Breakfast at MHOF
January 6, 2025
Breakfast at MHOF
We are well known for our breakfasts, and of course our lunches. This week I made two videos – one of super-charged oatmeal, and another involving bacon, vegetables and eggs. Enjoy. Sorry about the quality issues on the egg video – I need a new phone and it is not yet in the budget. I have always been a fan of a big breakfast, especially for those of us who are expending lots of calories out in the weather each day. Be sure to come and volunteer and arrive a half hour early to tank up.
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Expressing Gratitude this Week
It is with great appreciation that we have received so many donations to the Many Hands Sustainability Center over the past 3 or so weeks. And since we have figured out how to accept targeted donations to support our relationship with Worcester’s Woo Community Fridges, people have been more generous than ever before – such that we started this year with over $6,000 toward our goal of approximately $5,000 for eggs in December – May, and $11,000 for vegetable shares June – November. Thanks to Tanya, Greg, Rachel, John and Martha, William, Melinda, Danny and Paula, Margaret and Cynthia, Norma and Steve, Stewart, Leslie, Patti, Paula and Jeff, Suzanne, Emile and Bonnie, Rebecca, Julie, Margo, Leah, Matt and Meghan.
Matt took some time off at the end of December, so Jack and I delivered eggs to the fridges over the holidays. Though the farm has been taking food to the fridges for 5 years, we had never delivered. Several things impressed us; the fridges were well taken care of and quite clean, and the folks we ran into at each site were quite friendly and quite appreciative for the eggs we brought. Sadly, one of the fridges had a little bit of food in it, but one was completely empty and the other had a bunch of frozen bananas in it. Yet in all cases people were stopping by and checking for food. I think we are all aware of the crisis of poverty and food insecurity that is so much in our midst. Seeing first hand what our relatively piddling contribution to this seemingly increasing national calamity was able to do, felt, on one hand, like we are doing good work (and all through your generous contributions), and on the other, it is a mere drop in the bucket.
2025 MHOF CSA
Thanks to those of you who joined up early. We are starting the year with 19 paid shares. We are all pretty excited about how 2025 is going to be the perfect year for farm management (shh, I know I thought that last year…). With 15,000 square feet less of veg land we will have to be very concise in our planning and planting. I am all jazzed about improved cover cropping – be sure to order your copy of Green Cover Seeds’ high quality Soil Health Resource Guide –
Download your copy of the Soil Health Resource Guide
And Nick Casale from AEA and I are already meeting and scheming for the perfect foliar nutrition program.
I am working out a crop plan that will include 2, but not 3 leafy greens between chard, collards and kale, each week, and hope to rotate between cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower once they are in season. We will pay special attention to our carrot germination so that we complement our always generous beet production with a carrot rotation much earlier in the season. Herbally speaking, we will rotate between cilantro and parsley, and make tulsi a frequent but not overwhelming addition to the share. In order to have a longer cucumber season, we will attend to succession crops of this sometimes-challenging crop, and will always plan for a head of lettuce, so that your salad can be a reality every week.
Here is a link to the order form. We love early subscriptions –
Volunteering at MHOF
For now, we are only working Mondays and Fridays, but by April we will be working M, T, W, F, with a 2 ½ hour stint on Saturdays for those who can’t come during the week. Now is a good time to sign up for a season of “fun and games” (as Jason used to say) at the farm. And lots of work, of course, also!
If you do nothing else this year –
I am pretty sure that I have mentioned how much I am enamored with a new AEA product called Seed Flare. I bought a gallon of it midseason and started using it immediately to water in transplants at their final day in the tray. And then we used it in the water when we planted seeds in the greenhouse. Now we are adding some into our plant/transplant drench that we spray before planting seeds in the field. Results are astounding – germination, transplant (lack of shock) and dark green growth of plants. Luke and I started seeds in the greenhouse on December 27, and by the 4th (8 days later), they had germinated.
