Happy New Year

Hi, we're here still.  It's been a while. Time to catch up.  

First off, Happy New Year.  This is our slowest time of the year on the farm, mainly because it's cold and dark and anything that is growing is creeping along. Yet, it is still so packed full of important things happening on the farm. Mainly, planning and preparation for the busy year ahead.

Let's go back to October/November where I left off and I will bring you up to speed on what we have been up to. Last I wrote we were covering the big pepper field for the coming frost.  We hoop and row cover all 15,000-ish pepper plants to get another month of ripening and it really pays off for us to have peppers much later into the season. Especially for those peppers that don't ripen as early, we want fully ripe peppers for drying and fermenting - all the more hot sauce for the future. 

So we got through pepper season, first frost, end of the fresh flowers, bringing in all the heavy storage crops like winter squash, and beginning the big field clean up.  Getting into November we cleaned out all the remnants of summer greenhouse crops, amended the soil, prepped and planted them with crops we will either harvest this winter or flowers that will over winter and bloom early in the spring. 

Also in October and into November I took a lot of soil samples; some for our own soil knowledge and farm management decisions, and some as part of an NRCS three year soil health study we are a part of.  In total I took 37 separate samples, filling 37 one-gallon bags of multiple cores each.  Good thing I bought that nicer soil core sampler last year.  We planted many acres in cover crop, always a goal, but not always a reality as fall can be so busy.  A big check for the win column this year. 

In November we dug approximately 10,000 dahlia plants (clumps) which are now all divided and packed away for winter in a 40 degree cooler.  And then we planted over 20,000 tulip bulbs, happily growing roots under the frosty soil right now.  

I took a lot of trips this fall. First a trip to see some of my best flower friends in Ann Arbor, MI.  You can see a really dorky video of us dancing in front of a mural on our instagram page.  Then I went to St. Louis for an ASCFG conference.  I was on the planning committee for this conference and it was over a year's worth of work to pull it together.  It was also my last ASCFG conference after 6 years as a board member, it was also a chance to say farewell to Judy Lauschmann, the powerhouse founder and 35 year executive director of the organization.  It is nice to think about less zoom meetings and emails but I will really miss my intimate involvement in making things happen with this amazing organization. 

Next I went to New Hampshire to give a presentation at a retreat for leaders of wholesale flower collectives.  This was hosted by Rooted Farmers, the platform I use and love to sell flowers to wholesale buyers.  It was amazing.  If you're curious about Rooted, hit me up or check out their site.

And last, but certainly not least, Cory and I took a trip to Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal, an Island in the Atlantic a few hundred kilometers off the coast of Morocco.  We have some flower friends (Farmer Bailey Plugs/Arderlia Farm) who repatriated there about a year ago and we somehow managed a last minute trip to visit with a few other friends.  Technically a work trip to map out a plan to grow sweet peas for seed production, but it was also an amazing vacation that we now realize we need, ideally annually. See a few photos below for inspiration if you too need a winter get away. 

Now into January we have been cleaning and organizing the entire farm.  We've finalized crop line ups and planting plans and have organized, inventoried and ordered all of our seeds, bulbs and planting stock. We do add new things throughout the year and usually need to restock certain seeds mid-season (and fall bulb orders happen later) but the bulk of this chore is done during this slower winter time.  It's a lot of computer time for me and I'm happy to have that complete.

We started our first seeds of 2024, mainly onions, leeks and slow to grow cool season flowers.   We will really ramp up the seed starting by the first week of February.  We have some exciting news coming in the seed starting department, but I will wait to let you in on that until I have some more fun photos to share. 

We are still selling weekly at the Prescott farmers market with root crops, greens, storage crops and dried flowers.  It's cold out, but we sure appreciate those of you who are dedicated to shopping local yearround. Winter farmers market shoppers are in a special category - hats off (or rather on) to you.

We will be listing 2024 CSA shares (both veggies and flowers) around the end of January, thanks for being patient but I promise it's coming.  I will make sure to make multiple announcements but try not be too annoying.

This has been a very long update.  Sorry!  Obviously a sign I should spread it out a little more. Thanks for sticking with us. If you have read this far (and after perusing the photos below) I would love a quick reply to this email.  What did you enjoy the most? What are you looking forward to in 2024?  Tell me something so I know you're here. 

warm winter wishes, 
Shanti and the Whipstone crew