In the Share: Week 31

SPINACH  Big, dark green leaves have grown back nicely from our picking two weeks ago.

LETTUCE  The last of the lettuce from the high tunnel, mostly red-leaf.

CARROTS AND BEETS  A bag with a bunch of each.

FRISEE ENDIVE  From the high tunnel

CHARD, KALE OR BOK CHOY 

SWEET POTATOES  O'Henry white ones this week.

BABY LEEKS  We had to turn under our leeks this Spring after the deluge left them waist-high in the weeds.  We re-planted but they just didn't have enough time to size-up. 

GREEN GARLIC  From the high tunnel, some fresh garlic plants.

NEXT WEEK:  You are on your own for the winter.  We invite you to visit us and your local producers at the Bad Seed Market every Friday to get your fill of produce, proteins and ferments.

FARM REPORT:
Here we are in the final week of the 2015 CSA season.  The last of the carrots are out of the ground thanks to the efforts of the Saturday CSA crew.

I would be lying if I said we weren't happy to see the last of the crops come out of the field and the last CSA shares packed.  2015 was a real doozie that we hope to never see its equal.  According to the old-timers in our area, the amount of rain that came down in early summer was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  We sincerely hope so!

We are incredibly lucky to have such an understanding group of folks who support us.  This past Saturday, the Core Group met and reviewed the results of the member survey.  I will be sending out an email that goes into greater depth on the survey responses, but until then know that your comments and suggestions were taken to heart and will inform our decisions this winter as we plan for 2016 and beyond.

Your farmers don't hibernate much in winter.  In addition to working on the barn, repairing equipment, planning for next year and caring for the chickens, Tom and I will be selling our fermented foods at the Bad Seed Market most Fridays from now through February.  We not only sell our products there, it is where we shop so that we can eat local year-round.  This Friday is the double-sized pre-Thanksgiving Extravaganza, where you can get everything you need for the big feast.  Hope to see you there!

The next day (Saturday, 11/21), while Tom stays at the farm to welcome the last CSA crew of the year, I will be just down the street from the Bad Seed at the first ever KC Food Circle Holiday Market (1522 Holmes, 9am - 6pm).  It should be a fun event as it is a combination farmers market with KC Food Circle farmers like us plus crafty people and businesses who use sustainable, local materials.  Go local this holiday season!

What to Do With Your Share---Week 31

Last week of the season. Thanks for sticking with us this year. We hope that the extended season has provided a bounty to you, as we feel the high tunnel has performed well and produced a generous amount of nutritious veggies.

We will be down at the Bad Seed Holiday Market on Friday (4-9pm), so come by and stock up for Thanksgiving week with some fine ferments from the farm, and the many goodies that other vendors will have. One such item, which compliments the share quite well, is chestnuts.

Back in the 1990's I bought an excellent cookbook---Cooking at the Academy, from the California Culinary Academy. One recipe I was especially interested in was the Chestnut and Carrot Soup. I modified it a bit to fit what I had at hand and you can too. You can't go wrong with a creamy soup with chestnuts, carrots, onion, potato and/or sweet potatoes. Quite elegant.

Ingredients:
1 lb carrots
2 medium onions
1 lb chestnuts
1 lb sweet potato or white potato
1-1/2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup half & half
salt to taste
3 tbsp. olive oil
Dill or parsley for garnish

Method:
1. To peel the chestnuts first cut an "x" in them and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the shell starts to "peel open." Peel the chestnuts and chop them into quarters.

2. Clean and coarsely chop the other vegetables. For a more refined soup you should peel the potatoes.
3. Heat oil in a heavy 3 quart saucepan over moderate heat. Add onions and carrots and sweat for 1 to 2 minutes or until onions are transparent.
4. Add the potato and chestnuts and sauté for 2 minutes.
5. Add stock and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

6. Puree mixture with an immersion blender or in a food processor.  Lightly whisk the half & half into the soup to lighten the texture and extend the volume. You can also add water or stock to thin out the soup if desired.

7.  Top with sour cream, yogurt or crème fraiche and garnish with fresh chopped herbs.

In the Share - Week 30

KOHLRABI  We ate one today just snacking while we worked and we found it to be crunchy and juicy.

LETTUCE  Mostly red-leaf lettuce this week.  Everyone gets two.
TAT SOI  Bok choy's dark green cousin. 

