Hi all,

Hope all is well! As I mentioned in my previous email, I wasn’t sure how the late winter would affect the farm, and I’m happy to report that we’re on schedule and will have greater variety than ever for the start of our Spring CSA and the Hingham Farmers’ Market.

We’re at the point in the year where you look out over our fields and only see white rowcover. Covering each bed we plant and seed into gives us a 2-3 week jump on the growing season, as the rowcovers act as mini-greenhouses that trap heat and shelter plants from the wind. Unfortunately, this also means that the weeds which sprout under the rowcover grow at an accelerated pace as well!

In other news, I’m happy to send the 2013 Second Nature Plant Catalog. Here you can find a number of tomato, pepper, eggplant, cucumber, and herb plants for your garden.  Every year I’m surprised by the demand for well-grown garden plants at our farmers’ markets, so if you’re looking for specific varieties, make sure you send in your order form in the next couple weeks so that I can reserve them for you. 

 Additionally, Edible South Shore featured our farm in their “young farmers” article this Spring. Julia Powers did a terrific job of relating the challenges and rewards we encounter, and thanks also goes to publishers Laurie Hepworth and Michael Hart for coming out to the farm and taking pictures. You can read the article here.

Last but not least, CSA pick-up sites are beginning to fill up! Visit our CSA page for details regarding our flexible CSAs, as well as to read what current members are saying about our program.

Thanks again for reading!

Best,

Adam

Spreading lime and soft rock phosphate on the fields

The “rowcover” farm

Hi all,

Our greenhouse benches are starting to fill up! Despite the recent snow, this alone tells me that spring weather should arrive soon enough. Though I enjoyed last year’s fake-winter as much as the next person, I’m realizing that it deprived us of the pleasure of watching March snow recede. I enjoy the process of gauging spring’s approach through the lesser and lesser amounts of snow on the ground - it’s akin to witnessing a struggle between the soil and snow, the soil slowly gaining energy and pulling snow down into its domain. Of course, I’d prefer to watch this process only once a year, and the fact that we’ve had almost weekly snow storms since February’s blizzard sure diminishes the satisfaction.

A few of you may be wondering if all this cold weather and snow is setting back the farm. Not yet. If temperatures start to climb in the upper 40s and lower 50s, we’ll remain on schedule. But the continuation of cold and cloudy weather will definitely delay early April planting. If the soil is too cold, the plants will struggle to find nutrients as well as establish a healthy root system. Nevermind growing, the plant will be too busy struggling to survive.  I’ll keep you updated on the situation over the next couple weeks.

So what else is happening on the farm? On Saturday I recruited family members to help put plastic on our 3-season hoophouses. Each bow is 10ft apart – which is too far to support a serious snowload. This means that we have to take the plastic off in the late fall, store it inside during the winter, and then put it back on in the spring. I’m lucky that we didn’t get more snow on Monday night, as I would’ve been out all night with a broom knocking off the snow as it came down! The earlier in Spring I put the plastic on the better, as now the soil inside the hoophouses is warming up. I’ll wait for the first flush of weeds, turn them under, and then plant early spring head lettuce.  

In CSA News – though our Spring CSA sold out quickly, there are still a few spots remaining in our Summer and Fall CSAs. For more information about our programs as well as a link to the confirmation form, visit http://www.secondnaturefarm.com/csa.htm

They’ll be many more exciting updates as the farming season begins, but for now enjoy the pictures of the first crops of 2013!

Best,

Adam

An old school Grogan-Marciano watter bottle imakes a decent watering vessel when the garden hose is frozen. Only 75 more trays to go!

Early beets

Hi all,

Hope you all weathered last week’s blizzard! I’m happy to report that the farm survived just fine. It was a helpless feeling, for sure, waiting out the storm Friday night and Saturday morning and hoping that none of the greenhouses collapsed. Luckily the strong winds blew most of the snow off as it came down, and I was perfectly happy shoveling away 7’ snow drifts versus disassembling a collapsed structure.

The statewide travel ban meant that Megan and I had a nice walk to the farm and back from our apartment on Saturday to assess the damage. If you ever want to meet the people in your neighborhood, walk around outside after a snowstorm. The inhabitants of just about every other house were out shoveling or snowblowing, and we said hello to probably more people than we do at our Saturday markets. As Megan and I zigzagged our way to avoid snowblower drift, we were amazed at the coordinated storm response, and how quickly the town was able to relocate massive amounts of snow and clear the roadways. And after last year’s nonexistent winter, I’m sure that landscapers were glad to finally make some winter income.

Looking outside, it’s hard to believe that I’ll start the year’s seeding in just a couple weeks, but that’s the truth. All the seeds have been delivered and organized, now waiting patiently in their packets for their time in the sun. Shallots, beets, lettuce, parsley, spinach, chard, and kale are just a sampling of the March 1^st seeding, and truthfully, I can’t wait to begin! When I look out over our fields, I no longer think about the soil resting and regenerating for the winter. Instead, I recognize the fact that in 6 weeks time, the ground will be plowed and ready for planting. Spring will be here soon enough, and while I’m not a big fan of the winter, I love the fact that it makes you cherish the return of temperate weather.

2013 New Member Sign-Ups Begin!

Enter www.secondnaturefarm.com/2013CSA.doc into your web browser to download our 2013 CSA Confirmation form for printing out and mailing in. I’m giving newsletter subscribers a head start versus others, and so you cannot find this form by simply browsing our website – you have to copy/paste the address.

