December-We Didn't See It Coming
It's no wonder we found ourselves a quarter of the way into December before I was able to sit down and write my monthly "newsletter" with my contemplation on what's in store. We're a week in already and enough has unfolded to justify the answer to the question everyone in my life who knows what we do for our living has asked us: no, we haven't slowed down yet :).
Truthfully, we saw some of it coming. The end of November was typically busy for us with school festivities and our massive Thanksgiving bake for the business. Orders trickled in and we forecasted the hours we would spend browning butter for pie crusts and proofing rolls for the oven. The hard part is juggling young kids fresh on their school break while we rotate pies and breads in the ovens. In fact, taking a shift to wash salad greens in the cool barn is a welcome reprieve from the farmhouse turned bakehouse which bursts at the seams with energy hardly contained within its walls. Admittedly, the wild part of me which was attracted to culinary school and professional kitchens thereafter, is fulfilled on days like this. In reflection, maybe that is why I pine for the wild hustle and bustle of farmers market. Like a bee to honey.
The last week of November was atypical too. When planning to overwhelm yourself with an overflowing agenda, you hope to keep anomalies at bay. As life would have it, the universe doesn't mind your best laid plan. Those who buy what the Farmers Almanac is selling, must have felt gratified to observe the early arrival of a whirlwind winter. After a long season of flowering zinnias, which I picked to garnish Thanksgiving pies, we were plunged into teenaged digits-Farenheit, accompanied by frigid winds. The old periodical's prediction manifested, giving its dear readers something to believe in. Such sudden, extreme temperatures required scrambling in the field to pull in cabbages and more which can survive light frosts, but not tundra treatment. Blankets were pulled out of storage for salad greens, irrigation lines were drained, firewood was procured for the woodstove we gather around in such weather. The walk-in cooler,the heated growhouse, and the chicken coop were battoned weeks earlier than usual. And even with the most attention to detail in anticipation of the hard frost, there arise puzzles to solve.
The heated growhouse and seed chamber which we scrapped together when we started the farm has seen its better days. Despite the heater fighting to keep the fragile plantlife from freezing, various trays of shoots and microgreens perished, exposing the weaknesses that had developed over the course of this year. The house which has been responsible for starting hundreds of thousands of plants for the farm, has shifted on unsolid ground, and inevitably has grown its last plants. It looks like our March building project will in fact be a December building project. And it looks like our shoots and microgreens business is offline until the new year. C'est la vie.
Just as Rich and I were beginning to formulate our 2025 season, one of notable expansion in the vegetable field, we wondered whether or not we should be attempting to bake for market while we endeavor to bring substantially more produce to our evergrowing customer base. Perhaps our overworked oven was partial to that idea. Just after the massive holiday bake, a turkey roasted and enjoyed by our family, one of our two workhorse ovens combusted while preheating. The excitement was contained within the oven walls, harmless despite the implication that we were now down to one oven. I wouldn't say I was surprised that the oven had surrendered after how much utility it has provided, being called upon as a commercial oven, when it was really only made to feed a family. A new oven it is, and it'll arrive just in time for another round of holiday baking later in the month. These are just the growing pains of a couple of scrappy greenhorns, who are outgrowing their rough and ready phase.
All the while, two more 72' by 30' high tunnels or unheated growhouses were erected, thanks to a cost-sharing grant we applied for and were awarded this year. We opted to hire a crew to put the houses up in less than half the time that the two of us could have. That way we could continue to tend the farm and maximize the fall harvest, rather than diverting time to construction. It's hard to tell which way is more costly. Ultimately, we wanted to minimize the tax on our bodies and minds rather than that of our checkbook after having installed the first high tunnel ourselves, kids underfoot and vegetable beds neglected, back in 2020. It's rare for us to contract anything out, and we marvelled to see such a skilled fleet come to the farm and raise the houses in three days time: a triumph. Rich spent the next few days installing the automatic sides which work off of a temperature gauge to open and close the houses in accordance with the sun. And now, onto laying compost and preparing beds for the first rotation of plants which will find homes in the warmth captured by the high tunnels. While there are growing pains, there are also growing gains :).
And so, life is very full. Fuller yet, because we have been prioritizing time with our people. Winter is a very important season to cash in our social chips with friends and family who we miss during busy summers. A most prized friend discovered way back in the dorms of the Culinary Institute of America during my New York chapter came riding into Dayton on the winter winds to spend a week with us, nestled by the woodstove, decorating the Christmas tree, and decompressing, making up for lost time with cups of tea late into the night. Such late night conversations stir the soul and call me back to the great need we have to connect and plug into those people who warm our hearts and electrify our souls. 2nd grade holiday musicals and family gatherings in crowded houses, these are what humans are meant to do in the dark days of winter. More story-telling, big belly laughs, and your guard let down enough to sleep in here and there. You didn't do that enough in the ambitious, early mornings rising with the sun in the fruitful months. You is me in this scenario. And Rich too.
Though it feels as if we are five weeks into December, it is still young. We've yet to reach the darkest day of the year, when we will celebrate the rebirth of the sun and the beginning of another year playing with its energy in the field. In the meantime, who knows what's coming? A series of stories to tell.
Updates from the farm:
-Winter Ordering Continues: We will continue to offer online ordering through December. Our shop opens every Monday and you can pick up your goods on Saturdays from 10-11:30 in the Oakwood Market lot located at 22 Orchard Drive. The salad plantings are still giving to us (unlike the shoots and microgreens, they have well-established root systems and can handle the frosts we've seen so far).
-Christmas/Holiday Bake Preorders: We are offering french silk pie, Dutch apple pie, asiago rosemary bread, rolls, etc for the Christmas holiday. You can preorder your baked goods now on our Christmas Preordering page. Pick up is on Monday, December 23rd from 4-6:30pm in the Oakwood Market lot at 22 Orchard Drive. We will offer produce separately the week before on our website once we know what is available (a reminder email will be sent out then). Check out the menu below:
-Hoops Built: As seen above, the two high tunnels have been installed and we will continue to progress through the rest of the project/contract with the NRCS this winter (drainage ditches to be dug on either side of the hoops + wildlife/pollinator planting to be installed this winter and coming spring)
-Rebuilding our heated growhouse: All of our transplants, potted herbs and plant sale plants, and cold season microgreens and shoots are started and grown in our one heated growing space. As told by the story above, the house we rigged up , largely with leftover building materials, had seen its better days. We will begin constructing its bigger and better replacement this month (something we have put off for long enough).
Thank you for reading :).
My writing is free for all to read. If you would like to support my writing you can do so below: