Welcome to the Slower Season
Dear Farm Community -
Welcome to the “slower” season on the farm. There’s still plenty keeping us busy and lots happening in our fields, but this time of year we change gears a little. Our CSA will be on break until January, we had our last Creature Comforts market of the year last Wednesday, and we’ve got just a handful of Saturday Athens Farmers Markets left in the year (we take the winter off and return early in the spring!) For our Atlanta readers, we do attend the Freedom Farmers Market and the Morningside Farmers Market year round so we hope to keep seeing you and serving you through the chilly months!
We’ve got some fun updates for you this week! A few weeks ago Flagpole came out and visited the farm to write a piece on us focusing on using local ingredients for your Thanksgiving feasts this upcoming Thursday. We’re so excited to see the story run this week, so be sure to pick up a Flagpole and read the article! Also be sure to pick up veggies to cook up those feasts at the Athens Farmers Markets’s special Harvest Market on this Wednesday, November 27th!
Elbow grease on the farm lately has been going towards getting our onion planting completed, a huge task that is an “all hands on deck” kind of endeavor! Thousands of little onion babies are being planted and over the winter will size up into the yummiest of tender spring onions and full sized cured onions for your culinary delights.
While we’re waiting for those onions to grow, there is still time to fill out our 2024 CSA End-0f-Season Survey. This survey asks all about what you loved and what you didn’t love. We take your feedback to heart and it really does inform the conversations we have as we plan out the 2025 CSA program (our planning meeting is TOMORROW!). If you loved everything and have no notes - we want to know! If you have some strong opinions about the contents of your share, pickups, newsletter content, communication etc - we also want to know!
We have also compiled all of the recipes submitted by our CSA members into a little Diamond Hill Farm CSA Member Cookbook 2024. Click on that link to get the google document and enjoy the yummiest of ideas to experiment with in the kitchen.
Now for maybe the most fun addition to the newsletter - this slower season I’m pleased to present a newsletter section that will give you the opportunity to love the farm even more by getting to know all of our farmers. Naturally it makes sense to start with the boss himself! We hope you enjoy getting to know the farm staff week by week!
Know Your Farmer:
Carter Dodd
What is your role on the farm?
I am the owner and founder of Diamond Hill Farm. (editor’s note: Carter is being too humble!! His role on the farm is pretty much head mastermind and expert in everything - he orchestrates employees and activities on the farm, spearheads crop planning, handles all of the business side of things, puts out fires of all kinds, jimmies open the truck doors when we lock the keys inside accidentally, rescues us when market vans break down on the highway, MacGyvers solutions to nearly everything, and passes down his sage farming wisdom to us every step of the way - no small task!)
Please share your farming journey!
I’ve been farming since 2012, starting on leased land prior to purchasing property in Madison county. Before farming, my wife Shelley and I started gardening in five gallon buckets and shortly after had a 1000-sqft in-town in-ground garden on Ruth street. I loved spending the time outside and preparing meals with the food we grew. One day Shelley sent me a video advertisement for a “farm for rent” and I watched the video a couple dozen times before calling her to ask if we should go for it. I had no technical training or experience but was very drawn to the idea that we could have a farm. We left our Athens life that we loved and moved 45 minutes east to Lexington, GA to “go for it.” It’s been a long journey and now here we are!
Fun Fact Time! Share a few interesting morsels about yourself!
I worked at and managed a music venue (the Melting Point) in Athens for 8 years prior to farming.
My high school aptitude test results said I should be a farmer. I grew up in Atlanta and did not have any formidable interest in farming at the time but the test creators must have been really good at their job!
What is something you’ve done on the farm that you are proud of?
I’m proud that we have grown a farm that can support so many people in so many different ways. We have awesome staff, customers, and farmer friendships.
What’s your favorite crop to grow? What is your favorite crop to eat?
Lately my favorite crop to grow has been celery! My favorite crop to eat is raw sugar snap peas.
What is a small thing on the farm that you are grateful for?
Laughter!
If you were something non-human on the farm, what would you be and why?
I would be a bee - I want to be able to touch everything on the farm.
What do you think about when you’re harvesting?
Speed and consistency
What are your aspirations at the farm?
To provide a place that our farmers feel appreciated and proud of the work we do.
We’re all in the pack shed finishing up a big market harvest and you’re handed the AUX. What do you play?
Futurebirds.
What is your favorite thing about Diamond Hill Farm?
Farmer’s markets - everything about them.
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We hope you’ll enjoy getting a peek into who we all are and why we love to do what we do!
Thanks a million for your support,
Diamond Hill Farmers
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