January 24, 2026
Dear CSA members and Community friends,
Here we are 2026. Time sure flies by! I write this sitting at our kitchen table looking out over our sleeping onion and greens field and the cows’ pastures, while the subzero winds blow through. Normally, we would be watching the cows, Tiny, August, Bee and Hank eating from the round bale of hay and basking in the sun. We put the cows in the barn during this arctic blast yesterday to protect them from the double digit negative numbers we will be experiencing this week. Inside the barn, they have room to move around, eat and drink. The sheep are in the barnyard with their full winter woolly fleeces with their bale of second cut hay, chewing their cud and look at us inquisitively on why are the cows are coming into the barn. This morning the sheep were little wool puff balls, legs tucked under them, chewing cud and some sleeping. They are not phased with this temperature. Between water refills in their troughs, they breathe holes in the ice to drink the water. I just saw a hawk fly over the back field my mama maple, their white under belly reflecting the sunlight against the blue sky. In the tree in the creek/ditch, there is a mature eagle resting before heading out. Behind me, Daisy and three of our cats are lounging on the couch in the sunlight taking a nap. January is a month of naps and rests, puzzles and reading, taking care of animals, taking care of ourselves. A time to plan for the coming season and a time to dream and hope. This privilege of rest, of working with the season, is something we do not take for granted.
So very thankful for this warm house for me and my family: to plan in, process veggies, wash and dye wool in a basement and organize all of it. To have room to plan, to think, to play, to read, to laugh, to rest, to eat, to share. What an amazing year it has been. Thank you for being part of our farmily and journey with us. It is so true what good stable healthy housing can do for someone’s health, well being and peace. Also, in this rest and planning and thankfulness trying to use our energy to advocate and help where needed this season. Hope.
It has come time again to sign up for Blue Heron Farm 21st CSA Season – 18 weeks of fun vegetables, PYO flowers and herbs and being part of our intimate BHF farmily. You get what is available on the farm that week and the inside scoop. Transparency. Eating with the season. We strive to have a journal post each week with what is in the shares and ways to cook or eat them. When you come to the farm, you get to PYO flowers and herbs at each pickup. For those who get delivery to a satellite site, you are welcome to come pick too on Monday nights. With our CSA model, you are an active member of our farmily and get to understand the rhythm of the season and the weather and how it affects us all.
We have 85 memberships available – between on farm pickup and satellite delivery. You can sign up on paper or through our website. By signing up now and paying now, we are able to pay for the needed inputs: seeds, potting mix, containers, mulch, drip line, property tax, land mortgage, water, fuel – you get where I am going. We are ordering seeds and supplies, paying property taxes and yearly FSA mortgage next week and prices are up are up again from last year! Your early sign up helps us to order the needed things for the farm without accruing more debt and interest fees.
We also totally understand that some cannot pay now or need a payment plan or can’t pay at all – We get that. Believe me we do. So still sign up – and pay when and if you can. We do not want to add to the stress. Just let us know if you are planning on signing up and send payment when you can – you can fill out the form online and if you can pay online. For those who would like to apply for the NOFA-VT supported share – the link goes live on February 1. https://www.nofavt.org/services-resources/consumers/community-food-access/farm-share-program . If you think you will need financial help, please sign up for our CSA and sign up at the NOFA link. This will help secure funding to help pay for the CSA share. No one will be turned away from a CSA share who wants one and who can not pay. There is always enough food to share.
We are in the middle of planning and ordering right now for the farm. Also, end of the year financials and reviewing the last season and what we want to improve on for this year. Last year was a very tough year for us so we have made some decisions to help get our cash flow back on track for this year. Also, last year’s drought did not allow us to get to our plans that we had for last year. So some of them have made it to this year’s list.
- Due to three years of drastic weather, we are taking more fields out of production and putting new fields into production. We would like to tile the fields at 23 Quaker and fix the ditches, we are looking into costs and grants for this. I don’t see this happening this year. But we will be cover cropping and getting the sheep and cows on those cover cropped veggie fields to graze which will help regenerate and rebuild the soil along with resting it from veggie growing. The two summers of rain and the one of drought have really depleted certain fields and we need to do some deep recovery to help them get back up there. We will be adding more field space by where are home is at 34 quaker and moving more pasture to up the road. The soil in the cow field/home field is better draining but does not have as much organic matter as the fields up the road. We are carefully making a paper and pencil map to figure out how to navigate the heavy soil and climate change that we are in the middle of – building a resilient soil. Keep working on creating a climate resilient farm. We also have a hayfield at out home field that has knap weed in it – we want to plow that up, add compost, plant potatoes and have wide pathways (1 or 2 tractor width) with oats, vetch, and peas. The sheep and cows do not like knapweed and it is prolific if its left to flower and chokes out the pasture grasses they do like.
2. Veggie: Growing broccoli and cabbage as fall crops instead of spring into summer crops because we have noticed the weather fluctuation is too much at the beginning of the season and we waste so much growing space for two failing crops. Growing more winter squash, pumpkins and turnips so we can supplement ours, yours, and the sheeps’ diet with these nutrient dense storable food. Trying to get early veggies in the ground like greens in March so we have greens and turnips before the tomatoes go in our hoophouses in mid may.
3. Flowers : Increase flowers and dye plants and make the starters available for sale. Because flowers bring immense joy to all who go in the field or get a bouquet. Maybe a whole PYO sunflower field!
4. Farm help: We will be hiring fulltime employee/s for the growing season.We will continue to have Monday and Wednesday volunteers. Our volunteers and farm workers you rocked our world last year as you always do! Thank you!
5. Work on putting in a real compressor in a real walk in to store crops.
6. Work smarter not harder. If a crop doesn’t work – why do we keep trying to grow it ? – using the pen instead of pencil in our growing plan and this will allow us to grow more beautiful produce, herbs, plants and flowers – while still feeding all the people we can in a sustainable way. There are also some other crop tweaking and growing, we are looking at everything and trying to figure out where we can tighten up and be better farmers.
7. Look at using the barn more efficiently and maybe make a true wash and pack and maybe a dairy processing room in the barn. And definitely get water running into the barn and barn yard and remove the our old home, the mobile home.
So here we are in 2026- community and food security. We can do this. You know how I know this – because we have been doing it for over 20 years together with many of you old and new members. We are resilient people. We are thankful for you and your support. Please reach out if you have any questions. Christine’s cell is 617-276-4728 – you can text her or call. Or email at farmers@blueheronfarmvt.com or harmonyvt@yahoo.com. You can register and pay right on our website, or you can print and mail a check. If you would like to use EBT or venmo, reach out and I can send you the information on how to do it????
We look forward to handing over the clippers and for you to pick flowers to your heart’s content, to come get all those juicy heirloom tomatoes – to eat crunchy bok choy and green scallions again. In the meantime, we will feed and nourish and plan and advocate and hope and rest for this amazing season to come.
In gratitude,
Adam, Christine, Sadie, and Delia
Blue Heron Farm www.blueheronfarmvt.com