Pepper Starts at the Plant Sale

Like your peppers sweet? Hot? We’ve got them both! Check out the updated plant list, and stop by the farm this Saturday and Sunday, 9am-2pm, 928 Wilson St NE. Cash or check only please.

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Our annual spring plant sale is coming soon!

Every spring, locals in the know look forward to our annual vegetable and herb plant sale.  This year’s sale will start on Saturday, April 23rd and run Saturdays and Sundays, 9am-2pm, through the end of May.

Why should you buy your plant starts from Urban Futures Farm?

Glad you asked.  Simply put, we offer the highest quality vegetable and herb starts at the most affordable prices in town.

First, we begin with the highest quality, non-GMO seed we can find.  All of our seed is selected for its vigorous growth,  suitability to our unique Northwest climate, flavor and nutritional value.  In fact, the plant varieties we sell are the same ones we grow for our CSA customers, so we know they are winners.  All of our seeds are sown in a climate-controlled propagation room, then hardened off in plastic tunnels and cold frames so they are ready to take home and put into the ground when you purchase them.

Because of our low overhead and commitment to food justice (making good food available to as many people as possible) we strive to keep our prices well below what you would pay at other local nurseries.

What will you be selling?

A full range of Northwest appropriate annual vegetables and herbs, including:  broccoli, cabbage, Napa cabbage, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, Pac Choi, Tatsoi, mustard greens, arugula, collard greens, zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, basil, parsley and cilantro. And of course our famous tomatoes – 12 varieties this year!  Each week we will send out a complete list of what we will have for sale that weekend.

Why should we buy from Urban Futures instead of a local nursery?

We think there are a few things that make our plants stand out.  First, not all of the plants you will find at a local nursery are appropriate for our climate.  Just this week we saw stores selling many different plants that just won’t grow well in our climate based on our experience.  Second, we select our plant varieties based on taste and nutritional value.  Many of the plant starts you see in local nurseries are commodity varieties, not necessarily selected for taste and nutrition.  Third, while many local nurseries are already selling plant starts, we’ve found no advantage to planting out starts until at least the third week of April. With nighttime temperatures expected to hit freezing over the next week and likely the following week, its simply too early to plant out many of the things you see in the nurseries right now.   We only sell plants that are ready to go into the ground, which is why we don’t start selling plants until the third week of April. And finally, because we stand by what we sell, when you buy plants from us we are available by phone, text or email as your on-call consultant to answer your questions and help you solve your garden problems.

So mark you calendars for Saturday April 23rd,  and every Saturday and Sunday through May, and come  visit us to get the plants you need for a successful, bountiful harvest this summer.

Get Yer Early Bird Tix for FarmFest!

FarmFest, our solar powered celebration of music and community was so much fun last year that we have decided to double the fun this year! Join us on the farm July 29th-30th for 11 bands over 2 days.  General tickets go on sale next Friday April 1, but as a friend of the farm you can get early bird tickets for the next week HERE. Check out the lineup on our FarmFest page.

Happy Washington Soil Health Week!

Did you know that 99% of all of the calories consumed by humans come from the soil?  Or that it takes at least 100 years to create one inch of soil through natural processes?

Globally we are losing soil five times faster than its being created, mostly due to soil erosion and development.  In the US we are losing over 425,000 acres of soil every year to development.  

Turning our winter cover crop into soil.

Here at Urban Futures Farm we take our soil seriously. Annual soil testing, intensive cover cropping and minimal tillage have helped us build and maintain productive soil, teeming with biological life and the nutrients essential for growing the best fruits and vegetables possible.

So whatever you are eating today, take a minute to appreciate the soil that it came from.

Happy National CSA Week!

February 20-27 has been designated as a national week of awareness and appreciation for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).  Many farms use this week to begin encouraging people to sign up for a CSA share at their farm.

Thanks to our returning customers and amazing community, all of our CSA shares are already SOLD OUT.   By the time we wrap up our 2022 season we will have packed 4,348 boxes of fresh, nutritious local food since 2017.  That’s a lot of food!  

For those of you still looking for a CSA share, the Community Farm Land Trust has put out a guide to help you locate your farmer. https://www.communityfarmlandtrust.org/2022-csa-guide.html

And for those of you who are planning to grow a garden this season don’t forget we will have a wide selection of vegetable and herb starts on sale at the farm beginning in April. More details will be coming out next month.

Resolve to eat delicious, safe, sustainable local food in 2022

With all of the uncertainty in the world these days, wouldn’t be nice to know that you can count on eating delicious, safe, sustainable local food this year?

Urban Futures Farm has been providing the Olympia community with fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits since 2015. Members of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program receive 18 weeks of sustainably-grown fresh produce beginning around June 1 st.

With the demand for affordable local food at an all-time high our CSA program is filling up fast.

To learn more, and to reserve your share click HERE.

CSA – Week 18

Well, we made it! 18 weeks of nutrient-dense, delicious produce, as fossil-free as we can possibly make it. Many thanks to our customers, who make the work worthwhile.

Fall in the PNW is a season of turning in and that’s where we will be. The planting beds are turning in with their cover crops, so they won’t lose nutrients during the heavy rains. Come spring, that organic matter will be turned in to enrich the soil, and the cycle begins again.

As for the farmer and his dog? They’ll be resting up, working on another to do list, and planning for next year.