I do my best to write about the beautiful side of the farm and keep the newsletters on the up beat so as to portray a beautiful image for you for where your food is coming from. The truth is that the farm is beautiful, the workers are happy and the food is good. But once in a while on a working farm with all of the heavy lifting, heavy machinery, and high heat, there is a risk that someone could get hurt.Just a few of our handsome helpers harvesting onions last Thursday
Last week I was diagnosed with Lymes disease. It was a relief to get a diagnosis, to be honest because for almost four weeks, we didn’t know what was going on. Being the hard-working farm girl that I am, I put my boots and hat on every morning and went to work with the crew, believing that with a little extra rest, a break from the coffee and sugar, and some stretches throughout the day, I would improve in good time.
But I didn’t. More and more symptoms kept popping up, the pain kept moving from shoulder to shoulder to neck to back while the physical and mental strength it was taking from me to keep up with the farm and our daughter was draining my reserve. I could barely pull my shirt over my head, much less harvest tomatoes and onions all morning. The workers needed direction and the work needed to get done. But the experience of losing my drive, my arms, my back, my will, and my perseverance was humbling. I was nearly non-functional on the farm for the last couple weeks, faking my way through the days asking everyone else to do all of the heavy lifting.
While I was in the midst of this journey, it got me thinking about how or if the farm could run without one of it’s main farmers. What if one of us gets hurt or sick for real and pills don’t make it go away?
Because I am on the mend now (thanks to western medicine), I have a happy ending for this story. I had my first “normal” harvest and pack days on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It feels good now to be lifting bins of produce and putting in a full day’s work. I really do love my job and I love working hard.
The CSA boxes were packed more full than ever these last couple weeks and we have another bumper crop week here now where we can barely get all of the food in the boxes. And the reason that the boxes are packed so full is because it’s more than just me working out here. We have a team of people who work in shifts and work well together to get the work done. We had friends and neighbors volunteering and working extra shifts to fill in for me when I needed rest. My lovely husband and mother carried my weight in the home and family while Adam did double-time on the farm to make sure the irrigation lines kept dripping and the animals all got fed. Slowly I regained my strength and mobility and the things are looking good-just in time for the weight of tomato season to start hitting!
Thank you, everyone, for helping to support this truly community-based farm.
Canary Melons- These are not spaghetti squash. Adam thought that if I didn’t mention that the melons were not Spaghetti squash, everyone wouldn’t know that they were melons. These melons are bright yellow on the inside and the flesh is a firm green flesh that is quite sweet. There is no need to wait until the flesh turns soft, because they might be bad by the time that happens.
Purple Viking Potatoes– These potatoes have a purple and pink swirl on their outer skin, but a white and creamy flesh. They are on the more firm side of potatoes and take a bit longer to cook for baking or boiling than a softer potato like a yukon gold, for example. An attractive potatoe that we have fallen in love with! You’ll notice that we do not wash our potatoes because freshly dug potatoes are more likely to skuff and their skins will skuff off, also it saves us loads of time. Your potatoes will keep longer with the dirt on as well.
Drip line irrigation on a few of our Fall brassicas. Here we have rutabaga and kohlrabi.
Yellow (Wax) and Dragon Tongue Beans- There was a small first-picking of the second succession of beans. More where these guys came from next week!
Celery- This was probably the final week of celery. We’re sorry to say. It was a good run while it lasted and we were so pleased to be able to give celery severl weeks in a row. The outer leaves are getting yellow now and the pickings are getting slim. Remember to dehydrate your celery greens and use your stalks for soups or stocks.
Eggplant- Several different kinds of eggplants shipped again. Some light purple ones, some big black ones, some long and skinney ones. It’s the Dr. Seuss eggplant selection. Think o fmaking Baba Ganouj (dip), eggplant parmesan or Begunis (recipe below).
Red Peppers- Yeah! Red peppers! They’re really turning colors now. More where these guys come from next week, and their yellow and orange cousins too!
Jalapeno Peppers- A little more spice for your life.
White Onion- Finally some room in the box this week to fit an onion!
Cucumbers- Okay, you might be getting sick of cucumbers, but they’re almost out of season, believe it or not! Get your fill on cucumbers before they’re gone!
Zucchini, Summer Squash or Patty Pans- This is definately the final week of summer squash, zucchini and patty pans. The pickings here are very slim now and the plants have finally exhausted themselves. We had a good run, I would say!
Broccoli- Humongous heads of broccoli this week! We like this variety!
Tomatoes- A nice four-pound bag of tomatoes this week for everyone. We tried to give everyone a mix of the varieties that we’re growing. We have an early maturing yellow variety (Taxi), a few different kinds of paste tomatoes, and some of the heirlooms are beginning to ripen. A couple of the heirloom varieties in season now are the cherokee purple and the brandywine. Cherokee Purples ripen when they are a darker purple and the brandywines are a nice pink color when fully ripe. Heirloom tomatoes are usually a bit different in shape. Get used to some funky shaped tomatoes this year!
Cherry Tomatoes- A half pint clamshell of orange cherry tomatoes. Remember to let your tomatoes ripen on your countertop. They won’t ripen in the fridge!
Lettuce or (extra red peppers)- A head of lettuce for everyone, except that we came up about 30 heads short this week. A couple extra red peppers for those folks.
Cilantro- The cilantro was bolting this week, but we decided to go ahead and harvet it anyways. We thought that bolting cilantro still tastes great and it’s better than no cilantro at all. So many people tell us that they love cilantro, and it is so nice to give along with tomatoes.
Begunis (chickpea battered and friend Eggplant)
