Wood Duck Farm
December 27th, 2010
Auld Lang Syne (aka "Times Gone By") This past year was a great year for our farm and a few of our 2010 accomplishments included expanding our acreage under cultivation, increasing our CSA pick up locations to ten, hosting five fantastic dinners , having two open house events, and much, much more! Looking out on the ice "glazed" ponds from my window this morning, I wonder what lies ahead for next year. The customers that help support our farm gives me reason to feel very blessed. Although having a livelihood that relies on "mother nature" can be challenging at times, it can also be very rewarding. Hard to believe that it is already time to begin sowing tomato and pepper seeds in our greenhouses for the 2011 spring season. Winter is a nice time of the year though, as things go a little slower, which allows the "batteries to be re-charged," if only a tad.
Here At The Farm: Other than an opossum killing about forty of our broiler chicks last Thursday, the past few days have been fairly tranquil here at the farm. Yes, we moved one our "portable chicken coups" last Thursday onto more lush planted wheat grass, and covered the bottoms with soil to restrain predators from getting inside. Come Friday morning I received a call from Alfreado . "...Mucho pollos muertos!!!" Upon arriving I knew instantly that an opossum had dug in underneath the 2x6 skids, as all of the baby chicks were headless. Dogs kill and leave their prey, coyotes kill and eat their victims, coons eat the head and cavity as well, but for whatever reason opossums just eat the heads. Go figure huh? Chicken heads must be a delicacy that I'll never have reason to try. I ended up bordering the coup parameter with electric fencing and have not any problems since; fingers still crossed though.
Last week concluded our Fall season CSA program where members received the following:
Baby Leaf Salad Mix, (romaine, tango, red oak leaf, mizuna)
White Button Mushrooms
Sweet Potatoes
Cauliflower and/or Broccoli
Turnips w/tops
Grapefruit
Micro Greens
Spring 2011 CSA Program: While it depends a lot on what kind of weather SE Texas receives, our Spring CSA Program for 2011 is proposed to begin in early March and run for ten weeks thereafter taking it into mid May, give or take. Our Spring CSA registration form can be found at this link WDF CSA Mail-In Form We have two share sizes, Full and Partial. Partial share prices are apt to increase a few dollars after the first of the year, so please consider purchasing early. For those of you not familiar with the term CSA, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is a direct partnership between you and the farmer. We are looking to add additional locations for the upcoming spring program, but for a link to where we currently deliver in the Houston and surrounding areas, visit CSA Pickup Locations Wishing to have a pick up location near your home or office? Let us know and we'll send you a flyer that you can pass around your office and/or place in your company coffee room/bulletin board. Send us an email at csa@woodduckfarm.com or call us at 713 876 8645 for more details.
Customer Feedback Survey: We wish to receive feedback from those of you that participated in the Fall CSA program. So within the next few days, we will be sending you a brief survey/questionnaire to hopefully complete. Your input is important to us and we like to hear your comments and suggestions, both the good and bad. Not in our CSA, but a Farm Mkt. Customer? We'd like to hear your input as well; just send us a note.
Grass Fed Meat/Dairy Subscription Program: While we lost over forty chickens last week, we are rearing about 50 per week, along with about 18 "happy pigs." Consequently, we are going to pursue the Grass Fed Meat CSA program that we discussed with you a week or so back. As mentioned previously, we can't raise our own cattle, but will distributing grass fed beef from the likes of either PaiDom Ranch (pronounced "pie-dome") and/or Star Haven Ranch.
Visiting the Urban Harvest Farmer's Mktl on Saturday morning? Please stop by and say hi!
All the Best,
Van Weldon
Cell 713 876 8645
www.woodduckfarm.com
email csa@woodduckfarm.com
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