For those of you that might be new to this news, we dissolved our CSA program about a month ago. As with all good things that come to an end, we’ve experienced the full wave of emotions in not connecting with you on a weekly basis. We are, however, super confident that this decision was the right one to make to ensure our long-term success and sustainability. We know that if our paths are meant to cross in the future, that they surely will!

The dissolution of the CSA program has changed the dynamics of the farm and farm operations quite a bit. We have been more efficient with our time regarding plantings, harvest, and post-harvest, with more qualitative time devoted to streamlining and bolstering our wholesale and farmers market operations. It feels like a night and day difference, only having to ping-pong back and forth between the two, instead of playing pinball between CSA, Wholesale, and Farmers Market.

You remember our CSA delivery drivers, Jacques and Alfonso? Well, we’ve kept them on staff and pivoted their roles to better reflect the shift in operations. Jacques has seamlessly taken over a lot on the sales front, continuing to collaborate on strategy and logistics. His attention to detail is impeccable, and he and Jenn have been working hard to make the wholesale program run without a hitch. Alfonso, or Fonz, as he’s known around here, has helped streamline farmers market operations, and his quick-thinking and kind demeanor have made him the perfect fit at the farmers market! Catch him at Del Monte FM in Monterey on Fridays. Pedro has also been incredibly flexible, transitioning between the farm, delivery driving, and now helping out at the farmers market. It’s been valuable for him to see the whole process through, from planting, to harvest, to table!

Upon ending the CSA program, we mentioned our growing opportunity to grow for and work more closely with other home-delivery programs in the area. It feels great to be strengthening the relationships that we’ve built with Good Eggs, Locale, and Ocean 2 Table.

We are particularly excited to have the time to work on some seriously big farm projects as we move into 2023.

The first big project is one that’s been over a year in the making! We’ve been talking with the NRCS - Hollister Branch regarding a new underground pipeline for the Van Dyke Ranch in Gilroy. The Natural Resources Conservation Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers. We were the very last recipients of a very generous grant for the 2022 year. The grant will help fund a whole new network of pipes, risers, and water pump that will run throughout the entire 100 acre ranch.

We’ve been dealing with a really old and outdated system that essentially only allows the water to be pumped at one pressure, all at once. So, if we’ve needed to water just one crop, it actually requires that we turn on ALL the water. It was a system well-suited for single crop farming, as the Van Dyke Ranch once was, but not at all for our purposes today. Where we are growing such a wide and diverse range of commodities, with different planting times, different watering schedules, and different harvest times, this new irrigation system, with the help of a new VSD (Variable Speed Drive) pump, will allow us to use water more efficiently. The variable speed drive feature gives us more control over the pump: where the water goes and how it is allocated throughout the farm. Ultimately, less costly on our pocketbook and on the environment.

Without the grant, this project would have otherwise been unfeasible. It feels great to be able to invest into the ground and into the future of farming in our area. Thanks, NRCS!

Another project that we are excited to begin, and one that was intended for 2020 (thanks, COVID), is a brand new cooler installation at the farm. The coolers were purchased over the summer, and we are now working on getting cement poured and electrical hooked up in the pole barn at the Van Dyke Ranch. This means that we are that much closer to moving all of our post-harvest operations to the farm! We’re still bouncing back and forth between our packing shed in San Martin and the Van Dyke Ranch in Gilroy. With our time and staff split between two places, we’ve done an unnecessary amount of mental gymnastics to coordinate harvest, and we’ve wasted so much physical time and energy transporting product, unloading by hand from vans, as opposed to transporting on pallets and trailers. Our work is so weather and harvest dependent, having all operations in one place will give us more flexibility to adapt, with all hands and eyes on deck, in one place.

Dried Cayenne Peppers bringing the heat!

The planting schedule is well under way for 2023, and we are excited for a handful of new varieties and commodities. I’m particularly excited to grow our relationship with Artisan Seeds and continue to offer “cutting edge” tomato varieties, like the Benevento. I’m also looking forward to refining our pepper lineup. We had a lot of interest this year, especially with the dried options. It’s been a big goal of mine to expand our value-added commodities, with more shelf-stable items to help sustain us during the slower months.

Our third flock of chickens, the Cinnamon Queens, arrived just last week, and they are our biggest flock yet, at 220 birds! They’ll begin producing in March. The first flock of Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites has been producing strong this summer, but the second flock of Black Sex Links just began producing, at a seemingly better rate than the first flock. As we head into winter, we’ll see how they do with the shorter, colder days.

We are currently yielding 70-80 dozen per week, and selling every last egg (if we’re not eating them ourselves.) Snag some if you haven’t yet! We’ve gotten great feedback from customers, which comes as no surprise, as Daniella has put so much into their diet and care. She’s managing so much and deserves a big fat shoutout: she’s got more than 600 birds under her wing!

Best part about this new season? More sleep. Here’s to rest and ease moving into 2023.

November Farmer's Perspective: Sam