Hope and Excitement

I awoke Sunday morning filled with enthusiasm for a full-service CSA. I tried to let my imagination run wild. I think we could potentially serve 10 families (or 20 adults) who would be interested.

The Kimballs in New York (from The Dirty Life, which I mentioned in the previous post), with 500 acres of farm to play with, grow grains and beans, as well as about 10,000 bales of hay. We would skip growing those, but could offer bulk organic grains and beans.

Other than that, with a couple of steers added to the mix, and the hopeful expansion of our garden, we should be able to duplicate what the Kimballs what they have done this coming year. We won't do grains or beans, but could provide organic bulk goods to customers. And we couldn't do maple syrup, but if we try bees again, in 2012, we could potentially have honey. We'd need to buy a steer or two to finish this year, so we could offer beef, and we'd need to hope and pray that our market garden does well. And we should try bees again, so we will have honey next year.

Otherwise, though, we've done what they're doing: pigs, dairy, eggs, chickens, vegetables.

I've started reading the amazing Eliot Coleman again, reading up on four-season harvest, so we wouldn't have to grow and store all the food for the winter months. Phil and I stayed up until 1am, talking through farm layout, infrastructure.

Suddenly, he said, "I wonder if it's time to go with the yurt. I just don't see us building an underground house any time in the next year."

And I think I'm about ready to make that order. So in the next few months, perhaps he'll get some wood milled and built for a yurt foundation. It might take most of the year, but it could be that in 2011 we'll have a larger living space.

I don't know if the hope and excitement are a result of a success GAPS diet, or if it's just that the Solstice has passed, and my body recognizes that spring is coming, but I have such happy anticipation!