May 31, 2011
Hi Everyone,
We hope everyone enjoyed the first burst of summer! Nothing like going from wearing a coat one Sunday to dripping and stripping in the fields the next. Memorial Day is not a holiday that is celebrated when farming. It’s more of a reminder that time is running short to get so many more seeds planted.
The busiest three weeks of the season are from the third week of May until the middle of June. This is the time that all the transplants are ready to go into the fields, i.e. tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, herbs, tomatillos, okra (not that many people like okra but it is a pretty plant with a beautiful flower), the long season crops (pumpkins, winter squash, popcorn, Brussels sprouts and sunflowers) need to get in time to ripen before the first frost (yes, we’re already counting the days until then) and all the early-planted crops need to be tended (the onions need to be weeded, the potatoes need to be hilled, the garlic needs to be hoed and the little sprouts of kale, Swiss chard, mustard greens, beets, bok choy, broccoli raab and carrots need to be cultivated (a fancy word for weeding) and cultivated and cultivated. If it happens to rain a lot (like the week before last) and it’s impossible to get in and cultivate with the tractor, then the weeds take root and the only way to get rid of them is getting on your hands and knees.
Then by the middle of June, most of the plants are coming along. They are big enough and sturdy enough to out compete the weeds. As their leaves grow, their shade prevents new weeds from sprouting. Then it’s just a matter of making sure the bug pressure is not too much and no diseases are taking hold. As one farmer told me in the beginning, “If you can get your seeds in the ground and not have too many weeds, bugs or diseases, you’ll be fine.” (It sounded so easy!)
In this week’s share will be:
green garlic
rhubarb
red mustard (small bunch)
sorrel
lettuce
cilantro
radishes
scallions
potatoes (root cellar)
fennel
dill
grape leaves
Enjoy,
Lisa, Lauren & Jacob
Sunday, May 29, 2011
May 24
May 24, 2011
Hi Everyone,
The first CSA pickup is here! In December when we are figuring out the first pickup date, May 24 seemed so reasonable. But that was 2010. 2011 is a whole new ball game. Unless you’ve had your eyes glued to the internet trying to glean the truth about Fuk-us-hima (hima means a system of environmental protection in Islam) – I think our Mother of Nature has a very wicked sense of humor! – you may have noticed that we are having a very cool, wet spring. As Lauren said, “This is the first year we’ve had to plant in mud.” But despite the crazy weather (and it’s far worse in other parts of the country), we’ve still been able to get the seeds firmly in the ground. And despite our unenlightened decisions (how could any sane person think it’s a good idea to split atoms with radioactive by product lasting thousands of years just to boil water?), Mother Nature still spins our globe and the seasons come and the seeds sprout. Sometimes just a little later....
Included in the first week’s share:
red, white & yellow scallions (early onions)
fennel (see recipes)
sorrel (see recipes)
rhubarb
green garlic
baby spinach or lettuce
fall harvest potatoes (from the root cellar)
fall harvest onions (from the root cellar)
mint
We will also have local Jersey lettuce for sale, horseradish and extra rhubarb. Also available for sale this week:
local raw honey
jams & jellies
Amish butter
local organic flour – wheat, pastry & spelt
pickled organic beets
eggs
pastured ground pork
uncured smoked bacon (no nitrates)
pastured ground beef
organic yogurt
chevre
organic applesauce
(Note: We have limited quantities of items but can easily order more. Just let us know what you would like more of. We can get more dairy products, including milk, ricotta cheese, sour cream, goats milk, hard cheese and many different cuts of meat).
Enjoy!
Lisa, Lauren & Jacob
Hi Everyone,
The first CSA pickup is here! In December when we are figuring out the first pickup date, May 24 seemed so reasonable. But that was 2010. 2011 is a whole new ball game. Unless you’ve had your eyes glued to the internet trying to glean the truth about Fuk-us-hima (hima means a system of environmental protection in Islam) – I think our Mother of Nature has a very wicked sense of humor! – you may have noticed that we are having a very cool, wet spring. As Lauren said, “This is the first year we’ve had to plant in mud.” But despite the crazy weather (and it’s far worse in other parts of the country), we’ve still been able to get the seeds firmly in the ground. And despite our unenlightened decisions (how could any sane person think it’s a good idea to split atoms with radioactive by product lasting thousands of years just to boil water?), Mother Nature still spins our globe and the seasons come and the seeds sprout. Sometimes just a little later....
Included in the first week’s share:
red, white & yellow scallions (early onions)
fennel (see recipes)
sorrel (see recipes)
rhubarb
green garlic
baby spinach or lettuce
fall harvest potatoes (from the root cellar)
fall harvest onions (from the root cellar)
mint
We will also have local Jersey lettuce for sale, horseradish and extra rhubarb. Also available for sale this week:
local raw honey
jams & jellies
Amish butter
local organic flour – wheat, pastry & spelt
pickled organic beets
eggs
pastured ground pork
uncured smoked bacon (no nitrates)
pastured ground beef
organic yogurt
chevre
organic applesauce
(Note: We have limited quantities of items but can easily order more. Just let us know what you would like more of. We can get more dairy products, including milk, ricotta cheese, sour cream, goats milk, hard cheese and many different cuts of meat).
