Dear CSA members & Beloveds,

Whew! It must have been a busy, wild year if we're just sending out the first newsletter at the very beginning of November. We’re in the middle of our pivot towards winter; battening down field houses from the cold, recruiting for Winter CSA (starts Thanksgiving week!) and getting some big harvests of fall crops into storage. It’s a valuable opportunity to reflect on the season, and therefore to write newsletters. :)


Tiny Civilization

I've been reflecting this year that building a small farming business is like building a tiny civilization from scratch. While we’ve watched water flow through our greenhouse this year during torrential rain storm, and seen plastic blow off two fieldhouses, there is an ancient part of my brain that is turning on, trying to learn from mistakes; trying to make sure that our small corner of Hudson Valley farming survives alongside the thriving farms of our friends and neighbors that keep us inspired.

As a farmer friend clarified this year, the nature of farm-learning is generational. In the best situation, people would pass on knowledge gained from an entire lifetime to the next wave of farmers. It’s very difficult to learn from the land and natural cycles in the short span of a few seasons, given the sporadic nature of one season to another (especially right now). When I worked for a farm I couldn’t have imagined all of the questions we would have as the 3 owners of Ironwood, and all of the attempts that our mentors had tried and tested and discarded in their path to stability and upward spiraling of their land and business.

There are many aspects of a small farm start up that feel like a civilization from scratch. There are the roads, coolers, fieldhouses, greenhouse and processing areas, and the incredible way that natural cycles interact with these things once you establish them. I wish I had taken at least one civil engineering class in school. We see on a day to day basis a micro metaphor on our farm of how human plans (we think we're so smart!) can lead to creating problems for ourselves.


Winter Food & Wind Up to the Cold

In amongst all of this learning, surviving and preparing for the winter, there are amazing things around us. Giant fennel and celeriac have materialized from months of warm weather and tons of rain. Gorgeous purple cabbages have headed up for the first time in our business history! The warmth that is pushing into November is giving us an extra window to enjoy delicate flavors before crisping frost and blanketing snows.

We built a new field house this year which means more winter greens - yum. Field houses are inhabited by winter head lettuce, salad mix, spinach, spicy salad mix, Italian chicories, claytonia and mache. Parsley and Rosemary are growing indoors. Winter hardy kale and brussel sprouts are standing in the field, ready to take on the cold. Tons of beets, carrots, & daikon will be rolling in for storage in the next 2 weeks as temperatures drop.

We are lucky to have an awesome end of season crew to help make this possible. Sunny has come to work with us this winter after his season at Letterbox Farm, and we are so appreciative of his fun and upbeat attitude that goes with his name! We are going to be squeezing all of the joy out of our last 3 weeks with Isabel, who has dedicated 2 amazing seasons to the farm and will be heading to France next year to pursue training in winemaking; an area in which she already has tons of skill and passion. We are lucky to have Alexis, a friend of CSA members, to join us a few days here and there for the last push. We love these folks!

As winter transition starts, we hope we get to see you all. Friendly faces and good food are what make farming in the winter worth while!

Looking forward to playing in the snow and feeding folks this winter.

Much Love

Lauren and the Ironwood Team