Each season I feel the need to pay a tribute to the Worker Share. Our farm is powered by Adam and I, a team of four skilled employees, and a crew of about 30 Worker and Sitter Shares who show up each week in tandem for their designated Worker Share shift. The Worker Shares make an impressive commitment to the farm, and if their hard work and grit isn’t enough for you, they certainly deserve acknowledgement for their commitment to the farm.
I feel increasingly aware of the commitment aspect to the arrangement. Just as you, the paid CSA member who laid down your hard earned cash even before the growing season had fully kicked off made a commitment to the farm, our worker shares made a commitment on a handshake and they have all kept their promise. Even now, at the peak of summer busy-ness, at the frenzy before the school year kicks off, at the rush to get projects moving before Fall sneaks up, they show up on time and on schedule. Work, life, sickness and vacations cause folks to miss a week here and there, but the 20-commitment is still strong and solid for most of them.
All lasting and meaningful relationships are built upon fearless and confident promise and dedication. Yet in todays age, so few are willing to step up to it. In a transient life cluttered with choices and opportunities and endless possibilities, a waning population of people seem willing to commit to anything. Where are the steadfast community members? Everyone seems to be switching jobs and switching houses and switching schools and moving away or moving on. It is a complicated and overwhelming world to live in.
A couple weeks ago, while talking with an old friend who is in the process of changing jobs, houses and is moving to a new city, she said to me, “You know, you might decided someday that you’ve had enough of this farming thing and decide you want to do something else.” I don’t want to tell you that I didn’t even think about it, but I just know in my heart that that is not going to happen. I want to be a rock, no, a pillar, in the middle of a tidal wave. I’m not going anywhere. Neither is the house, the family inside it, the marriage or the farm. I want to represent something unyielding and constant and reliable. I want to be a known oasis in a sea of unknowns. Maybe there is enough risk and adventure inherent in farming to keep me satisfied for a lifetime.
So I value, on an increasing level, and appreciation for those willing to make a commitment, even just a 20-Week one. My hope is that the responsibility to work 3.5-4 hours a week feels fair and reasonable for their humble box of food they receive each week in exchange. I hope they see it as more than just the food. We’re cultivating more than just vegetables out here. We’re cultivating community and we’re getting exercise, fresh air, and sunshine. We’re getting to know one another, an un-expected gift in itself is to allow someone to know you and to take the time to get to know someone else. And what better way than to do it than while picking beans and shooting the shit for 4 hours? Thank you to everyone-working, playing and paying, for your commitment to the farm this summer. We appreciate you. 
Beans!- 1.30 lbs per member. We picked green beans, dragon tongue beans and also yellow wax beans this week. When we were bagging them, we tried to give you a little of each variety. The dragon tongue beans are large, flat, cream-colored bean with purple streaking. The dragon tongues will loose their purple streaking in the cooking process once they are cooked. Beans are such a lovely summer vegetable. It takes a very long time to pick this many beans for almost 300 CSA boxes!
White Onion- Two smaller white onion for everyone this week!
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper- Also known as a banana pepper. The Hungarian Hot Wax pepper has a spicy name, but they are quite mild on the spectrum of hot peppers. They can be a bit of a mixed bag. One Hungarian Hot Wax pepper could be very mild with little to no spice, and the next one you try could have a surprising amount of kick. Give them a little nibble before cooking with them to gage how much to use in your dish.
Jalapeno Pepper- These little guys are the smaller green pepper floating around in your box somewhere. As you probably know, Jalapenos are hot! To me they are very, very hot since I’m sort of a hot-pepper wimp. So wear gloves when handling them in the kitchen, especially if your fingertips come anywhere near the seeds or seed cavity.
Lacinato Kale- Everyone’s favorite Kale variety.
Cilantro- What timing! The cilantro has come into season right when we have our glut of tomatoes. We harvested cilantro on a wet, dewy morning. Cilantro does not love to have it’s leaves wet. We recommend using it up quicker rather than trying to keep it for too long. Cilantro doesn’t keep too long before it wants to start going slimy.
Red/Yellow Watermelons- Aren’t these adorable? I love these smaller varieties of watermelons when we are all so used to those huge melons from the grocery store. Yours may be red or yellow when you cut into it. No matter the color, we thought they were all very sweet!
Eggplant or Sweet Pepper- We did our very first sweet pepper harvest with not quite enough for everyone this week (although the plants are loaded with green peppers) and we expect a larger harvest next week. If you did not get a sweet pepper, about 80 people got an eggplant instead.
Carrots- One pound bags of carrots per member. Yum!
Tomatoes- 7.5-8lbs tomatoes per member. We pick tomatoes in the early stages of ‘blushing’ and ripening. We recommend leaving your tomatoes out on your countertop to ripen. They will slowly ripen over the course of a week. We need to pick them at this stage of ripeness if they are to survive the shipping and handling. We would much rather give you under-ripe tomatoes than smooshed tomatoes. If you leave them out at room temperature, it will not affect their flavor, they will still be considered vine-ripened tomatoes. We also recommend not putting your tomatoes in the fridge unless they are fully ripen and you need to refrigerate them to buy yourself some time before you are able to eat them. Putting tomatoes in refrigerators usually sucks the flavor out of them. Enjoy! We’re hoping for a larger giving next week!
Sweet Corn– 5 Ears Sweet Corn! Five ears per member. Did you know that minute sweet corn has been harvested it begins to loose some of it’s sweetness? Yes, the sugars turn to starches and the flavor decreases by the hour. We highly recommend keeping your sweet corn in the refrigerator and eating it for supper TONIGHT to maximize the awesome flavor it has! Some of the corn did have worms in it. Yes, worms are gross, but this is organic corn folks and there isn’t much we can do about it. Just take a knife and cut those spots or the tip off if you find one. We don’t want you be alarmed, because they’re in there! Farmer Adam did a fantastic job keeping the sweet corn fence electrified at night and keeping the coons out. We sometimes loose huge numbers of corn to the raccoons. This year we’re keeping them out so far!
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes- We made sure that everyone got some sun golds this week. About a half a pound of Sun Golds per box this week. The clamshells might not be all the way full, but we had to weigh our harvest and divide by the number of members we have. Sun Gold ripen Orange and not red, so eat them when they turn orange. Leave them on your counter to ripen and not in the fridge.
Garlic- A beautiful bulb of garlic per member this week.
Potatoes- 2.5 lbs red potatoes per member this week. Freshly dug out of the ground. Also, you will notice immediately that we do not wash our potatoes. New potatoes always scuff very easily once dug out of the ground. Also, it takes a lot of extra time and energy to wash all of these potatoes. We leave that part up to you on potatoes. We’ve been busy getting all of this other stuff harvested!
Next Week’s Best Guess- Tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, melon, eggplant, lettuce, beans, potatoes, carrots, basil, onion, garlic, napa cabbage
Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad, Thank you, Megan!
