We have just worked out a lease to rent an acre of land a few miles from us.  We are excited to have this opportunity to expand a few crops and improve our rotation on the farm.  We try to maintain a crop rotation of three years between crops of the same family.  So if a field grew tomatoes, we would not plant anything in the tomato family there for 3 years.  The problem is we grow a lot of crops in the same family - tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant are all in the same family.  Also summer squash, winter squash, cucumbers, and watermelons share a family.  So at times it gets hard to find places to put things.  Our plan is to plant our potatoes and winter squash on the leased land this year.  This will give us some space in our rotation and also help us do more of those items.  We may also use the land for other things depending on how it goes.  We’re excited about this venture and hopefully it will lead to increased production on two popular items.  Stay tuned!