Meet our new field crew!

Sam is our newest employee. Sam is a friend of a friend of Renae’s and is from Amery, Wisconsin. Sam’s love of dirt was rekindled when he studied soil science. When he’s not harvesting your CSA share in Chelan’s incredible soil, he’s biking or playing drums.

Josh is returning from working at the Sunshine Farm Market two years ago and we’re so happy to have him back two days a week harvesting and packing your CSA shares! Josh is extremely enthusiastic about organic agriculture and hopes to save the world one beet at a time. When he’s not out in the fields he’s perfecting his chocolate truffle with herbal filling - coming to the Market soon!

The Farmers' Return from Winter

Every year, as the farm winds down for the year, friends and customers ask Rachel and me what it is we actually do in the winter.  What we do during the growing season is apparent—long days of sun, fifteen employees, fifty plus crops—plenty to keep us busy.  But what happens after the ground freezes and the snow flies?  I think some romantic visions about winter farm life may exist:  steaming cups of tea, a soft sofa, a stack of books to read.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

It’s true the operation slims down: we lay off the bulk of the staff, shutter the market, and winterize equipment.  December is spent reviewing the year’s performance and crunching a mountain of numbers…hopefully we finish with enough time to enjoy the holidays a bit!

Then we try and get away for a little bit and get some midwinter sun.  This year we spent 10 days in San Diego.  During my time off, I like to practice being a tourist in other places—it always gives me insight into how we can serve our own customers here better.  So, in addition to lounging around the beaches of Del Mar and eating fish tacos, we paid a visit to the wine region of Temecula and stopped by the “agritourism” town of Julian to try their famous apple pie.

Of course, being on vacation with a toddler isn’t really much of a vacation!  We got what little R & R we could while trying to keep Jessie on a reasonable sleep schedule—spent a lot of time touring the various playgrounds of San Diego!

Now with Jessie happily back with her full complement of blocks, books, and dolls, we begin to focus on 2011.  Outside, Esteban has been steadily pruning his way through the apples.  He will start on the cherries next week.  Renae, our vegetable manager, has been squeezing in field planning and seed ordering in between holidays with her family in Wisconsin and a bike trip down the California coast.  She will return at the beginning of February to warm up the greenhouse and plant the first seeds of the season.

That leaves Rachel and me to plan, strategize, and hire.  Yesterday we sat down to plan our events calendar and marketing strategies for the year.  Later discussions will focus on farm projects we hope to complete this spring.  Each year we enjoy the return of some employees, but there are always vacancies to fill.  There are job descriptions to write and post, interviews to do, references to check.  And then there is wine to finish making!  From now until mid-March, I will be busy blending, filtering, ordering labels & bottles, and lining up every last detail before the mobile bottling truck pulls in.

Each week brings perceptibly longer days and the return of life begins to hum beneath the soggy ground.  And without even recognizing the change, I will wake up some day in April, with that steady hum alive inside me as well, renewed and ready to hit another season!

Daniel Writes: Working in the Heat

With the position I’m in, it’s pretty easy to take care of myself.  I have access to plenty of water, I’m able to choose from a plethora of organic food, I spend plenty of time outdoors, and I’m only a bike ride or bus ride away from all sorts of recreation.  I am fortunate to be young and healthy.

The dog days of summer have begun.  Even though this is probably considered a mild summer, for me the heat just takes some getting used to.  My uncle Mark once told me something very simple, but thinking about it comes in handy on days like this: he said, “Everything is only as hard as you make it.”  Badda bing, badda boom; livin’ is easy and so is workin’ in the heat.  I wish.  But, no doubt his simple words touch on some sort of interconnection between thoughts, feelings and actions.  If I feel like a struggling leaf crop in the heat, I’ll probably drag my heels.  However, if I’m as happy to be alive as the corn is on a scorcher, I can view hard work as an opportunity to have a good sweat.

It just takes a bit of planning, like drinking plenty of water and getting plenty of rest.  And, on the really hot days, making time to jump in the lake during my siesta.  :)



Guy Writes: Synergy on the Farm

The talk referenced in this article can be found on the TED talks website (www.ted.com). If you haven’t discovered TED talks yet, let me pause to remark on their extraordinary quality. Here I live in a rural part of Washington state and have access to some of the best minds alive – thanks to TED and a good high speed internet connection. Check it out. It’s perfect when doing dishes!

Last night, I listened to a talk by Michael Pollan on the internet.  He discussed the value of working synergistically with nature and offered up his poster-boy farmer, Joel Salatin, as an example of such synergy.  Michael’s talk wasn’t new material for me.  I’ve already read about chicken-tractors, salad-bar beef, and Joel Salatin’s “Polyface Farm” in numerous books and articles.  

