The Woven Trifecta

12/29/2024

As we wrap up 2024, I find myself in awe of these numbers.
2024 was downright hard - to see these numbers shine through gives me endless amounts of hope and excitement for 2025 ☀️
We hope this next season is filled with more land being used, more crops being grown, more folks being fed…and less buckets being hauled!

Thanks to all who helped make these numbers happen for us 🌱

12/25/2024

Happy Holidays from our little nook of the world to yours 🎄✨
Wishing you all celebrations filled with good fam+friends and good fun, and good food💛

12/21/2024

Happy Winter Solstice! ❄️

The shortest night of the year and by far one of my most celebrated - a true holiday in my heart!

Solstice in many ways is a turning point for the farm, marking the shortest day of the year. While the short, cold days of winter provide rest and recovery from the season prior, the days after solstice will become longer and longer…and eventually warmer and warmer. The perfect recipe for bringing back to life 🌱
Our winter rest will soon balance out with cultivating early spring crops and seeding away for the 2025 season.
It has become tradition to gather amongst good friends, and good food over a farm fire, celebrating the good intentions of the season and the gifts it provides ,all while providing a short escape from the hustle and bustle of the mainstream holidays.
Wishing you all a wonderful, peaceful winter solstice - and looking forward to nourishing you in the days ahead ☀️

12/16/2024

The holidays are right around the corner, and my little farmer heart is so full with early season CSA and market card sales!
These sales are helpful in ensuring I have the funds to purchase the resources I need to make this next season successful + can celebrate the holidays without the added stress of farm financials!
And then there is always the added bonus knowing the gift of good food is being shared 💛

If you too would like to share the gift of good food, CSA shares and market cards are available!
I can mail out certificates and cards through Friday + meet locally up through the holidays!

Head on over to the shop tab of our website or DM to send your food+farm loving friends the gift of good food 🌱

12/15/2024

Reduce🌀Reuse🌀Recycle🌀Repurpose

A theme here on the farm, always, but especially headed into 2025.

As I plan for 2025 I have been finding themes surrounding my values in underconsumption and sustainability playing into the plans.

As the build up and build out of this space continues, it seems as if the projects never end and that the resources are often just out of reach. Creativity has come into play as we navigate these projects, and slowly but surely this place is coming together in a beautiful way.

A big and unexpected project to check off the list this fall was to build out a pump house for our well. Initially we had planned to have all of our well components buried below the frost line, where they would be safe from the elements and out of the way. However, water woes came back to haunt us one last time, with the water table being too high to proceed with these plans. This led us to the decision to build a pumphouse to safely shelter these components from the elements.
As we priced out options, it quickly became evident that a building of a favorable size was well out of my budget and a building “just big enough” seemed pointless to pursue.
Perusing the resources I had on hand, my gaze turned to the mobile market - a dreamy way to sell produce during the pandemic, that has since slowed down in use.
My sweet dad built this for me in between my first and second season. It is an artifact of the early days, and a project I hold close to my heart for both the sentiment, as well as thinking back to that younger version of me, making big irrational dreams a reality.
In recent years, the mobile market has not been very mobile, and while I have high hopes of it once again hitting the road, I realized that at this time it could serve a bigger, better purpose here on the farm - protecting our big expensive well!
So with that we spent the first snowy day of the season unsecuring the building from its chassis, adding insulation, and placing it where it quite literally fits *perfectly*
While not a forever solution, it provides a sense of relief, and has been a lovely reminder that sustainability often begins with reimagining what’s already within reach.

12/12/2024

It has been a busy week off the farm!
We are at the height of conference season, which seems almost as busy as the growing season.
Each winter I try to attend a few conferences to connect with folks, explore opportunities, and learn about the best and brightest things happening in the world of food and farm🌱

This week I was able to attend where I was able to partake in some great learning sessions, network with some stellar folks, AND I had the opportunity to sit on a panel to share my experience in the TOPPS program and the process of transitioning into the USDA label.
Today I am thrilled to be back in the field + behind my desk putting some new ideas on paper! While the next few weeks are bound to be filled with the hustle and bustle of holiday cheer, I look forward to sharing many exciting updates in the new year 💛

12/05/2024

WOW WOW WOW

There is SO MUCH to celebrate today! 🌱

First - it’s World Soil Day! While I could live without a Hallmark holiday, I will certainly go out of my way to celebrate soil! Everything starts at soil level - it nourishes the earth, which nourishes us.
It is such a privilege to be able to work with soil in the way that I do. To connect with it each and every day, and watch it cycle through the seasons. To steward soil is a true gift🪱

AND….

Speaking of gifts, I am celebrating a little extra today after finding out the farm is a grant recipient of a grant ☀️
The financial aspects of farming are often my biggest challenge in navigating the future of this farm - I have big, big dreams - I want to do it all, I want to do it right, and I want to do it with the best intentions. If you’ve followed our story over the past few years, you know we’ve been hit hard with some pretty insane and unexpected struggles , and that it has been challenging to navigate even the most basic of resources, more or less working toward those big dreams. As we work to get back on track, we have a number of BIIIIG investments!
To receive funding in the form of a grant to help offset these investments is truly life changing as a little farmer in a big field, and the gratitude for this opportunity is overflowing in my little farmer heart 💛
We can’t wait to share more on how this funding will benefit the farm this coming season! 🌿

12/03/2024

The season of rest is upon us ❄️

Winter is always cautiously welcomed in my world. There are mixed emotions upon the first snow fall each season - so much gratitude for the rest it brings, blended with a bit of feeble frustration of “needing just a few more days” to wrap up fall projects.

