Happy Holidays from our Farm-ily to Yours

Dear Farm Community -

The winter solstice passed us by on Saturday, a chilly day at market for us with lots of chipper folks braving the cold to collect their holiday feast ingredients, last minute gifts, and of course to stick with their weekly routines of basking in the farmers market buzz. The days will be getting longer now, and we still have winter projects galore and tons of prep work for the (most wonderful time of the) year ahead - There’ll be…. ♫ more beds for weeding, more seeds for seeding, and trellises set up just so. There’ll be tubers for storing, and tales of the glories of seasons long long ago! ♫ (Thank you for humoring me).

But this week is for rest and celebration. Most of our farmers are off the farm the whole week, resting and enjoying celebrations with our families. A brave few of us will be popping by to make sure that our crops are taken care of - watering the seed houses, venting the greenhouses, turning the water on and off and on and off and on and off as the freezing temps in the weather report dictates. But mostly this week is all about appreciation and recharging for the 23 farmers that call Diamond Hill Farm something of a second home (Farmer Zack and Farmer Tommy are missing from the group photo above for those of you who counted). We hope that all of you are enjoying the same sentiment. All of us here at the farm give you permission to take it easy this week and focus on loving your people!

If you’re still looking for a unique grand slam gift for a loved one (or a grand slam gift for yourself….) check out our full-year and full-season CSA options! A CSA is more than just a gift; it’s a season-long celebration of health, connection, and care. It’s a thoughtful way to nourish both body and soul, offering the gift of vibrant meals and a deeper connection to the land and community. Every week brings fresh, nourishing produce grown with love and respect for the earth, bolstering our Athens community! Explore all the possibilities below :)

If you’d like to give a gift to a neighbor this holiday season, consider donating to our Share the Harvest fund, which supports us providing reduced-price CSA shares to folks in our community who face financial barriers to accessing fresh foods.

Wouldn’t you know it, we have a special gift for YOU this week! A person who is truly a treasure, who nobody can think a bad word of - to know Farmer Isaac is a gift in and of itself. That’s why he is this week’s Know Your Farmer!

Know Your Farmer:
Isaac

What is your role on the farm?
I am the manager of our farm property off Morton Road! I manage the crew through all of our daily tasks and operations, work with Carter to build our crop plan and set our weekly priorities, coordinate with the leadership team at the other farm to organize our harvests for market and CSA, spend lots of afternoons on the tractor, and all the other day to day farm tasks we all get up to! My job is wonderful because I get to constantly engage with both the bigger picture of our farm system and the nitty gritty details of crop cultivation, maintenance, and harvest!

Please share your farming journey!
I started farming in 2020. It was deep COVID times, I had recently graduated college and been laid off from my service industry job, and I was searching for work that would be safe and rewarding and outside. I've always been interested in farming - my parents had a large vegetable garden growing up, and I've always been a sunshine lovin', Wendell Berry readin' kinda guy. So I asked around, searching for farm work, and through a chain of texts I ended up getting in touch with Carter. He texted me, "Hey. Come to this address at 8 am Monday," and DHF has had my heart ever since! In 2022, I took a break from farming here in Georgia and spent 8 months at the Organic Farm School on Whidbey Island in Washington. My time out West introduced me to so many wonderful farmers and farming practices, greatly broadened my knowledge of all things organic farming, taught me a whole lot about myself, and gave me the confidence I needed to believe that I was capable of taking my farming adventure to the next stage. By the years end, I was driving back across the country, back into the loving arms of DHF, where I've been a lead farmer ever since!

What makes you passionate about organic farming?
Everything! In the big picture, I am very passionate about building community, about protecting our environment, and about the beauty and importance of labor. Farming has an amazing way of bringing together all of those passions! I am deeply drawn to how tangible farm work is, especially in the modern world where so much is intangible. To feel like I'm a part of a something bigger than myself, of both my community and a living, breathing natural system, to work with a beautiful community towards very real, tangible goals, to enjoy the literal fruits of my labor - how could I ever want to do literally anything else? I could wax poetic for paragraphs, but also, at the end of the day, I just love to grow and eat food, and sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.