Enjoy!
Lisa, Lauren & Jacob
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Let's Ramble On
We've read the manual. We've gleaned your one-page instructions on the Williams Tool System. We've admited our abject failure as farmers and have promised to "work" with the WTS (dontja just love TLAs?). But all we want is some nice clean rows. Please let me spend $5K and get some of those...nice..clean..rows. The other farmers are laughing. I admit we are hack farmers. Well, not really farmers after all. Do I want it to look good? Or taste good? And the same goes for my children. Do I want them to look good? Or be the goods. It is hard for my husband which makes it hard for me. I am so confident except when I am not.
And here I am rambling on...because I too, and in the Band of Joy. And not so confident, really, at all, about me, my kids and my farm. But somehow it all works out. And it tastes really good!
And here I am rambling on...because I too, and in the Band of Joy. And not so confident, really, at all, about me, my kids and my farm. But somehow it all works out. And it tastes really good!
Dandelions..on and On
Hi Everyone,
Just when you think it's done, the sun comes out and shines, on and on. I'd recommend a great documentary http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com/2011/05/future-of-food.html but it's just too depressing. I think we all know what Monsanto is about or we wouldn't be doing what we are doing...growing vegetables or joining a CSA. We may be small, but we are mighty. Just ask a weedling. They may not look like much in a field. Oh, just a few. But they grow. In numbers and in strength. And then it's impossible to overcome them. The only time to defeat them is in the beginning. When they are just sprouting. Then it's easy to take the Williams Tool System (yes, there is always a defining system) and cull those little things. Those little white tendrils of roots laying in the sun to dry out. And it's over. But there are always more coming. And there are. For they are we. Always coming.
And so, we are coming. We are choosing. By our actions. By our wallets. By our commitment. Even when it's not so easy. Gosh, it's so easy to just walk in to any grocery store and buy anything...any vegetable...any time. But it's not so easy to join a CSA and just get a bag of vegetables each week and figure out what to do with them all. I am humbled by every check that we receive. But it fills me with hope. We may be a trickle right now -- less than 1% of the food supply -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SmZAJkPEPU but we will grow and they will try to fight us http://www.naturalnews.com/032357_FEMA_food_confiscation.html
but I don't think they'll win. And if they do, then it's done. And the sun comes out and shines, on and on. I'd recommend a great dandelion weed.
Just when you think it's done, the sun comes out and shines, on and on. I'd recommend a great documentary http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com/2011/05/future-of-food.html but it's just too depressing. I think we all know what Monsanto is about or we wouldn't be doing what we are doing...growing vegetables or joining a CSA. We may be small, but we are mighty. Just ask a weedling. They may not look like much in a field. Oh, just a few. But they grow. In numbers and in strength. And then it's impossible to overcome them. The only time to defeat them is in the beginning. When they are just sprouting. Then it's easy to take the Williams Tool System (yes, there is always a defining system) and cull those little things. Those little white tendrils of roots laying in the sun to dry out. And it's over. But there are always more coming. And there are. For they are we. Always coming.
And so, we are coming. We are choosing. By our actions. By our wallets. By our commitment. Even when it's not so easy. Gosh, it's so easy to just walk in to any grocery store and buy anything...any vegetable...any time. But it's not so easy to join a CSA and just get a bag of vegetables each week and figure out what to do with them all. I am humbled by every check that we receive. But it fills me with hope. We may be a trickle right now -- less than 1% of the food supply -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SmZAJkPEPU but we will grow and they will try to fight us http://www.naturalnews.com/032357_FEMA_food_confiscation.html
but I don't think they'll win. And if they do, then it's done. And the sun comes out and shines, on and on. I'd recommend a great dandelion weed.
May 8, 2011
Hi Everyone,
Thanks to everyone who has joined our CSA for 2011. We're are looking forward to another great year!
Despite the dire reports of shortages of food due to flooding, droughts, rising cost of petroleum, dare I say climate change? we still have been able to get a lot planted -- onions, leeks, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli (lots of it because it was requested), kale (the King of vegetables, at least in terms of nutrition), radishes (because they grow so well in the black dirt...the farm I volunteered on had an entire building that is still called to this day "The Radish House"), collard greens, Brussels sprouts (always a Capital vegetable), cilantro (my very favorite herb and not just because it detoxifies mercury (I used to play with mercury as a child, and no I'm not kidding (long story) and bok choy, carrots and sugar snap peas. And the overwintered vegetables are coming up...spinach, rhubarb, sorrel (sour grass), dandelion greens, scallions, lovage (oh? you don't know lovage? Lovage is an erect herbaceous perennial plant. (Thank you wikipedia). There's more...
