Hi everyone:

I am astonished it has been since June since we posted anything on the farm blog.  That has a lot to do with all that has gone on here on the farm this summer.  It has been a rough year for us... lots of learning and growing and, of course, that usually involves pain.

Most of you know we had a rough start to the year with a huge flood that wiped out a bunch of chickens and then major equipment problems with two trucks breaking down in a day.  Unfortunately that set the tone of the summer and it just sort of kept coming in waves.  It seems as though we have been buffeted on all fronts and it has tested our faith

One of the biggest problems we had this year was personnel related.  Finding people that care about this mission as much as we do is challenging indeed.  It is not an easy task.  We have done some major restructuring and it has caused me to be more heavily involved in the day-to-day operations again.  I have been covered in grease and chicken poop again... like in the beginning.  That’s why I am not blogging so much.

That's all good and fine.  I lost about 15 pounds so far which I desperately needed to and we are learning our limitations as a business.  This is the year where all sorts of things we couldn’t control happened and to boot, we learned we should have been controlling a few things better that we could’ve.  All I can say is “ouch.”  We know we made some mistakes this year and hope that you are forgiving. 

We know you got a lot of eggplant…. Please know we tilled a ton of it under.  Natural problems like the tomato blight and alternating wet/dry weather hit us hard as well… we lost a lot of product this year.  Then there are the predators eating the chickens.  All in all, it has been a war and many times it feels as if the front lines are about to collapse and the enemy will overtake us.  I feel like the guy spinning the plates on the sticks and some just fall off and crash to the floor.  We will be doing a lot of planning this winter and feel we will go into next year smarter and more prepared.  Hopefully with that and a lot of God’s grace, we will have a much better year next year.

All that being said, we have a tough winter ahead of us.  This year was a financial mess for us and we’re not in great shape.  Even though we reacted as quickly and as smartly as we could, it seemed no matter what we tried to do we couldn’t stop the bleeding.  It’s going to be financially rough to make it from here to January.  We’re going to need your help. 

We’ve put together a great Winter CSA program this year.  We are really excited about it.  We brought back the preserved goods package and even have some winter veggies going into the ground so we can have some December harvest.  We think it’s going to be great and a big improvement over years past.  One of the exciting new additions is locally made fresh pasta.  We have tried it and absolutely love it.  It is not the same as you get in a store.  I like it and I’ve never really liked spaghetti.

We understand all too well the economy is rough.  We are asking very straightforwardly that if you can in any way support us this winter that you please choose to get your food from us.  We desperately need a healthy winter program to make it this year.  We usually can go into the fall with a financial pad to make it over the winter, but this year we have no pad at all.  We are on a shoestring budget and it’s a pretty scary time for us.  If you can buy a turkey from us, please do.  Our turkey income is a big boost for us.

As in all things, we have to just trust God and our faithful customers.

As always, thanks you for your support.  We look forward to serving you this winter and in the years to come.

Tim, Jen and the Avalon Team