Persephone Period, Saturday CSA Pickup Now Available, Market 1/22
Brrrr! Today was freezing. Mostly this time of year I’m bouncing between the greenhouses and barn, but even short trips outside froze any exposed skin. We’re looking at another cold snap through the end of January and then who knows what February holds. I’m looking forward to the return of some sunshine and we’re getting close to that. We’re nearly through the ‘Persephone Period’ a roughly three month period when the sun shines less than 10hrs a day, or in Greek mythology, the months when Persephone is abducted to the underworld by Hades. In the myth, her mother Demeter neglects the earth and forbids it to produce while searching for her daughter, on the farm plants need at least 10 hrs of sunlight a day to produce on a regular schedule. I love the myth not as much for the content of its story as I do for the agricultural wisdom passed down through centuries in the form of stories. I track when the Persephone Period begins each fall to know when the winter crop will stop growing and we can start picking it. We use a strategy called ‘banking greens’ to add as much bulk to our winter crop as we can leading up to the Persephone period when growth is not fast enough to replace what we pick for the markets on a biweekly basis. We then divide the beds among the number of markets we will have until the end of the Persephone period in early February and only harvest what is allotted for us that week. Once the sun returns and Demeter is reunited with her daughter, growth picks up rapidly. By mid February the sun shines longer and longer each day and all the beds that were dormant through the winter period expand with new growth to soak up the returning sun. Those first few weeks of February are when the farm turns back on again. The farmers start milling about more regularly to keep on schedule with the plants and a cycle that even the ancient greeks mused over is reset.
The new season doesn’t start all at once, though, and Rachel and I are going to enjoy our relative downtime as much as we can before the grind sets in! This time of year is not as busy as the summer, but even so we are laying the groundwork for another successful growing season. Everything we grow starts on a spreadsheet and it’s filling up quick these days. Fields are being planned, seeds and supply lists are getting finalized, and our CSA membership is filling up. We’re nearly at 50% capacity for the CSA (kudos to our members that are so good about signing up early!!) so please scure your spot now! We are offering Saturday pickup for CSA shares and I have already heard from a few members that are returning again from when we used to offer a Friday pickup. Full info on the CSA below. We’ll also be at the market this Thursday at Cheshire Med from 10am-2pm. Full harvest list for the market is below as well.
2026 CSA Shares
The CSA is the best deal we offer on our produce and spots will be limited again this year. Each year we aim to return 10% of the intial value of the share to our members in the form of farm fresh fruits, veggies, herbs, and flowers. PYO flowers, beans, peas, and herbs for CSA members are included as a part of the share.
The season this year will run for 18 weeks from Wednesday, July 1st to Saturday, October 31st. Full 18-week shares and “Flex” 9-week shares are available. Flex share members pick any nine weeks out of the eighteen week season to collect their share. We are adding a second pickup day for shares this year on Saturday mornings from 9:00am to noon. Members do not need to establish a pickup day for the entire season and can pickup on Wednesday or Saturday depending on what works best for your schedule each week. Both pickup days, Wednesdays from 1:00pm - 7:00pm and Saturday mornings from 9:00am - noon, are “Market Style Pickup” which means our members pick out exactly which veggies you want rather than the farmers packing a box for you (we’ve all got different taste!).
Each week we pick at least 15 unique varieties of vegetables and members choose 8 items to make up their share. We regularly offer bonus 9th and 10th items like herbs, garlic, or veggies we have an abundance of that do not count towards the 8 items in your share. PYO does not count towards your eight share items an Over the course of the season we grow more than 40 different veggies for our CSA shares! We prioritize vegetables that can be included in shares and enjoyed on a weekly basis. Our favorite share items are: Carrots, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cucumbers, Salad Greens, Melons and Watermelons, Fresh Herbs, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Onions, Peppers, Corn, Garlic, Cabbage, and Radishes. Veggies are picked fresh, washed, and properly stored for best quality once they make it to your kitchen.
There will be a few changes to the CSA this year as we are always trying to improve shares for our members. The biggest change is that we are not offering delivery CSA shares any longer. If you received delivery last year you should have already gotten an email letting you know our reasoning, but if you have any questions please let me know. Another is that we will not have eggs and bread as an add on for CSA shares, however we will still have eggs and bread for sale in the farm store during pickup. We are also looking into inviting other bread and pastry vendors on Saturday morning pickups.
The last change is that we will no longer be accepting card payments for CSA shares this year. Unfortunately the processing fees for the CSA became too much for the farm to handle and we did not want to increase the price of shares to cover processing fees. Shares must be paid by check. We offer payment plans for members and only require a 20% down payment due upon signup, but the remainder of the checks must be filled out, postdated, and mailed to the farm with the down payment to be confirmed for your share. Please see the image below for information on how to pay for shares.
Market at Cheshire Med Tomorrow 1/22!
We’ll be in the cafeteria of Cheshire Med on Thursday 1/22 from 10am - 2pm. The cafeteria is downstairs and you can access it from the main entrance and go downstairs or by driving around to the back entrance (there is construction around the back entrance but you can still access it).
We’ve got a great array of fresh greens from our farm and storage veggies from our farm and other local farms, bread and cookies from orchard hill, and eggs and maple syrup from our neighbors in Fitzwilliam! At the market this week we will have:
From Local Farms
Picadilly Farm, Organic, Winchester, NH
Beets
Carrots
Winter Squash
Red Fire Farm, Organic, Montague, MA
Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes
Orchard Hill Breadworks, Alstead, NH
Bread
Cookies
Elephant Rock Farm, Our Neighbors!
Maple Syrup
Eggs
From Our Farm
Salad Mix (lettuce, spinach, baby kale mix)
Chard
Cabbage
Hakurei Turnip
Kale
Onions
Radishes
Garlic
