The People at Powisset

hello, silo!

Farming, like most of life, is unpredictable.  Some days I make a plan and it unfolds before me, graceful and smooth, a perfect medley of planting and cultivating and all the tasks are completed just as we flow into the next one.  There are high fives and high kicks and smiles and dirty knees and a feeling of satisfaction for a day well planned.  Then there are days when, at 7:30am, one vital piece of equipment breaks and the plan shifts.  And then it shifts again, and then again until the plan I had may as well be written on a stray piece of toilet paper on the bottom of some guys shoe at an Alice Cooper show.  Those days usually end with me wrestling with some piece of equipment until dark, trying to get ready for another day and another try at "the perfect plan."  Today I finished at dark, welding that broken piece of equipment, with the help of some friends, laughing a bit at another day where the plan turned out to be not the plan. 

after the rain

But this blog is not about a weirdly planned day, or a late night tractor maintence emergency--that's just what I've been doing for the last few hours--It's about the you.  It's about how in the last week I remembered why I stay up late to fix equipment and rush out early in the fields to get my plan out to a great start. It was to be able to harvest our vegetables and get you all out to our farm.  I want to start referencing Field of Dreams right now and talk about 'if you build it they will come,' because that's how it felt this week.  Each of our pick up days last week were filled with old friends and new members, each excited to take home the first share.  There were tiny babies and growing toddlers, making memories about fields and flowers and turnips!  And on Sunday, as our farm operation rested, we were host to hundreds of bicyclists who were participating in the Bikes Not Bombs bike-a-thon.  New energy arrived at the farm this week, in the form of people.  We are Powisset Farm.

See you in the fields,

Meryl and the Powisset Farm Crew

What's in the share this week (most likely):

(a lot like last week)

Full: lettuce heads, lettuce mix, bok choi or broccoli raab, radishes, turnips, green garlic, arugula

Small: lettuce heads, lettuce mix or other green, turnips, radishes, green garlic

Vendors & Events at the farm this week:

Tuesday: Jordan Brothers Seafood vendor, there during pick up hours

Saturday: Pottery Sale! From 10am-5pm! With our favorite Powisset Potters!

Hello from the new Powisset Farm kitchen and classroom!
(A note from our newest crew member: Rachel Kaplan)

I am honored to spearhead the new educational endeavors at the farm as the Farm-Based Education and Outreach Coordinator. After ten years of working in the fields, I am switching gears and focusing on new and exciting programmatic ways to create deeper community connections around food and farming. If we have not had the pleasure of meeting, please introduce yourself to me the next time you’re at the farm.

For those of you who have not yet seen our new space, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it will knock your socks off! Thanks to the talented design and construction team, the kitchen and classroom look as if they’ve always been part of our barn. 

In August we will roll out culinary programs for our community and I can’t wait to spend time with you in the field and in the kitchen, creating delicacies that will warm your belly and building community that will warm your heart. Stay tuned for more information…

Along with the launching of our new barn space, we have our first ever Powisset Farm volunteer committee. We asked community members to help us shape the future of educational programs at Powisset and ten folks came forward to join us in an exciting conversation about how Powisset can best serve the community. We are grateful for their support, enthusiasm and overall pep (PEP is the group’s acronym – Powisset Education Programs)!

Meet Rachel!

Last, but certainly not least, we want your opinions! We created a survey (with a lot of help from PEP) to hear how you all want to use our new space. If you have not yet filled out a survey during CSA pickup, please click below to fill out our short survey. Thank you for making time to share your input with us!

Powisset Farm Survey 

I look forward to seeing you all in the kitchen!

With gratitude

Rachel