Hello Friends,
Happy All Souls Day. We find ourselves wondering how it can possibly be the beginning of November? It's been a few very busy weeks here on the farm. We've given tours to several groups including the Somerset Hills Garden Club, and new friends of the Perfect Earth Project
Then there were the two days that our friend and teacher Mark Shepard of Restoration Agriculture Development (RAD) came for his annual visit to check our progress. He and our Agricultural Consultant Johann Rinkens spent two days with us reviewing our progress on the farm, and also surveying the new 47 acres we recently acquired to determine its potential for Agroforestry and Regenerative Agriculture. When Mark declared that "It's the most ecologically degraded piece of land I've seen", I replied, "Well, when we restore it, then people will know that anything is possible!"
There's so much work to do, but we are deeply grateful to have the two best teachers to help guide us.
If you haven't seen Mark in the Documentary "Feeding Tomorrow", we can't recommend it enough. It really reaffirms why I started the farm. You can stream it on Amazon Prime or Apple TV. If you watch it please let us know what you think!
We have about three more weeks until Farmer Mary heads home to Uruguay for the Winter, and so that means three more weeks of harvests. We are happy to offer a single week CSA share. For the next three weeks, if you order a CSA share by Sunday at 5pm, you will have 7-8 items from the Farm ready for pickup on Wednesday at our normal farm store hours of 2:30-5:30pm at 75 Willow Avenue in Peapack.
We are grateful to share the last of Autumn's bounty with you. You can find the item in the link below:
Last but certainly not least, this is a photo of our hayfield by the farm store. Farmer Martha shared it with me this morning, and I immediately had the feeling that God was smiling down on us. The rainbow spans from our hayfield over to the new 47 acres, linking the old and the new, uniting the two sides. Both areas have significant ecological challenges that will require significant remediation in order to restore and feed the soil over the next few years. The good news is that we know what to do. Perhaps God is happy that we are committed to the work ahead so that we may share this knowledge with others to do the same?
Have a blessed weekend Friends. We are looking forward to sharing the journey ahead with you.
Sincerely,
Michele & the Maranatha Farm Team