CARROTS  Chantennay - type are fat and pointy

RADISHES  High tunnel radishes are so mild and juicy. 

CABBAGE  Small heads just the right size for a cole slaw.  See Tom's post for several slaw recipes.

CHARD, KALE OR GAI LAN Your choice of greens.

HERB CHOICE  cilantro, dill or dried herbs or dried peppers

NEXT WEEK:  lettuce, sweet potatoes, leeks, spinach, endive and turnips

FARM REPORT: 
The planting of next year's garlic crop went well this week.  6,000 cloves were planted for the main crop, plus several hundred more for greens. 

The soil hasn't been the same since the summer deluge and the work was slowed by the need to remove cobbles of soil from the planting row.  We are counting on the winter freeze-thaw activity to soften the soil in time for Spring.  That is if winter ever comes. . .

Yes I am daring winter to come!  It is time for some cold, rainy days to soak the ground and chill the air.  The task of mulching is best performed on a cold day when you can wear layers to protect yourself.  Saturday morning was chilly enough to provide pretty favorable conditions.   

What to Do With Your Share---Week 30

With the warm weather lately the farm has been greening up. We have been able to do a lot of work in the fields in preparation for spring. It has been nice weather to tidy up and check this important job off the list. If we take care of business now we can get to a time when we have no need to go out into the fields and we can both rest.

For now there are still a few goodies out there though, like carrots and cabbage. With some fresh  radish, kohlrabi and dill you have about as fresh a slaw as is possible. There are recipes from our blog and newsletters here, here, here and here.We hope that you take advantage of this tasty combo. 

One nice thing about a fall like this is that we get some time to hike around. On Sunday we went to the Crooked River, east of the farm on the way to Richmond. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the hike is through interesting terrain.

 

A couple of highlights include multiple beaver evidence and a very old bridge. The soil would be great for vegetables.

What to Do With Your Share---Post-Season Week 2

While things are blue all over town, they are green here. The high tunnel is growing well and there are still some nice vegetables out in the field thanks to the mild fall. The weather has been pretty spectacular over the last month or so.

One thing we are doing right now is prepping for the winter by stocking up. This includes roasting cloves of garlic. We are in the middle of garlic planting right now and the cloves that are not perfect enough for planting are waiting to be used. If you are overstocked right now, you may be in a similar situation

Garlic roasting is easy, and warms the house with a wonderful aroma. Peel the cloves and trim off the root ends, wet them with olive oil,  put into a covered baking dish, and roast in the oven at 425 deg F for about 45 minutes. Let them cool and then pop them in a freezer bag whole, or puree and freeze. They are a great addition to soups, spreads, pizza or whatever you want.

As we finish our pepper harvest and prepare to mow down the plants, we coaxed one more harvest of the Numex Suave Orange. Along with great taste, they are a quite beautiful plant, and one we want to keep growing. A choice this week, these habanero-shaped peppers are much milder than those hotties, and are a nice addition to any meal that needs just a little spice. Let us know what you think.

Dawn's early light on the farm

In the Share - Week 29

RADICCHIO  This is our second year trying these beauties.  They are yummy in a salad.

HEAD LETTUCE  butterheads and red leaf varieties

SALAD MIX  We had some empty space in the high tunnel, so we broadcasted our leftover lettuce seed.  It grew nicely and we have enough to share.

TURNIPS  Hakureis from the high tunnel.

SWEET POTATOES 

BOK CHOY  These got pretty large in the high tunnel.

GARLIC, DILL OR HOT PEPPERS 

SWEET PEPPERS  The cold weather has held off so here is one more round of green and ripe peppers.

SWISS CHARD OR GAI LAN/BROCCOLI  Broccoli leaves are the new "kale" according to some reports.  I think they mean Gai lan or "Chinese broccoli" which grows into a small shrub and has tender leaves.

NEXT WEEK:  lettuce, spinach, carrot, herbs, radishes and greens.

FARM REPORT:
We have been enjoying the farm's post-season during the day and the Royals post-season at night.  What a team!  What a fun time for Kansas City and the surrounding community!  I hope that the good feelings of togetherness and team spirit continue on after today and permeate other part of our lives. 

The weather is the other local story.  It has been unseasonably warm and mild:  perfect weather for parade-watching or garlic planting.  We did the later this afternoon and hope to have it complete in time for the CSA members on Saturday to mulch all 6,000 cloves.

