Latest Bulletin

POSTED: November 11, 2023

Gratitude

We’re so thankful for all of your support and patience as we navigated this year’s challenges. Farming is hard. Who’da thunk?? Currently, the core crew is still planning to stay onboard for another season — thank goodness. They are amazing people.

We’ve come so far (despite all of the struggles). Identifying solutions to problems can provide an incredibly powerful source of motivation. We’d like to share those solutions with you.

A New Strategy for Labor

This season’s crop failure and gaps in production were rooted in a labor deficit. We’ve been trying to manage with the bare minimum, but there is no room for unplanned (or even planned) absences without potentially huge consequences. What we’re going to do about it:

• A community volunteer program at NHF. By leveraging the community, we can increase production while reducing labor costs, maintain a smaller crew, and create a more resilient and adaptable operation.

• Hiring part-time “auxiliary” crew members to help us stay on top of harvesting, packing, and foliar spraying (to protect crops from fungal diseases, caterpillars, and aphids).

Compost Remediation

2023 was supposed to be our big debut for high tunnel production. However, we were shocked to discover that our most recent batch of compost (used on the high tunnel plots) was extremely high in potassium — resulting in the loss of all peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and basil — OOPH!! Experts from WSU have recommended that we use lots of water to leech the excess potassium out of the soil. What we’re going to do about it:

• Rather than placing the burden entirely on our aquifer, we plan to use this winter’s rain and snow to leech the vast majority of the potassium.

• Installing a new ultra-efficient irrigation system to leech out potassium within our stationary high tunnel.

Growing Healthier Crops with Less Water

Our farm’s expansion has finally outgrown the capacity of our original irrigation system. Our crops have suffered from insufficient water flow and pressure. Conversely, our current irrigation controllers are not sophisticated enough to automatically prevent unnecessary watering. What we’re going to do about it:

• Partnering with the San Juan Islands Conservation District to install an ultra-efficient irrigation controller to optimize water pressure, flow, and conservation.

Also, if we can get this new system installed over the winter, it will allow us to resume high tunnel assembly!

Looking Ahead at 2024

We are eager to implement these solutions and elevate NHF to the next level. As everything moves forward, we invite all you to get involved in any capacity you can. It really does "take a village.”

Keep an eye out for news about upcoming farm stands. We’re excited to provide some winter treats from the garden!

We wish you all a restful winter and holiday season.

— Zach (and the NHF Crew)