Looking around the farm as I picked strawberries and peas on Sunday, I marveled at the beauty and the bounty of Stearns Farm and felt thankful to everyone who makes it happen.
The bounty is a function of good weather and lots of hard work. There has been a good amount of rain interspersed with dry sunny weather that plants love. But mostly we have a hard-working, dedicated crew. Seth, Kenneth and Susan all put in long hours at the farm keeping the cycle of planting, weeding, fertilizing and harvesting going. Our work-for-shares are the backbone of the harvest day crews, coming together as a group to execute the complicated dance of harvesting, washing, weighing, and arranging the produce on the stand.
The pick-your-own (PYO) bounty is extraordinary so far this ye
ar; as a long-time sharer I especially appreciate the innovation of opening the fields to PYO on the weekends (the farm is officially closed on Sunday and Monday). This practice means that there is far less waste than there would otherwise be (a certain amount of spoilage is to be expected). Opening the fields to PYO on weekends means that someone has to put in extra hours, but our dedicated crew make this effort to ensure that the harvest is optimized.
The beauty is a function of a beautiful piece of land being carefully tended. As someone who grew up on a farm I can attest that farms are, by their nature, messy places. A farmer’s work is never done, and keeping things tidy is not usually at the top of the To Do list. The fact that Stearns Farm looks like a carefully tended garden is a testament our crew’s effort to make it a beautiful, peaceful place.
I hope you will join me in extending a huge, heartfelt Thank You to Susan, Seth, and Kenneth, whose effort and dedication are making this a bountiful and beautiful farm season.
Nomi Sofer
Newsletter Editor
