Harvest is Underway
Winter has officially announced itself on the farm, which can only mean one thing: willow harvest is underway! During a very cold weekend (the kind that makes you grateful for good gloves and hot coffee), we dove into harvest mode with the help of wonderful friends. Thanks to many cold fingers and a lot of laughter, we managed to get a lot of willow cut and bundled into the shop. It’s always a satisfying sight. We all were grateful the weather warmed in the afternoon and let us load everything without the cold.
There’s still more out in the field waiting its turn with the clippers, and so much sorting to do! Along with sorting for drying, we’re busy preparing thousands of cuttings to get back into the ground. We won’t be done in the field until everything is cut, sorted, planted, cleaned up and weeded. It’s a big undertaking, but well worth the effort. Seeing everything grow and using it to create something useful is the whole point.
All this winter effort means good things are coming. We’ll have dry basket willow available for sale this summer, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of fellow makers. If you’d like a heads-up when willow is ready for shipping or farm pickup, be sure to sign up for emails on the website. We promise only the good kind of news.
Winter harvest is one of the busiest and most exciting times of the year here. The farm feels alive even under frost, (or rain) and full of plans and promise. That said, all this cutting, sorting, and planting does leave very little time for weaving at the moment. But this is the season that makes all the weaving possible later. And for now, we’ll happily trade weaving in the studio for crisp air, good friends, and armloads of beautiful willow.
As an aside, yes! We are still able to keep up with all the willow soaking bag orders coming in so don’t worry. You’ll still see a quick turnaround on supply orders. We know it’s frustrating waiting for willow in the cold and want to help as many people soak indoors as we can.