Farm Log: A New Season
March 21
Welcome spring and welcome back, farm community! Bear with us as we take the skills and techniques from the kitchen to the field to the internet. We have shifted to this new blog space where we can keep all of our updates and info available to find.
It has been a winter! Rest has been had and the active planning and early implementing stages have commenced. Carlos worked hard into the late fall, moving a greenhouse and restructuring the farm layout. The new design focuses on workflow and efficiency. Fences got torn down, new structures were built, and some ‘new to us’ equipment was acquired.
A note from Carlos…
“Coming off a lovely family holiday, I feel energized for this coming season. I spent a week in the sun and sand, enjoying quality time with my family. Though the timing was less than ideal for me, it was great to get out with them and do something different.
Brand new sprouts for the season!
The farm has a new feel to it! It feels like my space. This time last year, I was frantically sifting through all of the stuff left behind by the farmer from whom I took over. It took a long time and many trips to the dump to clean up the space last spring, but with all that work behind me now, I’ve been able to focus on new projects and continue to refine the space. The tables in the new nursery are just about full, and this is the earliest in the season I’ve been able to say that! The incremental progress that I’ve been focused on for the last few seasons is, pardon the pun, bearing fruit, and I’m looking forward to kicking off another season at the market.”
Seasonal Shareholder Program!
As we have outlined last week in our newsletter, we have also launched our Seasonal Shareholder program; it’s like a farm membership/subscription box but with more flexibility. It starts with a one-time seasonal investment that acts as credit for the entire season, with you choosing what produce you want and when you want it. This model sets the farm up for a successful season while allowing flexibility for our customers. To join, you buy into one of our 3 investment tiers:
Feastmaker- $750/ 29 weeks = $25.86/week
Harvester- $500/ 29 weeks = $17.24/ week
Gatherer- $300/29 weeks = $10.34/week
By signing up for this program, you receive an extra 10% of produce as an added bonus for being a Seasonal Shareholder. If you sign up before the end of March, you’ll receive an additional 5%, which brings your bonus amounts to:
$750 + $112.5
$500 + $75
$300 + $45
It’s a really awesome way to commit to getting local, fresh produce all season long and we’ll bring you in on all the special offerings and promotions we have throughout the season, as well!
Another fun thing we hope to do this season at the market is to ‘lettuce grow your salad (no need to pardon that pun—it’s terrible!) We will have a ready-to-eat, or prepped to-go, salad option for you to enjoy. I’ll use ingredients I grow myself or produce I find on my friends’ farms. They’re going to be healthy and delicious.
We have a bunch of more exciting things coming down the pipe but we just wanted to connect, celebrate the early days of spring and set some plans into motion.
Thanks for being here and we’ll be seeing you soon!
Cheers,
Carlos and the Okanagan Herb Patch Crew