This photo shows the south arch of the hoophouse - the direction the wind was coming from. The ragged plastic is still mostly attached to the arch. In the center of the photo you can see the “wiggle wire” that we use. The plastic is stretched over a metal channel and held in place in the channel by the wiggle wire. Here you see the channel attached to the vertical arch. The hoophouse is made up of a number of these arches connected together. If you search my previous entries you will find more photos of our hoophouses. Along the long edge of the hoophouse the channel is screwed to wood boards which are in turn screwed to the vertical arches. Apparently the wind pulled the channel away from the board on the east side of the hoophouse and eventually tore the top off. The hoophouse is 30 by 48 ft., so with the arch the piece of plastic was about 45 by 50 ft. I don’t remember precisely; all my notes are in a cold, dark office. On Friday morning Rob bunched up the remaining plastic and stashed it somewhere. When things settle down we will spread it out and see if there are any big pieces we can salvage for other uses. We finished putting up this particular hoophouse just last August. This last fall we used it as a picnic table shelter and as the Farm Tots meeting area. We plan to use it this spring for starting most of our transplants, so we do have to get the top back on and the sides and ends put up by March.

Another unplanned expense was repairing the John Deere tractor after it decided to stop starting. Rob went through his repertory of diagnostic tests - checking for loose connections, bad breakers, and the like, and decided it was time to call the shop. The mechanic suggested trying all the things Rob had already tried, so we had it hauled to the shop in Snohomish. We knew the mechanic had just left for vacation, but decided it was better to get the tractor out of the field and under cover. In the end the mechanic snuck back into shop during his vacation and fixed the problem, so we expected to get the tractor back sometime this week. I haven’t tried calling them yet to see if they are back in business after the outages.

In a positive coincidence that will help to offset these unexpected expenses, we also are due some unexpected income. One of our customers emailed to ask if we could sell him gift certificates to give as presents, but also that he could buy now to help boost the farm income in the off season, a sort of CSA a al carte. I have agreed to print up a stack of Farm Bucks for him to spend as he chooses next year.

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, many small farms derive much or all of their income from a CSA (community supported agriculture) program. In the program, in exchange for a payment at the start of the production season, the farm promises to deliver a “basket” of produce each week during the season. The contents of the basket vary with the season, depending on what is ready to harvest. The farmer plans out the contents each week, but also needs to adapt - every year is different and the different crops may thrive or not. Typically the contents of the basket are fixed, although many farms allow some flexibility. The big advantages to the farmer is income at a time when money is being rapidly spent without any income in sight and also a reduction of risk and the ability to better plan the growing season. The advantages to the purchaser include a closer relationship to the people growing their food, a supply of fresh & flavorful produce throughout the season, and the chance to support a local farm and encourage local agriculture. Of course, you get those same benefits from shopping at our farmstand.

With our great location, we have chosen to focus our sales efforts on our farmstand. After six years, we still sell most of our produce one customer at a time through our farmstand. For a variety of reasons I may go into later, we have not yet pursued setting up a South 47 Farm CSA. However, if you expect to visit the farm in 2007, I encourage you to consider a purchase of a stack of $5 or $10 South 47 Farm Bucks of your own. You could spend them all on raspberries or pumpkins, or you could come back each week for that week’s best produce - tomatoes, peas, lettuce, sweet corn, cucumbers, melons - they’re all wonderful. In addition, I’ll be thinking positive thoughts your way as I write out those endless checks for seeds, supplies, repairs, and payroll.

If you are interested, send me an email at farmllc@yahoo.com and we’ll work out the details. And there is still time for last minute gifts.