Snow's Bend Farm
  • Home
  • Our CSA
  • News from the Bend
  • Contact Us
  • Recipe Index
    • Beans
    • Beets
    • Bok Choy
      • Bok Choy Recipe Contest Entries
        • Bok Choy Kimchi Salad (Geotjeori)
        • Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw
        • Bok Choy, Carrot, and Apple Slaw
        • Gingery Stir-Fried Chicken and Bok Choy
        • Bok Choy Risotto with Coconut Milk
        • Turmeric Coconut Bok Choy
        • Indonesian Rice Bowl
    • Broccoli
    • Cabbage
    • Carrots
    • Collards
    • Cucumbers
    • Dill
    • Eggplant
    • Fava Beans
    • Fennel
    • Garlic Scapes
    • Ginger
    • Herbs
    • Kale
      • Chestnut Lasagna with Butternut Squash and Kale
      • Kale Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Shaved Parmesan
    • Kohlrabi
      • Kohlrabi Recipe Contest
        • Kohlrabi Noodles with Tataki Cabbage or Kale
        • Kohlrabi Salad with Sesame Ginger Viniagrette
        • Crispy Apple and Kohlrabi Salad
        • Kohlrabi, Apple, and Beetroot Salad
        • Kohlrabi Home Fries
        • Roasted Kohlrabi with Parmesan
        • Kohlrabi Risotto
        • Mashed Kohlrabi and Potatoes
        • Knol Khol Poriyal
        • Kale and Kohlrabi Salad
        • Apple Kohlrabi Salad
        • Kohlrabi Zucchini Carrot Fritters with Herb Yogurt Sauce
    • Lemongrass
    • Mustard Greens
    • Napa Cabbage
    • Okra
    • Parsley
    • Peppers
    • Radishes
    • Rainbow Chard
    • Rapini
    • Roselle
    • Salad
    • Sorrel
    • Spring Onions
    • Strawberries
    • Summer Squash
    • Sweet Potato
    • Tomatoes
    • Cherry Tomatoes
    • Turnips
    • Winter Squash
      • Delicata
      • Kabocha
      • spaghetti squash
    • Watermelon
  • About Snow's Bend
    • Our Farm
    • virtual tour
  • Farm Tours
  • Summer Shade Lettuce Field Day
  • Home
  • Our CSA
  • News from the Bend
  • Contact Us
  • Recipe Index
    • Beans
    • Beets
    • Bok Choy
      • Bok Choy Recipe Contest Entries
        • Bok Choy Kimchi Salad (Geotjeori)
        • Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw
        • Bok Choy, Carrot, and Apple Slaw
        • Gingery Stir-Fried Chicken and Bok Choy
        • Bok Choy Risotto with Coconut Milk
        • Turmeric Coconut Bok Choy
        • Indonesian Rice Bowl
    • Broccoli
    • Cabbage
    • Carrots
    • Collards
    • Cucumbers
    • Dill
    • Eggplant
    • Fava Beans
    • Fennel
    • Garlic Scapes
    • Ginger
    • Herbs
    • Kale
      • Chestnut Lasagna with Butternut Squash and Kale
      • Kale Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Shaved Parmesan
    • Kohlrabi
      • Kohlrabi Recipe Contest
        • Kohlrabi Noodles with Tataki Cabbage or Kale
        • Kohlrabi Salad with Sesame Ginger Viniagrette
        • Crispy Apple and Kohlrabi Salad
        • Kohlrabi, Apple, and Beetroot Salad
        • Kohlrabi Home Fries
        • Roasted Kohlrabi with Parmesan
        • Kohlrabi Risotto
        • Mashed Kohlrabi and Potatoes
        • Knol Khol Poriyal
        • Kale and Kohlrabi Salad
        • Apple Kohlrabi Salad
        • Kohlrabi Zucchini Carrot Fritters with Herb Yogurt Sauce
    • Lemongrass
    • Mustard Greens
    • Napa Cabbage
    • Okra
    • Parsley
    • Peppers
    • Radishes
    • Rainbow Chard
    • Rapini
    • Roselle
    • Salad
    • Sorrel
    • Spring Onions
    • Strawberries
    • Summer Squash
    • Sweet Potato
    • Tomatoes
    • Cherry Tomatoes
    • Turnips
    • Winter Squash
      • Delicata
      • Kabocha
      • spaghetti squash
    • Watermelon
  • About Snow's Bend
    • Our Farm
    • virtual tour
  • Farm Tours
  • Summer Shade Lettuce Field Day
Search

