February is cold and wet and snowy.

After a week of moving to a new computer with a new operating system things are running well enough to actually get back to CSA pestering emails. Errr. Highly informative and enjoyable email sharing what is happening at the CSA… Right?

Three things really need to be covered in this update…

1. Progress towards both the next season (starting February for no more than 8 members) – Winter Season, February 21’st assuming things keep growing!
2. An overview for 2025’s plans with some things to look forward to, and hopes and fears that all gardeners have.
3. The ever present reminder that if you are interested blah blah blah… 

So here we go.  

The bulk of winter season, of course, is greens. Some jump right up, some wait for their own sweet time. It is pretty clear that the spinaches, bok choi, lettuces, radishes, and Japanese Salad Turnips are all in for the winter season. There is also some mildly beat up cabbage and kale, albeit between the rodents (mostly Voles) and the snow/cold they are not happy, but they taste great. Something is realy feasting on the remaining Parsley – it may require a reseeding.

Flower Farmer has been making a sorta-coleslaw, with red cabbage, kale, parsley, carrot, apple, and whimsical sauce. Whimsical because it isn’t clear that she has a specific recipe – it looks to me like she sprinkles stuff in there, tastes it, and then let’s me have some for dinner at which point it is amazing.

There won’t be much of the red cabbage left if we don’t slow down a bit.

Seasonally, the verdict is still out on how cold and wet Spring is going to be. That impacts a lot of things, but primarily which areas of the garden are prioritized for Green season and early in the main season. Historically there are problems with the middle section of the garden being a pool.

this was the garden in 2022, last La Nina we had. Climate prediction picture looks frighteningly similar. While this is good for driving rodents out of the lower part of the garden, it is not good for transplanting or, more important, bed prep. We have a plan, though, and it is underway. Ideally, the higher areas will get us going. The concern is the 90-120 day crops that really like the lower part of the garden with good soil. It hasn’t happened yet, but this is our concern.

You probably won’t be able to read this on your phone. but the season is divided into nominally four week windows. Obvious exception being Winter season. What you can’t see here is that each four week window also has seed starting, transplanting, and then the part you CAN see is harvesting. Incidentally, February is nailing the “hard cold” comment. There was going to be a snow picture here, but you are all familiar with that this week.

Quite a few of you have been following along either on Facebook or in emails – even, (gasp) on the web site. The plan going forward is to continue with the email, not trust Facebook to show up on your posts, and keep up the web site better than in the past. We are adding a short (less that a couple minutes) mp4 file link to our communication to show what is more difficult to do with a series of pictures. So – for example, here is a link showing from seed to kitchen:

Shilofarm!

Now, this is the place where we do the annoying “please sign up so we know how many squash to plant…” Or at least say if you are seriously considering it. Those of you (may you be blessed!) who sign up for the whole meal deal besides our undying appreciation are offered a free small jar of Jelly. To refresh this, there are two things:

– a link to

www.shilofarm.com

 which has a lovely table of activities and links to fun factoids. Well. How much it costs and all that. 

For those of you phobic about clicking links:

Surprise – main season cuts back to 16 weeks. The concept here is that Labor Day is a change for many folk – and at least one long time member wants summer free entirely but loves those end of season squash! Overall, it doesn’t make the whole year change, but it does give it some flex.

while we are posting things:

Share Size	Per Week, farm call	Per Week, Delivery
Personal (1-2 people)	$27.50	$30
Full (3-4 Veggie eaters)	$37.50	$40

The tricky part is that math thing. How many weeks times how much a box. See, that’s 5th grade math. Sorta.

A full season is a lovely thing to do… a full year is 38 weeks… that’s a clue. Remember that free jelly for pre-pay!

Lemme see… I think that is a wrap for the February update. If you want in for Winter speak up soon – there are two so far. A good ad should say something like “for a limited time only don’t wait too long.

Enjoy the snow. (farming and gardening not so happy with snow – things break.)