I want to start off by thanking everyone for being a part of our first ever winter CSA here at Fifth Crow and the continued support you’ve given to Fifth Crow. We are so glad you joined us this season as we experimented with offering a winter CSA. Of course we chose the wettest winter in California’s’ recorded history to kick off our winter CSA seasons. It has to be easier from here on out right?! The season was both wonderful and at times very difficult. What made it great was all of you. I appreciated your flexibility when boxes needed to be cancelled due to the weather and our inability to make it to our farmers markets. You made my job incredibly pleasant during those times of stress. Some of you drove extra miles to get your shares at a different location and on a completely different day than your regularly scheduled box. Thank you!
Farming is always a gamble and this winter proved that to be very true. Our high tunnels collapsed early in the year from strong winds, our fields flooded and when the creek at our Westland parcel rose and receded 10 feet in a matter of 24 hours our crops were submerged and then left a little bit roughed up. We’ve been unable to plant many of our spring rounds from all the rains and we just managed to eke out the final few CSA shares. I don’t think I’ve mentioned along the way all the break downs we’ve experienced with our trucks this winter too as well as all the fixes that have been needed on the tractors, tractor implements, and other farm vehicles beyond the regular maintenance. If I didn’t know any better I’d think Mike was a full time mechanic rather than a farmer. He’s been non stop fixing equipment around here so everyone think good repair thoughts for him!
I want to also take a moment to thank our hardworking and dedicated team. Thanks to Mike, John, & Teresa for growing such amazing produce, to all of the crew who harvested in sideways torrential downpours and more than ankle deep mud so I’d have food to pack for all of you, Emily & the new flower team for creating such beautiful bouquets, to Sarah one of our new interns this year who has been able to step in and help me with packing the shares this season, and finally a huge thank you to Luke who delivered all your shares in one piece and problem solved for me on the fly when I’ve made a mistake packing. It takes a village!
On my drive up the coast this Thursday morning there was a rainbow that stretched from the Pacific Ocean across into the hills and I liked to think that the other end was at Fifth Crow. It was a beautiful way for me to head into the last week of the CSA and I truly believe it was a sign of positive things to come to Fifth Crow and all of us that are in this together. Thank you everyone for being a part of our farm family and I hope to pack shares for all of you again in May!!
~Casey
Notes from the owners:
Hello Intrepid Winter CSA Shareholders,
First off we want to extend a big Thank You for having been the first ever Fifth Crow Winter members. We’ve always been a bit too nervous about committing to providing boxes in the winter, so you were our guinea pigs. Hopefully you enjoyed it and didn’t get too fed up with cabbage or kale. Given this has been the heaviest rainfall year ever recorded and we have had crops die due to flooding, been unable to work or harvest due to bad weather, and been unable to plant because of saturated ground.. we’re super pleased and relieved to have made it through the season without having to cancel boxes due to lack of food. Yay!!
Lot’s has happened for John, Mike, and I over the course of this past year and this winter. Biggest being that Mike and I had a baby almost 2 months ago. Hard to believe that that much time has gone by. Aside from the other Gen 2 of Crows (Charlie and Naima) entering their terrible adorable twos and both families trying to figure out how to juggle running the farm and raising kids, we’ve also moved back to the farm site after having lived across the street for over 3 years. It’s great to be home!
Hopefully the upcoming season will again out surpass the last and we can figure out how to better serve all of you and make this coming summer share the best ever. Last year we were pretty shorthanded, but this coming year is looking better with 5 new people having filled positions, some of which were vacant all of last season.
Thanks again, and stop by and say hi. We love to see you (who we do this all for) at the farm.
Teresa
In the Field:
Our baby greens we planted a couple weeks ago are growing up nicely and the crew did a HUGE plant out last week of a variety of crops that we’ll be able to enjoy in the coming months. The greenhouse is continuing to fill up with summer crops, our high tunnels are finally fully repaired and partial beds where the tractor could get to have been shaped and planted with flowers. Our sweet peas are beginning to produce a deliciously fragrant crop, the strawberries are coming on, and we have officially been invited to stay year-round at the Ferry Plaza market in SF! Our newest team members are fitting right in and they are well underway with learning the ropes of Fifth Crow.
