Good afternoon, friends and neighbors! 2018 has been a tough year for many of us, and included a tough month in the garden (thanks for sticking with us through August!), but has been overall a good year on Oliview Farm. The greens continue to produce, but more and more slowly as we move to the shortest day of the year. The chickens follow, producing, on average, one or two eggs/day these days (and that's with 35 hens!). With this slowdown in production, but with the anticipation of planning for 2019(!), we bring the 2018 season to a close. Our members are always welcome to come out to the garden any time to pick up a bunch of greens, some herbs (they are lovely in winter!), or just to say hello; it’s nice to remember the heat and production of summer when the winter is at its depth.

CSA organizations provide public good beyond healthy food, and our community is growing!

In anticipation of the 2019 season, to the left is the 2019 brochure. If you sign up before the end of the year, including at least the first month's payment, we are happy to share with you an additional half gallon of our 2017 olive oil (what you've received throughout this season). This offer also goes for new customers.

Thank you for this year’s support, and for the beautiful and varied gifts we receive from you, weekly: delicious food, new recipes, and coffee for the tired farmer in the morning! We hope that you have enjoyed the diversity and new pattern that locally-based eating brings to your table. As we plan for 2019, if there are vegetables or (annual) fruits you'd especially like us to try, please let us know! One of the things I'm hoping for in 2019 is jerusalem artichokes... and we’ve already received a strong vote for Charentais melons, again. We will do our best to meet both needs and desires: food is an exciting, though transient, beauty in our lives. We’re so pleased that you share that value with us!

Our 2019 season will begin in May of next year, and we're looking forward to spring goodies: we've figured out sugar snap peas (just like chicken: everything/everyone loves them, so they require extra protection!), and have some beautiful lettuce varieties to try. Also, with luck we'll have some kohlrabi and fennel again next year: they've done so well in the past!

Oliview Farm is shared with you via membership in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The concept behind this is pure local good: you, as a member of the community, buy into the farm, essentially purchasing a "share" of the season's produce. Your share of what is produced here at Oliview depends on what the season does, but generally means 1.5 grocery bags of produce each week (for a full share). We do our best, and sometimes we have a ton of something (summer squash/zucchini comes to mind...!), and sometimes things don't do anything at all (apologies to our eggplant lovers: bugs in 2017 and bad compost in 2018 have done a number on those!). But, as a member, what we have is yours.

This structure grows community, it grows our appreciation of what "local" means, and it helps the farmer to plan and (hopefully, at some point!) have a dependable income as a member of the community him/herself. As a still relatively new farm (since 2013!), we are working toward these goals, of course, but we can't do it without your support though the consumption of our beautiful, freshest-possible, diverse, and delicious produce!

We wish you the very best with the changing of the season, the year, and light as the season darkens.

With love,

Elizabeth and Pedro

Here at Oliview Farm, we see the Summer Solstice as midsummer, rather than the beginning of summer. This is more accurate per the weather and the solar year, but also just feels right with what is growing at the different times of year. Likewise, we see the Equinoxes as the height of spring and fall, respectively. I will see about getting Pedro to write more about that, as it's very interesting and not something I'm not as knowledgeable about.

In any case, it's midsummer here at Oliview Farm, and beautiful. We have dozens and dozens of zinnias in the garden this year, and were good at getting cosmos and Mexican torch sunflowers into the ground on time. Cucumbers and summer squash are already producing bushels of produce (just ask our CSA members), and the tomatoes have formed and should be getting red in the next week or two.

The zucchini, cucumbers, and zinnias are superstars this year!

The garden is getting to the point where it's very, very large... and Pedro is having a hard time getting to all of the beds in time for turning and planting, before it's too hot and dry. We've had some awesome help this year in the form of some new neighbors, and really need to start thinking about formalizing help on a seasonal basis, on an annual cycle.

We did have a new farmhand show up this year: Arthur just appeared on the farm a few weeks back, trotting out of the bramble behind Lux, our little boy (the other four cats are girls!). He's taken quite well to the farm: the chickens don't scare him, he's not afraid of sprinklers, he and Bucky are negotiating the porch, and he seems to be interested in ground squirrel patrol... that latter being an excellent quality in a cat out here at Oliview! We got him neutered right away, and I'm hoping that a lower testosterone level will help him in getting along with the ladies. HOWEVER, out existing cat herd is really not accepting him; if you have space for a loving, human-oriented cat partner in your life, please let us know!

Handsome Arthur! Dressed for a black-tie affair, and ready to snuggle whoever shows up next!

In other updates, we had a serious fire scare on June 24th, which has spurred us to move some lumber and trimmings piles away from the house. Sigh: opportunity out of crisis, like usual.

We hope that your summer is full of joyful discoveries and sights, and includes experiences that make you grow. Also, of course, we hope your summer is full of lots of veggies!

- Elizabeth

A little peak at our bed of zinnias: their gorgeous colours pop like balls of bubble gum, and it is a pleasure to cut bouquets for our CSA - my favourite job! In the background, the covered bed hosts basil, and there are tomato beds further back. to… — A little peak at our bed of zinnias: their gorgeous colours pop like balls of bubble gum, and it is a pleasure to cut bouquets for our CSA - my favourite job! In the background, the covered bed hosts basil, and there are tomato beds further back. to the top right are a few compost bins.