Letter from the Farmer
Hi all! This is Maggie, the Farm Manager for Shift Our Ways. I’m tuning in to introduce myself and a new section to our monthly newsletter - Letters from the Farm! I’m here to keep you in the loop with some farm updates, highlight exciting plants and produce, lessons learned and things we’re looking forward to…
It was quite a warm August, with a mini heatwave that certainly kicked things up a notch! Perfect for beach days, cold beverages, working on a summer tan, and diligent farm work. All of the annual crops that were planted at our May Planting Days have been growing and yielding plenty of produce and learning lessons. Many of you were in attendance for the plantings, and have since stopped back in to remark on our progress, serving as something of a mid-season checkpoint.
Our cherry tomatoes are now as tall as skyscrapers (slight exaggeration…), our beans seem to never stop producing, and our unique hot pepper varieties are spicy delights perfect for your favorite salsa recipe. We’ve hosted volunteer events, family garden days, and grown over 2,000 narrowleaf milkweed plants for free distribution. And in true farm fashion, we’ve also been battling the dry summer heat, garden pests, and the plant diseases that arise from a combination of the two. What gets us through these challenges is observation, knowledge, dedication, and collaboration. Our staff, interns, and volunteers work to tackle any issues and figure things out as a team. What starts on a concerning note yields opportunity for gaining confidence in new skills (eg. pest identification, pruning techniques, fixing a broken irrigation line), all while learning to work together and accomplish a goal with good food (and all of you!) in mind. It’s a cherished experience that drew me to agriculture almost 10 years ago, and well, here we find ourselves.
This next month we are so excited to welcome our new chickens and add fresh eggs to our offerings next spring. It will undoubtedly bring challenges as well, and with our team, our dedicated volunteers, and your support, we will keep on truckin’. And remember - it’s always exciting to see your shining faces and fill your produce bag, so please stop by!
See you soon, and happy gardening 🌱
Maggie Ng