Monroe Family Organics CSA Newsletter for Week 7

Farm Update

Bags of our spring mix getting labeled and ready to deliver to GreenTree Cooperative
Grocery on Tuesday! Like the bags of spring mix you get in your shares, these were all hand-packed with care by me, but these ones get our pretty label so shoppers know where they came from. :-) 

Hi everyone!  I can't believe we're headed into August already!  It's starting to feel like the glass of summer is more than half empty, and I'm not ready for that yet.  But alas, you can't just refill summer from the faucet, so I guess I'll have to get used to the idea that winter is, in fact, coming.  Maybe it's just the fact that this week was a little cooler, and we were really gunning it at the farm this week because one of our employees was out sick, and cool weather and constant rush mode are both things I associate with fall.  But it feels like high summer is tipping into waning summer, and pretty soon those back-to-school vibes will be coming on.

Another thing that feels more like fall than high summer is all the rain we got last week!  The farm really needed it, and it definitely spurred on the growth of a bunch of crops, as well as several new plantings Fred put in the ground last week.  It also caused a bunch of weeds to germinate, so this week I will be spending all of my spare time heading out to pull our little green nemeses out by the roots so that we can save a really nice planting of carrots from being overtaken.  I'm actually looking forward to spending some time weeding this week though, because most of last week we were so focused on getting everything harvested, washed, packed, and loaded on the truck in time for delivery that a lot of other necessary farm tasks got away from us.  As I mentioned, one of our full-time employees was out sick last week, so that left three people to do the work that normally requires four people, which meant that a lot didn't get done.  And with weeds (as with most things around the farm), a stitch in time really does save nine.  If you get them when they're little, they are so much easier to handle than when they get bigger and more rooted.

But time marches on, and the farm waits for no man.  Fred is out there as I write this, putting in new plantings of carrots and spring mix that will make their appearance in the CSA shares later this fall.  It's interesting that even after 11 years of this work, I am still learning new things all the time about the science of growing food.  Fred was telling me this morning about why planting seeds is a much more involved process this time of year than it is in the late spring.  He headed out bright and early this morning to get the seeds in the ground while the soil was still at its coolest, and he'll need to water that ground immediately after he gets the seeds in.  If he were to neglect to give the ground a good soaking, the soil would soar to temperatures above 100 degrees, and that would cause all of our new little lettuce seeds to go into a heat-induced dormant state called thermodormancy.  Each crop and each type of seed has its ideal temperature range, and if the soil gets too hot or cold, it affects the seed's ability to germinate. With most plants, the percentage of seeds that germinate goes down a lot when the soil temperature isn't ideal (which is still bad), but with lettuce, a soil temperature of above 85-ish degrees will actually prevent the germination of any lettuce seeds.  When we plant seeds in say, May, much more of the each day stays within that ideal temperature range for seed germination, and there is usually much more moisture naturally in the soil because May is a rainier month in general.  But planting this time of year is a touchier business with a more limited window of time.  I realized this morning that every time Fred goes out to plant, he is playing a mental Tetris of soil temperatures, crop types, predicted time from planting to harvest (so we can make sure that the crops are the right size at the right time, so we always have the right amount of variety for the CSA), rainfall, and labor availability, and weighing that against all the other things that need to get done to keep the farm running.  It's an exact science, but without a lab where you can manufacture the conditions you need.  When I think about all that goes into bringing this much produce variety to this many people for this many months each year, I get amazed all over again.  I've been married to the guy for 17 years, and he just keeps blowing my mind.  :-)

So that's it for this week!  See you all 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. 

• Spring mix or romaine
• Carrots
• Potatoes or cucumbers (mostly pickling cucumbers)
• Cherry tomatoes or beets
• Zucchini, kale, or chard
• Basil, microgreens, or parsley
• Onion or garlic

 

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:

• Spring mix
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Kale
• Parsley
• Onion

 

Share B:

• Spring mix
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Cherry tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Basil
• Garlic

 

Share C:

• Spring mix
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Beets
• Zucchini
• Microgreens
• Onion

 

Recipes

This is the time of year, when full summer starts to feel like summer half empty, is the time of year to start preserving what is coming out of the fields and coldframes to prepare for the wintery months ahead.  A lot of people don't realize that you can easily freeze kale and cabbage to pull out for soups a few months down the road, which we do a little bit of.  But usually in late July or early August, I make a Saturday of it and can a bunch of pickles for the pantry and make a bunch of zucchini bread for the freezer.  Then a few weeks later when the tomatoes are in full swing, I can enough sauce to get us through until next year's tomato season.  So if you are also in the mood to make zucchini bread this week, here a great zucchini bread recipe!