Another Season to the Ages
Welcome to the Carters' Farm Newsletter, where you can find information on farm events and produce, our favorite recipes, and reflections from the family.
A new year has come. We are blessed and deeply grateful for what God has done in the 2023 season at the Carter farm, from the abundant produce, summer music event, and the fall festival.
This post serves as an overview of the 2023 season at Carters’ Farm, with added emphasis on the autumn months. We hope you enjoy!
Produce
While it was a dry season, it proved to be a bountiful one for tomatoes, sweet corn, and other produce. We were happy to market produce at the Park Rapids and Walker farmers’ markets, as well as at the Red Barn and at Necces Restaurante in downtown Park Rapids. It is heartening to see more people buying food from local farmers as well.
Summer Stage: Music at the Farm
On July 3rd, we hosted the first music-only event at the farm, called “Carters’ Summer Stage: Music at the Farm,” featuring music from the Abello family and Golden Harbor Quartet. The event was borne out of a mix of two thoughts. One was to find a way to honor the musical legacy and interests of Russell (d. 2015) and Maxine Carter (d. 2022). Another was to try out a summer performance event, something that we had not done before. With complimentary, delicious Carter’s tomato, cucumber, and cheese hors-douvres and strawberry shortcake, guests could come and enjoy an evening of gospel, folk, bluegrass, and classical music. The event was free admission; donations were welcome.
It was splendid to see many family members gather to put on such an event! We are looking to do similar events in the future, and are open to ideas for other types of stage performances.
Fall Festival
The 2023 Fall Festival theme was Fairy Tales, and it really was an enchanting season. As always, we so enjoyed putting on the festival for families to create cherished, lifelong memories and to have a bit of fall fun. We were very blessed with good weather on most days, and we were happy to have a couple new developments this year: (1) church pews we purchased from a local church for use in the corn crib, (2) tire swings, (3) and a new location for the wagon ride and corn mazze.
There was a healthy crop of pumpkins this year that yield many different varieties of pumpkins that we had not grown for a few seasons. Even in a very dry summer, where we had to irrigate more than usual, the corn maze turned out to be a little more complex and difficult to navigate than the past two seasons. Some visitors enjoy a simple maze, some want a challenge. This time, we made it a little more of a challenge, including information stations on fairy tales, put together by a Carter family member, and the maze design and paths being made by hand and hoe.
Several visitors exclaimed that it was their first time out to the farm since before the pandemic, and it was encouraging to hear of people coming out from Fargo, the Twin Cities, and East Grand Forks to have some fall family fun!
Once again, we were happy to host performers on the corn crib stage. We hosted longtime friend to the festival, Nick Bretz (Imaginick), as well as the Abello family bluegrass band from Bemidji, and the husband and wife duo of Carter Junction, from Idaho (also Carter relatives). New this year was a Celtic folk band from Bemidji, Caleigh, who performed at the Music Weekend.
We’re looking forward to possibly adding other forms of entertainment next fall!
On to 2024
As we plan and rest for the 2024 season, there are many ideas that are being discussed, some include possible future educational opportunities for people to learn more about agriculture, and about stewardship of land and community. We’re excited to continue on for yet another year in the Minnesota heartland!
Thank you for all your support.
