Come on over

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. It was quite a feast for us, and I hope it was for you too. The girls and I are away having the holiday with my mother, and Mark is at the farm, along with a few of our hard-working and dedicated farmers, because the cows still have to be milked, the fires stoked, the animals fed, and the basic chores covered. Thanks so much for doing that good hard work!

The weather is turning sharply colder tomorrow (Friday), and Mark asked me to send out word that they could really use some hands to clean, sort and move onions and potatoes into winter storage. If you feel like working off today’s heavy feast with some lifting and cardio (and camaraderie and a general feeling of satisfaction) please shoot Mark a text at 518-570-6399 or just show up at the farm and be put to work. Anytime after 7:30am you should find a place to fit in to the jobs that need to be done. Dress warmly! 

A few more things to report, from afar. Scott Hoffman has been at the farm building perimeter fence this week. The thought of working with those high tensile wires this week makes my hands feel cold. He’s finishing Field 10 right now, along Middle Road, just in time to fill it with sheep. This nearly completes the perimeter fence around the whole home farm -- a dream that seemed almost impossible when we first started working on it, 18 years ago. 

We’re saying a heavy-hearted goodby to Caitlin and Freddy at the end of the month. Caitlin has led the dairy, and Freddy has worked variously as a lead in the butcher shop, with the equipment, and with the animals. They have both farmed as if this were their own place and they are leaving every system they touched better than they found it. We will miss them deeply. They got engaged and are heading back to Colorado, and family. Good luck, you two, and we can’t wait to see you back here next time the wind blows you east. 

The whole flock of 500 sheep will be making a mile and a half move on Monday, from the field close to the lake all the way along the farm road, up the sugarbush hill and into Field 10. The girls and I will be home by then. Miranda wouldn’t miss the chance to saddle her pony and get in on that action. I’d like to do the same, on my mare, but her crazy little foal who is now four months old might be too much of a wildcard. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

There’s an interview with Mark about Essex Farm in the Times of Entrepreneurship this week, focusing on our farm’s unusual business model. Check it out here. And that is the news from Essex Farm for this grateful 47th week of 2021. Find us at 518-963-4613, essexfarm@gmail.com, on Instagram at essexfarmcsa, or on the farm, any day but Sunday.

-Kristin & Mark Kimball