The 2017 farm season is pretty much a wrap! We have compiled our data and put together a summary for you to see the value of what we included in our share this year. Our prices are based on market prices.
|
Full Share |
Half Share |
Total Share Value |
$728.50 |
$364 |
You paid |
$594 |
$324 |
Discount $ |
$134.50 |
$40.00 |
Discount % |
18.46% |
10.99% |
|
|
|
weekly average |
$40.47 |
$40.44 |

To see a breakdown of what was in your basket week-to-week, please open this attachment: CSA_2017_Values
If you really want to get farm-nerdy with us, we’ve included a summary of each crop below.
Onions and Garlic (alliums)
We had a bit too many onions last year, so we reduced our planting a bit. Unfortunately, due to the cold weather, the onions did not size up the way they have in previous years, which means our yields were significantly down. We will probably go back to our 2016 seeding numbers next year, because more is better than less in this case. The big win in 2017 was the transition to active drying of the onions, which saved a ton of time from the big harvest to being able to bag and store the onions. We also saved a lot of our garlic through active drying, as many of our neighbours lost their garlic after harvest from all the moisture this year.
Brassicas

The brassicas this year really loved the heavy soil to the north of the farm house. They also loved the cooler temps and the surplus water. We messed up a bit with Kale plantings, but still had plenty for the CSA – just had to short wholesale and markets a little bit. Kohlrabis were productive but folks don’t seem to know what to do with them, more education needed! A big success was coming out of the fall with loads of turnips, black radish, and watermelon radish. Better would have been more rutabaga, but there’s always next year!
Cucurbits


We skipped greenhouse cucumbers this year, which was a wise move, and still had more cukes on offer than last year. Sadly the season for them was very short! Too much water and cool temps were responsible for lots of disease in the plants, and they succumbed quickly. . . The zukes were just as plentiful as ever, and we did a better job of managing successions this year, with three different plantings keeping up the production until frost. The winter squash was both productive and delicious, though we had some issues with some of the pumpkins going off quickly. We won’t be growing that variety again! Otherwise the mix and variety were great this year, and everyone’s happy that we got rid of the ol’ acorn squash.
The Roots
Carrot quality was superb, but quantities were down significantly. The cold weather and rain kept our fall plantings from reaching full maturity before we ran out of heat and light. The carrots harvester made all the difference in getting them all out of the field though. We are still amazed at how very sweet the carrots are from this soil!
Beets were much better than last year, in terms of quantity, though we have to learn to balance the amount we give the CSA. . .
Potatoes
Yields were down from last year, once again due to cold weather, but we were happy with the quality and the varieties. The dreaded potato beetle showed up but not with enough force for them to effect yields.
Tomatoes
We only grow tomatoes in the greenhouse. It takes a lot of management and time trellising and pruning, but it is worth it- we had a great tomato year, despite the cool weather. We skipped grafting them this year, which was a mistake. Blight and mould took a hold quickly and decreased yields slightly. Perhaps we will grow some canning tomatoes next year!
Flowers

We grew a lot of really nice blooms this year. We have decided to stop doing weddings and grocery store bouquets. We’re undecided about growing any flowers at all, but we have a lot of leftover seed so we may throw some in for wholesale markets. We love having flowers in the fields for the beauty and for the pollinators!