Greetings!

This is Elisa. Amelia has been writing the newsletter for the past 7 years. If you didn’t read the past couple newsletter, she has moved on and will be attending graduate school this fall for Landscape Architecture. We are excited for her next chapter and equally sad for ourselves. Her last day on the farm was full of so many tears. I was fortunate to work alongside Amelia for so long. She knew every little nook and cranny of the farm from the bookkeeping/ invoicing to the corners of the farm that are too shady and wet for crops. She was the second brain of our operation and having someone so smart and thoughtful to complement my shortcomings was key to our success in turning this into a profitable farm. Did you know that most farms are not profitable? On most farms, the farmers have a second job to help pay for their life! We have been able to draw livable, year round salaries from this farm for 5+ years. Thank you Amelia! She’s still around some, currently inputting orders and communicating with florists so I can focus on the day to day running of the farm and field work.

Our other crew members, specifically Olivia, Karen and Dave have stepped right in to pick up the slack and I’m so grateful! I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with writing a weekly newsletter like Amelia did. But I do love writing and sharing and will try to do it when I feel moved to do so and have something to share.

Karen harvesting basil among buckwheat covercrop

Cover Crop - building and caring for the soil

I have been working more in the field this year than I have in years. Growing the farm to the scale it’s at means that I turned the farm into a desk job for myself over the years. Often not even getting a chance to touch the soil or plant a plant over the years. It’s funny how the thing you love doing becomes the thing you hardly get to do when you get a certain size. But this year, I am in the field more and am enjoy working with the crew. Sweating together, laughing, and working hard! Yesterday I worked with Melissa, our newest addition to the farm. She’s a Physician’s Assistant in real life but we get her when we can! She’s the most enthusiastic crew member and working with her is a treat! A month ago we seeded a buckwheat cover crop in this tunnel (I’ll explain in another newsletter why the plastic is off) . We needed to terminate the cover crop before the flowers set seed, otherwise it would become a weed! We pushed the covercrop down, trying to be respectful of the pollinators all over the flowers and tarped it so it could start decomposing directly on the soil. In two months we will put new plastic on this tunnel and plant our overwintered flowers which will be our early spring flowers. This tunnel will likely host snapdragons, delphinium and special scoop scabiosa.

That’s all for now. Until next time! Scroll down for upcoming events!

- Elisa

Upcoming Events:

Eco-Printing Workshop with Monique Crabb

Every Sunday - Baltimore Farmers’ Market

Pawpaw Popups :

Takoma Park Farmers Market - Sunday, Sept 14

Dupont Circle Farmers Market, DC - Sept 21, Sept 28

Eco-Printing and Bouquet Technique - October 4th - Back by popular demand and sold out last time, we are bringing Monique Crabb back to the farm for Eco-Printing. Tickets now available online.

From Desk Job to Working in the Field