It is during this time of year I tend most to reflect on where we are, what we've accomplished, and where we're going. For the most part, we're doing very well. Our CSA, which began four seasons ago, has gone from 0 to 500+ customers thanks in large part to Robin, who will be leaving us (physically--she'll always be with us in spirit) after five seasons of great leadership in the Chicago area with coordination of our markets and CSA.

It is pretty crazy how much we've changed our focus and evolved, ironically, by coming full circle to where we were about ten years ago. The difference is that we're doing it on about ten times the scale we were then, we're on the verge of maximizing farm productivity, and we're becoming fully profitable and debt-free. This feels really good as these represent life goals and dreams that have taken a generation to realize. In the next year or two our old debt will go to zero, we'll become significantly more efficient and profitable, and that will allow us to re-invest in ourselves. (This time we'll do so with our local bank rather than with credit cards!)  We could easily spend a couple hundred thousand dollars on new tractors, a new storage building for our root/long storage crops, and a new tool shed/shop as our old one is deteriorating badly. We'll also invest in our employees and continue to pay better, more livable wages. 

Oh yeah, the box this week. Well, nothing new or exciting to report. Just a bunch of solid fall crops including most of the usual suspects given the season. I've been eating the heck out of our acorn squash lately. They sure are sweet and flavorful, which makes sense, as the crop was very healthy and free from pests and disease. We need to finish giving out the acorns first, before the butternuts, as they don't last as long. We sure had a good year for winter squash. If you're getting more than you think you can use, consider freezing your roasted squash as we are in our processing kitchen, and/or making pies, or even soup, though butternuts are better for that. I do think acorns would work as well if they were blended to eliminate the stringiness.

Please note that we continue to pack the boxes nearly 50% over value (what you paid for). We're doing this because we produced too much (better safe than sorry), we don't have enough storage space for everything, and even if we did, not everything would last long enough to give it out later. I say this primarily so that everyone is aware of what they're paying for, what they're getting, and to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings down the road. Really, we aim to overpack the boxes by 10%, to account for problems that invariably come up in a less than perfect world. Last year, we pretty well hit this goal, and in the future, we hope to get back to that standard. At this rate, we're not making as much as we should, obviously, and that isn't the greatest. We want everyone to understand this so that, down the road, when we get back to proper box valuation, nobody is upset. We publish these values weekly on our website for those of you who want to see what you're getting for what/how we value our produce.