A Note from Layton at Quail Hill Farm | Summer Shares are Here

This Saturday, March 20, marks the first day of Spring. All over the East End, daffodils are stretching skyward and here at Quail Hill Farm, we’re preparing for another historic season. Just last weekend, our crew leader Madison began plowing the early spring fields on Birch Hill and in the Valley, where soon we will sow rows of Deep Lane’s favorite crops: Laratte fingerling potatoes, Cheriette radishes, Hakurei turnips, Bloomsdale spinach, Green Arrow shelling peas and Windsor fava beans, just to name a few. Our Greenhouse is already filling up with precocious seedlings, and in the coming weeks our apprentices will arrive to start their year of learning and working together.

Spring is full of promise. And though this month marks the anniversary of the pandemic’s outset, we’re also looking ahead to kick off another farming season strengthened by the lessons of the year gone by. After carefully weighing different guidelines from the 2020 CSA season, we’re excited to roll out this season’s updated harvest guidelines— scroll down to learn more.

In other scintillating farm news, we have an updated irrigation plan for Birch Hill (which will mean more plants tended with added efficiencies for labor and water usage!); a second year of partnership with the Bridgehampton Child Care Center through our joint Farm to Food Pantry program; and completion of the first phase of an invasive species removal project around the home farm. With a bigger staff than ever before, including three first-year apprentices and two second-year apprentices, we can’t wait to welcome you back to Deep Lane for our 32nd year of Community Farming.

If you haven’t yet signed up for the 2021 CSA season, now’s the time! We’re honored to grow for our friends and neighbors in the community— long-time members and new joiners alike. We look forward to the days ahead when we can be on the land together, sharing the gift of land and spirit of community farming that knits us together in nourishment, interdependence and fellowship. In the meantime, please reach out to me at LGuenther@PeconicLandTrust.org with any questions or comments. 

Happy Equinox!

Layton

2021 CSA Guidelines

Scheduling:

Box Shares are collected once per week: Saturdays (Amagansett) or Thursdays (Bridgehampton).

Harvest Shares: To help distribute the total number of people visiting the farm, and to improve the health of the plants and the overall picking experience for our CSA members, we will continue with offering three harvest days per week. The harvest days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. CSA members can pick twice per week.

Extended picking hours will be available for Tuesdays and Thursday, from 7am to 6pm. On Saturdays, picking hours are 8am-5pm.

Members must sign up online for two harvest sessions per week: one afternoon (1-6 Tuesday and Thursday, or 1-5 Saturday) and one morning (7-12pm Tuesday and Thursday, or 8-12 Saturday)

• You may only harvest during the shifts you select — we cannot offer alternative days or shifts for harvesting.
• Signup sheet details will be sent to 2021 CSA members later this spring

When you arrive to pick:

• After parking on Deep Lane, you’ll find a Greeter at the gate who will check you in. Please note: if we are at capacity in the field, the Greeter will use their discretion to delay your entry. To avoid this inconvenience, only come at your assigned picking times!
• Every person over the age of 2 in your group must wear a mask while on the farm.
• Hand sanitizer will be available for use at the greeter station.
• Visit the board at the Birch Hill gate to see what’s available for harvesting.
• Please remember to bring your own tools, baskets, bags etc!

In the Field:

• Observe share limits and harvest only from open rows. If you consistently over-harvest, or pick from beds that are not open, you compromise our ability to feed the rest of your fellow members, and you will be asked to shift to a box share.
• Only handle veggies and flowers that you plan to take home with you.
• If you have any questions or concerns, ask your farmers in the field or touch base with the Greeter.