Another dazzling week of farm fresh food! With almost three inches of rain on the farm in the last week we’ve been catching up on our inside chores. Just before we had to start harvesting on Thursday we were able to catch up on the weeding in the onion patch. With the wonderful growing conditions for all of our yummy spring plants, it also provides excellent growing conditions for the weeds!
In the last week Drew’s parents, John and Linda, were here visiting for almost four days! We were so lucky to have them here because they provided an excuse for us to get in out of the rain and do a little relaxing. They’re website design folk who are helping us to create a new website for the Small Family CSA. We’re hoping to have the new website up and running soon! Newsletters might start looking a little different with a whole new format. The new website will also have a forum for members to talk about recipe ideas, how to use certain vegetables, and other pre-csa topics like splitting shares or what a half or full share look like. I’ll have to say that I’m pretty stoked about it all!
A small strike of bad luck has hit the farm also. We have found that we have two chicken-killing dogs on the farm. In April of this year Drew, Julie and I adopted two dogs from an Amish farm in Iowa that was looking for a new home for some terrier/boarder collie mix pups. We’ve been nurturing and training them on the farm ever since. But it hasn’t been until recently that we have also brought home about 35 laying hen chickens. Our chickens are free-ranging out in the pasture with the cows, but the dogs are in full blown chicken killing mode sneaking into the pastures or snatching up the ones that stray from the pastures. If anyone out there has any suggestions on how to train a dog to not kill chickens????? For not the dogs will live on leashes until we know what we’ll decide to do. If we can’t find anything that works, we may be sticking our dog in someone’s CSA box one of these weeks;)
Shallots– These are shallots that have been in storage since last summer. A member of the onion family that has exceptional storage qualities. Shallots are a gourmet treat, milder when cooked than onion but a bit spicier when eaten raw.
Spinach– The real delicacy of this box. A time-consuming harvest, but SOOO worth it. Sweet, tender, juicy spring spinach. Gotta love it! The possibilities are endless.
Lettuce– Started extra early by Adam, grown in our green house.
Pac-Choi– Getting a little big for it’s own britches, but still choi-ce!
Radish– More of the yummy color red in your box. I love these radishes because they’re not even hot!
Kale– Absolutely gorgeous kale this week. Kale will come numerous times in the summer. It’s a wonderfully prolific plant. I hope you can learn to appreciate it’s many uses.
Parsnips– The last of our over-wintered parsnips. With lots of cream and cheese, you just can’t go wrong.
