Hamlet Organic Garden

Hello, HOG Community!
Just a few nuts and bolts to start–Memberships are selling fast, and we will be sold out sooner this season then ever before. Some pickup locations (Setauket in particular) are almost sold out. If you haven’t gotten in your application for 2012 yet, now is the time! Only $100 reserves your spot for the season. Get your application here. If you have joined already, thank you! Most of the farm’s bills are due long before the season starts, so pay as early as you can (full payment due May 31st). Lastly, many of you may have heard we are no longer taking half-shares at the HOG. We encourage you to find a neighbor, friend, or family member to split your share with if its too much for you! If you can’t find someone to share with, contact me and I’ll connect you with another member looking to split a share. Anyway, on to the seasonal update!

Everyone always asks us what farmers do in the winter! Though I don’t know if this string of 50 degree days puncuated by the occasional cold snap can be called winter. The work at our farm definately changes, but we still have lots to do! There is always organizing and cleaning-up to be done at the farm, and on nice-weather days we spend time sorting our seed trays, putting away scraps of wood or wire that inevitably get left out, greasing and repairing implements, prepping the greenhouse for spring…the list is always long! But mostly we spend inside on the computer–ordering seeds, planning our greenhouse and transplant schedules, organizing our crop rotations, and screening applicants for our apprenticeship.

We also attend the Northeast Organic Farmers Association Winter Conference, which takes place in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its always exciting to meet new farmers, and get reaquainted with farmers we know, but never get to see in the busy summer. We always come home brimming with new ideas, some that are applicable to our farm, like new vegetable varieties to try, using no-till growing strategies, or applying biodynamic principles to the farm. Other ideas are inspiring and fun, but harder to apply to our situation (using sheep as lawn-mowers, anyone? mob-grazing pigs?).

Anyway, winter is a nice time for us, the slower pace of our work is a nice balance to the busy summer. I hope you are enjoying your winter too! Jill and Sean

Hi all !
On this rainy day I have time to share some thoughts with you! Hope you don’t mind; fair warning, at the end of my poetic rant I will ask you for money.
I know many of you agree with me that 2011 was a particularly bountiful season. Not perfect(yet), but full of many beautiful and delicious weeks of fruits, veggies, herbs, and flowers. It is extremely fulfilling to be able to stand in the fields surrounded by a thriving array of organisms (vegetable plants, cover crops, weeds, insects, flowers, soil microorganisms, people, birds, bees, rabbits, woodchucks, fox, hawks) and to know that it exists as the result of an ongoing learning process between the farmers and the land. 2011 was my sixth season at HOG and I feel like I have just gained enough experience to see both how much more there is to learn about this specific farm and also how much potential exists to create what the farm teaches us to become.
We find ourselves living in an overall context of underpriced, industrial food grown at a cost to our government in the form of subsidies (for corn, soybeans, etc.) and a cost to the soils and water. It has become increasingly obvious that neither the government nor our soil and water contain infinite supplies of sustenance for us.
What we do at HOG is take on the cost and responsibilty of growing nutritious and delicious produce ourselves. We offer our members the privilege of the freshest, healthiest crops at a price that, amazingly, is competetive with the vegetables that are at least a week old from any grocery store.
I understand that all of our produce isn’t perfect, or even great. We farmers are still learning but I think over the past six years our trajectory is undeniably positive. Looking to the future we are confident that our farm will continue to grow, not necessarily expand, but grow inwardly and become a more self-enriching, successful system of food production that we all can benefit from. In order for this to happen, there’s a way that you, our members, can help.
Our 250 member families each invest money in a share every year, which is the financial backbone that allows the farm to purchase the goods it needs to operate and pay its employees. We have a sliding scale payment plan to allow people from a range of income levels to participate in the farm. If every member payed $10 extra on the sliding scale, that is not a huge investment on each members part but it adds up to $2500 for the farm! Think about everyone paying an extra $20!! As you all know from the fundraisers, the farm has many projects slated and always needs capital to make them happen. All of this money gets invested into the farm and we are all the beneficiaries. Give us your vote of confidence with a little extra cash! After all, for 2011, we gave out about $725 worth of veggies, which doesn’t include the value of PYO or flowers. We farmers aren’t getting rich and won’t be getting lazy anytime soon. For some weird reason, we like working hard and being generous. I suppose there are few, or no, substitutes for the feeling I mentioned earlier of walking through the farm surrounded by a thriving agro-ecosytem; a feeling I know some of you have shared.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I am grateful for having the privilege of addressing you all. I am still at the farm getting all of the buildings and equipment tucked in for the long cold winter. I recommend visiting, if you can. It can be just as inspirational to see the farm slumbering under a blanket of snow as it is with the air abuzz with bees, dragonflies, sunshine and the fragrance of abundant vegetable growth on a hot June afternoon. Hopefully many of you still have some onions, or potatoes, or sweet potatoes, or winter squash to keep you warm into the winter. We’ll keep in touch!
-Farmer Sean

October 24th 2011 Share 23
This is the last week of pickups for the farm! Both EVEN and ODD week shares can come this week. Thanks for a great season! Don’t forget to renew for next year! Application are at pickup.
Whats Happening At the Farm
Wow, what a great party last night! We were able to raise about $3000 to go towards our Capital Improvement Fund! Sean has been meeting with different companies to see about a solar array at the farm, and this money should go a long way. Thank you to Painters for helping us throw a great benefit, and thanks to Rusty String Band and The New Students for keeping us entertained. And of course a big thanks to all the members and board members who contributed their time, money, and talent to be sure the event was a big success! Thank you Barry for the artwork, Ilene, Nancy, and Mary for all the flowers and decorations, Shoel for all the labels, and Jennifer, Katherine, Paul, Don, Gerri, and Ed for their help setting up, taking tickets, and cleaning up.

You can renew your share this week for next season! Look for applications at the farm pickup. One again we are not increasing in size, so renew now before we open up to our waiting list. Only $100 renews your share for next season!

In Season Now
some combinations of:
sweet potatoes
onions
leeks
carrots
garlic
winter squash
salad mix
braising greens
lettuce
broccoli
kale

Briermere Fruit Share Week 19,20,21
Because the fruit share started late this year, we have 3 weeks of fruit for you to take home and store! Apples last for a long time in the fridge, or even in a cool basement. Store them to enjoy until Christmas!

6 bags of mixed apple varieties

Pick Your Own
Pick your own items are available for you to harvest at any time, as long as it’s not raining. Look for the signs marking the beds!
Flowers! See sign for limit
parsley-1 bunch
basil-1 bunch
mint-no limit
oregano-no limit
thyme-5 sprigs
rosemary-3 springs
sage-small bunch
hot peppers

For those of you looking for another chance to get your hands dirty, we will be planting our garlic next week on Monday afternoon (Oct.17th) and finishing up on thursday morning (Oct.20th).  There are about 13,000 cloves waiting to be pushed into the soil.  We had such a bountiful garlic crop this year, we are lucky to have plenty of beautiful cloves saved from our own stock for next years crop.  We are quite relieved that we won’t need to purchase any seed garlic, prices are at an all time high, over $10 per pound!!  We look forward to seeing some of you in the field.

-Farmer Sean