January News

Summer C.S.A. signups are open, read more below.

As we are winding down our winter CSA season and have run out of enough food to be worth attending the Bridgton Market, we are truly in winter, and our days have taken on the familiar unhurried flow that I look forward to in the busiest summer months.  Mornings are still early, sleeping past 6 a distant and blurry, luxurious memory, and the first hour of the day is filled quickly with the readying of children and the feeding of animals. A new routine for us this year is getting Joni out the door and onto the bus, and once she is headed to school Kyle and I usually take turns walking the dogs.   The older dog is given the choice if he wants to go along, and the younger one is always eager and ready to go, conditioned now by the act of us putting on our boots and the word "walk". Cold sustained temperatures have the pond frozen solid for the first time in several years and we are happily using it as our winter playground. We were treated to a few weeks of glorious ice skating before this last little layer of snow covered the ice.  Before the snow, Joni mastered balancing on her own in skates, and Ryah tried on a pair but decidedly preferred to slip slide around in her boots.   The rising and setting sun each day makes the ice "talk", deep echoing regular woops and waaps, and the kids were excited to trek down to listen and skate.  Snow has made the pond talk less and it is now covered with layers of our tracks documenting our daily walks with dogs and afternoon outings with children and sleds.  The footprints of deer and coyotes are mixed in with ours and I imagine them wandering the pond at night taking in our information though scent and feeling as familiar with our daily habits as we feel with them.    Sprinkled into our meandering days is some vegetable packing or harvesting for the winter CSA which is now winding down, and there is always the never ending need to clean and organize the garage and barn no matter how many times or how recently it has been done.  I have two dinner shifts at Kristas this winter, which helps offset the feelings of unproductivity that always accompany the slowdown of deep winter.  

Farm Activity:

We applied for and received a grant to that would cover part of the cost to put up solar panels at the farm.  We are working through the logistics, finances, and the timing to make a final decision if this project is a good fit for the farm.  

We applied for a resilient agriculture grant through the USDA to expand Maine's middle of the supply chain activities.  You can read more about it here. We requested funds for a delivery van as our current vehicles are way beyond capacity.  This grant received a large number of applications, and we will not hear back until March.  We received a huge amount of help with the application from a very knowledgeable friend and also as part of the process had to receive letters of support from the community.  Working on this grant highlighted the valuable relationships we have built along with our business and for that we are very grateful.  Thank you!  

Sign-ups for the 2025 summer CSA are open.  www.hosacfarm.com/csa to check it out. We did have a small crew that coordinated a drive share situation to the South Conway area.  If you are interested in this, please email for more information. 

We are casually talking about extending the Foothill Farm Alliance into the summer and offering expanded pickup locations in the Conway area, but it is unclear if this will be ready to get off the ground for 2025.  

We will be attending the Bridgton Farmers Markets on Saturdays starting again sometime in May or June.  

We will be attending the Kennebunk Farmers Market on Saturdays starting in June.