This attention has bought Joel considerable fame and while he has been basking in his new limelight, I’ve been in the bilge of our own farm ship just fighting to keep things afloat.  Lofty ideas that come wrapped up with words like “synergy” don’t offer much relief to those on the bucket brigade.  Which is to say, my eyes have glazed over these past few years when people start talking “new systems” in agriculture.  I just want a system that pays the bills.

The good news is that even in the midst of this economic downturn, our farm is chugging along.  Dad always said that people have to eat.   Turns out he was right.  And so, last night, I found myself listening to Pollan with a bit of fresh perspective.   Diving into the grubby details of exactly what he means by “synergy” is material for a farm walk or conference session, but let me say that the basic idea is that all the units on the farm work together.  Waste goes into compost goes onto crops.  Crops go into products go into kitchens. Sun goes into grass goes into animals goes into kitchens.  And so on. 

Salatin calls his place “Polyface” because it is a farm with so many sides.  The Sunshine Farm and Tunnel Hill Winery easily falls into the polyface camp.  Our work to date has been to develop these many sides – the winery, the vegetables, the beef, the U-Pick, the CSA.  Our work ahead will be to link them up, to take the product from one and feed it to the next.  To take the waste from one and fertilize the next. 

We’ve started doing this just a little.  We now sell our grass-fed beef in the market.  (Previously it was available only by the quarter or half.)  And with the new wine cooler in the market, sales of Tunnel Hill Pinot, Riesling, and Syrah have picked up nicely.  A small seasonal restaurant is on the horizon for the winery, which will feature the fresh product coming in from the fields.

But even beyond these rather obvious links, there are others less visible links to be made. The Sunshine Farm needs a bonafide composting program.  I don’t have ambitions of producing all of our own fertility, but I would like to take our existing waste and make a high-grade compost for the veggie fields.  The Sunshine Farm needs a bona fide pasture management system.  Right now we turn the four-legged creatures loose and they eat wherever and whatever they want.  This has led to some degraded pasture sorely in need of rehabilitation.  The list is long. 

One thing I’ve learned since moving back to the farm in 2003: it is really easy to make lists like this.  But it takes time and money to implement.  That’s probably why I’ve been so distant to these basic yet challenging ideas.  Composting and pasture management don’t yield immediate results.  They are investments in the long-term health of the soil.  But it is hard to think long-term in the midst of crisis.

Thankfully, I feel like we have weathered the worst of our farm’s crisis.  Regrettably, I know there are other farms who are in the midst of the storm, or who have yet to enter.  Certainly the phrase, ‘steady as she goes’ has new meaning to me now.  Despite the forces that push and pull, the critical piece of survival and prosperity seems to be staying steady, staying focused, regardless of the gales.

And so I’ll raise my hand now; a little weather-beaten and worn, but still standing, with resources to boot.  “Yes, Mr. Pollan, I’d like to synergize.”  Stay tuned for more.

Daniel Writes: Reflections on my 5th year at Sunshine

Since my first interview with Guy in 2004, I have been given work opportunities that stretch my imagination and my perceptions of infinite possibility.  I worked summers at the market for most of my college career, spent a couple of summers away from the farm, and decided to return last May making Chelan a sort of temporary home for myself .  Through my various roles at Sunshine, I’ve been able to work and learn at least a bit about customer service, fresh produce packing and presentation, organic gardening, entrepreneurship, tree fruit, vineyards, pruning, animal husbandry, goat dairy, irrigation, landscaping, being energetic, being efficient, using the right tool for the right job, and the list goes on and on (the list is actually endless, but it’s a list I love).  I’ve caught myself standing in awe sometimes at these wonderful tasks so much so that I’ve had to remind myself I’m at work and I need to get cookin’. Last winter I was hired as a full time hand in the veggies – the best job on the farm – and it’s a beautiful moment in my life!

Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot here, I continue to learn on a daily basis, and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity the Evans-O’Neil family has given me.  I’ve been accepted to The Evergreen State College for the coming academic year and I have a few loose ends to tie up before school starts, but I plan on studying sustainable agriculture and sustainable forestry. But hey, plans are just plans though, right? I might just try to start a life as a migrant journeyman farm hand come season’s end.   I don’t know though – last time I worked the wine tasting room, Guy told me I had a “Brad Pitt thing going on” – maybe I’ll move to Hollywood.

That’s the thing about the future, I can’t ever pin it down.  I do love being here in this moment, so I’d like to thank our CSA members for their support.  We truly are part of something great here.  I don’t want to speak to soon, but I’ve noticed that those tomatoes are starting to blush! Cheers!