2024 Review

Winter greetings! 

I hope you all enjoyed the Holidays and are finding time to rest while looking forward to the year ahead. In 2024 we completed our 12th season and as far as veggies go, we had our most productive year ever. We expanded the farm crew in an exciting way. And we continued to foster this food-loving community that values healthy produce and wholesome time spent at the farm. Thank you for being a part of it!

On a personal note, 2024 was another year of balancing farming and parenting. While it is challenging, Amanda and I did our best to divide up childcare days. Althea, who turned 2 in November, loves the farm and we enjoyed walking around the fields together to taste raspberries, turnips, and cabbage. By the time we got to summer, on my way out the door in the morning Althea would ask me, “Are you going to the farm daddy?” And most nights at dinnertime she would hold up some potatoes and say, “Is this from the farm?” It is incredibly satisfying to see her enjoy the farm so much and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it with her.

Since I was spending more time with Althea I needed extra help to cover more of the labor. After conversations with other local farmers, I decided to hire two farmworkers through the H2A visa program from Mexico. Samuel and Jorge arrived in mid April and stayed through the end of October and we had a great time working with them.

I started most days composing two text message to-do lists: one in Spanish and one in English. It was so satisfying to speak Spanish everyday and to problem solve together. We worked on a few projects including an extension of our irrigation line, and I was impressed with their farming knowledge and resourcefulness. With Samuel and Jorge’s help we were able to keep up better with the weeding and ultimately had some of the best yields in the farm’s history. In addition to all the usual farm work I also enjoyed trading cooking tips about how to prepare various Mexican dishes, a never ending quest of mine. I am so excited that they are coming back for the 2025 season.

Pepper Patch

Of course we wouldn’t have had the most productive year ever without such a great farm crew. Big thank you to Rori, Sarah, Hannah, Lielle, Miranda, Charlotte, Stephen, Samuel, and Jorge for contributing so much to the farm. Even with a language barrier I was impressed with the crew’s ability to gracefully work together to seed, transplant, weed, and harvest thousands of pounds of produce.

This was Rori’s 5th season working on the farm and in addition to leading the crew in my absence she provided valuable advice on farming decisions. Sarah also led the crew when I was away, helped with various harvest decisions, and contributed her signature care for the community at CSA pick-ups. Hannah brought along her usual even-keeled work ethic, maintaining an upbeat attitude regardless of the challenging weather. Lielle’s enthusiasm for learning and ability to rise to any occasion made it a joy to work with her. This was Miranda’s first season at the farm and she fit right in, and reliably paid attention to the details and helped out members at CSA pick-ups. This was also Charlotte’s first season at the farm and she always showed up for CSA distributions with a positive attitude and kindness. And of course, Stephen helped us out on a number of occasions with boundless energy.

Saying Goodbye to Sarah Gerhardt

I am especially grateful for getting to work with Sarah for 3 seasons. She came to the area with an ecological farming background and keen interest in being a part of the community. Tinicum CSA was a natural fit and I was continually impressed with how she engaged with the community, truly getting to know so many of you. I learned a lot from Sarah and I’m excited for her next chapter. She and her husband Jason are starting their own farm on their recently purchased property in upstate New York.

Most Productive Year Ever

Given the great farm crew, it’s not surprising that we reached our highest total yield in the farm’s history! Here’s are some of the highlights:

1. We reached a Grand Total Yield of 96,714 lbs. This is remarkable considering that we didn’t expand the acreage much since the prior year. 

2. Lettuce made it into every share! This is the third year in a row that we’ve managed to have lettuce every week and it’s especially satisfying to have done this during the extreme heat of the summer. We also had a record harvest of 6,077 lbs.

3. Winter squash production reached an all time high of 9,711 lbs. We’ve never had such a weed-free patch of squash before and we’re proud of delivering such excellent butternut for y’all.

Year of the Spinach

For the first time, we grew 2,000 lbs of Spinach in one season. The quality was also exceptional and many of you commented on the size of the leaves.

Year of the Tomato

Tomato production soared to 11,070 lbs, outperforming every other crop pound for pound. Samuel and Jorge played a crucial role with timely trellising and pruning.

Good Melon Times

The 2024 melons were particularly productive and tasty. We had our 2nd highest yield of 6,974 lbs. Plus, the melons provided a refreshing snack for the farm crew on some very hot summer days.

Cabbage

Every year we grow extra cabbage in partnership with Rolling Harvest Food Rescue and they take a significant portion in their effort to alleviate food insecurity in the area. It was fun working with their volunteers in the Spring and the Fall to harvest such a bountiful amount. The quality and yields were incredible this year as we exceeded 7,000 lbs.

