Dear Friends and Patrons,

Some of you will recall we sent out a survey about what 5 things you would like us to grow. That might have tipped you off to possible change in the air.

We moved to Gilmanton in January 2011. This was the only month that we worked on our home. The rest of the time that we have resided in Gilmanton, we have worked to clear the fields, amend the soil, cut down trees, build a barn, amend the soil more, build a greenhouse, start a non-profit with others (Gilmanton’s Own) and build another greenhouse. Our time never returned back to our home, which has and continues to need work. The constant busyness of the summer and always playing catch up never led to any time to do anything but harvest the vegetables and weed the gardens. Seven years of trying to build our business but never being able to get to the next level has made us rethink our future. What were we doing wrong?

We know we grow great food. We have heard it from our customers, countless times over. And we love hearing the feedback. We cannot give it up. So we decided to scale down. We are giving up our land lease and growing only on our property. We will be using our greenhouses to get a jump start on our season and to extend the season. We will no longer be participating in farmers market or offering a CSA. What products we grow, will be exclusively for Gilmanton’s Own and area chefs.

So what will we be offering? Carrots, beets, cucumbers (slicing and picklers), tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, head lettuce, lettuce mix, kale, green peppers, hot peppers and garlic. We will also have a planting of scallions and some onions available. In the spring and fall we will have spinach.

Keith will be offering consulting services to all you home gardeners out there. If anyone is struggling with growing at home, he can help. We will have more information about this on the website which will be updated soon.

What do we see for us? We see the ability to work on our home. We see a not so stressed out summer. Maybe we can take a day and go hiking and actually enjoy the summer. Keith likes to dabble in wine making. Those of you who have tried Keith’s wine, it’s pretty good. Maybe we can expand that? We see getting more black currant plants and making more wine. Peach trees? The sky’s the limit.

We are looking forward to this change. Already, we are relieved about next summer. I am excited about having my Saturdays off. Maybe I can go to yard sales now. We are excited about having the time to spread Keith’s knowledge about growing nutrient dense vegetables to home gardeners. We thank all of our customers who have supported us in our CSA and at farmer’s markets during these past years. Remember we will have product at Gilmanton’s Own (year round) and encourage you to support them as well as your local farmers.

Thank you, Keith and Michelle