Never fear, you did not miss a summer farm newsletter; it was never sent!

We have focused our energy on a variety of challenges since our last note in the spring. In that regard, we have news to share below. But first information on turkey orders and our grass-fed lamb.

TURKEYS

For our twelfth consecutive year we are offering Thanksgiving turkeys; fed only organic feed, moved daily to fresh pasture, given clean water (no trivial task with turkeys), and grit to help grind up the never-sprayed forage and insects they consume. We feel their quality of life and the resulting taste is unparalleled. On top of that, we have fun raising them and marvel at how they help to transform our soils. We are asking $5.50/lb for turkeys.

Most turkeys range in size from 15–20 lb. We do have some smaller and some larger but not many. Turkeys will be available the evening of Sunday, November 24th. The week of pickup we will send out a reminder email with a half hour pickup time slot between 5 pm and 8 pm.

It is a limited year for produce, but that evening we are looking forward to offering brussels sprouts, cabbage, and garlic all grown here. If you would like to order a turkey, reply to this email and confirm that you will be able to pick it up at the farm on Sunday November 24th. Due to very limited refrigeration, it is very important that someone comes that evening to pick up your turkey. Please specify if you want the neck and/or giblets (1 heart, 1 liver, 1 gizzard). There is no extra cost, but we do not bag up those that are not ordered.

LAMB

Our flock of sheep, after spending much of the summer and early fall grazing the 60% of the main farm field that is out of sight from the road, are now in full view. An astute eye will notice them moving to a completely new paddock to graze every 18 to 36 hours depending on weather, soil, and farmer condition. In addition to all this high-quality forage, the flock is fed a little hay in the winter, and a free-choice buffet of naturally occurring minerals to make up for any deficiencies in our soils.

We still have a small amount of ground lamb from the sheep we had processed in the spring. Reply to this email for specifics. For lamb aficionados, we are sending another group to be processed the first week of December. If you are interested in a half or whole lamb, please call or text Mark at 216-287-4721 for details and pricing or reply to this email.

FARM NEWS (LONG FORM)

In our last farm news, we shared the loss of our horse Dan, as we stared into an agricultural abyss. After consultation with many family members, farmers and friends, we decided to retool our 2-horse equipment to 1-horse equipment. The risk was too great to introduce a second unknown horse to our strong-willed, and flat-out strong, remaining horse Doc, without a new set of horse stalls, small barn, and a barnyard fence.

Fortunately, within a month things were looking promising. We found affordable sources for equipment and alterations and Doc passed his first major test one late April night, pulling our flock of laying hens and supplies, spread over four separate loads, out of their winter greenhouse, a quarter-mile uphill, into our far field. The laying hens never skipped a beat, taking right to the fresh pasture without a drop in egg production.

As this was unfolding, we borrowed a tractor for a week and half from our friend and fellow Park farmer, Ben. Serendipitously, he was stepping off his tractor having just finished his rush of spring work when he saw my text inquiring about more horsepower to get ahead of spring tillage. While it was jarring to witness Ben's generosity and the power of a tractor to transform soils quickly, I returned it looking forward to getting my boots back on the ground and my hands on harness and reins.

As such we concentrated on growing transplanted crops, given our relative strength growing healthy starts and our projected weakness at forming clean planting beds with one horse for our favorite direct seeded crops like carrots, beets, and spinach.

Farming with one horse, in a hot, humid summer proved very difficult. Relearning to drive Doc who, unnerved by flies and unmoored from the constraints of cart and Dan, often chose not, or knew not, to go where I tried to tell him began as a tense exercise in wiggly rows. But with time and patience from all, it morphed into a hopeful new method for growing produce here.

Out of necessity, we now cut a shallow furrow, progressively deeper, leaving the soil friable enough to set a 300-foot row of transplants quickly. After this, a wide swath on both sides of the crop row is mowed periodically by horse or scythe. If mowed by horse-drawn mower, the clippings are then raked against and between the bases of a row of transplants. If scythed, the end of the swing deposits the just cut grass, clovers, forbs and weeds under the crops without raking, but with the occasional sliced off tomato or pepper plant.

While we carefully test and balance our soils with naturally mined minerals, the magic of truly healthy plants really happens biologically rather than chemically. Setting aside crops compromised or worse by weed pressure; three or four tomato rows, two rows of winter squash, a row of melons, two rows of okra, and a half row of onions, the mowed and raked mulch mentioned above provide a weed barrier and a steady diet for the soil microbes, which ultimately feed plants best.

To conclude our new growing methods, parallel to the crop row and adjacent to the mowed swath, we now leave a fully undisturbed section (no mowing, plowing or grazing) to promote spider and beetle among many other beneficials. These arachnids and insects had suffered greatly under our typical yearly regime of mowing, plowing, and rotational grazing with chickens—quick and relentless predators of all things small and mobile.

Where we have made the time and implemented this system best, we are seeing really healthy crops with significantly less work for horses and humans than ever before here. As we close in on Thanksgiving, I am so grateful for this forced change in direction and I am more excited for growing again next year than I can ever remember.

Many of you have asked about next steps and offered to help. Doc will turn twenty in March, and two months later, we will celebrate our thirteenth anniversary here. We very much believe that one horse, or perhaps two small horses are appropriate for the scale and type of farming we plan to do here.

Many of you are also aware that any farm infrastructure projects are our financial responsibility to construct and upon completion become assets of the National Park Service. Furthermore, we do not own this land and therefore lack the collateral that many farmers use to borrow against for bank or USDA loans.

To complicate things more, we refuse to farm this land in a way that maximizes profits at the expense of our soil and surrounding air and waterway health.

At the risk of overthinking this situation, we feel farming to maximize profit leads to unsustainable stress for family and community while simultaneously pushing more consequences of farming into other communities.

LOOKING AHEAD

The good news is it doesn't take much to make a small farm work well:

• A committed group of farmers living modestly, but rich with good food and work. — Check.
• A committed community that values such farming. — Check.
• A small group of committed preparers of farm food for their primary nourishment. — Check (about 50 people per farmer).
• A small collection of buildings to support said farm. — Incomplete.

In addition to the usual winter chores and projects, this is where we are focusing our energy this winter. That is, developing a plan for early 2025, with a series of options for community investment and donation in this farm beyond the incredible support we already receive.

More soon, including a fun website!

— Mark