of course require more resources and quite a bit more labor than before, so we are especially grateful to everyone who has signed up for the CSA and Barrett’s Bucks already, giving us and our employees a little more security going into a financially uncertain period ahead of us. Thank you also to everyone who has contributed toward our sponsored shares- to date over $2,000! We are still planning to offer reduced price SNAP CSA shares as well as to donate shares to Minute Man ARC and Dignity in Asylum, so we are very grateful to have such an amazing farm community supporting those efforts.

Despite the unpredictability right now, plants in the greenhouse, high tunnels and field continue to grow as expected! Daffodils and tulips are poking out of the ground outside, while spinach, carrots and ranunculus have been growing for the past couple of months in our high tunnels. Leeks, onions, fennel, scallion, salanova and stock flower seedlings are popping up in the greenhouse, and this week we will be seeding shallots, cabbage and kohlrabi. With the dry and warm weather, we have managed to chisel plow about an acre of ground in preparation for spring carrots, beets, spinach, greens and lettuce. We have also taken advantage of the early dry field conditions to start spreading lime on our fields to balance the soil pH. Last week we replaced the plastic covering on our large greenhouse - a big, once-every-four-years undertaking involving lots of ropes and very tall ladders - with the help of returning farmers Sarah and Rebecca, as well as super volunteer Paul! Finally, construction of our fourth high tunnel is underway, which will allow us to rotate tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in protected growing space starting this year!

We want to emphasize to all of you how grateful we are for your support. Though it is a difficult time requiring physical separation from friends and family, we feel very connected to our farm community in spirit. We hope you can all take heart that fresh veggies (and pretty flowers!) are coming soon!

Fennel, stock (flowers) and parsley sunning in the greenhouse!

February farm updates and Early Bird Sign-up reminders!

As we turn the calendar one more page we realize we are just weeks away from greenhouse season! Also approaching is March 2nd, the deadline for early bird pricing for CSA and Barrett’s Bucks memberships for 2020. New member sign-up information is available here: http://www.barrettsmillfarm.com/sign-up. Email Melissa if you are a renewing CSA member that misplaced your form.

Wondering what we do on the farm in February? Organize! Seeds, records, the office, the barn - you name it, we are trying to get it in the best shape possible for the upcoming season. As seeds arrive we sort them into labeled tupperware for quick retrieval during the busy months. Any seed that is out of stock we search for other suppliers or alternatives and make sure we don’t have gaps in our carefully planned out seeding schedule. We also work to make sure we will have folks to help plant it all! We are excited to have 7 crew members returning to the fields and farm stand this year and have been conducting interviews for the remaining positions. Our organic certification renewal paperwork was submitted yesterday and our report for the Town of Concord is just awaiting our finished tax returns to be complete. Probably the most exciting day on the farm this winter was the seeding of spinach in our new high tunnel last Friday! If all goes well the spinach will be for sale in the farm stand in May when we open for the asparagus and tulip harvest. With the first planting in the ground and the greenhouse starting up next month, spring feels like it’s fast approaching!

Melissa seeding spinach in one of our high tunnels for early May harvest.

Six years on the farm and counting!

As the season wrapped up just before Thanksgiving, we worked quickly to clean up the farm before it was covered in snow. When that was done we launched right into planning for the next season! Aided by our experiences of the past season, as well as time spent learning from others at the biannual New England Fruit and Vegetable Conference, we analyzed what worked for us last year and brainstormed new ideas to fix what didn’t. Before the new year we completed our field schedule, ordered seeds, and posted available jobs to be filled for the upcoming season. We also received many member sign-ups: 80 before the new year, which is a record! After some time off spent with family and friends over the holidays, we have returned to the office ready to continue the preparations for the 2020 season. Before we get bogged down in our tax season accounting, town reports, and organic re-certification paperwork we thought we’d take a minute to reflect on the past season and share some of the things we are excited about for 2020!

This past year was the first time that we kept our CSA size steady from the previous year (235 members). This consistency allowed us to fine tune our crop planning and harvest schedule as well as continue to expand our early and late season offerings (tulips in the spring and a record 135 members in the late fall). That didn’t mean things slowed down around here - the farm store was busier than ever and the farm was a particularly bustling place on beautiful Saturdays. The farm store benefited from a variety of factors including the third year of consistent hours, a refined growing and harvest schedule, and our ability to process credit card payments.

One of the biggest improvements in crop availability in the farm store and CSA was the long tomato harvest season. This was a result of growing half of our tomato crop in one of our newly built high tunnels. The tomato crop was not only productive over a longer season, but was more efficient for our farm crew to harvest and care for (especially because it did not need to be sprayed to protect it from Late Blight during late summer rains). In addition to tomatoes, we also planted lemongrass, ginger, scallions, and spinach in our new high tunnels. The success of growing in tunnels and the potential they offer to expand the season for popular crops led us to apply for another NRCS grant for the construction of two more tunnels. One was completed this fall and another will be built behind it this coming spring. In 2020 they will be utilized for tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers as well as later season Salanova lettuce mix. We can’t wait!

Another highlight of the 2019 season was our farm crew. Rebecca and Dave returned for their fourth seasons on the farm and Molly returned for her third season working both in the field and as our CSA shopkeeper. We were so lucky to have them all working with us again this past year. They are not only great workers but are now good friends! Assistant Growers Sarah and Brian joined us full time, and since they were both already experienced farmers, they helped take the farm to a new level of organization and efficiency. Weeds didn’t stand a chance with these two on the cultivating tractors! To round out our field crew we also had a great group of teachers and college students home for the summer (Ali, Annemarie, Leah and Rachael), as well as our weekend watering warrior, Ari, who kept the plants healthy while we took a break on Sunday mornings. Ione, Debbie, Sue, Megan, Jane and Kathy were the friendly faces you know well from the farm store! When we started the farm 6 years ago it was mainly just two of us splitting up the field and store work, so the expansion of our crew has been one of the biggest changes on the farm over the years. There’s a lot more planting, weeding, harvesting, and a lot more fun on the farm these days thanks to them!

In 2020 we plan to keep our CSA membership the same overall size and will continue to offer more of the popular Flex and Extended memberships. We are excited to continue to try out new crop varieties including Purple Murasaki sweet potato, Moonbeam white grape tomatoes, and Tetsukabuto winter squash (billed in the seed catalog as “the squash of choice for the apocalypse” - how could we resist?) among many others. We will be increasing crops grown in our high tunnel for a longer season and higher quality, as well as continue to expand our cut flower selection (daffodils, more tulips, and stock!). We will also continue to improve efficiency to ensure the the farm is viable in the remaining 4 years of our lease and hopefully beyond. Let’s hope for sunny days, rainy nights, healthy backs, and working tractors in the year to come!