Tag: Helene

In The CSA Box

We are so glad you have joined us for this 2025 Harvest Season. We are having a challenging start. Last year we grew sweet bell peppers which weighed one pound each! This year the plants are doing so poorly in the field soil that we planted new seeds in the greenhouse on Friday. The soil tests and ph are good, but the texture of it is off. No doubt our soil is suffering from Helene Trauma.

Speaking of Helene, during the extensive cleanup process, Robert found a piece of engraved metal which was given as a “reward for distinguished service with the Farm Bureau.” With the help of the Fairview Town Crier Editor we tracked down the son of the man whose name was on the plaque. We returned it to the family this weekend. It turns out his father started the Farm Bureau in Buncombe County decades ago. How ironic that this little part of the award washed up onto a family farm during the raging waters of Cane Creek last September!

Curtis Wright (holding our Helene Find) and Robert Ploeger (on the right)

Robert has a new toy to mow the fields with this season. The lay of the land is extremely rough after all of the heavy equipment that was required for Helene debris removal. I would take a video of him mowing, but it might make one nauseous to watch as he bounces up and down!

72″ Rotary Mower on a PTO

Your choice to eat local, organic foods is a commitment to consuming nutritious, energetic foods! By joining our CSA, you are engaging in conscious eating just as we are engaged in conscious farming. Our choices make us all rebels who believe that all food should be local–or as local as possible!

This week we will add romaine, escarole, and possibly lettuce and kale to the Joi Choi, Ching Chang, and Asian Delight. The Tatsoi is over as it is a very finicky plant growing only under the best of conditions.

Stay Tuned

We are almost one month into 2025. Not much has changed with respect to our farming situation except that one tractor is back for the second time from the repair shop. Robert has continued to removed what debris he can from the tree lines. All three tree lines plus 1100 feet of trees parallel to Cane Creek were collection sites for debris meaning there has been no shortage of places to work! One big difference is our view from the fields. Prior to Helene, it was impossible to see our gardening area. Now we can see lots and lots of neighbors–more than we ever realized existed!

We have spoken with the people who are going to repair our irrigation system. However, that work as well as the heavy debris removal will require soil which is dry and not frozen. All of this is to say, we are still uncertain as to what the 2025 Growing Season holds for Cane Creek Asparagus & Co CSA. Certainly, we will not be starting early in the season with spring veggies as these seeds need to be started in the greenhouse by the end of February or first of March. Perhaps a late summer garden is in the cards? We hate disappointing our CSA Members–some of you have been with us for twenty years or more! All we can say at this point is to “Stay Tuned” for future progress on our CSA farming situation!

Twenty years ago someone labeled Robert and I as “businessmen” and not ” farmers.”  We say we are “business people who farm.”  Bearing this in mind, it is necessary to increase our CSA Box price to $70 to continue being successful CSA Farmers. With our typical every-other-week CSA pickup, this would be $140 per month.

A reminder of the past and of the future we are visualizing!