Wrapping Up Fall

Hi, it's been awhile, but we're still here. Let's catch up.

While we grow year round, this is the time of year for many seasonal shifts as we head into winter.  It's a nice time to reflect on the year.  All in all, it has been a great year for crops.  I definitely cannot say this every year.  And I still never quite know the magic recipe for a good year. But the tomatoes and peppers were great, dahlias we gorgeous, potatoes productive, the marigolds were off the charts, the lettuce outstanding and the list goes on.  There were also some real flops (like the worst celosia crop ever, and a very meager sweet potato harvest) and the inescapable frustrations of pests, things that break, and the general challenges of managing a multi-faceted business with a lot of humans.  While good growing doesn't always align perfectly with good sales, this year was also pretty good in that department.  Our wholesale side of the farm has been growing steadily in both flowers and vegetables and that's a really great way to round things out for our farm sales, along with our CSA and farmers market channels. I have a lot more to say on this subject, which I will do in a future email. 

Currently we are busy with late fall/winter work.   Turning under the last of the summer crops and planting cover crops to protect the soil for the winter. We are still planting all of our greenhouses with crops slated for spring harvest and getting lots of flower bulbs in the ground. We are also digging, dividing, and storing many thousands of dahlia tubers for next year's planting. Soon we will start building a repair projects and finalize next year's crop plan and order all the seeds. 

We are still selling weekly at the Prescott farmers market with root crops, greens, storage crops and dried flowers.  Today is the big 'week before Thanksgiving' market and we are bringing as many vegetables as we possibly can to help you prepare the best Thanksgiving feasts.  We still have peppers - fresh and roasted but not for much longer, so stock up the freezer.  And a reminder we have no market the week after Thanksgiving Nov. 29th. 

Thank you all for your support, encouragement and friendship throughout the year and the many years.  We are so grateful we get to do this challenging and rewarding work and we couldn't do it without you.  I know it's been a long time since you have received a newsletter update from us, thank you for sticking around.

warm wishes, 
Shanti and the Whipstone crew