From The Back Fence
Barbee Farms' Newsletter
Volume II, Issue 1 February 2011
Final Look Back at 2010
As one year ends and another begins, Barbee Farms continues to reflect and evaluate how we’ve done. Barbee Farms looks at customer relations, marketing, and our employees as keys to a successful year. We have always strived to provide our customers with a positive experience at markets and our farm. Many of you have visited our farm to see how and where your food is produced. Your comments open doors for conversation about production of your food, types and varieties, growing methods, and a whole avenue of educational opportunities. Comments, both positive and negative, help us grow.
Barbee Farms is also evaluating our past markets. Many of our markets customers have become personal friends. We always come back to the reality that the personal touch is so important. We will not sacrifice that. We are looking at all the many markets we served and, if you can believe it, additional new markets for the 2011 season.
2010 was the first year our farm supplied our own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Our winter session is now over and the spring session starts in April. We feel this experience was a success for both our farm and members of the CSA. The feedback we received was positive, the number of shares increased, and the members who continued with us throughout four different growing seasons validated the success of this program. For more information about the 2011 CSA, please visit our website.
Currently all of our seasonal employees will be returning in the spring. Most of them are away at college now but will be returning Mid-May. The time frame between setting plants in April and when they return is always a challenge but knowing there is good, local help on the way makes a difference.
Sincerely,
Tommy, Anna, and Brent Barbee
Snow!
Snow, snow and more snow! December and January proved to be a challenge. Anna was out of work for several days but Tommy and Brent didn’t get that luxury. It doesn’t work to call the boss to say you can’t make it in when you walk out your back door to your job site! Snow is not only good for snow-cream and sledding; snow is also good for replenishing the water table. Rain has a tendency to run off where, as snow slowly melts, more of the water will soak in the ground. The snow is gone now and the muddy mess is finally starting to dry up. It has been a long time since we’ve seen that much snow stay so long!
Tommy's View
As February rolls around we find our seed cabinet about to burst at the seams. We have been ordering seeds for over three months, and besides the ones that are backordered, most everything is on hand. Mid-March and April is not the time to be thinking about what and where you are going to plant crops. Some of our early season crops are already shining in the greenhouses. Seeing new green growth on a cold January morning has a way of bringing life into an otherwise "gray and cold" season. Before you know it we will be checking soil temps outside to get that perfect timing for getting seeds started.
Our "winter projects" list still is not complete, but we are within sight of the end. We have upgraded our farm roads that lead to all fields. We have enlarged a shed for more dry storage of equipment. We have rebuilt and repainted market tables. We have added another walk-in cooler. We have changed oil and filters, serviced and maintained every mower, tractor, ATV, RTV, truck, trailer and other types of equipment we have, to be ready for a year of hard use. This kind of work is necessary this time of year to keep equipment in good working order and also to keep income to our employees that depend on us year-round. We have also completed the trimming of all peach, apple, and plum trees. I think we all will be ready to take the coveralls off and get back into short sleeves, so we can work on our summer tan.
As you can see, we have had a busy winter. It is far from over, but priorities will change over the next couple of months. We will be increasing our peach orchard three-fold by mid-February. We will be digging all holes (over 400) by hand to insure a quality start for our new trees. We will continue to try to have enough insight to be able to supply locally grown food to our customers throughout the year. It is our living and you deserve to have healthy choices.
Thanks!
Tommy
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