Giving thanks #2

We had our wrap up dinner for the 2009 growing season last weekend at Jamie's home. Our families, who have all helped us out a lot, and ourselves celebrated with a delicious menu that very closely resembled Thanksgiving dinner #2 (and dinner #1 for Hannah and Dutch, our US counterparts).

-a local turkey from a friend/farmer, skeeter farm butternut squash soup, skeeter farm delicious indian spinach, sweet potatoes (not from skeeter farm because we ate all of them already), stuffing, cranberry sauce etc etc and a chocolate zucchini ganache cake. The cake was one that I made many times throughout our growing period this summer and its definitely the most delicious way to eat zucchini that I have found. I felt pretty silly going to the grocery store to buy zucchini just so I could make it for this dinner considering the ridiculous quantities of zucchinis we had just a couple of months ago. Cake recipe here - try it next year when we start pawning off our squashes on you. http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/2009/09/chocolate-zucchini-cake.html

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year including success growing vegetables and flowers that most of us hadn't tried before. Our only crop that failed to produce was Okra (although we got some beautiful flowers), some crops had mixed results, but overall we were pleasantly surprised with our growing abilities.

Another thing to be proud of and thankful for is the financial success of our business. In our first year of business start up, we have almost broken even. We have done our best to keep our costs low, but still needed to invest in some critical infrastructure for the site including irrigation, hand tools, site clearing and preparation, etc. I think we were surprised at the amount of revenue we were able to pull from the field this year, and we certainly think that we will be in the black next year with the combination of enhanced growing and marketing techniques as well as reduced capital expenditures.

We are also very thankful for the amount of community support that we have received this year, from customers, farmers, and other community members alike. Most recently, the BC Healthy Living Alliance recognized Skeeter Farm by awarding us an Innovative Community Capacity Building Award. The award, which speaks to our efforts in trying to support and encourage new farmers just like ourselves, came with a financial award which will be put to good use in building up the infrastructure on the site. We are hoping to purchase a used hoop house which will allow us to extend our growing season, plant a wider range of crops, start some transplants and allow us to properly cure some vegetables like winter squash and garlic.

It is pretty clear that "wrapping up" one season just means that it is time to start planning and working on the next. This last week we put our heads together to work on planning for the 2010 growing season.

We have decided that it make sense to assign each farmer a lead on certain farm tasks so that we aren't all expected to be working on everything all at the same time. Some of the categories for leads that we came up with are: business management, marketing, communications, site maintenance, vegetable planning and field work, as well as value-added processing and events/outreach (the latter two categories would be a new area for us). It has become clear that the three of us won't be able to tackle everything that we want to see happen at Skeeter Farm and so we have made the decision to start looking for a fourth business partner for the next growing season. Stay tuned as we will probably have more to say about that in the near future.

There are many things that need to be accomplished between now and the start of the next growing season including: writing a business plan (we were just winging it for the first year), planning for our CSA program which we will be introducing in 2010, planning crops and making our seed order, revamping our market booth, creating new communications materials, hopefully conning someone into making us a website, and working on securing some equipment and more infrastructure for the site. I don't think we are going to twiddling our green thumbs too much this winter!

Hopefully we can continue to update readers about what is going on during our offseason but if you are curious, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at skeeterfarm (at) gmail.com

Creative Work With Vegetables

Some of the results of our first pumpkin patch! Submitted by some of our more creative customers...

Putting our Field to Bed

It has been a race against the clock as we get ready for winter! Just a few weeks ago I could head to the farm after work and still have plenty of hours of daylight to get things done. Now I run out of the office and arrive at the farm with only about an hour of light left.

I have been surprised about how much work is involved with putting the field to bed. We have busily been pulling out finished crops, tilling, planting garlic, seeding cover crops, and talking about our plans for next year. I am also surprised about how many veggies are still out there and looking excellent- our broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and carrots have never looked so good!

This past weekend, we invited people out to the farm for our pumpkin patch. It was wonderful showing off our beautiful site and watching little ones pick out their favourite pumpkin and play in the mud. We also got lots of work done!

Top 10 Reasons Why I Like What We're Doing

The growing season is drawing close to the end for this year. With only a couple more weeks left at the Farmer's Market and maybe a couple more weeks of harvest boxes after that we have begun to wrap things up at the farm, and have started thinking/talking about what the future holds in store for us Skeeter Farmers.

One thing is clear - all three of us want to continue on this business adventure, at least in to year two. To me that means that despite the low returns experienced in the first year of a business start up, we are all getting something out of this experience. I know for myself, I get a lot of things out of farming the way that we are doing. So here are my top ten reasons why I like farming like we are out at Skeeter Farm.

1. I get to hang out with cool folks like Jamie and Hannah and everyone else that has come out to the farm to lend a hand or offer advice or support in some way. Farming and food has certainly proved to be a common love that brings together folks, who wouldn't necessarily find common ground in other situations. Farming and food has and still is building a community of local food supporters and enthusiastic eaters some of which have gathered at Skeeter Farm.

2. We get to eat like farmers. There is nothing more satisfying than a meal made mostly out of things that you grew yourself, and the rest sourced from places you know and trust. Between produce from the farm and our home garden we have spent less money on food from the grocery store than I can ever remember. I should add that I have significantly upped the amount of Timmys in my diet, but that is excusable when you are a farmer, right?

3. As small business owners we are doing it all. We make all the decisions about what happens on our farm and how our food is produced, and although we get advice from many different people, we are ultimately get the say in how the farm and business is run. This really speaks to the independent side of my personality, which sometimes can get lost in the typical work setting.

