From the Farm
Lawrence planted 20 acres of grass, legumes and herbs into the already established, in 2007 planted, pasture to protect the ground from sun, rain and hoof. This was done with the new planter we bought together with the Windsor Dairy. Planting at this time of year is called dormant planting. With snow, rain, and frost the seed will become embedded in the soil and when the soil warms up in the spring the seed will sprout and become established before the bindweed comes. The diversity of plants as well as all kinds of root systems (tap roots from legumes and wide spreading roots from grass) builds up humus and then moisture is taken up easier. Also the plants provide a whole variety of aromas and tastes for happy cows and creates manure full of life!

Ursula is back from Germany. She spent time with family and friends; visited a couple of biodynamic farms; went for a quick trip to Norway to see her god daughter and came back inspired from the 4-day International Biodynamic Conference in Switzerland. Biodynamic farmers from 32 countries around the world participated. She brought back some "Kuchen" from Dottenfelder biodynamic farm bakery, which Lawrence and Ursula together really enjoyed.

Shares
We are opening the shares to the public and that we are nearly 50% sold out. If you are intending to get a summer or winter share in 2009, please send in your enrollment form soon.

In the share
Beets
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
Napa Cabbage
Black Radish
Fermented Vegetables


Ursula's tips
What to do with Back Radish?
My mother's recipe is to grate or slice black radish really fine and add salt and sweet cream. This is to eat as a salad, appetizer or I like it on my sandwich. I also like it plain or just a slice on my sandwich with a little salt. Lawrence adds some sour vegetables on top. When I cook dried beans, I always cook a few pieces of back radish with them. This makes the beans tolerably digestible where as before I was not able to eat them without feeling sorry.
I always dry small pieces or slices of black radish to have a supply when it is out of season and I still want to eat beans...
My grandmother dug a hole into the radish, put sugar into it and let it sit over night. The juice that developed was taken in coughing season to calm the cough. We slice the radish and put a little honey on it and let it sit. We drink the juice and eat the radish as well when we feel a cough coming.

And when there is still radish left over we can always add it to soups, stirfrys and grated to salads.
When you make fermented vegetables, you want to add some radish.


Recipe
Salad with beets, carrots, potatoes and fermented vegetables

Boil or steam 1/2 lb potatoes, 1/2 lb carrots and 1 lb of beets in their skin. (Beets take about double the time). When they are done take the skin off and cut in pieces. Add 1/2 lb of fermented vegetables, oil and salt. Let it sit for a couple of hours and taste again.
You may also add cut up apple, onion and/or 3-4 oz of cooked dry beans.


Farm needs
We want to fix our aluminium irrigation pipe. We would like to borrow a TIG Welder. Please contact Lawrence if you know of one or with any suggestions. 970 278 0499


Farm Interest Group
I wanted to give you a brief update on the current events with regards to the Cresset farm. First of all we had the 'big meeting' at the farm with quite a good turn out, about 30-35 people showed up. The meeting was guided by a professional facilitator and started and included words of wisdom by Lawrence, some singing, a presentation showing how other farms managed to thrive and an overview of the different scenarios that could exist for the Cresset Farm. all this in the setting that the 'rubber meets the road' and to instill a sense of urgency that changes are needed in order for the farm to be able to continue.

Everybody had a chance to ask questions and at the end everybody in the room was asked what his/her skills were and how they thought they could contribute to this process an whether they wanted to be volunteer to be part of the core group.

There turned out to be an amazing mix of skills present in the room, ranging from architects to people familiar with government agencies and writing grants. Even a person that managed to get a government grant to serve as an aprentice-ship on the farm and could foresee himself to actually be living on the farm in the future (which is in line with the 'vision').

As a result 4 people volunteered and are now working with the existing Cresset farm board to try to implement this vision. During our first meeting in December, six task forces were formed that would take up subsets of the 'vision' and would address some of the skills and experience present in the group.

In the meanwhile the core group has been meeting regularly. The main focus right now is to investigate the different scenario's that exist with the current farm and the surrounding neighbors. Several letters have been sent out to the neigbors and some interesting conversations have already taken place. We are also engaged in conversations with several land-trusts and consultants that can advice us on the best way to go forward.

Thanks a lot for your interest in the farm. I am very excited that we managed to get this core group together and are making the initial steps towards something I hope will be a great outcome for the farm. We plan to have regular updates of the Core Group activities through the Cresset Farm newsletter instead of these incidental e-mail updates. Please let me know if you wish to not receive these newsletters (or if you already receive the newsletter through other channels).