spring 2009

Welcome!
Pete, Peter, Ian, and the rest of the crew have been planting, planting, planting. The farm looks fantastic. The green houses are planted, new hoop houses are errected, and a new experimental effort with low tunnels is in progress to name just a few of the things going on. We are all excited about the 2009 season.

We are having our 2009 CSA Orientation/Farm Picnic on Sunday May 17th rain or shine from 11am to 2pm. The farm will provide food and beverages sticking with the Eat Local theme. Bring along the whole family and or a friend. Get your questions answered & enjoy a day at the farm. As always we have high hopes for the 2009 growing season.

The following is a copy of the spring letter Pete sent out for those who missed it:

Dear CSA Members, Spring / 2009
We hope all has been well for you and your families. It’s been a darn good winter for all of us here at the Taliaferro household and farm. We are about to start another season and this year will be our eleventh year with the farms CSA program. We’re putting the finishing touches on the 2009 season plans as you read this letter. Thanks to your enthusiasm and generosity over the past years and especially last fall we are in a great position going into the spring. We were able to order our seeds and supplies in good shape. All we need now is some sunny not to cold spring weather. We have been investigating some early-season agricultural growing practices to help force certain crops along. These crops would normally be harvested in late June and late July and we would like to make them available in early June and early July. To push these harvest dates forward we would make use of a handful of different types of temporary (and reusable) structures and materials. These materials and structures would enhance the sunlight and help protect the plants from potentially cold nights (also days) and frost. I’ve tried some of these methods in the past with limited success because it takes quite a bit of micro-managing and I was spread too thin. I couldn’t stay on top of things and we fell short of our goals. As you probably know, both my sons Ian and Peter are getting more and more involved in the farm and have some great ideas. They have also become pretty darn capable. With their input and abilities we should see some successes with these early growing methods. Of course a prayer or two for good weather wouldn’t hurt. In any case, it is one of our goals for the 2009 season to not necessarily start the season earlier but to be able to offer some varieties of vegetables much earlier than normal.
More news is that we are in the process of finishing the addition to the store. We’re basically doubling the size of the store by going around the corner to the west. I’m sure everybody will be glad to have more room to pick up your produce, move about and visit. We will also have a second scale available, hooray! At this point, we have the new structure framed and will be working on the roof as soon as the weather breaks. (continued on back)

One new and exciting item in the store will be a glass door freezer provided by Full Moon Farm (Paul & Laura Colucci) so that we will always have his grass fed devon beef available. Paul Colucci has generously agreed to let Veritas Farms (Paul Alward) sell their poultry out of this freezer also. To continue our quest to work and partner with other local farms and make local foods available we’ll have a new vendor on Thursdays. Popovich Provisions (Joe Popovich) will be selling his local made cheeses, sausages, pates, salads and more. I’ve known Joe for 6 years. I’ve worked along side him at the Rhinebeck Farmers market and indulged in his handmade / homemade foods and I’ve never been disappointed. The farm will also (as always) be trying a few new produce items this season. Some of the items that we are looking to do are fennel, a new variety of eggplant, two additional varieties of summer squash, yellow fleshed watermelon and peanuts to name a few.
I need to mention the use of plastic bags when picking up your produce. I want to let you know that we made some pretty big steps as a group in an attempt to reduce our use of plastic T-shirt bags here on the farm. I can tell you that we made 72% less bags available in the 2008 season than in previous seasons. This is a wonderful thing. I urge you to continue this conservation and we will continue to try and be open to suggestions to conserve. So that’s all the news that is the news. We’re looking forward to seeing everybody. As always your generosity and support are greatly appreciated. As I’ve said before we couldn’t operate the farm without your support. Many thanks from all of us at the farm.
Sincerely, Pete, Robin, Peter, Ian & Delaney (the family that farms)
(PS- To all of you who offered your condolences & sympathy in regards to my mom passing last August, a heartfelt belated thank you. Your gestures didn’t go unnoticed.)

**If you are splitting a share please contact the person that you are splitting with so you both know that you received the letter and that your balance is square between the two of you
Many Thanks for Your Support,
Pete, Robin, Peter, Ian & Delaney (The family that farms)

Important information regarding our 2009 growing season!

Due to the success of the farms 2008 season, we have already sold over 90% of our available shares for the 2009 season . If you are thinking about getting involved for the 2009 season, do it soon.

To sign up, down load a sign-up form from our web site, fill out and mail to:
Taliaferro Farms
187 Plains Road
New Paltz, NY 12561.

If you have any questions call and leave a message at 845-256-1592 and Pete will get back to you or e-mail Taliaferro@hvi.net.

Spring is right around the corner!

See you soon!
Robin

Farmer Pete on Be the Change!

Greetings friends!

Two of our many wonderful CSA members, Julie and Amy from the Mount Tremper CSA, host a weekly talk show called Be the Change on 91.3 FM on Wednesdays from 5-6 pm. On November 12th, they invited Pete to the studio to talk about Taliaferro Farms.

Below you can find a link that will bring you to the MP3 archieve of the interview.

http://bethechangeradio.org/audio/Be%20the%20Change%202008-11-12.mp3

Also at http://bethechangeradio.org/archives.htm check out other great interviews they have in their archieves!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy transition from fall to winter.

CSA Member essay reading on NPR

Yesterday we listened to Laura Heady, a fellow CSA member give a reading of her essay on NPR!
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1430095&sectionID=231

This link will bring you to the reading, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Hope everyone is settling into the colder days and longer nights, we wish you well from the farm!