With a blanket of snow across the field, I am feeling full, allowing the land to rest and myself to dream about this coming spring. This upcoming season is nearly planned out and I am slowly beginning to put in orders to make it a reality.

During the in between of seasons, we have some hardy greens slowlllly continuing to grow in the tunnel, nourishing us through the snowy months ahead.

The sticking snow has me hopeful that we will have a “real” Michigan winter…and a “real” spring to follow. This fall’s wooly bear predictions swayed that way, and my little farmer heart is convinced that that will be the perfect set up for the best season yet! 🌱

12/02/2024

Just a casual wholesome moment on the farm 💛

11/26/2024

The field is still providing in abundance, and for that we are grateful 💛

This trusty little farm cat and I harvested heavy today in preparation for upcoming feasts and the cold weather to come.

Greens and roots galore were harvested from the field today, and our hearts are full knowing they’ll be shared far and wide throughout the community 🌱

11/14/2024

Just 3 sweet girlys enjoying their evening hay 💛

As the crop season slows down, I am looking forward to switching gears into fiber 🧶
These sweet girls really provided this past spring, giving us some gorgeous fleeces this year, and I have been day dreaming of processing them all season long.

Processing wool is…quite a process. There is cleaning, and more cleaning, and drumming, and carding, and roving, and spinning… and while we shear in the spring, it is certainly not a time for a veggie farmer to start the processing phase.

I’m excited to start the process as we enter the slow down of this season and spin some lovely skeins of yarn this winter. I am also excited to share the finished product with you!

While the name Woven was chosen for this farm as a way to intertwine our work of food, farm, and community, it also doubled as a play on words for my love of fiber!

The expansion of our flock, and in turn our fiber operation is on the rise! I am eager to watch my dreams of a pasture full of sweet sheep and a hardy stock of quality fiber on the market table unravel 🐏

11/12/2024

Soaking up these sweet November days ☀️

The longevity of lovely weather this season has kept things here on the farm moving and shaking.
We have been able to expand our perennial plannings, continue our efforts in developing pasture, plant ALOT of garlic, keep the fall crops growing, and more!

This week we will be prepping our no till beds with some of our farm made compost and mulch.

The start of next season is looking bright as ever with fertile beds, abundant water, established fruits, and a complete crop plan filled with veggies.

This is the first season that I have been able to rest easy as we enter the restful season of winter, knowing that we are resourced, prepared, and eager to grow…and hopeful that next season brings simplicity and stability 🌿

11/05/2024

Blustery winds and chilly rain showers are the theme on the farm today 🌧️
This afternoon was spent in the greenhouse, admiring the changing seasons sheltered from the elements. As I worked on final edits for the relaunch of our podcast, these sweet beans slumbered peacefully.
The change in weather has brought a big slow down in pace here on the farm, and while we miss the hustle and bustle the season brings, we are eagerly welcoming a period of rest

10/31/2024

🎃Happy Halloween 🎃

Fun fact… our sweet sheepies LOOOOOVE a good pumpkin! They are a lovely fall treat providing that provides them with some hefty nutrition before winter as well as is a natural dewormer. Anytime they see a pumpkin in hand, they are quick to give you their full attention!

Another fun fact: this past season, these sweet sheep planted their own volunteer pumpkin plant, with over 20 big beautiful pumpkins growing on one plant! The vine sprawled beyond the fence line, and in turn beyond where the sheep could reach. We were so excited to share these pumpkins with customers this season. However before we could even snap a photo of them, we tossed a treat to the sheep only to return the next morning to find that they had plotted an escape and ate chunks out of every single pumpkin 🫠
We are in awe of their smarts and fence jumping ambition, and look forward to putting in a small patch of pumpkins to share in the season cheer next season!

10/30/2024

So thrilled to be involved with this program!

10/30/2024

Life is good in this neck of the woods 💛

We are wrapping up fall projects, prepping the greenhouse for spring seedlings, and planning away!

The season of rest is upon us, and this little farmer is ready for a winter of nourishing preserves, daily doodles, and a big ol stack of books to read!
While work never truly ends on the farm, we are feeling grateful for the lighter load that recent days have offered

10/28/2024

Fresh newsletter, hot off the press 🌱

While work on the farm is never truly finished, the end of CSA and shift into fall certainly make it feel as if I am crossing the finish line of another season. As I prep the farm for the coming months, I find myself somewhere between end of season cheer, and at the same time wondering where the sea...

10/23/2024

The field is a blank slate and it feel soooo good to be ahead of the game for next season!
While clearing out the bulk of our field may have cut this glorious sunny season a bit short, we are excited to be working on soil fertility, w**d suppression, winter rest, and starting 2025 out strong!

While the field is resting, out hoophouse is planted and ready to nourish us throughout the fall and winter months.

After 3 seasons with limited resources and learning this land, we are excited for all of the potential that 2025 holds!