Hello CSA Community,

This is our last edition of Field Notes for the season, although our Tuesday folks have one extra pickup December 11 as the makeup for the missed hurricane pickup. Reflecting upon the season, I can think of many lessons learned and many changes I would make if I could do it again. But instead of ruminating on what was not, I will instead look to how to make a better season next year. I hope you all will join the Ecosystem Farm community again to see what changes we will have implemented. In introducing our apprentice Sky and his essay this week, I will start by saying I could not have done this season without him. He brought a wealth of knowledge and a serious passion for farming that has been essential in keeping us afloat through many trials this season. It will take a whole cache of roles to fill his shoes for next season: maintenance man, dreamer, compost expert, river pump operator, comedian, friend, chef and many more. Thank you Sky!Please stay tuned to our website for information regarding the Winter Farm Market, Fridays 3:30 – 6:30, in January and February.

love and frost-laced leaves,Farmer Becky

field notesVolume 17 | Number 27 | November 20, 2012

ECOSYSTEM FARM AT ACCOKEEKwww.accokeekfoundation.org

Bok choyBittersweet salad mixBroccoli or cabbageMizuna

Pick List

CeleryLooseleaf lettuceBaby beets or Turnips with tops

Winter’s Eve and Silent Art Auction Saturday, December 8, 20124:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.$2 per person; or a donated canned food item

Kick off the holiday season with a delightful adaptation of Dickens’ classic ghost story. Performed as an old-time radio show with live sound effects, “A Colonial Christmas Carol” features Scrooge as a tobacco factor and Bob Cratchit as a free person of color. And don’t miss the opportunity to purchase a gift for someone special at the Silent Art Auction, which showcases the craftsmanship of the farm’s Stitch ‘n Time textile club and other fine art by local artists.

Pre-registration required for events. For details on any event, please visit www.accokeekfoundation.org or call 301-283-2113.

upcoming events

Farm ManagerBecky Seward

Apprentice FarmersSusan Cook, Sky Harman

Farm InternCrystal Proctor

Farm AssistantBlain Snipstal

Last crop bittersweetCold blankets the giving earthHibernate til seed

The end of the season comesBy Sky Harman

The Fourth of December is my last day of work on the farm. Although you might see crops growing out in the new field, the place has been getting tucked in for the winter for a while now, and should be ready for the winter when I leave. Machines are being winterized and the irrigation system will undergo the same. It’s all part and parcel with the end of the season. The earth subsides from its state of ecstasy, the farmers slow their manic pace, the sun sinks deep into the southern sky.

For myself, the path before me is a blank canvas. I have a vision for what that may look like, but the reality is still elusive. My plan is to begin a CSA next year outside of Morgantown, WV, where I am from. I’ve worked out the numbers, from how many seeds to buy, feet to plant, dates of sowing and harvesting, harvest containers to be purchased, irrigation lines to be run, but some numbers are still elusive. Some numbers seem as though they are always elusive for the farmer. It is a cold hard fact that money is the hard part of farming.

As I have calculated, I have made around the federal minimum wage, which is actually pretty good for most apprenticeships. It’s less than I have made since I was fifteen years old, other than last season when I was volunteering on farms. I talked to a prominent farmer recently, who sells at the largest farmer’s market in DC, and he told me to expect to make less than three dollars per hour working on my own (as he does currently). People in America struggle to make a living on much more than that. Poverty seems as though it will be my reality in the short term, and that is something that I will accept to pursue my passion. I have faith and determination to make a living being a farmer, but have no illusions about it being an easy or secure way of life.

I won’t trouble you with all of the numbers that I have calculated- from how many tomatoes I would need to grow to purchase a tractor, or a pair of new work pants, or pay rent, but it’s quite a few. What I would like to share with you are some thoughts about value and agriculture.

I farm because I want to help nourish people’s bodies and souls. It is a calling. I accept the low pay and the long hours, because I am trying to do what I love and share that love with you. When I go to a good grocery store, or a farmer’s market, I tend to look at the prices on the produce. Sometimes the prices seem low, sometimes they seem high. But when I think of the hours of labor that have gone into those vegetables, the passion that farmers have for what they grow, and how hard it is to make a living farming, I pay willingly because I know that that is the

only way local agriculture works. I am sure you all value farming in similar ways to myself, so I urge that when you go to shop at Mom’s, the Accokeek Winter Market, or the farmer’s markets in DC, when you consider the cost of a head of cabbage or a bunch of carrots, you also consider how much fifty cents per pound more means to your pocket book and how much it might mean to a farmer trying to make a living, trying to buy a bigger tractor to grow for more people, or someone like me just trying to buy a new pair of work pants.

Thank you for the chance to grow with you.

— Sky