CSA Members 2005: Newsletter Archive

Greetings from the Boistfort Valley!

June has arrived in a flurry of wet weather. Rain pummeled the soil through the month of April, then on into May, presenting us with the wettest spring in recent memory. Late May graced us with sun and some surprisingly hot weather, however, and the soil baked dry, sending up steam. Seeding and transplanting have resumed, and we look forward to another great season, albeit a bit late.

The perennial flower bulbs that we planted last spring are flourishing, and our herbs are growing in leaps and bounds with last week's heat. The carrots and beets that we sneaked into the ground in March are sizing up nicely, and our lettuces are crisp and yummy. Peas have been a trial this year; we have battled mucky soils and disease problems with the soggy weather. We hope to have success with our late crop. Radishes are growing up, beans are sprouting, and I found the first handful of ripe strawberries this week. I have been foraging daily to make certain that none go to waste.

Despite our impatience to get into the field, the wet weather allowed us extra time to acquire and fix equipment. We traded in our small tractor, a 26 horsepower John Deere, for a 50 horse John Deere, and purchased a larger tiller to go with it. Our previous tractor ran without complaint, but the larger one can lift more, haul more, and save us hours in the field. Mike's restored Super A has a new set of cultivators, courtesy of Mike's research, hard work, and forays into rural Oregon to buy parts. The little tractor makes easy work of weeding, minimizing our hand weeding and saving time and sore backs. Built in 1949, it runs the best of all our tractors and I've only heard it die once (it was out of fuel). In fact, I am rather amazed by (and grateful for) Mike, who put in so many hours on fine tuning the new/old tractors that his winter mantra became "I am not a mechanic." He worked on every piece of equipment that we own, including the lawn mower.

We finally found a wonderful, spacious box truck that will accommodate our CSA boxes with ease. I have been looking forward to a new truck for two seasons, and I get a little bit excited each time I see it in the driveway. We hope to put the farm name on it this summer and make it official. After much deliberation and running out of room, we also decided to take on an additional twenty five acres of farmland, which will certainly keep us busy this summer.

In short, our little farm is growing! It is thrilling and terrifying to buy larger equipment, but it pays off in efficiency every time we mow the field or deliver produce.

We are excited to share our farm with you, and hope that you look forward to this season as much as we do.

The list of drop site locations and directions is available to members by contacting us. Our first delivery this year will be Thursday, June 23rd, for Olympia, Centralia, and the farm, and Tuesday, June 28th for the Seattle area and Tacoma.

Please note that we have two delivery days this season!! Make certain to note which day your share will arrive!

Boistfort Valley Farm
426 Boistfort Road
Curtis, WA 98538
(360) 245-3796

website: BoistfortValleyFarm.com
email: please use our forms