"The leaves can be used in salads, or to make soup, and the roots can be eaten as a vegetable or grated for use in salads. Lovage tea can be applied to wounds as an antiseptic, or drunk to stimulate digestion. The seeds can be used as a spice, similar to fennel seeds.[4] In the UK, lovage cordial was traditionally mixed with brandy in the ratio of 2:1 as a winter drink. Lovage is second only to capers in its quercetin content."
Hey, what's not to love about lovage?
But all kidding aside, there is something to eating seasonally. There is a reason that the spring greens are so green and tonic. And there is something about looking forward to horseradish. This is the first year that they have taken "root" in my garden. And I have fallen in love. With horseradish!
This is also the first season that I have been affected by pollen -- and allergies...and horseradish is just the tonic. After digging it up in my garden and looking at a few youtube videos (ain't technology wonderful?) I washed it, peeled it, grated it, and cried and cried. (And this from someone who chopping onions never bothers me). But it did clean out my sinuses. And I made a wonderful creamy horseradish dip with sour cream (what's not to love about that?) and horseradish. It is divine! Just one spoonful is a rush.
And maybe that's enough. Just a few spoonfuls. So I now think of eating vegetables not servings per day but servings per season. How many servings of dandelion do you need a year? Well, just look out your window and see when they sprout. That's the time. For if you miss it, you'll have to wait an entire year to seize the day. And that's just too long.
So, we thank you for joining our CSA for this season. This season we will bring you whatever this season will bring. We will try to tame the wild weeds in whatever way we can to bring you the broccolis and cucumbers that we have come to expect from Shop Rite (because we must shop right musn't we?) and we will sneek in the weeds of the wild which often become our very favorite "vegetables."
(The first pickup is on Tuesday, May 24...more details in the next email).
Enjoy!
Lisa, Lauren & Jacob
P.S. The plants (for those who ordered them) will be arriving Tuesday, May 17. More details to follow.
Thanks to everyone who has joined our CSA for 2011. We're are looking forward to another great year!
Despite the dire reports of shortages of food due to flooding, droughts, rising cost of petroleum, dare I say climate change? we still have been able to get a lot planted -- onions, leeks, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli (lots of it because it was requested), kale (the King of vegetables, at least in terms of nutrition), radishes (because they grow so well in the black dirt...the farm I volunteered on had an entire building that is still called to this day "The Radish House"), collard greens, Brussels sprouts (always a Capital vegetable), cilantro (my very favorite herb and not just because it detoxifies mercury (I used to play with mercury as a child, and no I'm not kidding (long story) and bok choy, carrots and sugar snap peas. And the overwintered vegetables are coming up...spinach, rhubarb, sorrel (sour grass), dandelion greens, scallions, lovage (oh? you don't know lovage? Lovage is an erect herbaceous perennial plant. (Thank you wikipedia). There's more...
"The leaves can be used in salads, or to make soup, and the roots can be eaten as a vegetable or grated for use in salads. Lovage tea can be applied to wounds as an antiseptic, or drunk to stimulate digestion. The seeds can be used as a spice, similar to fennel seeds.[4] In the UK, lovage cordial was traditionally mixed with brandy in the ratio of 2:1 as a winter drink. Lovage is second only to capers in its quercetin content."
Hey, what's not to love about lovage?
But all kidding aside, there is something to eating seasonally. There is a reason that the spring greens are so green and tonic. And there is something about looking forward to horseradish. This is the first year that they have taken "root" in my garden. And I have fallen in love. With horseradish!
This is also the first season that I have been affected by pollen -- and allergies...and horseradish is just the tonic. After digging it up in my garden and looking at a few youtube videos (ain't technology wonderful?) I washed it, peeled it, grated it, and cried and cried. (And this from someone who chopping onions never bothers me). But it did clean out my sinuses. And I made a wonderful creamy horseradish dip with sour cream (what's not to love about that?) and horseradish. It is divine! Just one spoonful is a rush.
And maybe that's enough. Just a few spoonfuls. So I now think of eating vegetables not servings per day but servings per season. How many servings of dandelion do you need a year? Well, just look out your window and see when they sprout. That's the time. For if you miss it, you'll have to wait an entire year to seize the day. And that's just too long.
So, we thank you for joining our CSA for this season. This season we will bring you whatever this season will bring. We will try to tame the wild weeds in whatever way we can to bring you the broccolis and cucumbers that we have come to expect from Shop Rite (because we must shop right musn't we?) and we will sneek in the weeds of the wild which often become our very favorite "vegetables."
(The first pickup is on Tuesday, May 24...more details in the next email).
Enjoy!
Lisa, Lauren & Jacob
P.S. The plants (for those who ordered them) will be arriving Tuesday, May 17. More details to follow.
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