The second week of harvesting vegetables on the farm felt like riding a bike down a smooth paved road on a beautiful sunny day in the 70’s. A very smooth start we are off to indeed. This season has felt very methodical and well planned out in comparison to all of our previous years of running the farm so far. This would be our 6thseason running our little CSA program and the good news is that it’s getting easier as we have slowly been purchasing the machinery we need to make the farm more efficient and gaining the helping hands we need to carry the weight with us.
One of our worker shares today was talking about how much she has learned from her children who are 6 and 7 years old. I often think about how much this farm has taught me not only about myself and who I am becoming, but about physics and mechanics, weather patterns and animal behavior, and leadership and humility. It’s amazing how a place can do all to a person. Because really, I’m just a city girl with too much to say and no patience turned into a hermit that leaves the farm but one day a week to deliver my mature plants to those who find them tasteful.
This environment, these people, this land and these plants will shape you. The ferill cats will teach you trust because they cannot be trusted the wind will teach you how to become calm and a good amount of heavy wheel-barreling will teach you how to drive a pick-up truck. I have so many reflections to offer because I was always the kind of person who had to learn things the hard way.
While I still feel like I’m a long ways from even thinking of taking a bike ride on a 70 degree day when there is so much to be done on the farm, I’m hopeful that one day my lessons become easier like when you’ve been stung by nettles for the 10th time in one spring that by the tenth time you barely scratch at all.
Asparagus- We do actually buy this asparagus from an organic neighboring farm of ours. It simply is not spring without Asparagus! Store Asparagus in your fridge standing up in a bowl of water, it will suck up water through the bottoms of its stems and remain hydrated.
Radish- Most members received cherry bell radishes which are a stunning red globe, but our last 40 bunches or so were the french breakfast which are the longer shaped radishes that are red on the top and white on the part of radish that grows beneath the ground. They’re on the spicy side, but sliced thinly on a salad you can’t tell at all!
Lettuce- The leaves are so tender and they rip easily when they’re quite this tender. This field-grown lettuce looks amazing! I’m craving salads, how about you? Lettuce will store best in a plastic bag in the fridge to keep it from wilting. You may have received an oakleaf head of lettuce, romaine lettuce, red leaf buttercrunch, green leaf buttercrunch, or red-leaf lettuce. We harvested quite a collection of varieties!
Pac Choi- This is a form of Chinese cabbage that works great in stir fries or your favorite oriental recipes. Pac Choi is very hard to grow in the early spring as the flea beatles want to attack it an chew on it’s leaves. We fooled them by growing it in the greenhouse this year. Boy, did we fool them! This week we took the rest of the pac choi that was in the field, a bit smaller than last week!
Spinach- The second picking of the season was just as good as the first! I wonder what life would be like without spinach like this? Mmmmmm! No need to tell you how to store it because I know it won’t last long. This spring we put a row-cover over our spinach beds to warm up the soil and speed growth on the spinach. Not as many damaged leaves this week from the wind, the whole harvest looked beautiful floating in a tank of cool water!
Swiss Chard– Swiss Chard is a wonderful cooking green that is in the same family as spinach and beets. It’s NOT RHUBARB for those of you who are new to it! You can use Swiss chard any way that you might use spinach in cooking. We have a fantastic swiss chard fritatta recipe that we love! Some of the chard may have red, pink, yellow, white or orange veins. This highly nutritious green is among the most popular at Farmer’s Markets!
Shallots- Believe it or not, these were harvested last August and kept in our cold root cellar storage all winter long. They keep for an impressively long time. These are in the onion family and are a gourmet substitute for onions. Store in a cool, dark and dry place-like your fridge. Because they have been in cold storage for so long, if you transfer them to a warm countertop they will sprout!
Basil Plant- These little plants are potted in biodegradable Dot-Pots. You can plant the whole pot right into the ground! It’s an organically certified product and actually adds organic fertilizer as it breaks down. We will be sending you plenty of fresh basil this summer, but it’s always nice to pick your own fresh just before dinner.
