This Farmer Hates Marketing Okay, I just have to admit, I really don’t like marketing. If there’s one part of my job as a farmer that I dislike, it’s the part where I don’t get to farm. Sitting in the office trying to [...]

Putting the Strawberries to Bed The farm goes through a yearly cycle of activity and going to sleep. Each spring we rip off the blankets and say to the fields, “Get up! It’s time to go! Let’s make something of the [...]

Potions & Blogs The Harry Potter craze happened about a decade after I was growing up. Crew here that are in their late twenties experienced the Harry Potter books in real time, waiting for what seemed like forever for the next book to come [...]

The Quieting The farm season at its peak is a crazy, fast-moving animal with lots of moving parts. The farm is effervescent with people and conversation and laughter. Then, starting in October, one-by-one crew members are let off for the season. [...]

The other day the girls and I were sitting around the table after school, and I asked if they would help brainstorm for my Halloween costume. Without missing a beat, Zea, my 9 year old, said, ” I know! You could be a normal parent that [...]

The Best of Days In her book, Beloved, Toni Morrison writes: “In Ohio seasons are theatrical. Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it.” Having grown up in Ohio, Morrison’s [...]

The average yearly rainfall for our area is around 35 inches. Since May, we have had 72 inches of rain. That’s just crazy town. With a critical eye, and damp feet, it can sometimes be too easy this season to look around and sigh at all the [...]

Last season on one hot June afternoon, my Dad stopped by the farm. I was driving our large Kubota tractor. He walked up to say hello and peek inside, and then exclaimed, “Look at you, you’re a real farmer now!” Inside, I [...]

Sometimes there is a certain metaphorical symmetry between family life and farm life that I find beautiful. A truism one discovers when working on a farm, is that change is the one constant to be counted on. Sometimes, however, you can find [...]

Touched by the Sun One day back in the spring, one of our employees, Taylor, was getting a little loopy after having to hoe broccoli and Brussels sprouts for 5 hours straight. That day she and Fred coined the term ‘Touched by the [...]

I ran religiously 3-4 times a week until my late twenties. By then I was farming, and therefore extremely physically active, and in between pregnancies. Finding the time,  and having a body healed and healthy enough to be able to run seemed [...]

The Sardine Meal Towards the end of each August, right before some of our seasonal workers begin to peel off (thanks, Jared!), Mike and I treat the crew to a nice meal in Madison. Sardine has been our restaurant of choice these past few years. [...]

According to the EPA, in its document entitled, What Climate Change Means for Wisconsin:  “Wisconsin’s climate is changing. In the past century, most of the state has warmed about two degrees (F). Heavy rain-storms are becoming more [...]

Thank you Today’s inbox is FULL of the most amazing, supportive, warm messages from so very many of you. Thank you for all of your thoughtful support and various offers of ways to help! To update you: Tomorrow’s delivery will go [...]

The Party Crew In seasonal work like farming, we see big changes from year to year in our farm crew. For most of our employees we have only 6 months of full time work to offer. So it is very normal that much of our crew just works a season or [...]

The Zoning Card About a month ago, we received a small white postcard in the mail. It informed us that the zoning for our property is changing. It said “this change should not affect the current uses of your property… and may give [...]

~~~the Crossroads Companion~~~ stories, recipes, and news from the farm  Week #7 – Wednesday, July 18th: All REGs & Group A – EOs Sungold tomatoes are still circulating slowly. Meanwhile, SWEET CORN surprise!!! It’s ready, [...]

Gearing up for family camp! Camp Unistar When the kids were younger, it didn’t matter so much that Mike and I worked crazy hours in the summertime. They were at home all year round, and it was just a regular fact of life that we had more [...]

~~~the Crossroads Companion~~~ stories, recipes, and news from the farm  Week #3 – Wednesday, June 20th: All REGs & Group A – EO Finding Our Groove We’ve made it to week three of the CSA. This marks one of our first big [...]

~~~the Crossroads Companion~~~ stories, recipes, and news from the farm  Week #2 – Wednesday, June 13th: All REGs & Group B – EOs Two quick notes for week #2: – Sometimes we might sneak something extra in your box! With the [...]

Shepherding Time  Do you ever have those moments when you remember that you are indeed an animal? Like when you (or your partner) went into nesting mode, cleaning your home prior to the arrival of a newborn. Like when you finally get a drink of [...]

Yesterday morning we began to seed the first plants of the season in the greenhouse – onions. When I walked outside with my seed tub in hand and headed toward the greenhouse, I heard a redwinged blackbird call. It startled me almost, to [...]

Recently, Madison Magazine published a wonderful story on eating locally, written by Jonnah Perkins of Vermont Valley Community Farm. It’s entitled 5 Ways to Eat Locally After the Frost. She did a great job and gave a shout out to several [...]

When the farm work slows down, each year around this time I find myself in a distinct home mode: de-clutter and organize.  This feeling is akin to the crazy housecleaning phases I would go into just before the birth of each of our daughters.  [...]

In our family, Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate family, friends, food, and the many other blessings of comfort we enjoy. I imagine it is similarly celebrated like this is your family too. However, as the coloring pages of turkeys and Pilgrims [...]

I looked across the dinner table at my husband, and he had a familiar look of stress on his face.  “Stressed?” I asked.  “We gotta get those carrots out before it freezes,” he said.  “We’ll get them [...]

Yesterday morning I found myself scraping the windshield of our little harvest vehicle. Crates loaded, and off I drove into the field to harvest greens. I had to chuckle at myself as I looked down at lettuce laced with frost. Despite my action [...]

The craving I feel for time with my kids this year is intense.  I miss them so much throughout the season.  While I see them every day and make time for them, I can’t help but feel like 6 months of their lives just flew past me. In a farmer’s [...]

My dear veggie lover, I received your letter the other day. It breaks my heart that you want to leave our relationship. It’s my hope that you’ll read this letter and I may be able to convince you to stay. I think I can change. In [...]

The other day I read Ta-Nehisi Coates essay in the Atlantic entitled the First White President. If you’ve never heard of Coates, he is very talented, very eloquent writer who writes about the experience of being a black man in [...]