4. More on the business front: in addition to learning (sometimes by trial and error) how to do the actual farm work, we are doing our own marketing and promotions, communications, product pricing and facing, financials, business planning and showcasing, team building, reflections and all the other fun stuff that comes with running a small business. All of these aspects are made more exciting when business meetings take place outside surrounded by pretty plants and tasty food to snack on.

5. People think we are cool(er than we actually are). But honestly, people think that because we are selling them vegetables or have a little dirt under our fingernails that we are really interesting or doing something that so few people do so it must be really hard and worth some sort of hero status. Jokes on them because we actually think THEY are cool ones for buying our stuff, we are just dorks who like vegetables and digging in the dirt.

6. There is a lot to be said for working with your hands. In general, I don't think that we get to do enough of it these days. There is nothing more satisfying than doing a hard days work and being able to actually see your results.

7. This next reason is probably more specific to our farm - but I have had some pretty cool wildlife sightings this year so far. The most recent one was a black bear that came sauntering down the laneway to the farm. There has been little otters frolicking in the canal, eagles and hawks daily, and amazing amounts of dragonflies, bees, lady bugs, butterflies and other little critters.

8. I haven't had to wear business casual much at all this summer. And that is a beautiful thing.

9. I am exercising my body in ways that results in more than just toned muscles. And I haven't had to pay for a gym or try to work it in to my schedule. Similar to those folks who ride a bike when they commute, staying in shape just becomes part of your lifestyle and it all just starts to make sense.

10. Good, clean, fresh, and delicious food is one of the only things I think I would feel good about selling to people I like and love. If I could find a way to make it my career, I feel like it would be an honest and important living, which is all I could really ask for.

Box vs. Market

There is no denying that something magical happens at farmer's markets. Friendly folks set up beautiful booths showcasing items that they produce and people of all stripes show up to look, chat, sample, and of course, purchase things. I have loved almost every moment of being at the market- arranging our veggies in little baskets, smiling at babies, explaining to little girls why they can't just plant one of our big sunflowers in their yard and expect it to grow taller...



However, doing the market well takes a lot of time. To prepare for the Abby market, at least two of us have to spend a full day harvesting and then a full day setting up and staffing the booth. In addition, keeping the booth looking good throughout the market means bringing more veggies with us than we will sell.



Filling veggie boxes is not quite as magical as being at the market, but it sure is efficient. We get to give our box customers whatever is convenient for us to give (while honoring some special requests) and we make a guaranteed amount of money for each sale. Most importantly, we get to fulfill the weekly veggie needs of each box customer, providing a real alternative to other sources of food. There is something really satisfying about that.



Ultimately, I think it makes sense to continue utilizing both marketing methods. Having a presence at the farmer's market is a great way to market our veggie boxes, not to mention that the booth itself makes a great veggie box pick-up/drop-off location. Certainly, different methods suit different types of customers. Luckily, our veggies taste delicious regardless of whether they come out of a bag or a pretty little basket!

Pretty Things at the Farm

Indulging in a particularly lazy Sunday and will continue that trend with a lazy blog post filled with photos of the farm.

A couple of photos by Betty Johnston, a lovely photographer who came to the farm the other week.

Corn is an amazing and delicious grass. Did you know that the silky part at the top of the ear is actually a flower?

2 of our 17 potato varieties.

What seems like acres of winter squash thriving at the farm. (Photo by Jamie).

The scenic laneway onto the farm. Watch for bear scat. (Photo also by Jamie)

Skeeter farmers/documentary stars. Stay tuned for Jayne's documentary on our first year farming. (Photo by Gavin).

Retired parents make great farm labourers. My mom and I planting sweet potatoes (Photo by Jayne).

A regular market goer enjoying the fruits of our labour. (Photo by Dutch).

Breaking down the veggie box

When I moved from Seattle to Vancouver almost 3 years ago, I was amazed by the strength of the local food movement and shocked by the lack of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms.

Those of you that are unfamiliar with the CSA concept should definitely check out this wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture. In brief, eaters pay one lump sum for a share of veggies/fruit/meat/eggs/etc. that they then receive regularly during the growing season. CSAs are great for eaters because they provide an easy way for folks to get all of their fruit, veggie (and sometimes meat) needs met by a local farm that they become an integral part of. CSAs are great for farmers because they have a guaranteed income that they receive at the beginning of the season. The idea is that eaters help farmers shoulder risk and benefit accordingly- when the harvest is bountiful the weekly share is gigantic, when the harvest is slim or a crop fails, the weekly share is smaller.

Back in Seattle, it took me awhile to convince my partner Dutch that we should get a CSA share at Growing Things Farm (http://www.growingthingsfarm.org/index.html). But once we did, there was no going back- we both loved it and it totally changed the way we ate. The Seattle area has dozens of CSA farms and there is a fair amount of diversity among them. Some do home delivery, some leave shares at designated drop-off spots (often at farmer's markets), and some require that customers pick up at the farm. Prices and box sizes also vary. However, one thing is constant: farmers are paid directly by thier customers.

After arriving in Vancouver, we were frustrated to learn that there were very few CSA farms and that most foodies got their vegetables through a few delivery companies that act as middle men between farmers and eaters. Dutch and I tried a few of these services and even found one that we liked, but they all paled in comparison to our CSA.

I am very proud to say that many friends in Vancouver have begun putting a hold on thier delivery service to receive a weekly veggie box from Skeeter Farm. Yay!

Of course, we didn't feel comfortable running a full-blown CSA this year at Skeeter Farm. The long and the short of it is that we had no idea how many veggies we would actually be able to grow. But the demand for our weekly veggie boxes is growing and it may make sense for us to head towards a full-meal-deal CSA next year...Regardless of what path we take at Skeeter, I am very happy to be familiarizing people in the Lower Mainland with the concept of making a committment to paying farmers directly for their produce throughout the season.