Knowledge and Wisdom on the Farm
Coming to the farm this year, I knew I would be learning a lot about farming. That was kind of the point. My background being in nutrition and farmers markets, I wanted to dive head/hands first into the growing and sourcing of organic food. I expected to learn how to grow food, but I didn’t expect all of the others ways in which I would learn on the farm. It’s immensely valuable to watch and participate while we all learn from our farmer and managers – the transmission of knowledge and wisdom. There are other less tangible ways in which...
read moreFinding Happiness and Peace in the Fields
Hello Red Dog Customer! My name is Jake Carson, and I am new to the farming life, having only started at Red Dog just over a month ago. Only months ago, I was convinced that my life would take the path that so many of my friends’ and family members’ lives have already taken: I was to go to college, get my bachelor’s degree and, because I chose history for a major, then it would be onto grad school. Raised to believe that this was one of the noblest lives I could lead, raised to believe that I would never be happy with a job which demanded...
read moreFor Love of Raspberries
As we enter into our first full week of July this season, the farm staff is especially excited to be starting the raspberry harvest. And that of course means this week’s CSA share will be including these exceptional berries as well. If you’re like me, you can never really have enough of these when they are in season. So we like-minded berry fanatics surely plan to establish our own raspberry bushes at home. That being said, I’d like to take the chance to help us familiarize a little with some facets and techniques of caring for these awesome...
read moreOne-Armed Cooking
I signed up to write this week’s newsletter about a month ago, anticipating being able to share with you all my first-hand account of what has been happening around the farm and highlighting my favorite produce that makes its debut this time of year. Instead, I find myself having been out of the field for 2 1/2 weeks now, writing to you with an ice pack on my arm and dancing feet still adapting to being idle after an elbow injury that required surgery and a lengthy recovery. Though I have to take a little time away from the farm, I have been...
read moreSourcing Supplies in a Supportive Community
“Farming is all about moving people and things around.” A veteran farmer in the Skagit told me this once and it struck me as exceedingly true. Get the carrot seeds, the tractor and the driver to the field to plant carrots. Get the irrigation pipe and people to the field to water the carrots. Get the people and the hoes to the field to weed the carrots. Get the truck full of crates and the people to the field to harvest the carrots. Get the harvested carrots to the packshed with people to wash them. Get the carrots on a truck to deliver to...
read moreOld Things are New Again
How far can something be stretched until it’s no longer physically viable? Making broken and old things new again seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life. Old trucks getting new parts, broken hoses getting replaced by new hoses, ripped greenhouse plastic getting patched with new materials, switching dull knives out for sharp knives, the list goes on. Today, I wear new boots. This is my third pair in my third season here at the farm. Today, I also wear patched pants from an old shirt given to me from a once new friend. It’s always a...
read moreBecoming a Farmer
June is an exciting month to work on the farm. The fields are filling up quickly with vegetables and fruit; the days are finally warmer and the longest they will be all year; and there are lots of new folks who are joining our crew. May marked one year that I’ve worked at Red Dog Farm, and after twelve months of learning and observing, June is the first month that feels familiar to me. Then, like now, I remember the garlic being almost ready to harvest, picking fava beans into yellow buckets, cutting long beds of salanova lettuce in the sun,...
read moreSpring Turnips Become Summer Tomatoes
The times are a changin’ here at Red Dog – such is the nature of farming! Our crew is expanding while our fields continue to fill up. As spring trickles on leading into summer, we’ve seen a huge transformation in two of our greenhouses. It seems like just yesterday Greenhouse Three was full of spring favorites like hakurei turnips, bok choi, mizuna, and baby carrots! Now, it’s home to rows and rows of beefsteak tomato plants. Next door, in Greenhouse Two, lettuces and green onions have been harvested and replaced with another summer favorite...
read moreWatering the Whole Farm
I grew up in a beach town, and maybe that’s the origin of my love of the water. I’ve been swimming for as long as I can remember, first with a patient instructor, then as a part of my local children’s swim team, and later as a sure-fire way to relax and let my cares float away from me whenever I can get the chance. When I’m in the water, I feel truly in my element.It’s no surprise, then, that I find myself deeply involved with the wet and wonderful world of water in my farming career. I had already taken a particular interest in irrigation...
read moreEssential Workers in a Healthy Landscape
I started farming at Red Dog when covid hit and I was looking for something meaningful to do with my time. Farming is the kind of “essential work” that makes me feel like I’m making a positive contribution to my community. And, with a CSA over 200 families strong, Red Dog is a major supplier of quality, organic food in our region, and that makes me feel essential indeed!But working at Red Dog is about more than the meaningful impact I can make. Working here is also a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend my days! On a regular basis, I am...
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