2021 was our 8th season on the property, and despite having had 7 seasons of experience on this land, it was full of new challenges. We had never before had such a dry spring followed by record rainfall in July. Drought in the spring meant that labor-intensive irrigation set-up consumed precious time during a critical spring planting window. Then, when many crops were finally established and in need of heat, the rain began and summer was characterized by slow growing conditions, disease and rot in the fields. Not a good combination!
Despite these challenges our crew remained upbeat and worked hard every day to get crops planted, cared for and harvested! In a time when many small businesses struggled with staffing shortages, we feel so grateful that our crew remained remarkably reliable (and even more important - healthy!). They kept up momentum on the hottest days, they dealt with eating in their cars on cold and rainy days to remain socially distanced, and they made countless trips back and forth from the fields to the barn with the garden cart when our truck was out of commission. Their perseverance and their laughter were the true highlights of the 2021 season.
Another highlight of our 2021 season was the flower field and flower bouquets, largely thanks to Sarah, our flower farmer extraordinaire since 2019. If you have purchased a flower bouquet in the past few years it was likely made by Sarah, who not only picks, arranges, and wraps the flowers for sale in the farm stand, but also helps us with flower crop planning to curate a beautiful flower field ideal for cut flowers for our pick-your-own customers and for her bouquets. She has also been a large part of our tulip growing venture, helping with variety selection and hand wrapping almost every bunch you see for sale. Fortunately Sarah is returning in 2022 for her 4th season farming with us!
Yet another highlight of the 2021 season was the completion of the solar-powered automation of our high tunnels! As we have come to depend more on the high tunnels for reliable production of tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet peppers during all weather conditions, we decided we needed to take the next step in creating optimal growing conditions inside by automating ventilation. To do this, we installed low voltage roll up side and shutter motors powered by a solar panel outside each of our 3 larger tunnels. Now we can optimize the temperature in each tunnel for maximum growth and avoid cold (or overheating) damage to the important crops inside. Our fields are still subject to whatever weather comes our way, but this is our way of reducing some of the risk!
We invested heavily in the farm last year for a number of reasons, but in large part we did more than one big project in 2021 because it was the last year of our lease that we were eligible for MA Department of Agriculture grants (they require 3 years remaining on your lease to be eligible). Without these grants helping to cover a portion of the cost, large projects like the high tunnel automation and installation of a new bucket shed in front of the barn would have been cost-prohibitive for us. We have two more years on our current lease with the Town of Concord and we plan to re-apply to be able to stay here long after that, so we are hoping these improvements will help us in the long term. We did also make one big investment in the farm that was not funded by any grant: the purchasing of a potato and sweet potato digger. Over the years it became clear to us that we either needed to become more efficient in our use of labor by harvesting these crops mechanically as larger farms do, or cut them out of our plans entirely as many smaller farms do. We are committed to growing a full range of crops for our customers so we chose to mechanize and get more of those popular potatoes and sweet potatoes out of the ground for everyone each year!
We are now looking forward to the 2022 season! We are happy to have many things staying the same, such as our CSA size, farm store hours, and many crew members (including Sarah and Anna, as well as Carmella and Siobhan, who have both made the leap from part-time to full-time farmers)! This consistency allows us to focus on our organization, efficiency, and the vegetables of course! We are excited to trial many new crop varieties this year. Some new varieties are notably different such as seedless watermelon, European (thin skinned) cucumbers, and frisée endives. Other new varieties are just slight variations of old favorites to improve adaptability in terms of disease resistance and heat tolerance, such as new lettuce, carrot, and tomato varieties. We are also continuing to plan for the future by planting more asparagus on the property in order to make sure we have a continuous supply when the original asparagus field is no longer producing.
Despite the challenges of 2021 (and 2020!) we feel so lucky to be your farmers and hope to be for many years to come!
