2025 Weekly-Pay CSA is Now On Sale!
Dear Farm Community -
Come one, come all! Our 2025 CSA season starts in ONE WEEK, which means that our Weekly-Pay CSA is now live on our website! This is a great option for folks who want to be a part of this wonderful CSA community, eat the best veggies around, and marvel at our incredible blooms every week (flower share begins in the spring!) but who prefer the flexibility of going week-to-week. For the winter we’ve got our egg add-on available and beginning in the Spring we’ll have flower shares available as well! You can sign up for our weekly-pay CSA anytime during the season, but to have your membership start for the first week of pickups (January 7th at Athens Montessori or January 9th at Athentic) the deadline to sign up is January 5th at 8pm!
There’s also still a week left to take advantage of our discounted shares! Receive 5% off when you sign up for a four-season CSA share, three-season veggie share, three-season flower share, or a full winter veggie share. Four-season and three-season shares also receive a free tote bag to carry around all those veggies. The deadline to sign up for a discounted share is January 5th at 8pm!
This winter we’ll be harvesting lots of root veggies like carrots, turnips, beets, and radishes along with leafy greens like kale, lettuce, radicchio and collards, as well as our favorite brassicas like cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage. You may even see some strawberries near springtime!
Of course we’ll also be sending our weekly newsletter out with the contents of your share and recipe recommendations for the week. Just imagine, this winter you could be cooking up this roasted radicchio with balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese (I suggest adding a little honey to your balsamic) or eating the most divine carrot and shallot soup with bronze fennel whipped cream.
We hope you’ll start your year off right with the best local veggies in your fridge :)
Our farm team is a well-oiled machine and each person plays their integral part every day. While you may know her from the Athens Farmer’s market, did you know that Farmer Emma also plays a huge behind-the-scenes role in orchestrating our CSA? Every week of CSA Emma is on the farm directing the pack shed and coordinating the transport of veggies between our two locations to make sure the right number of veggies make it to your pickup or in your pre-packed shares. It’s a complex job but Emma gets it done with grace and nothing but kind words to go around. Her love of frogs is legendary, she’s known to break out into song at the most unexpected times, and she’s always got Gouda cheese hidden on her somewhere - read on and get to know Farmer Emma!
Know Your Farmer:
Emma
What is your role on the farm?
I am a lead farmer at DHF and one of the managers of our Beaverdam Rd location. Much of my work focuses on managing workflow and directing the pack-shed as well as cross-farm communication with the team at our property off Morton Rd. We've bulked up our wholesale and CSA offerings this past season, and it takes a lot of communication to make sure everything arrives on time and beautiful! It's a real team effort. And then of course there is harvesting and seeding and planting and hauling and getting dirty! I love the variety of work that the farm provides!
Please share your farming journey!
While I started thinking about farming in my teens, I didn't get serious about it until I studied environmental science in college and found that small-scale non-industrial agriculture is at the crux of sustainable communities and food systems. In 2020 I had the chance to volunteer with an organic farm in Atlanta - Good Samaritan Farm. The farmers there were so kind and taught me a lot; it was such a valuable and necessary way for me to spend my time that summer. After heading back to college I had the opportunity to spend 6 months interning at a grassroots agroforestry farm in Northern Thailand (shout-out to Upland Holistic Development Foundation) which exposed me to new methods of farming, but also showed me how farmers all around the world have a lot in common. After graduating, I wanted to try out farmingfull-time and got into contact with Carter about working at Diamond Hill. I'm in the midst of my third season here! I'm really grateful to all the folks, including Carter, who helped me get to where I am now!
What makes you passionate about organic farming?
Growing food is such a tangible reminder of the close relationship between our bodies and the earth. We're a part of this big ecological community: everyone is made of the same dirt, you know? So what we put in/how we treat the ground and what we take from it is going to translate to how we treat our bodies and each other. Farming is a good opportunity to be intentional about changing the global narrative about food and the environment and power. The world can be a very overwhelming place with overwhelming problems, but if I can help nourish and contribute to local health by hoeing this field, that's something I can do for the world.
What do you like to do when you're not at the farm?
I am working towards a career in midwifery, birth being another passion of mine, so much of my time is spent chipping away at the classes and requirements for that. Nursing school is the first step in the journey so I've been taking classes at Athens Tech at night for my prerequisites. I'm sure my coworkers are a little tired of me spouting random anatomy facts to them all day. Besides studying I love singing and playing music and dancing as well as dabbling in other creative endeavors. There's no better way to spend an evening than making curry for a friend so when I've got a free evening you can catch me doing that too. And of course, being outside kinda takes the cake, so I love to take walks outside and listen to music or audiobooks or just talk to myself.
Fun Facts about Emma
I'm the proud owner of two guinea pigs, Rosie and Isla, who are also big fans of DHF produce.
Editor’s note: A fun fact that must not be omitted…. On the farm we are liable at any moment to call for a competition with each other in feats of strength. Emma is the reigning champion of leg wrestling. Nobody can explain it, she wins every time. It has won her the affectionate title “Strong Emma”
What’s something you’ve done on the farm that you are proud of?
