Our Blog Has Moved
Our blog has moved to blog.failbetterfarm.com.
This version will stay right here, but is now 100% officially out of date.
This blog has moved to blog.failbetterfarm.com!
Our blog has moved to blog.failbetterfarm.com.
Information about and sign-up instructions for our 2010 CSA season are now available for download. When shareholders signup and pay early, it gives us working capital in the winter and early spring that allows us to buy seeds and supplies. This early income is more helpful than you know. General info and details available in the sign-up form, but any questions which aren't answered in there can be directed right at us.
Labels: csa
In what is hopefully now an annual tradition, we've put together an annual report for the farm that covers the highlights of last year, our plans for next year, as well as a profit and loss statement for last year and a detailed summary (is that an oxymoron?) of what was in last season's CSA. Hopefully, it will be interesting to CSA shareholders and other farmers alike.
Labels: annual report, csa
Please take a few minutes to answer some questions about this year's CSA. (Inside the full post, of course.)
Labels: share info, survey
We wrap up our second CSA season today. It's been a busy, frustrating, exciting, depressing and ultimately very successful season for us here at Fail Better Farm. (Yes, even with all of that rain in June and July and the Late Blight in August.) As of early October, overall sales for this year are up from last year by an astounding 73%. Unlike the banking and bogus mortgage industries, we actually have to have something to sell in order to make a buck, so that means production was up fairly substantially as well. I'm looking forward to putting together this year's annual report so that I can crunch some of those numbers and really get my head around some of the things we did this year. (In the "hindsight, 20/20, yadda yadda" sort of way.)
Labels: share info
The gardens are pretty much shut down for the year and the pace of our work has slowed a bit. Not because there's less to do, per se, but mostly because we get kind of lost in the transition from the growing season to the ... not .... growing season. Our weeks are still divided into CSA and market days (and bake days), but the intervening days aren't also filled with harvesting so we can get back to fixing things (like our front door knob that has been sticking for over a year and needed only -- it turns out -- a couple drops of oil). Last week was the first time in probably six months that I found myself actually thinking that I had enough time to take on another project.
1. Heat butter or oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion (or shallot or leek) and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add sherry and carrots; stir constantly and cook until sherry evaporates, about 30 seconds.
2. Add broth, salt, pepper to taste, and nutmeg to saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer; cover and cook until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Ladle carrot mixture into blender. (Or just use an immersion blender right in the pan.) Add 1 cup milk; blend until very smooth. Return soup to saucepan; cook over low heat until warmed through. If soup is too thick, stir in additional milk to thin consistency. Adjust seasonings. (Soup can be refrigerated for 3 days and reheated just before serving.)
4. Ladle soup into individual bowls. Garnish with minced fresh herb and serve immediately.
Labels: recipe, share info
I'm not the only one that noticed the snow, right? It did happen? Right? It was actually kind of fun to dig the parsley and cardoons out from under a few inches of snow, though any more than a few inches and it would have just been bothersome.
Labels: share info