This past month we took some time to slow down and spend time with family and friends, taking a nice little break from the farm. But the winter season is not just a time for rest on the farm, it is also a very important planning time. We have been making plans for 2023 deciding what to grow and what to cook. This starts by looking back at last year’s sales and requests. Because of awesome customers like you, we have realized that we need to expand our growing space to meet the demand for our sustainably grown seedlings. This means we need to build a bigger greenhouse!
To accomplish this, our business Quarter Acre Farm LLC, is raising a crowd-backed, 0% interest loan on Kiva. The funds from this loan will go towards building a heated 20’ x 28’ gothic greenhouse. A Kiva loan is just that, a loan, not a donation, so folks will get their money back as we repay the loan. If you are able, we hope you will consider lending us as little as $25 so that we can build an awesome greenhouse.
Supporting small businesses is super important to us too. During the planning of our greenhouse build we found a local construction company that specializes in greenhouses. We are delighted to be working with a family owned business that came highly recommended from fellow farmers in our region. We hope to start the construction process once this loan is fully funded.
As we wait for funding we are knee deep in planning all the things! We have measured out where the new greenhouse will go. We are planning to double the square footage of our greenhouse space compared to what we have been growing in the past few years. This is to meet the demand for our seedlings to provide our customers with a wide range of vegetable, herb, and flower starts.
We are also working on our crop plan. This starts with doing a seed inventory which took me the good part of a day going through the seeds we currently have in stock. I made a big list of what I have. I organize it by crop, then made note of each variety, approx how many seeds are in the packet, when it was packed. Next I make some seed decisions by flipping through seed catalogs referring to my seed calculation to determine what varieties to order. Even though I have some seeds left over from years past, I still need to buy more seeds, so I have enough for this year. I’m planning to order some old favorites and a few new varieties to try out. Then I created the planting schedule so I know exactly when to start what seeds and how many of each variety. This schedule is the longest task of the crop plan taking several hours over a few days to complete.
Meanwhile over at Quarter Acre Farm EATS we are also taking stock of what we have and what we need this year. We are dreaming up delicious menu specials and fine tuning any logistics we need to put in place. We can’t wait to be back at the farmers market slinging tasty tacos and making fresh lemonade in the warm sunshine. Mark your calendars opening day for the Easton farmers market is April 15, 2023.
If you would like to help us make our dream greenhouse come true, please follow this link to our campaign page and share it with your network as every dollar helps. As always thanks for all your support, we continue to be deeply grateful to all our customers and friends!