Updates and Musings

This December Ironwood Farm is in a deep rest and reset as we head towards solstice. We started a farming business on North Creek, Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican land in 2014. We established greenhouses, fencing, water access and electricity on a previous hay field to grow food for the community, near supportive friends and neighbors Little Seed Gardens through a rental partnership with the Tipple Family. We are now going through a scaling down process on the same land, utilizing the farm infrastructure that has been built over the last 11 years. Good news for 2025: the farm will continue to grow and sell vegetables and herbs! And as you will remember from our winter update last year, Aliyah is leaving the farm this month.

As the summer officially commences, we are busy planting and planning for the months ahead. Although it feels as if warm weather is just beginning, we are already looking towards our cool-loving fall crops. Last week about 75 trays of our brassicas and chicories began their lives in the greenhouse. We farmers are always stuck in this liminal space between gratitude for present abundance and anticipatory excitement and/or nervousness for the things to come. Today, we are grateful for the arrival of the summer squash and zucchini, but also keeping our eyes forward, tending the emerging fall crops.

Happy solstice and happy summer everyone! We’ve made it to the longest day of the year. A big milestone. It’s incredible to see the rapid pace of growth at this time of the year. It’s amazing to see how fast our summer crops and cover crops can grow in just one day. Our summer cover crops are really thriving with the heat and the rain we got over the weekend. Expect to see lots of sunflowers in our fields by August. Our tomatoes, ginger, summer squash, cukes, and eggplant are loving the long days and heat. Lauren and crew has been busy keeping up with stringing and trellising our tomatoes. They’ve all done such an amazing job getting our tomatoes pruned and twined. We’re anticipating a bountiful tomato crop this year.

Dear Farm Followers, We hope this email finds you well and filled with the joy of the season. We wanted to take a moment to update you on the recent events here at Ironwood Farm, as well as share some exciting news about our ongoing endeavors. Last week, we experienced a significant setback as a hail storm blew across our farm. The young plants took a beating, and unfortunately, we had to withdraw from the Rhinebeck Farmers Market last weekend. The hail damage affected our leafy greens, resulting in bruising and diminished appearance. While still edible immediately upon picking, the bruising has led to quick wilting and cellular breakdown when stored in the fridge, rendering them unsellable. These challenges are not new to farmers worldwide, and we are all looking for the resilience and wisdom to continue growing in this changing climate.

Dear CSA Welcome to the first week of the CSA! We are super honored that you joined the small cohort of 2023 CSA Community at our small but mighty farm! There are 40 households picking up at the farm and 10 free shares delivered to the Hudson community. This is a wonderful blend because while we want to run a thriving business that supports a local food system economy through super fresh organic produce, we ALSO want food to be freely available to all! Through this hybrid membership you all come together to make it possible to bring this reality forward. Sending much gratitude to all 50 of you to join with us in this mission of feeding a small radius of folks in different ways. ------- On Tuesday night of this week (last night) we caught hail at the farm through a small, concentrated storm that moved through the Ghent/Philmont area. It was a brief burst (3-5 minutes) of small, mushy hail that had softened from what we heard was nickel sized hail - covering the ground - up in Saratoga. We will be making an instagram post specifically about the hail damage as we keep an eye on it this week. This was literally crushing after a very dry spring, waiting patiently for rain. HOWEVER, we expect the plants could mostly bounce back ok - especially as we hit the rocket ship of growth/sunlight increase that is this upcoming 2 week progression towards summer solstice. It was amazing to see how hardy and strong the smallest/youngest growth on the plants are... older outer leaves are tattered on most tender plants but the newest growth is in relatively good shape. The cover crop that had barely made it up through the drought (mostly super resilient cowpeas) also took a hit but at least they are finally watered in! The good news for this first CSA week is that the CSA share was already harvested and tucked away in coolers before this storm hit! We have some really beautiful veggies for you. Reminder: Half Moon Pizza will be at the farm slinging pies from 4:30-6! Bring cash, or pay Venmo! Come one come all - bring a friend!

Starting Up Again Into a New Season

Sitting down to write this newsletter and reach into the depths of internal winter reality, it's hard to come up with words beyond a few basics. "Tired," "fire," "tea," "food." The feeling of exhaustion, so completely crystalized by the pressure of the last few growing seasons, is a potent feeling I am sinking into full-scale intimacy with. Little bits of cozy energy are spent crafting and reading with the kids and gathering with friends. Allowing in inertia, and choosing to do a lot less, is one way I can keep the flame of my spirit alive. The choice to yield to the stormy, cold days is how I can save up the surge of energy needed for when birds start chirping on a 35 degree sunny day. This is the kind of warm day (when the body senses anything over 32 F as "warm") which sends me right into imagining the joy of March approaching. Without these days of languishing on the couch, I fear that I wont be able to feel the joy of riding that upwell when it inevitably comes. I'm looking forward to March particularly this season because in line with this slow winter the spring will be a quiet start. I used to feel annoyed at March because it felt like the riot of spring should be beginning. In the Northwest, where I used to live and still love, there are giant pink blossoms dropping from the trees in March... but here in the Northeast it's still mud and cold (although, also, the treasure of tree sap!). These days I feel March as a nice lulling time; the dreaming space of NY spring without the pressure. Little dobs of shocking green colors in the greenhouse (cilantro, dill, lettuces, onions) in the otherwise cozy, soft brown field of view that is late winter Upstate. This is the first year in awhile that we will have no co-workers on our farm besides Ironwood owners until April. This means Aliyah and I will be going through the steady motions of cleaning up the farm and finalizing the reset for the return of warmth and sun. We will slowly turn fieldhouse beds and plant first successions of seeds. By mid-March the ginger seed will be arriving, tomatoes will be sprouting, and the greenhouse will be beginning to fill up alongside young peashoots which will be making their appearance again. I can already smell the tomato plants as I run my hands through their stems to bend the plants and check that their roots are maintaining enough water while they wait to go in the ground. I can remember how, so strangely and beautifully, a Sungold plant smells just as fruity as the fruit itself. It is my secret wish that our 2022 crew will continue to stop by at times like this for a cup of tea in the greenhouse on a slow day, because we will be missing them dearly. By the time the greenhouse is full at the end of March, we will be ready for the arrival of more lovely humans to share the tasks and high fives around a bit wider. You've probably gathered by now that Ironwood Farm will be in existence in 2023! I know s everal of you were worried after my last slightly heart- wrenching newsletter. We've made significant cuts to our crop plan and our CSA distribution spread (this was/is hard) in order to bring our energy closer to home. Even with the challenges of farming ever-increasing, we want to maintain care and relationship to the North Creek land that hosts our farm community and families for many more years. The challenge will be to navigate a path of scaling down that feels authentic, and maintains connection and the vibrant energy that we've built here with your help over the last 9 years. To support this transition, you can join our small and abundant Farm CSA . More information to come in a future post about CSA details, which can also be found now on our website . Enjoy this snow day! Lauren reparations now, land back, and no more cops

The last CSA week! I feel the pressure of writing the "final" newsletter... to bring it all together, create some kind of summary or leave some lasting flavor of what this season has been. I can tell you so far it takes a lot of big sighs to write the final newsletter! :)

Happy full moon. I hope you have been able to spend some moments outside with loved ones or to yourself. Though I am coming around to the fact that I actually don’t like the cold and could personally definitely can do without the changes in temperature, I am learning to appreciate by way of veggies the possibilities that the fall can offer.