The farm is like an adolescent child right now. The crops are all young and tender and ‘growing up so fast’. The crops are healthy and strong and it seems as though nothing can stop them. They would grow up to the clouds in their own minds if not for their encumbering and limiting genetics. The lettuce is tender and the kale is crispy. The rows of vegetables are defined and youthful looking. We even found some time to do some brush hogging around the farm this week to manicure some of the driveways between fields.
Farmer Adam has turned himself into a full-time irrigation machine. Although a very exhilarating storm rolled in with style on Friday night last week pouring down water from the sky on a hot and sticky summer evening, your farmers were left feeling like it all ended a little too soon. We picked up the rain gauge after the storm had passed and measured a mere 2/10th of an inch. We exchanged a look of knowing and allowed the water to empty from the vessel with a dropped arm. We were grateful for the rain, but only temporarily satisfied. The farm is streaked with dripline now and the sound of the generator pumping water down the veins of the rows is almost constant now.
Thankfully, we have access to gasoline, plastics and electricity and the glorious groundwater that flows so beautifully and freely up from the depths of the earth into our holding tanks. All of these things make it possible for us to grow beautiful, organically grown produce in a drought season. In the evenings as we hold our hands around the dinner table, we offer a genuine appreciation for our access to a deep and bountiful water table flowing magnanimously beneath our farm.
The field crew arrive bright and early each morning with their work boots, sun hats and water bottles. I feel inspired by the hardworking helpers we have that show up ready to get out there and harvest, weed, dig, wash or do whatever it is they’re directed to do with smiles on their faces and a shared belief in the agricultural community we are building. This summer we have three young people who are working on our crew who are talking seriously about starting farms of their own. These are people with a grounded perception backed with experience on this farm of what it takes to run a vegetable production farm.
Adam and I don’t always paint the most glorious picture of farm life for a young farmer. We are cautionary to prospective young farmers. We are fostering and forewarning. We unintentionally inspire these young people. But what I am realizing is that the inspiration is momentous. Without these youthful young eyes, I am uninspired. Without you all buying and voting and cheering us on, the effort and energy it takes to keep this up would be unsustainable.
Today I am thankful for ripening. Ripening strawberries. Ripening young humans. Ripening and aging small family farms. I am thankful for mowed grass and bountiful water tables and sugar snap pea vines filled with delicate white blossoms. The season is so young and full of potential bounty.
Green Oakleaf Lettuce– Two heads of hoophouse grown green oakleaf lettuce.
Cherry Bell Radishes- Generous bunches of radishes. This is the final giving of radishes for the season.
Hakurai Salad Turnips- These turnips are not what you often think of for the flavor and texture of turnips that you see in the Fall. Hakurai salad turnips are delicious eaten raw on salads or with a veggie dip. The greens are also edible.
Kohlrabi- One green kohlrabi per member this week. Peel the kohlrabi with a pearing knife and enjoy the crispy insides sprinkled with salt, raw on salads, with a veggie dip or even cook them into a stir fry or fry them like French fries. The Apples of the brassica family. Kohlrabi are wonderfully versatile used any way you can dream up!
Green Lacinato Kale- Lacinato kale is the favorite variety of kale lovers. The first kale harvest of the season and the leaves are tender and crispy and looking lush and beautiful! Check out the kale and lentil salad recipe contributed by one of our worker shares. Elizabeth says her kids love this recipe!
Cilantro- A favorite item for CSA members! Cilantro is lovely on taco salads, with Thai food or even in a home-made cilantro lime salad dressing.
Sugar Snap Peas- A modest .33 lbs per member. This was the first sugar snap pea harvest of the season. We are hoping to give a larger bag next week! These are a healthy snack just eaten raw, but a nice addition to a stir fry, spring rolls, or any way you like them.
Potatoes- 2 lbs of potatoes per member. These were overwintered potatoes from last season. They kept beautifully in the cooler all winter long. Some members received reds, some golds, and some russets. It was a bit of a mix of varieties we had left from last year.
Next Week’s Best Guess- Lettuce, sugar snap peas, broccoli, garlic scapes, strawberries, kale, hakurai salad turnips?, kohlrabi, cilantro? Bunching onions?
Warm Lentil Kale Salad with Olives, Almonds and Cumin
Creamy Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing
