Foresight 2023 at the Genuine Faux Farm

The month of February serves as a tipping point for our farm most years.  This is when we have to move on from Farmer Delusional Syndrome and actually make the move towards what will actually happen at the Genuine Faux Farm in the coming year.  If we're going to plant onions, we need to start the seeds now and it won't be long before we need to start other plants if we intend to grow them.  If we're going to raise poultry, the chicks need to be ordered (especially this year with demand for chicks being high).

So, I thought this might be a good time to provide everyone with a farm report that outlines what we THINK we are going to do in 2023.  Of course, time makes fools of us all, so things don't always go according to plan.  So, take the plans for what they are worth - an honest attempt to try to come up with a reasonable set of goals for the farm.

One of those goals is for both of us to avoid a major surgery that makes it that much harder to accomplish anything on the farm (and elsewhere).

The egg (and veggie) email sales will continue

We will continue to offer eggs - and whatever other food products we have available - through our email list.  Deliveries will continue on an every other week basis, with periodic changes when other schedules dictate.  We will continue to make our quick delivery stops in Waverly and Cedar Falls as we have been doing for the past couple of years.

If you want to join the list, use the contact form at the right side of this blog, you may need to scroll down a bit to get to it.

The advantage of this approach is that we can still provide some of the food we produce at a reasonable price to people who have interest.  We can do this without the additional stress and strain that comes with the commitment of a CSA/farm share program, farmers markets or other such set ups.  Essentially, we offer it if we have it and people on the list order it if they want it.  

We are able to do things this way now because both Tammy and I have off-farm employment.  That means we are not under as much strain to make sales.  On the other hand, we are (and will be) under some pressure to get everything done, which is why the delivery windows are small and our product range is reduced from prior years.  We want to grow and provide good food to others, but we have to do it on a scale that is reasonable for the available time we have to give to that endeavor.

What are we growing?

Our first two goals are to feed ourselves and to successfully grow a couple crops for seed contracts with Seed Savers Exchange this year.  Beyond that, we will be growing some vegetables in larger amounts with the stated purpose of offering some of it via the email list and taking the rest to the food bank or other similar destinations.  We may opt to sell some things in bulk depending on the situation.  Additional goals include getting the expense and income sides of the farm to "zero out" and to provide quality food to people that need it while doing so in a way where we can stay healthy while juggling everything we are going to attempt to do.

In other words, we're going to try and let our ideals run the show this year and see where it gets us.

We'll focus on crops we like to eat and crops we like to grow - which only seems fair.  It's also a good way to encourage us to get out there and do the work!  So, we'll be growing beans, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, sweet corn, squash, and all sorts of other things.  We won't be growing garlic this year, which really seems odd to both of us.  We'll see how we feel about it as we approach the typical harvest time.  We just could not get a combination of time and energy to put our crop in this Fall. 

Our growing areas will include our two high tunnels (Valhalla and Eden) and we will grow in approximately one quarter of the area we grew in during past years when the farm was a much more integral part of our income.  We have to continue to refine the farm to fit our current labor force - which provides many fewer hours of work than it did before. 

There will be poultry in motion

We've gone and done it.

We ordered turkeys for 2023.  Our first target for sales will be the Local Foods Connection, as it has been the last four or five years.  We think we will have one other bulk buyer and the remaining birds will be available for others - assuming there are any at that point.  This is one of those things we have to do to make the task fit with the limits on our available time.  Selling seventy birds to seventy different customers eats up a LOT of time.  Selling sixty birds to two customers and then adding a few sales beyond that to a much smaller group is doable.

We also ordered broilers for 2023, but will only do one batch starting in July this year.  Like 2022, we will not have the numbers of chickens for sale like we did in prior years.  But, we will have some - but they will not be available until the Fall. The argument for a later start is the recognition that we need to be working with the veggies and fruit in May and June.  If we add broilers, along with hens and hen chicks - and then turkeys during the earlier months, we can't get it all done.  So, we moved the broilers later in hopes that the adjustment gives us the ability to accomplish what we want to.

And, yes, we ordered new hen chicks - due to start laying in October or early November.  So, unless something drastic happens, we'll be offering eggs into 2024.

So, there's a summary of some of our 2024 GFF farm plans.  There is, as always, more than that going on.  But, if I told all of that to you now, what would I write in future blogs?

Have a good day everyone!