CSA START DATE!

Dear members,

Here on the farm, the season is finally unfurling. After months of careful planning, seed ordering and spreadsheet making, we are finally planting out the first of our lovingly-tended seedlings in the field, and we’re excited to confirm the start date for the coming harvest season.

CSA START DATE!

In spite of these recent late-spring rains, we are on track to open the CSA on Friday, June 12th.

Our first pick-ups of 2026’s harvest season will be

  • Friday, June 12th

  • Saturday, June 13th

  • Tuesday, June 16th.

The six months thereafter will be, as usual, an avalanche of deliciousness.

A few days before the CSA starts we will send an email with all the logistics like how to find us, what to bring, and orientation times for new members.

Note! All of our important CSA communications are sent to your inbox via this email and are also posted on the Newsletters page of our website.

Alice surveying the greenhouse.

FARMER’S LOG

SETTING SAIL

The period from January through mid-May is a very important time on the farm.

From New Year’s Day to early April, our boat is at harbor. The next voyage, the year ahead, is plotted in smoky cabins; our farm-ship is moored, scraped, and every corner is cleaned; the sails are mended, new masts set, the sound of the hammer fills the air; the hull is provisioned and loaded.

This year’s harbor time on the farm was incredibly productive.

Arabella and Henry revamped our wash station in the back of the barn, laying the stage for smoother systems, faster harvests and even-cleaner produce. Eric was busy building a beautiful new wash pack shed to house our root washer (aka The RootBlaster 5000), and Asa has been renovating the perennial flower beds and filling the greenhouse with the seedlings of this year’s bounty.

Asa and Arabella planting out the first flowers of the year in the garden.

Riley returned in early April and then we pushed off.

From mid-April to mid-June we sail at full mast. 70% of the farm is mowed, tilled, composted and planted over that period. The landscape transforms from green meadows to rows upon rows food and flowers.

The transformation this year is especially sudden, as 4.5 inches of rain in late April kept our tractors out of the field until the very last possible moment.

But we’re in the middle of the transformation process now. We’re getting our sea-legs and our hands are getting calloused. This week we were finally able to plant 2-weeks worth of transplants that had been waiting not-so-patiently in the greenhouse: Kale, Chard, Kohlrabi, Scallions, Celery, Leeks, Cabbage, Lettuce, Chicories and Fennel. And in the coming weeks, we’ll plant all of the Field Peppers, Tomatoes, Onions (yes, all of them), Celery Root, Sweet Corn, Popcorn and Flour Corn, and a third of the year’s Carrots.

The pace is relentless. Walkie-talkies beep and boop, the tractor hums constantly, and the red-wing blackbirds whistle busily in the hedges alongside us. Seedling trays pour out of the greenhouse, into the trucks, and then into skilled and careful hands and, finally, into the soil.

In a few short weeks, we’ll be enjoying the spoils: Nutritious food, beautiful flowers and herbs, and many many memories of time well spent with family and friends as the seasons change on the farm.

See you in the fields soon,
David & Kayta

Hedgerow Work Party & Last Week of the Farm Stand

Hello dear members!

We hope you’re enjoying this beautiful spring.

Here on the farm, the greenhouse is fast filling up with a multitude of flowers, tiny baby tomato plants, and a sea of onions that we’ll be enjoying til this time next year. The crew is hard at work ensuring an abundant strawberry year by clipping runners in our new strawberry patch, and doing an epic revamp of the back of the barn and wash/pack area. The seeds are ordered, the fields are getting mowed, and we’re getting excited for another season.

We’re writing with a small Farm Stand update (and sale!) and an invitation to a spring work party on the farm.

A quick note: This update is going out only to returning CSA members. New members won’t be invited to the farm until CSA pickups begin in June, so that they can be oriented, but don’t worry — they’ll receive all the important spring updates, and you are welcome to bring them along with you if you’re coming out.

Bumblebee enjoying the flowering currants in the hedgerow.

HEDGEROW WORK PARTY!

Since we moved the farm here five years ago, our dear friend Laurel has been helping us plant and tend the native hedgerow along the edges of the upper fields. In spite of the gopher’s best efforts, it’s slowly becoming a lush habitat border for pollinators and birds. This time of year it needs a little extra love, so we’re inviting returning members to come out Saturday morning to help with the weeding, do a bit of chatting, some playground playing, and enjoy the sun.

SATURDAY, APRIL 18th AT 10 AM

Please RSVP to Laurel: laurelmalinanderson@gmail.com

Let’s meet at the solar panels to grab tools then head to the hedgerow north of strawberries (between WCCF and Winter Sister). Bring your favorite hand weeder! We’ll have some tools as well.

If anyone loves weedwhipping there is also a need for some of that starting at 9 am!

FARM STAND

GREEN GARLIC & A SPRING SALE

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Farm Stand this winter! You’ve helped us clear out most of our remaining storage crops, and kept the crew busy during the quietest time of the year.

We’ll be closing the Farm Stand down Monday, April 13th.

But until then we’re offering some gorgeous green garlic, and a sale on our remaining Celery Root and Winter Squash. Here’s what you can expect in the Farm Stand this final week:

  • Green Garlic!

  • the very last of our Onions & Shallots

  • A few remaining Potatoes

  • Dutch Butter Popcorn

  • Floriani Red Flint Cornmeal

  • Celery Root — on sale for $1/lb!

  • Assorted Winter Squash — on sale for $1/lb! There’s still a few of our favorite — Bonbon — which are still as sweet as candy.

Looking forward to seeing you in the fields soon,
David & Kayta

2026 CSA Sign-ups Now Open!

Dear friends,

We’re delighted to announce that sign-ups for our 2026 CSA program are now open.

2026 is shaping up to a vibrant year. A new pick-up day (Friday) for community picnic and playground hangs; giant first-year strawberries; and as always new flowers and crop varieties to delight and inspire.

We hope you’ll let West County Community Farm be a weekly source of nourishment, connection, and beauty in the year ahead.

See you in the fields!
David & Kayta