Crops We Grew More than a ton (2,000 lbs) of:

  • Beets
  • Bok Choy
  • Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Eggplant
  • Lettuce
  • Melons
  • Onions
  • Peppers
  • Potatoes
  • Spinach
  • Summer Squash
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Winter Squash
  • Tomatoes

A Tale of Two Droughts

The 2024 season was marked by two significant droughts: a spring & early summer drought, and a very long Fall drought. In essence it was a dry year. While less dramatic than a major storm, the droughts kept us literally on our toes, constantly moving irrigation lines to keep up with the watering. This irrigation dance is challenging because everything needs water all at once and we are forced to rotate the pipes on small sections to achieve a bare minimum of life-sustaining water to all of the veggies. I spent many mornings arriving before dawn to turn on irrigation lines. The Fall drought dragged on beyond the end of the growing season and we found ourselves having to water the garlic in, a crop that we typically don’t have to irrigate. 

Isolated Thunderstorm on July 16th

We may not have experienced a hurricane, but we happened to be in the path of one of the most destructive isolated thunderstorms in recent history. The storm knocked down so many trees and limbs causing power outages and road closures for days.

Fortunately, we had taken care to strengthen various plantings with strong trellising and our crops didn’t suffer as much as they could have.

Unfortunately, the storm came through during one of our Tuesday Pick-ups. No one was hurt, but we also lost power for three days. We had to get creative. I immediately reached out to our friends at Rolling Harvest Food Rescue who offered temporary cold storage space in their cooler. We had to transport much of the leftover inventory to their cooler for a couple of days and I am so grateful for their help. 

With no power, the greenhouse fans weren’t running either, so we had to cover the greenhouse with an additional shade-cloth to bring the temperature down from the 110 degrees that it was rising to. Samuel & Jorge took the lead on this project and we managed as best as we could through the situation.

Climate Change & Farming

The kind of storm that passed through in July is going to become more common with climate change. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., “Over the past year, we’ve experienced the hottest year on record, the hottest ocean temperatures on record and a seemingly endless string of heat waves, droughts, floods, wildfires and storms. Now we are finding that atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing faster than ever. We must recognize that these are clear signals of the damage carbon dioxide pollution is doing to the climate system, and take rapid action to cut fossil fuel use as quickly as we can.” 

I hope that global leaders heed his words as it is clear to me as a farmer that the climate is in a state of emergency.

I am particularly mindful of the recent and ongoing California wildfires and how here in the East, with the extreme drought conditions this past Fall we could have had much more destructive fires, and we were lucky to avoid them.

Potato Report

In spite of the dry conditions, I was particularly pleased with our ability to establish the potatoes and get the plants up to size for tuber formation using drip irrigation. We had great yields, and beginning on July 13th we included them in every share. We also continued to grow strips of buckwheat and other flowering cover crops within the potato patch to attract beneficial insects.

New Equipment – Potato Digger

Speaking of potatoes, we acquired a new potato digger with a small farm grant from the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance. This nifty harvesting tool halved the time it usually takes to harvest a row of potatoes. The crew was especially excited about how much faster and easier it was to harvest potatoes.

Tough Times For Broccoli – Farmer’s Perspective

Broccoli is a crop that we grow every year, but it is harder to grow in an erratic climate. It can suffer from disease in both wet or dry conditions. Unlike kale and cabbage, which can persevere through a wider range of conditions, broccoli is extra sensitive. While we can grow high quality broccoli here, I’ve had to till out entire plantings of it due to disease. Unfortunately, this was a year where I had till out the entire first Fall planting because of disease. I imagine that broccoli will be one of the crops that fades away in the face of climate change. Moving forward, I am planning to replace the early Fall planting with broccolini, a similar but more resilient crop.

Cover Cropping

Along with our beneficial insect strips, we managed to grow a number of soil-improving stands of cover crops. This was challenging because we had very few rain events to rely upon for germination. Still, we pulled off growing my favorite summer cover crop mix including Sunn Hemp, Sunflowers, and Sorghum Sudan Grass. Every time we grow cover crops we add organic matter and fix nitrogen in the soil naturally. I am convinced that this particular mix results in excellent veggies the following year. 

We also took time for our annual stroll through a field of buckwheat to appreciate the sheer loveliness of it all.

You Invested In Your Community

Joining the CSA goes beyond getting fresh local produce for your family. You should all be proud of how you invested in your community.

  1. By joining Tinicum CSA in 2024 you supported the livelihoods of 10 people. Thanks for helping the farm provide meaningful work for folks interested in farming!
  2. We received 12 Donated Shares, which shows a continued spirit of generosity. This helps Tinicum CSA be a part of the local effort to reduce food insecurity by providing healthy produce to local families in need for an entire season. Thank you! 

So far we have 1 share donated for 2025 and our goal is to get to at least 10. Visit our website here to Donate A Share.

  1. And the farm continued to donate extra kale, lettuce, greens, squash and other veggies to Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, helping to fulfill their mission of connecting local farmers with neighbors in need.

Thank you all for being a part of such an incredible year! I am continually grateful for the opportunity to grow excellent produce for such a wonderful community. Every time I see folks enjoying the farm, it makes me happy.

Before we know it, CSA Pick-ups will begin again and it will be time to pick flowers. See you in the spring!

Sign Up For 2025 Here!