 We are a small farm in south-central PA. We grow most of our produce and fruit. We do our best to use sustainable practices on our land. We have two high tunnels and one greenhouse for propagation. Berries and tree fruits are main crops and we have four garden patches dedicated to vegetables, greens, root crops, melons, squash, tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, alliums, and flowers. We love growing the unique items and we strive for excellence.  We acquired a new addition to our family in November! Chula, our old white German Shepherd had a rough year in 2025. She had a operation in July and in October she was still not up and around much and the varmints (groundhogs, rabbits, etc.) were closing in on the gardens and tunnels. So welcome to Omar! He is a ball of energy and he gave Chula a reason to live. He is very cute and very playful. Chula has taught him the property line, but we are still working on potty-training. 🙁The Gardens We transplanted new asparagus from Oliver’s field. We have been mulching and spreading compost everywhere. Gregg got all the black plastic out and the garden plots are waiting until the ground thaws so we can plow and till. The High Tunnels We are doing some major repairing in the tunnels right now. We need to replace the baseboards on three of the four sides of both tunnels. The dirt must be dug away from the inside and the outside of each side; the old wood removed; a new piece fitted in and leveled (the hard part). Then it gets attached to the rolled side frame and the bolts screwed in attach the ropes that hold the plastic sides down. We anticipate that this job will take all of January. The Greenhouse We have moved some excess tables out of the greenhouse and bought all the necessary germinating soil and plugs for next year’s seeding. We have turned off the gas to the greenhouse now.We are installing a curtain to divide the greenhouse in half so that when we turn the gas on at the end of February, only half the greenhouse will be heated. CSA We are excited about the CSA for 2026. Thanks to all of you who have already signed up to participate next year. We are now accepting subscribers for 2026. We have added 4 more weeks of produce and fruit to the season giving us a full 28 weeks of good vegetables and fruits. May 15 – November 21 You can sign up for the full season from now until April 1 for the special price of $900 for 28 weeks. May 14- August 15 or August 20 – November 21 You can sign up for 14 weeks for $490 Add $84 for one dozen eggs/week or $48 for one-half dozen eggs/week Farm Stands and Markets East Columbia Library Farm Stand begins on Thursday, May 7 Fairfax Community Market begins on Saturday, May 9 Baking and Preserving for December I baked a lot of pumpkin bread and pumpkin whoopie pies to give to all my neighbors- there were 18 families on my list. I got the last one delivered yesterday, December 23. I have been making a lot of mashed potatoes lately. I used the old Yukon potatoes that we grew this year. Some of them had to be sorted, but they made excellent mashed potatoes. I try to do the mashing by hand, but the Yukons made smoother mashed potatoes using the electric mixer – I always use lots of butter, salt and pepper. We finished off the last of the Brussels sprouts. They are excellent skillet-fried in butter and garlic. We are still digging carrots from the garden. The carrots are getting sweeter each digging because the colder temperatures bring out the sweetness. Today I made a shoofly pie and a pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner with my Dad. He is 95 years old and still loves shoofly pie, lima beans, turkey and mashed potatoes. We hope you have a wonderful holiday with friends and family. Blessings for the New Year and Good Health and good reading for the winter months! View email in browser Contact Information: Gregg & Louise Keckler 1-717-486-4653 kecklers@handtilledfarming.com http://www.handtilledfarming.com Hand-tilled Farming · 1410 Goodyear Rd · Gardners, PA 17324-9028 · USA update your preferences or unsubscribe |
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