CSA Newsletter for Week 2

Farm Update

I love this picture that our daughter
Jessamine (who just celebrated her
8th birthday on Thursday!) took 
on Sunday, because not only
can you see all the rows of different
veggies we're growing, but it also
captured the wild beauty of the weeds
in bloom. :-)

Hi everyone!  What a week!  It was crazy busy for sure, but I’d call it a success!  There are always a few kinks to work out when we are getting the CSA season up and running for the year, so if you have any questions about anything, just let me know!  Aside from all the emailing, making of harvest lists and delivery labels, and logistical management that’s been occurring on the office end of the farm (which is pretty much my domain), there has also been a lot happening on the production end of the farm (which is pretty much Fred’s kingdom).  The main thing we spend our time on during CSA days is harvesting, washing, and packing all of the produce that we bring to you guys at the drop-off, but there is also a ton of field work that has to happen each week to keep the farm running smoothly.  This week, the hot sunny weather helped the crops grow a ton, and also the weeds.  So we’ve been doing a ton of weeding this week, but they’ve been mostly under control, which is reassuring.  Sometimes the weeds get so out of hand that we just can’t keep up with them and meet all of our other time commitments, but we haven’t gotten there yet this season. 

We’ve also been waging war with the potato beetles, who decided to stage a resurgence this week.  People always wonder what we do for pest control in an organic system, and fortunately, there are a few good organic products we can use to help us keep the bugs under control.  We use neem oil, which is the extract of the neem tree, and Pyganic, which is extracted from daisy flowers.  We also use Entrust, which is a fermented soil bacterium that is completely safe for humans and animals, but kills insects.  We also use the more ancient method of simply knocking the bugs off the plants.  They like to feed on the top of the potato plants, so if they get knocked back onto the soil, it takes them a long time to get back to the part of the plant they want to eat.  But we do it in a more modern way, by knocking the tops of the plants with our tractor, which does it a lot more quickly than we could do it on foot.

Aside from the tiny six-legged pests, we’ve also been having trouble with some larger four-legged ones.  There’s a group of deer who have been making it through a break in our deer fence each night for a while, and while it’s a smaller group of four deer, they have been eating a lot of our romaine.  Fortunately, that seems to be their main interest and they’ve been leaving everything else alone, but it has resulted in us not having as much romaine as we had hoped.  There isn’t a good way for us to mend the fence and still have access to our new back field (which we bought the year after we put up the deer fence), so we’ve been doing things like parking the tractor in the gap to deter the deer.  We also camped out there for a night about a week and a half ago to try to scare them away, but they were only deterred for a short time.  So the battle with the deer continues, but hopefully we’ll eventually neutralize the threat.

But there are a lot of good things going on at the farm too!  The crops are looking really good, and the cherry tomato plants are growing like crazy!  They’re currently about 5.5 feet tall, and they’ve got tons of blossoms on them, which bodes well for a good crop.  We’re starting to see the first green tomatoes forming too, so it won’t be long before they are ripe and ready to harvest!

Each farm season is an adventure, and we never quite know what to expect.  Each year brings its own combination of weeds, pests, and weather events that keep us on our toes and cause us to constantly adapt.  It’s crazy and sometimes exhausting, but it’s absolutely worth it!  And we are so glad to have all of you along for the adventure this year!

 

What to Expect in Your Share

The first of the cherry tomatoes are developing!
They're still green right now, but it won't be long
before we're harvesting and eating them!

If you are going through the line at one of our traditional style drop-offs (Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and Midland), here’s what the options will be at the different stations.  If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item at each station, and if you have a full share, you choose two items at each station! 

• Green Onions, radishes, or frisee
• Bok choy or Swiss chard
• Zucchini or cucumbers
• Carrots for everyone
• Head lettuce or spring mix
• Microgreens, basil, or kohlrabi
• Beets or kale

If you have a prepacked share, here are your options.  If you have a half share, you’ll choose either share A, B, or C, and if you have a full share, you can choose two of them.  So just email me by lunchtime the day before your drop-off to let me know which share you want for this week!  If I don't hear from you, I'll just choose for you. :-)

Share A:  Green onion, bok choy, kale, zucchini, carrots, spring mix, and basil.

Share B:  Radishes, Swiss chard, beets, zucchini, carrots, spring mix, and microgreens.

Share C:   Frisee, bok choy, kale, cucumbers, carrots, spring mix, and kohlrabi.

 

Recipes

Every year when we have the first kohlrabi at the drop-offs, I often get asked, “So, what is this crazy thing?”  And indeed, kohlrabi does look crazy!  It kind of reminds me of those little green aliens from the claw machine in Toy Story, and it’s a favorite among young kids, probably for that reason.  So if you’ve never cooked with kohlrabi before and you’re not quite sure what to do with it, here are 5 Tasty Ways to Prepare Kohlrabi!