I’m glad the deep freeze is behind us, even if it means we’ll be a soggy mess for a while.  One of the biggest questions I was fielding last week was, “What’s this going to do to your crops?!?!”  I didn’t know how to answer, but I knew it wasn’t going to be great.  That was one of the toughest and most uncertain weeks we’ve experienced farming on this coast, but as we anticipated, it roughed things up a little.  I can say with honesty that we and our crew did the best that we could heading into the extreme cold, given the constraints of our time and storage space.  (We’ve got hopes and plans to address the latter this year, but for now, we’re aching from the growing pains).  It was a real bummer to walk out this morning after several days of thawing to find that our January cabbages had frozen all the way down to their cores, decaying from the inside out.  (It wasn’t what we’d hoped for, but I was luckily able to source some from other organic producers in our region this week to make up for our loss).  And with a little more time, much of what remains planted in the open field has a chance to bounce back in time for our anticipated harvests of braising and flowering raab.  It appears that at least some of our greenhouse crops held on as well. Thank goodness!

In spite of the fact that we’ve been battling some seriously cold conditions, I’m offering the warmest wishes and regards that I can as we gear up to begin our Winter Season this week. Though you haven’t seen us in a month, we’ve been hard at work over the past few days in the face of this exceptionally cold weather, harvesting in anticipation of what we might otherwise lose, giving the animals extra TLC, dealing with deeply frozen infrastructure, following wildly varying forecasts, and making a whole lot of little decisions with seemingly big implications for our farm. But hey, there are Brussels Sprouts to be enjoyed—look at those babies! As of right now, we plan to open up and hold our regular hours this week on Tuesday, 12-7 and 10-5.  But, if the last week has reminded us of anything, forecasts can change and conditions can deteriorate. If inclement weather, dangerous road conditions or power outages arise this week (or any other week for that matter), we will modify our hours plans in the spirit of keeping everyone, customers and crew alike, safe and sound.  In the event that our hours change, I will notify folks using as many of the following methods as possible,

• Updating the farm Voice Mail Message (253) 778-6257

• Posting updates to our Facebook & Instagram pages

• Sending an Email Blast (if we have electricity and internet access)

• Posting an update to our Website (if we have electricity and internet access)

… so feel free to check ahead before you make the drive if things look dicey.

After 48 straight weeks of harvest, with a whole lot of seeding, weeding, planting and packing across four seasons, we’re wrapping up the 2023 growing year at Wild Hare. As I type, the crew is gathering one last mix of gorgeous Mustard Greens from the hoophouse, and Mark is putting together an array of squashes and roots for folks to choose and enjoy before we button up the root cellar for a bit. There are lots of choices this week, so think back through your favorite soups, think ahead to your holiday meals, or by all means, scroll through the ones I’m sharing this week. (I’m sending you off in truly tasty form:)