Dear Friends,
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... ..

1.can cow's really be
Holy? ,, yes

2.can it really be 6 degrees below
zero??, yes

3.Can the greenhouse be 60 degrees
above zero??, Yes

 4.Have the number of
small food producers that sell directly to consumers actually increased 60% in
the last three years?... yes

5.Am I an old
school anaglog farmer trying to function in a digital world??,
Yes

 6.Do we value you as loyal CSA
shareholders and friends?, Yes

 thank you,


Sam and Heidi

                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                 
Dear Friends and Shareholders,

Winters back in bitter form, and my diabetic fingers don’t like it! Enclosed is your copy of “Holy Cows and Heavenly Hogs” I have extra copies for your friends, family, and coworkers if you like what you read.  Also enclosed are extra copies of our
new brochure, notice the expanded list of new produce we plan to grow, and the new commercial shares for restaurants and retail stores. We now have enough daylight hours (photoperiod) to seed the green house. We have moved to planting 30” solid seeded beds with a new 15” precision seeder. Our spring production should increase significantly. We plant to plant “Napoli” and “Laguna sweet winter Carrots, “winterbor”, “Toscono,” “Blue Scotch” and “Red Russian Kale”, “gourmet Lettuce mix,” “Astro” Arugula, and “Red Ace Beets,” “Cherry”, “French Breakfast”, and “Chinese white winter” Radishes, and “Space F1 hybrid” smooth leaf spinach. With the Agrabon Row covers we should have wonderful fresh salad greens for you by mid to late March, which is when we planted field potatoes and onions last year! As I mentioned before, our new well water drilling permit has been sent to DNR in Pierre, “water feeds for Fresh Local food production”. We plan to drill in April.  Many new varieties of produce seed have now been ordered. We have been working on our field equipment in the shop which is now warmed with a wood burning barrel stove. Winter goes faster when the sunshines, and spring plans have begun to take shape.
We hope you will renew your CSA share for the next 12 months when you are able. A $450 couples share for 32 weeks cost $14/week. Thank you to those who have! Let me know what you think about “Holy Cows and Heavenly Hogs” … Ps
the United States Department of Ag has just released a “sustainable statistic”… the number of small farmers that sell their fresh produce directly to their customers has increased to 60% in the last 3 years, what other section of our ailing economy has done that!


Sincerely, 

Sam and Heidi

Friends and Shareholders,

2013 A New Year! We had a wonderful White family Christmas at home, and now a Cold quiet pensive start to the New Year. Note the winter farm pictures Heidi took after the snow. The green house is still cold and quiet, as I’m waiting for 9 hours of
day light to seed our sweet winter carrots, and other spring produce. A neighbor farmer asked me the other day “how was the 1st year of our CSA vegetable production” (he’s been watching) I said “it could not have been a worse year to start with the drought! “ He laughed and said “well if you survived this year you will probably be okay! “ So, yes we continue to be optimistic about our Family Farms CSA future in Vermillion! On that note we all
wish you a Happy New Year and a healthy and prosperous 2013! We hope you will consider renewing your 2013 CSA share if you have not already done so!


Thank you
Sincerely,

Sam and Heidi Heikes