Your Broadfork family wishes you a wonderful Christmas day!


(We cleaned up for an evening with grandparents. The world might stop spinning if we get a photo of all 6 of us looking at the camera and smiling!)

In this late December warm spell, we are taking stock of what is growing and how well, reviewing the seed inventory, trying not to get discouraged by how long the winter to-do list is, and also enjoying the way the short days limit the work.

We are also studying. Reading, testing, learning. We got access to a microscope and a recent soil biology workshop we attended now has us taking various types of compost samples and putting them under the microscope for examination. Our children are perhaps in the minority the way “micorrhizal fungi” and “nematodes” enter their kindergarten and second grade vocabulary lists. It is an educational journey that we are on together – us adults are still navigating the view of what is on the slide. All of these microscopic creatures…which ones tell us our soils are ideal for plant health? How again to tweak microbial life to bump up our plant health another notch?   At dusk on Christmas eve, two of us slipped outside, into the world drenched from the past days of rain, down to the high tunnel to sneak a first cutting of the salad growing there. Then on into the greenhouse for some snips of pea shoots. Oh, the indulgences we enjoy as professional vegetable growers! We brought these along with us for dinner with grandparents and my, oh my – it is delicious salad.
This week’s Harvest includes:

Arugula, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Chard, Garlic, Kale, Lettuce Mix, Microgreens, Salad Mix, Pepper Jelly, and naturally leavened Hearth Baked Bread.

Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, and the rest of the Broadfork crew

**Remember: 2014 Market Share CSA members’ balances will expire 12-31-2014 – and this is our last harvest/order for 2014. Pre-ordering of our harvest and bread is exclusively for Market Share CSA members. If you wish to invest in our farm, order from us in 2015, and have access to our harvest before we start attending the farmers’ markets next year, please Sign up for our 2015 CSA season! Your investment now allows us the funds to purchase fertilizers, soil amendments, seed, and supplies for the 2015 season.

**We are now accepting applications for 2015 Internship positions. Please share the details in this link with anyone you think may be interested.

(Want to learn more about us? Visit us on Facebook or Instagram.)

2014 Market Share CSA Members: Choose your selection through our Online Ordering to order for pick up on Saturday at our farm or at Good Health Herbs, or on Sunday at the UU Church, adjacent to Byrd Park (details on the ordering page).

Our favorite farming conference is approaching! The annual Virginia Biological Farming Conference, Jan 30-31, which includes a session in which Dan is presenting about our grafted tomato trials.Tickets and more info here. We hope you will join us!