Tag: farming

Delivery #9, Week of July 28, 2025

The News from Windflower Farm 

What’s in the vegetable share?

  • Eggplant
  • Summer squashes
  • Yellow onions
  • Tomatoes
  • Basil
  • Fennel
  • Sweet corn
  • Bunched beets from Denison Farm
  • Lettuce from Denison Farm

The fruit share will consist of a quart of peaches from Yonder Farm.

The first of our sweet corn is coming this week. There is some bug damage in the tips. You may want to cut off the tips before shucking your corn. 

News from the farm

The water level in our primary irrigation pond, which is in a deep ravine in the middle of our farm, has been going down during these hot and dry weeks of midsummer, concentrating the aquatic wildlife in an ever-smaller pool, as happens every year at this time. The snapping turtles, fishes, frogs, and insects have come to reside in what I imagine is uncomfortable proximity. Nate and I were installing a dock on which to relocate an irrigation pump in a corner of the pond the other day when we encountered the remains of a crawdad that measured a whopping 7 ½ inches in length. Tracks in the mud suggested that the animal may have been mortally wounded by a racoon, a species known to relish crayfish. I once had crayfish at the Bobcat Café, in Bristol, Vermont, in a dish called prawns in marinara with linguine, and found them to be surprisingly good.

We were admiring the creature when Jan came running down the pond trail in pursuit by the county sheriff. “What had she done?” I wondered. “Are you OK?” she asked. It took us a minute to understand what was going on. It turns out that Nate had butt-dialed 9-1-1. The sheriff was surprised at how difficult it was to keep up with Jan, who first ran down a steep hill and then up another long one before getting to us. But I wasn’t – she was a track star in high school. He gets butt dials all the time, he said, and must respond to each one. He’s been to almost every farm in the county. The sheriff also said that Candelaria and Salvador, who are part of our Mexican staff, looked nervous when they saw him go by. “No kidding!” I thought.

After nearly an inch of rainfall today, the pond’s level has risen considerably, and its inhabitants are no doubt happy to have a little more space. And Nate is happy to have a break from irrigation this week.

Have a great week, Ted

Delivery #7, Week of July 13, 2025

The News from Windflower Farm

What’s in the vegetable share?

  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Basil
  • Kale OR Greens Mix (your choice)
  • Arugula
  • Cucumbers
  • Yellow onions
  • Zucchini/Squash

Everything in this week’s share was grown organically at Windflower Farm

Your fruit share will be a pint of our own organically grown blueberries

News from the farm

On Thursday afternoon of last week, we had an impromptu visit by officials from the US Department of Labor and a significant hailstorm, and we will be feeling the impacts of these for the next couple of weeks.

Lucky us, the DOL inspector told Jan that he intends to do a full 5-year audit of our farm’s labor practices. Many farmers can spend their entire careers without encountering a federal DOL official. He also told Janthat our farm worker housing was the nicest he’d ever seen, which I hope he remembers when he encounters the inevitable shortcomings in my paperwork.

Farm workers and farm raids by ICE have been much in the news lately. Daniel, the young man from Mexico you might have met if you encountered our delivery truck, told me about the worker abuses at a farm in New Jersey that employs many of his neighbors from Guanajuato, the most flagrant of which is that they take so many “payroll deductions” from their paychecks that they effectively get only 55% of what they are entitled to. They are getting just $10/hour when they should be getting nearly $18.00. Why don’t they make a complaint?, I wondered. Because there is no way to earn $700/week in Mexico, was the answer. And they are willing to work the 70 hours a week their New Jersey farmer requires of them to earn it. Make a complaint and the job vanishes. These are the people who grow our food. We cannot allow them to betreated that way.

When it comes to the details of the audit here, I’m not worried about a bad outcome: we work hard to do everything by the book. Still, it will take hours to get together the paperwork they’ve asked for. My goal is to have it done by Monday because I want time to prepare for the Department of Agriculture produce safety inspection that is coming up on Wednesday.

The hailstorm, the other thing that happened on Thursday, caused substantial damage. The wind-driven hailstones came straight out of the north, shredding leaves and blowing the plastic off a greenhouse. Fortunately, we grow most of your tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in tunnels, and some of your greens under cover. Most of the current crop of summer squashes and zucchinis were ruined, but more will come along soon. The young greens will recover, although this and next week’s greens will no doubt show some of the damage. The potatoes and squash and corn were all flattened, but I am confident that they’ll come back. We’ve experienced worse.

Best wishes, Ted

Distribution No. 18, Week of September 30, 2024

The News from Windflower Farm

It’s winter share signup season! Please read below to learn more.

Remember to check out the “Landscapes for Landsake” fine art sale, which benefits the Agricultural Stewardship Association, the organization behind our localfarmland and forest conservation efforts. Find more at www.landscapes for landsake.com.

What’s in the share?

  • Our last tomatoes
  • Sweet peppers
  • Yellow onions
  • Lettuce
  • Bok Choy
  • Cabbage
  • Delicata squash
  • Eggplant
  • Arugula
  • Chiles

Your fruit share will again be apples from Yonder Farm. Last week’s variety was ‘Somerset.’ This week, we are sending another new variety called ‘Crimson Crisp’.

What’s new on the farm?

Purchasing a winter share is your chance to extend the fruit and vegetable season through the New Year.

What is it? In a nutshell, the winter share consists of a total of three one-bushel boxes, one delivered every fourth Saturday from mid-November through early January (November 16th, December 14th, and January 11th). It contains a big bag of fresh greens (kale, spinach and more), 8-10 lb. of vegetables from our root cellar (including winter squashes, “Irish” and sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, and other storage veggies), 4-5 lb. of delicious apples (and pears if available) from the Borden Farm, and a sweet treat every month (the Borden’s apple cider, Harry’s honey, and Deb’s jam). Optional grain, maple and egg shares are also available. Please follow the link for more details and to sign up.

Click here to learn more: Windflower Farm’s 2024-2025 Winter Share (wufoo.com).

We hope you’ll join us for the winter share!

Best wishes, Ted