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  • From: Leigh Mae Friedline <DarlingHillCommunityFarm AT verizon.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Introduction
  • Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:42:09 -0500

Hi Folks,
We joined a while back and have been reading.  Thank you all for your postings.

By way of introduction-
We grow 50 or so crops for a 20 member CSA, and 1 farmers market in southern NH on clay soils, zone 6.  We have about an acre in Certified Organic production in a small valley pocket.  What we lack in light we make up for in shelter from the winds.  It was land passed to me through my family (it is broken into many small irregular shaped pieces and has a town road, a neighbors driveway right of way,  and two power line over and through it).  But until we are able to afford better land we are making the best of it.  We would love to be able to grow on more land but we haven't figure out how to afford it from farming income. We are concerned about the appropriate or natural scale for our CSA vegetable farm. Rented, lease or borrowed land seems to be at a premium in our area.  We have been growing for three years and have put most of our profit back in.  Leigh Mae worked for two seasons prior on a couple of local farms.  To give some idea of our cultural techniques her is a list of most of our important tools: a BCS 850 (with attachments: a cart, a manure spreader, a flail mower, a snow thrower, a single bottom plow, a tool bar with chisels, a york rake, a tiller box, a disc harrow), an Earthway seeder,  a variety of hand hoes, remay, an on dirt  21x48 heated (propane 100K BTU) vented  twin wall envelope Ledgewood Greenhouse, bought in organic starting mix, various plug trays, a big 'ol 3 bay sink, a hand crank honey capping extractor (for greens), a 1920's Palmer hydraulic cider press,  a s.s. bulk tank and bottler, 4 residential reach in refrigerators, plastic totes and bags, 20 or so 4 by 8 hardware cloth covered tables, a bunch of hardwood grade stakes, and even more sisal twine.  We get some cont. ed during the winter from NOFA and Extension.  The production work pretty much consume us during the growing season.  Our CSA season is from early june through Thanksgiving, we offer free choice, free quantity pick-ups twice a week for family shares ($585) and once a week for single shares ($395).  I haven't totaled our crop quantity production records from last year but I have the weigh ins in the little book (LOL). Really our record keeping is pretty much down and tax time is a breeze.   Our pest problems have been minimal, and our fertility seems to be well managed with minimal soil amendments and covercroping.  Our challenges are labor (there are only two of us and we would rather not bring in sharecroppers (interns/apprentices)), land, and profitability (scale).  We are looking forward to being able to fill out our equipment needs in the next year or so.  We keep a hive of bees and a 50 flock of layer chickens.  We have done hogs (feeders and breeders) and various poultry but we just don't have enough land for the animals no matter how much of a complete on farm input circle cycle (biodynamic) they make.  We started out thinking diverse was good and then we realized we couldn't do everything, we are still learning.
We have  probably missed some finer points but that can give you all a bit of an idea.  Mostly we are winter dreaming now a days and plugging away at that bit of off farm employment that carries us through financially.  

All of our best

Zebadiah Kellogg-Roe & Leigh Mae Friedline
Darling Hill Community Farm








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