Most of the harvests are coming out of the high tunnel now.  Things look good overall with lots of greens and roots for the extended season.   We don't grow salad mix very often but it filled in nicely in a space where we wanted lettuce quick.  You might notice a prickly lettuce imposter trying to hide in the salad mix.  He died shortly after this photograph was taken.

 

In the Share: Week 28

lacewing on the lettuce

LETTUCE  blushed butter oaks.  Lacewings eat aphids which can sometimes be a pest in protected environments like the high tunnel.  It is nice to see our beneficial friends.

ARUGULA  big leaves from the high tunnel.

RADISHES  sweet red ones from the high tunnel

BROCCOLI/GAI LAN  the bunches will include both - stems, leaves, buds are all edible.

SPINACH the first pick from the high tunnel

CILANTRO  big plants are thriving in the high tunnel

TOKYO BEKANA  This is a new one for all of us.  Similar to Napa cabbage but more open.  It grew pretty large, so plan on some stir fry or coleslaw soon in your future. 

BULB FENNEL  from the field.

POTATOES choice of Desiree or Fingerling varieties

NEXT WEEK:  lettuce, carrots, greens, herbs, garlic

FARM REPORT:

Once again post-season baseball for our hometown team, the Kansas City Royals, coincides with our post-season.  The extended season for 53 shares starts this week with greens from the high tunnel, fennel and broccoli from the field and potatoes from storage. 

The farm has been a quiet place these past few days.  The employees and apprentices finished their season on Saturday. Before they left, we built a big raised bed with old stones from the barn.  After the deluge we experienced this summer, raised beds seem like a safe bet. 

Royal blue skies

 

What to Do With Your Share---Post Season Week 1

This week we start harvesting from the high tunnel. It is very difficult to schedule peak harvest times for the vegetables we grow, and sometimes we let things keep growing if they are happy. The Tokoyo Bekana is listed in the seed catalog as a miniature Chinese cabbage but will be about the biggest thing in your share. It's great when things thrive.

We've been using it up in the stir fries.  We have made it two ways recently.  One is with Parker Farms pork sausage rolled into mini-meatballs that have been browned and added to the dish. The other uses their sirloin strip. Marinate the strip in sesame seed oil, rice wine vinegar and garlic before broiling for about 20 minutes (turning once). Let it rest, cut into strips and add to the stir fry.

Stir fry with pork sausage

Out in the fields we have been preparing the ground for next year. We started putting down cover crops wherever we could once the rains stopped this summer, and they have done quite well, growing into a significant plant mass. Yesterday I started chopping them down in preparation for the rain and some subsequent tilling.

mowed cover crops

In the Share - Week 24

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  Everyone gets a bag from the last haul out of the fields.

LETTUCE F/P  butterhead or red leaf

ESCAROLE F  See Tom's post about it and it's starring role in the Outstanding in the Field dinner.

GREENS CHOICE F/P  Gai lan or bok choy.  The choice for the partial shares include escarole.

ROOT MIX F  A bag of beets, carrots, turnips and whatever else we can glean from the fields tomorrow.

HERB CHOICE F/P  hot peppers, chives, thyme, sage or dill.

GARLIC F  We had more garlic than we thought, so here's an extra dose.  It should keep well into winter if kept cool and dry.

TOMATOES F  A mixture of ripe, ripening and green tomatoes.  The last of the season.

BROCCOLI P  We have a small harvest this week, just enough for the partial shares.

SWEET POTATOES F/P   choice of white or orange.

NEXT WEEK:  The fall extended season begins with harvests from the high tunnel: lettuce, greens and roots plus some items held over like potatoes and onions.

FARM REPORT:
This week your farmers got a off-farm break for the first time since March.  The Outstanding in the Field dinner started the fun on Wednesday. 

Linda Hezel, from Prairie Birthday farm, began with a toast.

By Saturday afternoon, we were driving south to Fort Scott, one of our nation's military outposts on  "the permanent Indian frontier" as it was considered to be back in 1842.

Heading home on Monday we hiked through the tallgrass prairie at the Mine Creek Civil War battle site near Pleasanton, Kansas. 