For those unfamiliar with the CSA concept, members pay in advance for their produce, and in doing so receive a discounted rate the entire season. More information about how our CSA works can be found under the “CSA” section of our website. Judging from last year’s demand, most CSAs probably won’t fill up for 3-5 weeks. The Braintree Farmers’ Market Summer CSA is the one exception, in which there’s only 6 remaining spots.

Thanks again for reading and take care!

Best,

Adam

Download our 2013 CSA Form

Snow drift against our smallest hoophouse

(10 month-old kale plants, still with greens. Each mark on the stalk is where we harvested a leaf for bunching)

Hi all,

Hope you were able to step outside and enjoy the 60-degree weather Monday! It sure felt like spring on the farm as we went about dissembling a hoophouse and moving it to another field where it’ll be used to cure our onion crop this summer.  Outdoor work this time of year is rare, though, and as I recently explained to CSA members, I’m working mostly from “the office” (my kitchen table): selecting varieties from seed catalogs and planning the year’s crop layout field-by-field, bed-by-bed.

Last Saturday I was able to sneak away from my spreadsheets and present at the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s (NOFA) winter conference. I first attended this conference 5 years ago as a wide-eyed greenhorn, full of nervous excitement as I listened to seasoned farmers convey their years of experience. Every aspect of running a farm was new, and each piece of information worthy of being noted to the smallest detail and committed to memory. Raising vegetables was akin to magic – and each hour a new magician wearing plaid and dirty jeans revealed the science behind each illusion.  

I was thankful to return to the NOFA Conference not as a jaded pessimist but as a farmer whose early experience has given them hope for the future. My message was clear: Running a farm can be mentally, physically, spiritually, and even financially fulfilling. But it can also be hard as heck, especially starting out. Here are some mistakes to avoid, and some successes to learn from.

As my “Grow Your Farm,” workshop began filling with attendees I puzzled at the unexpected diversity. Scanning the room, there was a very diverse group of attendees, ranging from those in their early 20s to those in their early 60s. Why had I equated a beginning farmer with a young farmer? Lesson one: age doesn’t necessarily convey experience, and it wasn’t long before I overcame the strange feeling of lecturing farmers-to-be twice my age. If my workshop’s composition is any indication, I think the next several years will see a surge in growers who’ve adopted farming as a second career or supplementary income.

2013 CSA UPDATE: I sent an email to returning members on Monday, and they have the next few weeks to reenlist. I’ll send out an email early February to those on the newsletter list, officially opening the CSA to general enrollment.

Hope you’re staying warm and healthy – Spring will be here soon enough!

Best,

Adam

Though the soil temp remains in the 30s, garlic cloves develop a strong root system throughout the winter. First planted crop of 2013!

Low-hoops sheltering our rosemary from the cold. Our thyme plants on the right don’t look too bad either!

Hi all,

Well, the past 6 months sure flew by. I’m a bit sheepish writing this newsletter as I definitely neglected my duty to keep you all informed throughout the year. I’m sorry for that and will work next year to develop a regular newsletter routine, probably once a month supplemented by a weekly picture blog that I can update from my camera phone.

 I recently finished reading The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to do About Itby Michael Gerber, which I highly recommend to anyone running their own business or thinking about doing so. One of the many insights that has stuck with me is the difference between working in your business versus working on it. The former means to be simply doing the daily work required to run the business –  in my case, plowing, seeding, harvesting, etc. Working on your business, on the other hand, is to take a step back and improve upon the business as a whole – Where does it fall short? Does it deliver its promise to the customer on a consistent basis? How well does it communicate expectations and responsibilities to the employees?

 My main goal for next year is to find a balance between working in and working on Second Nature Farm. Better organization combined with clear expectations and guidelines for the crew will allow us to deliver a better product to you, and hopefully allow me enough to time to do other important things like maintaining an ongoing relationship between you and the farm though pictures and words. I did have the opportunity to connect with a number of you this year at the farmers’ markets and CSA pick-up, and I’ve really enjoyed our conservations (and food!).  Your feedback and support is invaluable, and I’m thinking about you all constantly now as I begin preparations for next year. 

 2013 CSA

A huge thank you goes out to this year’s CSA members. You were crucial to the farm’s success, and I hope the weekly pick-ups provided you with the week’s staples as well as challenged you to try new vegetables. Believe it or not, our Fall CSA is only at the midway point, and our members will continue to enjoy fresh produce until Christmas. 

Returning members will receive an email from me the first week of January, detailing the guidelines for our 2013 CSA. The price and number of weeks will stay the same for all the CSAs, with the only difference being additional pick-up locations: Hingham Farmers’ Market for the Spring CSA, and a central location in Braintree (depending on demand) for the Fall CSA.

Come February 1^st, I’ll open the CSA to newsletter recipients, and you’ll have the opportunity to fill the remaining spots. If you know of friends or family who might be interested in joining next year’s CSA, I recommend having them sign up for our newsletter (on the secondnaturefarm.com homepage) so that they’re in the loop. I’ll make sure to keep you all updated as that time approaches!

My last thought is a call for feedback. Have a particularly strong feeling about the green-tipped summer squash? Or maybe those purple beans? I welcome all and any feedback from you about what worked and what didn’t. What kept you coming back to our stand? What could we improve upon? Email me your thoughts and I’ll take them seriously!

Thank you so much for reading, happy holidays, and you’ll hear from me soon!

Best,

Adam

And without further ado, some pictures from this season:

Though it’s a nickel and not a quarter, that’s still some big garlic

Megan chillin’ with the garlic crop


The carrot bed is a great place for a bunny to raise a family


The greenhouse jungle