snow's bend farm

goodbye    2020

1/6/2021

1 Comment

 
For the first time, I hesitated to reflect on the year.  Do I really want to look back on this one?  Or should we just leave it behind and look forward?  Despite the unique challenges, there have been bright spots and moments of learning and growth.
​
Farming is conducive to social distancing and we were grateful to be able to continue our work and feel safe doing so.  Our first major challenge was school closure.  Like so many parents, our workday suddenly went from something resembling eight hours to basically zero.  Maxwell and Flora’s teachers graciously worked with me to allow them to come to the farm and do some paper work while David and I tried to continue with the spring rush of planting, cultivating, greenhouse work, and transitioning to harvest and CSA deliveries.  We found a groove.  As soon as we went through the large yellow gate and entered the farm property, the kids would unbuckle, roll down the windows, and stick their heads out to feel the wind.  
Picture
​They spent hours in the garden each day, reading under a tent, doing their school work, helping to hoe or plant, entertaining the staff, watching us work and growing.  If there was time, we would take them to play in the creek or the river at the end of the day.  They may not have been learning much by academic standards, but they more than made up for it in life experience.
Picture
Picture
​Once I had researched the proper COVID protocol and come up with what we felt were safe measures for CSA deliveries, the second challenge came.  The farm flooded back-to-back the first two weeks of CSA deliveries.  
Picture
​We rearranged the dates and used canoes to make sure those first weeks of harvest were not lost.  The produce was in the field after all, above the flood.  It was only the roads that were a problem.  Thankfully, we resumed the normal, predictable schedule after those initial weeks.
Picture
​June brought two employees needing to leave and one learning about and dealing with serious medical issues.  It also brought ripening fruit on the tomato vines we had cared for over the course of several months.  With the first harvested heirloom tomato came a reckoning in our country and across the globe.  We listened, we read, we donated, we protested peacefully.  We struggled with ways to make deep, long-lasting change and not simply a statement that made us feel better.  We continue to work on this and towards this.
Picture
Picture
​By the end of summer, we had eaten our weight in squash and cucumbers, brought on new staff members, planned for virtual school by hiring someone to help with that at home, and felt some sort of balance and acceptance with our life, different as it was from how we thought the year would be.  I laugh at my February self, making a calendar of CSA events, one for each month. 
Picture
In fall, we missed the hustle of preparation for the Harvest Party.  It was the first time in 15 years that we did not host this event on the farm.  ​
Picture
Now we start anew; new seeds, new soil, new dreams.
Here is to 2021 and being ready for the joys, challenges, and good food that it brings.
Cheers,
Margaret Ann
1 Comment

    NEWS FROM THE BEND

    From planting time to the growing and harvesting seasons,
    we look forward to sharing with you the life of our farm.
    ~David & Margaret Ann

    Archives

    December 2024
    January 2024
    July 2021
    June 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    April 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    August 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2013
    October 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed


Snow's Bend Farm ~ Coker, Alabama ~ 205-394-3561
Picture
  • Home
  • Our CSA
  • News from the Bend
  • Contact Us
  • Recipe Index
    • Beans
    • Beets
    • Bok Choy
      • Bok Choy Recipe Contest Entries
        • Bok Choy Kimchi Salad (Geotjeori)
        • Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw
        • Bok Choy, Carrot, and Apple Slaw
        • Gingery Stir-Fried Chicken and Bok Choy
        • Bok Choy Risotto with Coconut Milk
        • Turmeric Coconut Bok Choy
        • Indonesian Rice Bowl
    • Broccoli
    • Cabbage
    • Carrots
    • Collards
    • Cucumbers
    • Dill
    • Eggplant
    • Fava Beans
    • Fennel
    • Garlic Scapes
    • Ginger
    • Herbs
    • Kale
      • Chestnut Lasagna with Butternut Squash and Kale
      • Kale Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Shaved Parmesan
    • Kohlrabi
      • Kohlrabi Recipe Contest
        • Kohlrabi Noodles with Tataki Cabbage or Kale
        • Kohlrabi Salad with Sesame Ginger Viniagrette
        • Crispy Apple and Kohlrabi Salad
        • Kohlrabi, Apple, and Beetroot Salad
        • Kohlrabi Home Fries
        • Roasted Kohlrabi with Parmesan
        • Kohlrabi Risotto
        • Mashed Kohlrabi and Potatoes
        • Knol Khol Poriyal
        • Kale and Kohlrabi Salad
        • Apple Kohlrabi Salad
        • Kohlrabi Zucchini Carrot Fritters with Herb Yogurt Sauce
    • Lemongrass
    • Mustard Greens
    • Napa Cabbage
    • Okra
    • Parsley
    • Peppers
    • Radishes
    • Rainbow Chard
    • Rapini
    • Roselle
    • Salad
    • Sorrel
    • Spring Onions
    • Strawberries
    • Summer Squash
    • Sweet Potato
    • Tomatoes
    • Cherry Tomatoes
    • Turnips
    • Winter Squash
      • Delicata
      • Kabocha
      • spaghetti squash
    • Watermelon
  • About Snow's Bend
    • Our Farm
    • virtual tour
  • Farm Tours
  • Summer Shade Lettuce Field Day