Winter Planning Season on Twisted Carrot Farm

I don’t know about you guys, but the only thing that is certain to grow for me over a North Dakota winter is my waistline. Once that cool air hits, baking season starts and so does the slowness of winter where I often find myself here in my study, a cup of coffee warming my hands, the milk bread baking in the oven, and the dog snoring at my feet.  Now we plunge into the deep, dark winter otherwise known as planning season here at my farm. 

Every year, I offer a 13-week summer CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to my customers where I deliver a weekly box of veggies and fruit to families who have essentially bought them in advance of me growing them. Anything I grow is theirs, divided evenly. I’m the only farmer who gets paid before the seeds are put in the ground and I set my own prices. It’s a pretty great gig but also intensely stressful. Even though they share the risk, I don’t want to fail those families. Since my CSA is sold out already for 2024, all of my seeds have been ordered and it's time to start the real planning and preparation.

In preparation for starting all those lovely seeds, I have cleaned and covered my light carts in the shop and configured everything so seed-starting in March is easier. My outside picnic table is brought in and turns into my shop's seed planting bench. The coffee machine that sits near it is cleaned and covered. The shop is ready. Now what?

The rest of my planning season is spent redesigning my micro-farm. I grow on less than 1/4-acre and I can feed 9 families off that small plot of land. Because it is a small space it means that I need to have a really clear vision, so I use an online garden planner. I can spend hours in here kicked back in my chair, moving little veggies around on the digital plot of land I have designed as if I’m playing a serious game of chess. And in a way, I am.

In addition to preparing my space, I have started two new projects. One of these projects is the sale of Victory Gardens where the customer gets to order from my entire vegetable garden. I grow the veggies that need to be started from seed and they can pick and choose what they want with support from me. They pick the herbs, the different kinds of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and more that they can’t get in stores. On the 1st of June, I deliver everything to their door - the healthy plants, several times bigger than anything else they can buy, and the exact number of seeds they chose ready to go straight into the soil. The Victory Garden project comes with a colorful plan to guide their planting and spacing straight to their door with no additional planning and no waste. I remain available to them throughout the season if they should run into problems or have questions. I’ll even visit for free so long as there is the promise of a cup of coffee! Aside from the obvious benefits of growing ones own veggies, it also tends to grow relationships, and I really like that. 

The second new venture this year is a YouTube channel where I can show people what a micro-farmer's day-to-day looks like and to encourage others in North Dakota that they can farm too. I want to show an entire year from seed-starting through harvest and beyond. I’ll even throw in the epic fails. Why not? Something always goes really wrong, trust me. So look for North Dakota Farmstead on YouTube. I’m hoping other farms in zone 3 will do the same. I know I would binge-watch theirs for sure.   

I hope you are enjoying your own planning season and dreaming about the plants you will grow - it will be great. And if not, well, how bad can it be? At least you’re not embarrassing yourself on YouTube, right? Happy planning season everyone!