Farm Update
Taran learned how to drive the tractor
on Thursday! Up until now, Fred has
been the only one who could drive the
tractor, which created a bottleneck that
prevented our most efficient use of time.
Now that we have two tractor drivers,
that will make our lives way easier!
Launching the CSA is always a big project each year, but as we enter our 12th CSA season, I feel more prepared than ever for our biggest week of the year. Aside from the normal planting, harvesting, irrigating, weeding, and delivering that we always have going on in June, I always spend a significant amount of time the week before we launch the CSA getting the systems up and running that will carry us through the season as smoothly as possible. There is actually quite a lot of administrative work that happens behind the scenes at the farm, and since the farm is a dynamic natural system that is always changing and can’t be automated, my systems need to be able to flex and stretch as well. There will always inevitably be things that slip through the cracks, but after more than a decade of doing this, I know what to look for and what to pay extra attention to. So that said, here is some timely information for everyone so we can all have an awesome, fun, smooth first week of the CSA!
-It’s a good idea to add my phone number to your contacts, just in case you’re on your way to the drop-off and have a question! I don’t frequently check my email in the afternoons of CSA drop-off days because I’m on the road, but if you need me, you can call or text me at 517-896-6884. 😊
-If you get a prepacked share at the Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, or hospital drop-offs, I’ll send out a text to all the folks at those locations when I deliver the shares, so you know when you can come get your produce. If you’d prefer not to receive those texts, just send me a quick email and I’ll take you off the text list. Or if the phone number you entered when you signed up for the CSA isn’t a cell phone, just send me a good phone number for you to get those texts.
-Week 3 of the CSA is 4th of July week! Independence Day falls on a Monday this year, so if you normally get your CSA share on Mondays, we will be delivering shares as normal. However, if you have plans and can’t make it to the drop-off, or you normally have your share delivered to your workplace but you won’t be there, just let me know! We can postpone your share and get you a double share the next week, or you can arrange to pick up your share at another drop-off that week. Plenty of folks who can’t make it to a Monday drop-off in Alma choose to pick up their share the next day in Mt. Pleasant, and we can absolutely do that! Just make sure to let me know by Sunday, July 3rd if you want to postpone your share on July 4th or pick it up somewhere else.
So that’s it for the housekeeping stuff! As for the farm itself, now is the time of year when everything comes to life. There’s a reason why we wait to start the CSA until the middle of June, and it’s because now is when all of the veggies we’ve been waiting to come into season explode onto the scene in their full vibrancy. Up until now, we’ve been harvesting our cooler season crops (lettuce, kale, spinach, radishes) and smaller amounts of some warm season crops (zucchini, cucumbers, etc.) but now a lot more veggies are ready in larger amounts. Things have been growing like crazy, including the weeds. Our farmhands, Callie, Taran, Tate, and I have been weeding lettuce, cilantro, dill, and onions over the last few days in an effort to keep the weeds under control, but there is still so much to do. Plenty of home gardeners complain about the never ending weeds, but when you’re trying to keep tens of thousands of bed feet from getting taken over by weeds, that’s another story altogether. Fortunately, I actually love the quick, methodical movements of weeding, and I love being outside with the sun on my back, so the work is enjoyable to me. And I love that for every section I weed, we’re making sure that the plants we do want aren’t having to compete too hard with the plants we don’t want for scarce resources like water and sunlight, so they can grow up to be big and strong and delicious.
And as they say, it’s important to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. One of the crops we have turned loose over the last few years are our strawberries, because we always struggled with them in our soil and it was so hard to have enough for everyone. However, we know that strawberries are really important to you all! We pride ourselves on being a single-farm CSA, where everything we provide in the shares is grown by us, but we make an exception for the strawberries. The strawberries in the shares over the upcoming weeks were actually grown by Jonas Miller, a friend of ours who is also certified organic and just has much better soil for strawberries. We almost never include items in the shares that weren’t grown on our farm (the strawberries are pretty much the only things from another grower that we’ve ever had in the shares), but we always want to be really transparent when we do, because it’s so important to us for you to be able to know where your food comes from. It’s also super important to us to only have certified organic produce in the shares, so that’s also non-negotiable for us if we were ever to include anyone else’s produce. If you have any questions about the strawberries, or about Jonas’ farm, just let me know! And while you can’t call Jonas and ask him about the berries (because he’s Amish and doesn’t have a phone), I can get you his address if you’re interested in stopping by his farm and talking to him.
So that’s it! Just let me know if you have any questions, and we’ll see you next week at the drop-off! 😊
What to Expect in the Shares this Week
If you pick up at our Alma, Mt. Pleasant, or Midland drop-off, here are the options for your shares! If you have a half share, you’ll choose one item from each choice category, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two. And if there is something you don’t like or can’t eat, you can bring it to the trading station at the end and trade it for something you like better.
- Strawberries for everyone!
- Spring mix for everyone!
- Kale or frisee
- Bok choy or Swiss chard
- Garlic scapes or baby head lettuces
- Green onions for everyone!
- Basil, cilantro, or microgreens
If you pick up at our Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Midland hospital, or Alma hospital drop-off, or if you have home or workplace delivery, here are your options! We have three different prepacked shares, and you can let me know which one you want by filling out this quick form by lunchtime the day before your drop-off. If you have a half share, you can choose one of these options, and if you have a full share, you’ll choose two.
Share A:
- Strawberries
- Spring mix
- Kale
- Swiss Chard
- Garlic scapes
- Green onions
- Microgreens
Share B:
- Strawberries
- Spring mix
- Kale
- Bok choy
- Baby head lettuce
- Green onions
- Cilantro
Share C:
- Strawberries
- Spring mix
- Frisee
- Bok choy
- Garlic scapes
- Green onions
- Basil
Recipes
The fun part about being part of a Community
Supported Agriculture program (besides knowing your farmers, eating locally,
supporting environmentally friendly farming practices, getting truly fresh and
delicious food, and engaging with your community) is getting to try new
things! Most of the stuff we have in the
shares will be old favorites (like lettuce, green onions, and strawberries),
and some of it might be new to you. I always
try to provide a few recipe ideas for items you may not have worked with
before, and the ones that might not be as familiar this week are bok choy,
garlic scapes, and frisee. So definitely
check out these recipes for some inspiration, and I always love chatting about
recipes at the drop-offs too, so let me know if you have some good ones!
Here are 10 Tasty and Easy Bok Choy Recipes from
The Spruce Eats! There are lots of options
here, so you can choose what works for you, the amount of time you have, and
what ingredients you have on hand!
And here are 7 Things to do with Garlic Scapes
from Serious Eats! I love the wealth of
great ideas that you can then tweak and make your own!
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