December Update

Greetings All,

I hope everyone is doing good, it's been a while since I have checked in with ya'll!

I'm excited to dig in and share the past couple months of the farm life here, post- CSA Season & Fall Sale. That's really the event of the season ;) If you guys came out you know- we had a great line up and tons of new products this season. We took a little time to ourselves after the Farm Season to recuperate- but we've stayed incredibly busy for how tired we are, lol!!! Both Ben & I feel so much better going into the off-season with these big jobs checked off the list. These jobs are important and necessary, improving functionality on the farm in multiple ways... it's such a boost to have it all wrapped up this Fall!

Let's dig in.

Some fun stuff first- we donated over 2,500 POUNDS OF SQUASH this fall!!!! Jennifer from CAER came out and helped us load it into their van.

I went through every single squash as I packed them into bushel boxes for donations and made sure that there were not any with soft spots. We wanted to make sure that our donation would hold good because there is no way they're going to distribute 80 bushels of squash quickly, that's literally over a metric ton of winter squash...

We bring them produce every week all summer long, too! With the help of the $25 donations from our CSA Members (available when you sign up) and the matching funds from Ben & I, we delivered 4 Jumbo Shares there every week for them to distribute. We also delivered CSA Shares that you guys donated (if you were unavailable/ out of town), so thank you for that contribution as well!

While I haven't gotten the final donation poundage yet for 2025- I know that the past 4 years alone we donated over 20,000 pounds of fresh produce! After the New Year we'll get the end of year statement and I'll get back to you on this season's totals. I am sure you're all aware of how small businesses work and support the communities from within, but this is just a real-life and very tangible example of the impact supporting a local farm can have on your community! Thank you!!!

THE HIGH TUNNEL!!!

We finally finished it. If you've been with us long enough, you know that this has been a 2 year project. It wasn't intended to take this long but we were sent the wrong parts 2x and when we were ready to work on it, we didn't have what we needed. Twice! So they sent everything we needed finally, and we were able to wrap it up. Last year we got the structure built and put the hoops on top. I wish I had a better picture to show you the scale of this structure. It's 100 feet long, 30 feet wide and I'm not even sure how tall it is- it's enormous! Since the side walls (wood running down the length) are at 6 ft, I'd guess the peak is 24ft tall.

This fall, AFTER Ben's surgery (read more on that below) we were able to call together some friends who helped us put the plastic on top. Fun fact: There are actually TWO sheets of plastic on this structure; and a little fan that's built in and it blows air between the layers. That helps insulate the produce inside, when we get to plant in there. We got the doors on the front & the hole cut for the circulation fan. It was one hell-of-a-project but it's DONE.

What does that mean for you, you're wondering?! ;) That means: an extended growing season! We can start plants early in the high tunnel so we have tomatoes ready for harvest a month+ earlier, or plant later so that we have tomatoes for the Fall Sale in November. Ben hasn't quite decided what he's going to grow in there the first year yet, stay tuned!!

We still have our original greenhouse structure too. That's where we start our all of our produce seedlings for your CSA Shares! We'll turn on the heat in there in March to start seeds and grow them inside the greenhouse until they're ready to transplant in May/June. So that original greenhouse is just for plants.

This second structure that we just completed is going to be for FOOD. We will plant directly in the ground inside, which is a great thing because we can manipulate the environment. I.e. water when they need to (not worrying about flooding), roll the sides up or down to manipulate temperatures, etc!

We are very excited about this project getting wrapped up; we want to offer our Members MORE. More variety in what we can grow, more options for early season crops we can grow in the high tunnel, more PRODUCE from a controlled environment so we have more control over production.

The only thing we can do to improve this set up is getting a furnace in there, so we have more options about what we want to grow and when we want to start it. The furnace and propane tank, etc. is on the docket for Fall 2026 ;)

We went to the River with the kids for an afternoon in October! It was 93 degrees!!! I wish I had a nicer pic but the sun made us both splotchy.

Farmer Ben's (Emergency) Surgery

Many of you know that Ben had a hernia, we talked about it a couple times this summer I believe. This was a belly button hernia that originated from Ben's appendix being removed almost 4 years ago. So it's something that he's been struggling with for some time, he was even wearing compression bands around his waist because it was so painful at times.