What do you like to do when you're not at the farm?
I have, *hands down*, the most wonderful friends and family in the entire world (it's not even close), so mostly I just spend time with them every single waking moment that I possibly can! When I'm not hugging my friends, I like to see live music, go camping, make movies with my brother, read books, go hiking, drink beer, cook delicious meals, watch bad reality TV, eat peanut butter, and sleep!

A Fun Fact about Isaac
I eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch every single day on the farm, with only extremely rare exceptions, and I can wiggle my left ear like nobody's business.

What’s something you’ve done on the farm that you are proud of?
I think I am most proud of the wonderful community that I get to be a part of building. Farming is such a beautifully communal vocation, and it's so fun to see how the crew comes together every season. I love cultivating that community, connecting with new people, and watching the crew come together and grow closer. Laboring alongside someone has an amazing ability to bring people together, and it is so fun to manage a crew of so many wonderful people.

What’s your favorite crop to grow?
I love growing the vast majority of the things that we grow, and it's pretty hard for me to pick a favorite. Maybe sweet potatoes, but that might be because I know we've decided to grow them on the other farm property next season so I'm longing for what I can't have.

What’s your favorite crop to eat?
Winter squash! Do anything with a kabocha and it will taste like heaven.

What is a small thing on the farm that you are grateful for?
I am so grateful for the sunshine and the beautiful vegetables. I'm infamous around the farm for how positive I am, and for how often I call things "beautiful." I think Andrew has tried to tally up how many times I describe a vegetable as beautiful on a typical harvest day, and he usually loses count. So, yeah, I'm just grateful to be in the sun surrounded by such perfectly beautiful things.

If you were a farm tool or vegetable what would you be and why?
I would absolutely be a scuffle hoe. The most satisfying feeling in the world is spending hours hoeing a field, caught up in the rhythm of the scuffle, deep in thought, and then you look up and a beautifully weeded field of carrots looks back at you. It's just so satisfying and effective, and the progress you make with a scuffle hoe is so tangible and clear. If I was a vegetable, I'd like to think I'd be a carrot.

In you opinion, what’s the best season and why?
I think early fall is the best! Firstly, the weather is perfect because it's still hot in the afternoons (which is so great) but it's cool in the mornings and the evenings. Secondly, it's very exciting to watch the variety of what we're able to grown expand so rapidly as the days start to cool. Summer can get monotonous, so when fall approaches and we can start growing more leafy greens and roots again, it's very satisfying.

What’s your favorite way to pass time weeding with other farmers?
Conversation! I'm a very extroverted person, and weeding next to someone really brings out good, deep talks! Something about having the more base, motor skills part of your brain occupied helps free up the rest of your mind for more honest, deep conversation. Or, sometimes more often than deep conversation, we pass the time by building the silliest, most elaborately nonsensical jokes imaginable.

What are your aspirations at the farm?
I just want to see the farm be as effective and successful as it can be! I want to maintain a great, happy crew of folks who buy in to the farm, who are enriched by the work, and who enjoy being out in the field every day as much as I do! And I want to continue improving our crop successes every year, learning from what works and what doesn't so that we can grow the most wonderful vegetables possible.

We’re all in the pack shed finishing up a big market harvest and you’re handed the AUX. What do you play?
Hog of the Forsaken by Michael Hurley, no question. I'm notorious for listening to the same song over and over and over again. When I'm working on one task for a long time, especially if it's monotonous or tedious, I love finding the right song that either matches or ironically mismatches with the energy of the task I'm doing, and listening to it over and over again until I'm done. It just feels right!

What’s your Favorite Diamond Hill Farm memory?
It's hard to pick one favorite memory, but I think back constantly to moments I've been lucky enough to share with fellow farmers over my years at Diamond Hill. I've met some of the most wonderful people I will ever meet in these fields, and undoubtedly many people who will be in my life until the day I die! I have so many memories to look back on, so much love and hard work shared among the company of wonderful humans and beautiful vegetables.

Happy Holidays!
Diamond Hill Farmers

just 16 days until CSA begins….