September Eighth
I do believe that I have the best job in the world. The best job for me, for sure. It’s a hard job and the hours are long and the labor is heavy. The stress is real and the constant variable of mother nature in our partnership can turn even the best farmers into failures on certain crops in certain years.
I recently read a book called Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman that is a new inspiration in my life. She is a biomechanist who writes about the importance of natural movements, primal movements, in our lives opposed to actual exercise. She talks about the importance of reaching, squatting, climbing, swinging, and just plain moving your body. She writes about how our blood circulates naturally with movement, our joints are strengthened when we walk barefoot on uneven ground. Our pelvic floors, our knees and our ankles thank us when we use them to their greatest potentials.
When we reach for the cucumbers twisting and squatting and bending our bodies in ways that we would not otherwise do-we improve our health. When we pull on the weeds we twist, bend and open our joints-and improve our health. When we squat, and she talks A LOT about the importance of squatting, we improve our digestion, elimination, and just about any other activity that you might need your pelvis in good health for such as giving birth and even the act of making the babies themselves-which we all want to be in peak shape for, am I right?
We have a small barefoot movement happening here on the farm some days-inspired by those of us who have ready Katy’s book. If we’re working on the soft, moist soil weeding the carrot beds, many of us will kick our books off and soak up the grounding effects of walking barefoot on the damp earth. Of course the boss makes us all put our shoes back on when it’s time to get moving or if we need to work in the packing shed on concrete.
Katy even talks about the health benefits of natural sounds and lights in our environments. She talks about the importance of using your eyes and looking far into the distance and focusing on something far away as well as being able to focus on things close at hand-where nature provides these situations perfectly for us. She even talks about sleeping without pillows on firm surfaces-but I’m not quite there yet. A good night sleep is imperative to the success of this farm, so perhaps there is some room for growth here;)
I watch our farm kids run up and down these hills and swing from the numerous climbing apparatuses provided for them in the yard and in the house. I watch their strong bodies and minds grow and flourish and I feel thankful for this setting in which to raise them. I haven’t even mentioned the enormous bonus of raising a family amidst so much bounty and richness.
Breathing fresh air is a new perk to our job that I had previously under-appreciated. In a masked world with the very privilege of being allowed to breath without something over my face, I feel thankful to work outdoors where managing this obstacle is a non issue.
For now the weather is fine. The days are cool and the sun feels welcome and warm on our backs. I whistle while I work knowing that we are now on the home stretch of our very busy season. I may very well be signing a different tune in a short while when the weather turns blustery and my fingers are frozen while my body tightens in the cold weather. We’ll see how much I love my job when it’s freezing rain this fall and our boots are stuck in the mud and the cold north winds blow…..but just let me have this moment, eh?
Soooo….What’s in the Box????
Napa Cabbage- Glorious heads of napa cabbage this week! Some of them were quite large. Napa Cabbage is a cool season crop and can be tricky to grow earlier in the season. It defends the flea beetle pressure much better in the cooler weather. Makes a lovely Asian salad and is ideal for kim chi fermenters out there!
Spaghetti Squash- These are the large, yellow, oval shaped items in your box, not to be confused with melons! Spaghetti squash are all the rage in the gluten free world and when cooked up resembles noodles when gently forked out of it’s shell. Just cut your squash in half raw, scrape the seeds out with a spoon and then place them face down on a baking pan with a half inch of water and bake for one hour. When the come out of the oven, let them cool and scrape the noodle-like flesh out of the shells!
Red Potatoes- 2lb bags of red potatoes for everyone this week! Will keep just fine outside of refrigeration for quite some time. We do not wash freshly dug potatoes because their skins scuff so easily.
Carrots- 1lb bags for all!
Green Beans- .70 lbs per member. This is likely the final giving of green beans of the season. They may require a little cleaning up.
Tomatoes- 2.5lbs per member. Tomatoes are getting toward the end of the season. Our tomatoes this year took a hit during all of the stormy weather we received earlier in the summer. Tomatoes do not lovely moisture on their leaves which can fire up the blight on the leaves.
Jalapeno Pepper- In the top of your tomato bags. These are the little green guys in there. They are spicy!
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper- Also called banana peppers. These are also in the top of your tomato bag.
Mini Sweet Peppers- The mini sweet peppers were put in the plastic clamshells in your box. These are a deliciously sweet snacking pepper. They are also wonderful added to stir fry or salads.
Eggplant- You may have received either an Asian eggplant or a standard eggplant.
Sweet Bell Peppers- 3 bell peppers per member. We grow a wide variety of peppers. All sweet peppers start out green and we wait until they turn colors to harvest them. Red, yellow and orange sweet peppers. I LOVE pepper season!
Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes– .35 lbs. A much more modest giving of cherry tomatoes this week! We were happy to still have them to share.
Brussels Sprouts Tops– These are the greens at the top of your box. We snap the tops off of the Brussels sprouts to tell the plants to stop growing upwards and to begin bulking up the sprouts towards the top of the stalks. In three weeks the Brussels sprouts stalks should be ready for harvest! They can be eaten like kale, collards or any other brassica greens!
Next Week’s Best Guess: Potatoes, green cabbage, spaghetti Squash, onion, sweet peppers, mini sweets, tomatoes, green kale, curly parsley, eggplant, celeriac root?
Recipes
Spaghetti Squash Noodle Bowl with Lime Peanut Sauce
Roasted Spaghetti Squash Hash Browns