About a month ago now, his hernia got twisted around and basically 'stuck'. I drove him to the St. Cloud hospital at 1am, and he got imaging and was in surgery within the hour. It was pretty important that we got there when we did! He was on some pretty 'high octane' pain killers, had a lot of bruising, tenderness, etc. Now that we are a month post-op, I can confirm that his recovery is going great! He is not in pain anymore and is relieved his hernia is fixed. He had to sleep in a recliner for a couple weeks because he couldn't use his stomach muscles at all to lean down or sit up, so that was rough. He's been back in bed now for almost a couple weeks. He's through the worst of it and is on his feet every day doing small-impact jobs. No lifting/pulling/dragging etc. So he's staying active and also being mindful of his restrictions!

***The best news of all of this: His surgery is done and recovery timer has started which means that by the time we get the greenhouse rolling in March he will be back to full capacity!! Though he knows to take it easy of course- he’s not going to go hog wild right out of the gate. It’s a blessing that this all happened when it did, he’ll be back and better than ever for the 2026 CSA Season!!! Of course, emergency surgery is terrible (so painful!) and scary, but the timing couldn't have been better, Ben agreed.

Deer Hunting

This is a special time of year for us and this newsletter would be incomplete if I didn’t add it... Deer hunting is something that brings the whole family together and we call/talk about it every day of the season. We even have a family group text thread going. Maybe we’re the only crazy ones out there who do that? We also hosted quite a bit of our family during the hunting season, cooked a lot of good hearty meals together and spent a lot of time outside!!

It’s a great healthy protein, overall challenging outdoor sport that we enjoy, and honestly deer that are harvested at the farm here are statistically 100% less likely to be eating our pepper plants next season haha. We don't like to compete for our food (or your food either)!

Every bit of the venison is appreciated and put to work in our kitchen; nothing goes to waste! We did a pretty good job stacking them up this year, got 7 total and gave 3 away to our friends and Grandparents. Now that William (our oldest, 13yo) is hunting too, he and I are competing for which stands we're sitting in. He's harassing me that he shot more deer than I did (when that's always been my reputation), it looks like I'm being outhunted by a teenager. This saga will be continued, next deer season ;)

2026 CSA Season

We will be opening up our Membership to RETURNING MEMBERS only, on January 1st! We want you to be able to sign up for whatever you want next season, ahead of any new Members. We prioritize those who have supported us over the years and hope that you enjoy the comfort of knowing you can get anything you want before others can sign up!

(If you have friends who want to join us, they can sign up on February 1st, when we open to the public!) Also SUPER FAST TID BIT that I'll come back to next time but I'm too excited to keep it to myself........

We are going to be raising a whole group of chickens just for our CSA Members!!! Last year was our first season with chickens and we figured we would have a great response; we've surrounded ourselves with like-minded families who want to know where their food is coming from! What it's eating and how it's living (in chicken tractors, grazing!).

Needless to say it was a hit, thank you for your support!! We love what we do, and after our chicken dinner last night we were getting excited talking about plans for this coming season.

We had a handful of folks come out here mid-summer to pick up birds which was great! The problem was that we weren't able to offer that to everyone because we were just getting our bearings and needed to see how it'd work, not to mention we knew we wouldn't have enough to go around. So, THIS SEASON we're going to take pre-orders so ya'll get whatever you want when you want it ;)

When you sign up for your CSAs in January, you'll also be able to sign up for your Heritage Hog, your Add-ons (like honey and apples!), and Pastured Poultry!!! We're going to offer whole birds and parted birds too. More details to come!

WRAPPING IT UP

As you guys well know, I am the talker at the farm ;P

I could go on and on about what we’ve got going on here. We just started browsing seed catalogs, working through year-end paperwork and taxes, the calendar & dates for 2026 CSA Season and a really big drain tile project that I’ll fill you in on next time. Picture above shows John moving dirt and materials out of the way for the tile. (This was also a HUGE job, took over 2 weeks.... but I want to tell you about it in more detail, so I'll save this one for next time).

I'll send you another email in a couple weeks to fill you in on a few more fun things we've been up to lately and give you some more details on what we'll have lined up for you in 2026!

Eat Good & Be Well! ~The Farmer's Wife