I'm proud of how I've developed as a farmer and communicator through my time here. I still have so much to learn as as a farmer and a manager, but it's been cool to look back and realize how much more confident I am than when I started and how I am capable of making decisions that would've baffled me in the past.
What’s your favorite crop to grow?
Cauliflower! The way the leaves envelope the heads make harvesting feel like a treasure hunt. It's very exciting to part the leaves and see a gorgeous vibrant cauli staring back at you. There's nothing more satisfying than a healthy field of brassicas -- such beautiful shades of green and purple.
What’s your favorite crop to eat?
Once again, cauliflower :) I really enjoy roasting it with coconut oil, garlic, ginger, and lots of salt and spices including harissa. It's an easy way to eat a head or two and pairs perfectly wit a curry or roasted chickpeas and kabocha (another shining star).
What is a small thing on the farm that you are grateful for?
The fauna on the farm is constantly changing through the seasons and it's such a delight to watch. I'm super partial to frogs (the local frog community has indeed been terrorized by my love. None of them have turned to princes yet....) and each one is uniquely exciting to me. Recently though the murmurations of starlings have stopped me in my tracks! Their chatter is such a beautiful sound. I like to try to imitate the birds (I'm looking at you, crows), but I'm not on the starlings' level.
If you were a vegetable what would you be and why?
I've got to be some hearty fall/winter crop... maybe a winter squash? Am I allowed to flatter myself by saying that? They're hearty, versatile, colorful, sweet and sometimes a lil funky.
In your opinion, what’s the best season and why?
I love the fall. The transitional seasons provide so much bounty and it's nice to (lovingly) wave goodbye to some of the prickly/itchy/sticky/sneezy crops of summer, and the sweaty weather too. The cold is so invigorating! Give me a chilly morning over a hot and humid afternoon any day.
What do you think about when you’re harvesting?
It's important to start with a baseline assessment of how the crop is doing and what you need to do to get the harvest numbers. If I'm bunching, I'm setting expectations for about how many radishes/turnips/celery stalks it will take that day to get a bunch and also calibrating my internal scale. Other crops are harvested as they are ready so that requires a bit more individual visual or density assessments as you go. It's nice to get in a groove so you can talk to others or listen to things confident that you know what's up while keeping yourself aware of quality control as you go. I also think about what the customers will see at market or when they open their wholesale order. I take pride in what we send and want it to be received well. I love to brag on our work when I'm helping folks at market. Stop by a Saturday I'm working and you'll hear "Isn't this radicchio beautiful?????" or "I know, those bouquets are amazing! The flower team is so talented!!"
In your opinion, what’s the best season and why?
I love the fall. The transitional seasons provide so much bounty and it's nice to (lovingly) wave goodbye to some of the prickly/itchy/sticky/sneezy crops of summer, and the sweaty weather too. The cold is so invigorating! Give me a chilly morning over a hot and humid afternoon any day.
What’s your favorite way to pass time weeding with other farmers?
I like talking about life or whatever happens to be on our mind that day. At times we have "farm therapy" where you pitch what's on your mind to the crew and get back a myriad of advice and kind listening ears. I also like house or pancake, a game Farmer Abby introduced to us that is like 20 questions but you can only compare two different items to get closer to the answer. Certain farmers think I make mine too specific, but that's neither here nor there. (editor's note: emma once chose "the pattern that bees make when they fly" as her answer) If none of us are in a chatty mood, a good playlist or an audiobook is good company.
We’re all in the pack shed finishing up a big market harvest and you’re handed the AUX. What do you play?
If it were just me, I'd be playing either musical theater or Joni Mitchell, but on market harvest days, my priority is less stress which usually means something chill that pleases a crowd, especially since the pack shed gets pretty loud and overstimulating. Unfortunately musical theater power ballads are not known to please the masses, so I'm content to pass the aux.
What’s your Favorite Diamond Hill Farm memory?
There are truly too many to choose from, but if I'm honest the best days are when there's shared weather-inflicted misery. The windiest days are ALWAYS the days we have to tarp an entire field or cover everything with frost cloth... it gets pretty comical. One particularly cold windy and wet pre-winter storm day "At Least It's My Last Day" was born. (editor's note - we were harvesting outdoors all day amidst Tropical Storm Nicole in November 2022. The photo in the next slide is Emma on that day.) Are you really hot and sweating buckets cursing and pulling spiny amaranth out of the ground? Comfort yourself by declaring that "At Least it's My Last Day" to your fellow farmers. Are your socks soaking wet and your muscles literally cannot relax because you are shaking from the cold? "At Least It's Your Last Day." I will cry on my real last day but until then, the fictional ones help us laugh.
What do you want people to know about our farm?
You're a part of it! I love love love working markets because I get to see y'all interact with the vegetables (and sometimes fruits) of our labor and hear what you're going to do with them. Your support by buying a CSA share means a lot to us and helps us to feel at ease going into the next season. It's so cool to see how restaurants transform our veggies into these beautiful flavorful dishes. It makes me so proud of our farm's work. As with any job, there are days that are discouraging or feel monotonous - on those days knowing who is on the other side of it all is a boost. I really love talking to y'all so come say hi at market :)
See you soon!!
Diamond Hill Farmers