Here’s a link where you can get it – Seed Flare
Germination in 8 days in the dark of winter
This Week’s Recipe from Jennifer: Dandelion Delight with Avocado and Pomegranate
This vibrant winter salad is designed to support Kapha dosha by promoting lightness, cleansing the blood, and enhancing iron absorption. Warm, lightly sautéed greens paired with avocado and pomegranate create a perfectly balanced dish that’s both nourishing and satisfying. A hint of cardamom in the dressing adds an aromatic and digestive boost to this Ayurvedic creation.
Get the Recipe on Jen Zen Living
Now Available at the Farm
Frozen Foods
- Bacon
- Lard
- Applesauce
- Pear sauce
- Peaches
- Cooked beet puree
- Paw paw paste
- 3 23 lb. turkeys
- Chicken stock
- Pork Stock
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Fresh
- Eggs
Shelf Stable
- Dried Peaches
- Canned tomato juice
- Canned apple juice
Tinctures
- Bitters combo
- Holy basil
Personal care
- Comfrey salve
- Calendula salve
- Hemp salve
- Lavender soap
- Peppermint soap
Pruning
It is the season for pruning, and we have started brushing up our education in preparation for getting at our 100 fruit trees. Jack and I have been vetting YouTube videos on pruning and then sending them along to the staff so that we can all improve our game together. Here is one we enjoyed that focuses on apples.
WINTER PRUNING APPLE TREES…Fruit Tree Structure and a Demonstration of the Basic Pruning Cuts
21 Day Gentle Winter Healing Cleanse begins January 13th!
Ellen Kittredge
When I receive an email like this one from a past cleanser (received Dec 24th, 2024 – cleansed with me Jan 2024) I bow down in gratitude to the healing power of real food. “I’ve now lost 50 pounds since I began cleansing with you last winter!” When this person reached out a year ago to ask to join the 2024 Winter Cleanse, their litany of health concerns was quite significant. Extra weight was just one of the many challenges they were having, and after reading through all that they were experiencing coming into that cleanse a year ago, I was really concerned about their longevity (and they were only 51 years old). Well, a year later, an initial 5#s weight loss on the cleanse translated to 50#s a year later, and they ‘lost” so much else too – fatigue, achy and painful joints/tendons…
One of the ways I’m MOST excited about supporting folks on this Cleanse is through eating for microbiome modulation. Here’s one of our 6 presenters who’ll be sharing how and why you can have similar successes as to what my client had, by learning to eat for the microbiome. 21 Day Winter Cleanse: Meet Kara, Microbiome Expert: Stop Cravings/Reduce Hunger/Find Healthy Weight
It’s not too late to join the 21 Day Gentle Winter Healing Cleanse and get 2025 started on a healthy foot: Here are all the details: https://ellenkittredge.com/cleanse.php
Farm Doin’s
We only had one work day on the farm this week as it was raining so hard on the 30th, and we cancelled. But Friday was quite a day. Randy and Holly, and Mira, Quinn, Cassidy and Vina too, came for their winter farming visit, to add to our staff. Sliding in perfectly, as they always do, Randy and Matt got both the weedwacker (now with a brush-cutting attachment) and the log-splitter running and went on to take down a bunch of trees, cut some brush, and remove a bunch of wire from an old “fence” on the stone wall. Meanwhile Amanda, Leslie, Holly and I split and stacked a pile of wood, made up 24 quarts of pork stock, cleaned out a file cabinet, and then raked up a tote of leaves and spread them in the orange house. Meanwhile Randy bought some pressure treated lumber, and started replacing our saw buck which is in shambles.
Quinn the wood hauler
The collards in the orange house are absolutely beautiful. It always amazes me that these crops can go through 3 degrees and then back up to 80 on a sunny day, and still continue to grow and have such good health.
Julie
Under Cassidy’s care, Skippy is in 7th Heaven
Quick Links
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Many Hands Make a Farm
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/many-hands-make-a-farm/
