Volunteers strip seed capsules off of the stems of Penstemon digitalis, Foxglove Beardtongue.

Our next Community Farm Work Day will take place this Saturday, March 2^nd from 12:30pm - 3:30pm as we work together in the Trees for Tribs protected space. Limited spots are left!

April's CFWD: Potato Planting has also been finalized: due to planting schedule needs, this event will not be adhering to the usual "first Saturday of the month" plan, and instead will take place on Sunday, April 21^st from 12:30-3:30pm. Reserve your spot here. 

January's event was a flurry of activity as we focused on preparing the High Tunnel and Greenhouse for imminent planting. 

Families, Girl Scouts,  BTC youth, and volunteers both new and returning rolled up their sleeves as we quickly warmed up while weeding and moving compost into the High Tunnel. Volunteers learned how to use a hoe for quick weed removal, and how to use rakes while spreading compost to amend the beds. 

With only two farmers currently on staff, a task that would have taken days was almost fully done in the course of two hours! 

The day ended with a quick sweep weeding in the Greenhouse, and adding several piles of gravel in bare patches. This will help reduce pest pressure that the incoming seedlings face as the weather warms and insects awaken. 

Thanks to all of this hard work, the High Tunnel is in beautiful shape! Farmers have already sown a few beds with spring crops, including spinach and turnips. Returning chives survived the construction and have already sprouted up from some of these beds. A few bunches will be harvested and available in the Farm Stand this Saturday alongside the remaining storage crops and other local goods. 

Volunteers enjoyed a great sunny day for our February event, which focused on cleaning and gleaning in the growing field.

First, several beds of vegetables with large stalks were pulled up by hand, taking care to shake off the rich soil from the roots so as not to remove nutrients for future plantings. 

This task wasn't sustainable to do with machinery, which would require multiple passes with different implements over the course of a few days for them to properly break down into the soil. The wet nature of the fields also meant any heavy vehicle would likely get stuck! 

The second half of the session involved gleaning, or harvesting directly for donation. A late carrot planting had survived the winter, and we couldn't let these veggies go to waste!

Volunteers learned how to carefully harvest carrots using digging forks, and how to best pack this produce into boxes for transport to our pantry partner. 

In all, over 172 lbs of carrots were gleaned and went on to feed families a few days later. 

While the gleaned carrots were saved in time to be enjoyed, that wasn't the case for all the food left to overwinter in the field. Several beds of broccoli were inspected in early February,  and were thriving and regrowing.

However, the late February snowfall and resulting snow-cover that lasted over a week, was finally too much for these plants. Almost all were affected by the prolonged cold and were no longer viable.

Adult and junior volunteers focused their efforts on removing the plants from the remaining broccoli beds, and had lots of practice with digging forks and wheelbarrows as they did so. The removed plants from these cleanups more than filled the compost bay.

Native Plant volunteers didn't slow down in these quieter months! 

Slowly but surely, we are working our way through the seed harvested off of our seed increase plots this past fall.  With volunteer help, we are happy to report that we have prepped at least 10 native species, which are now ready to run through our seed cleaning machines!

The fully prepped seed varieties include:

The end result of separating the seeds from the stems of Solidago speciosa, Showy Goldenrod: what a sight!

This big pile of fluffy seeds, the final product of many hours of work, are now ready to go through the seed cleaning machine

On a special day, volunteers made seed balls using a pollinator mix of our farmed native seed.  These seed balls will be used in a fundraiser to benefit the Mount Kisco seed library. 

The 172 lbs of carrots gleaned on February's CFWD went on to feed families in Mohegan Lake. The recipients were incredibly touched and grateful for this chance to enjoy fresh food in February. 

While food donations are paused for the moment, awaiting the farm's food to be seeded and grown, we hope volunteers will continue to be involved in this important part of our mission.

We look forward to your contribution to our donation momentum this coming season.