Stick Season
This growing season was no picnic.
Predators ravaged our laying hens. Excessive, record-setting rainfall threw us relentless curveballs. Our farm did not flood, exactly, but the water table was so high and the rain so continuous that the ground was basically spongey and miserable from late June to October. Plants need oxygen in the soil that supports them, in order to grow. Needless to say, it was a hard year for vegetable production, healthy pastures, and farmers' stress levels.
Through it all, we really felt the support of our community. Neighbors asked how we were doing, community members pitched in to help each other recover after devastating floods impacted so many in our small towns, Vermonters and supporters of Vermont farms donated to agricultural disaster relief funds, and people kept coming out, rain or shine, to buy vegetables and eggs and jam and meat, with a smile on their faces and words of encouragement. We hear you cheering us on, and on we go.
We made the difficult choice this year to end our retail season a few weeks earlier than expected, shutting down our farmstand in late September and skipping the last two weeks of the Jericho Farmers Market. This decision allowed me to fulfill my obligation of a season of fresh local veggies for our 20 CSA members, and it provided me with a little breathing room to focus on getting our tunnels replanted for fall crops, applying for some disaster relief funding ourselves (thank you!), and recuperating from a rough 2023. It was hard to throw in the towel, but it was absolutely the right move for our business and our family, and I hope it helps us move forward stronger than ever.
November updates
We will have fresh organic greens available for your holiday table, the week before Thanksgiving! This should (but is not guaranteed to) include: salad mix, spinach, arugula, baby kale mix, tatsoi, head lettuce, and kale. We will also list eggs, jam, and more.
This week we shipped three ram lambs, which means that the first Boneyard lamb ever (!) will be available just in time for the Christmas holiday. Born here, 100% grass-fed, and rotationally grazed. We'll have retail cuts available through pre-order this winter.
After a few hiccups, we figured out a way to get back on track with pork production. We welcomed four piglets to the farm last weekend, and we will have pastured non-gmo pork for sale in the summer of 2024.
A few people reached out with concern when we ended our season early this year. So I wanted to clarify: we will absolutely be back in 2024. Back at the Jericho Farmers Market, back with a self-serve on-farm farmstand, and back to provide more CSA shares to local households. In the meantime, some of our products are available in local stores and bakeries, and we'll be offering occasional pop-up sales throughout the winter.
A note from Hannah on our organic certified vegetable production:
This week I had my second-ever organic inspection-- a highly-anticipated and somewhat nerve-wracking visit from a contracted inspector from Vermont Organic Farmers. Since I started this business, I have grown vegetables in line with organic practices, but Boneyard Farm vegetables (*not meat and eggs*) became officially certified organic in 2022. While I think there's a common belief that organic means simply not sprayed with chemicals, there is so much more to the label than pest control. (And actually, many organic growers do spray pesticides-- they just have to be organic-approved... like everything, it's actually pretty complicated.)
I was reminded by this week's visit from the inspector just how proud I am to have leaped this hurdle for our farm. Applying for and keeping up with the certification means submitting written descriptions, maps, SOPs, and lists. It means keeping records of all seeding, planting, harvesting, and sanitizing activities. It means scouting for pests, monitoring their populations, using innovative strategies to mitigate their damage, and of course, tracking and reporting all of that. It means prioritizing the whole ecosystem of the farm-- contemplating waterways, soil health, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, pollinators, food safety, and more. It's all documented painstakingly in the Organic Systems Plan for Boneyard Farm, and each year I maintain records of so many aspects of the vegetable production.
It occurs to me that "organic" can be a label that makes people feel good about their purchase, and honestly, now that I've gone through it a handful of times... if it's certified by VOF, I think there are about a hundred reasons you SHOULD feel good about the purchase. I stand by the integrity of the label and I hope you find it worth it to seek out certified organic (local) foods. But I truly believe that the best thing you can do, if you really give a damn about the food you put into your body, is to get to know your farmer. To that end, if you have any questions at all about the way we grow vegetables or proteins, or the decisions we make here at Boneyard Farm, we encourage you to ask them (respectfully).