Newsletter

Spring 2008 Newsletter

Hello to all! I am sitting here on this cold late winter day hoping that spring is just around the corner. We do take some needed time off over the winter, but that time seems to get shorter and shorter as we try to get to market at the earliest possible time every season. By this time, all of the seed ordering is done, and most seeds have already arrived, with the exception of things like potatoes that won’t come until it warms up a bit. In these early days of March, we seem to get one warm day and then 3 or 4 cold ones. Spring seems to tease us as one day we are outside doing fieldwork in short sleeves, and the next day we are shoveling snow. I did make it out to the field early this week on one of those warm days and without any snow cover, I can see that the tulips and daffodils we planted by the thousands are just starting to peek through. We are growing a wide variety of them this year on a trial basis to see if this can be profitable for us. Spring cut flowers gives us the chance to get to market very early, so if you are in the market for some nice locally grown flowers, pay us a visit at the Ithaca Market on April 5th.

CSA Grows Again

What started out a few years ago with 6 available shares has now grown to make up close to 40% of our annual sales. We are thrilled that we can offer the local community fresh product throughout the growing season and we are nothing but proud that our community has embraced what we are trying to

do here and supported us so well. For this year, we will offer a 22 week season (see CSA Link) with two levels of membership. As far as changes this year, you will see more and more greens, including, but not limited to arugula (a crowd favorite) mesclun mix, spinach, lettuce, and cress. Some of these new varieties are experiments for us so like always, you may or may not see them showing up in shares. We are also adding kohlrabi, red cabbage, pac choy and more herbs, assuming we do a good enough job of keeping our Hendy Hollow bugs away from these crops long enough for them to mature.

You will see no less than 15 varieties of cherry tomatoes this year, up from about 8 last year. You folks love your cherry tomatoes, and they will be a staple for us again this year. Garlic? We planted 5 new varieties last fall, which will bring our offerings to 7. From spicy hot “Spanish roja” to the ever popular “german red” I am sure we will have just the right taste for you. CSA Pickup days have changed a bit this year, with pickups on Thursday at Wisner Market in Elmira, farm pickups on Friday, and pickups on Saturday at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market.

The "Twins"

Some of you have had the pleasure of meeting our newest “farm animals” Benny and Daisy arrived here in mid summer as 8 week old Basset Hound Pups. We also had them up in Ithaca on Sundays for a few markets. They joined Lucy and Jessie and became part of the Hendy Hollow Farm Hound Brigade. Unfortunately, we lost Jessie who died in August at nearly 16 years of age. If you do get to the farm this season, you can be sure that the 3 of them will want a little attention from you while you are here.

Staff

Andy Pirrizolo will be back working here days. My Mom and her husband Tony will be around for a few months. Mom usually comes with me to Wisner on Thursday during the season, and Tony is very helpful fixing things and organizing things here at the farm. Tony also is now a fixture on the Garlic Festival Circuit, and we will again be up at Fox Run Winery in August for their garlic festival and may add a couple more as time allows. We are still looking for some help for the Saturday Market in Ithaca. If you have any interest, give us a call or send an email.

Working Shares

Would you love to be a CSA shareholder this season but are working with limited funds? You may be interested in our working share program. We get much needed labor hours, and you get a big discount on our CSA program. We need people that can work a few hours a week here at the farm or assist us at the markets throughout the season. Give us a call if you are interested.

This is your farm

……perhaps not on the deed, but this farm is here to serve the local community. We want to meet your needs and fill the void that currently exists in our over-shipped, over-packaged, over-sprayed and over-fertilized food system. Our products come right from the field, just before we are ready to market them. They are the freshest products you can find in the area. Our profits are spent right here in the local community so that we can, in turn, support other local businesses. Our business grows because the local community has embraced Hendy Hollow Organic Farm. Friends tell friends. We grow at a pace that ensures that we deliver the best product we can.

Hope to see you soon.

Steve