Now here it is Tuesday and we are faced with the last week of the 24-week CSA season.  For many this is goodbye for the year.  A hearty hug of appreciation is sent to all of you who weathered 2015 with us!  Community Supported Agriculture kept our farm afloat through pretty tough weather conditions this year and we cannot thank you all enough.

Despite a year's worth of rain in two months and then no rain for two months, we have somehow managed to continue to find crops to harvest each week.  From our varied crop list (about 40 in total) we lost many but were surprised by others that survived and even thrived.  The carrots rotted but we had one of our best harvests of white potatoes ever - over a ton in total.  The peppers, eggplant and okra rebounded from the rains and produced a bounty of fruits.

A special thanks go to Megan McQueen and Semra Fetahovic who apprenticed at the farm this season.  They started back at the end of March and seven months later, 44 hours a week, they have successfully completed a job well done.  Best wishes to them both!

And thank you to all who participated in the success of another season.  To steal a phrase, it takes a community to raise a farm!!!

Saturday morning CSA members dismantling the cherry tomatoes

What to Do With Your Share---Week 24

Here it is, the last week of the regular season. Thanks for having the farm and its partner vendors be one of the main sources of  your food this year. We do what we do because we know that the nutritional value of food is fundamentally important. We appreciate the opportunity to live and work in the middle of it all.

The sweet potatoes are being used up fast, and we want to make sure the membership gets all we have left. So this week you will be seeing some No. 2's in the share. Trimmed up from damage in the field, we let these tubers cure and heal over. Enjoy this resilient and tasty vegetable.

Another thing with the sweet potatoes is that some of them are jumbos. They look intimidating, but if you just think of them as a winter squash you can find plenty of uses for them.

The escarole has grown as good as anything lately, and is a hearty part of a good salad. Chef Ted Habiger and his crew from Room 39 featured these greens in the first course at last week's Outstanding in the Field dinner. Poached FSF eggs were a nice touch.

Our day off the farm at Ft. Scott, Kansas was a quite enjoyable one. Learning more about our area's flora, fauna, food and history is always fun. The poor eating habits of the US Army in the 1840's was news to me, but shows the real effect of vitamin deficiency. The reconstructed dragoon barrack's kitchen showed the past dependency on barrels, crocks and sacks. It is a beautiful room reminiscent of a Shaker building.

 

In the Share - Week 23

CARROTS F/P  Finally we have carrots to harvest after an unusually long hiatus throughout the summer. Most of the spring crop rotted in the ground, making these darling roots really a pleasant sight.

SWEET POTATOES F/P  Orange ones this week.

TOMATO F  Just a few left.  Frost may come on Saturday.

BROCCOLI P The last of the crop except a few side shoots

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  Mostly green peppers for you as we prepare to bring them all in before frost.

EGGPLANT F Just one small one for the full shares.

LETTUCE F/P  Butterhead or red leaf

GREENS CHOICE F  Bok choy, Swiss chard or Gai lan.

HERB CHOICE F/P  Cilantro, dill, rosemary, thyme or hot peppers

FENNEL OR KOHLRABI F Anise or broccoli flavored bulbs

GARLIC F/P  The last garlic for the 24-week CSA shares.

NEXT WEEK:  Sweet potatoes, greens, peppers, green tomatoes, carrots and beets

FARM REPORT:
The weather has turned exceptionally dry these past weeks.  No rain is good for the Outstanding in the Field dinner tomorrow night and good for the farm crew.  The irrigation pond has plenty of water so we continue to irrigate the few crops that remain in the fields. 

The 2-month old chicks are enjoying the warm weather and their expanded area in which to forage.  On Monday, we took away their "run" that had confined them to a chicken wire-enclosed area and set them free in the yard surrounded by electro-netting. As soon as the door opened they started exploring their new range and learning about electrified fencing. 

 

 

Each chick in turn would walk through the fence with a jolt and then rush back in a few seconds later.  This was a moment where we benefited from not having a dog around while each of the 60 chicks had an educational moment.  Two days later they seem to have learned the limits of their new space and are happily hunting for bugs and chasing each other, wings flapping.

What to Do With Your Share---Week 23

As the harvest season winds down we enjoy the mix of vegetables the fall brings us. We have been eating up the sweet potatoes like candy. We are lucky to be able to enjoy the small ones that are too tiny to put in the shares that roast up as little sweet potato fingers. Looking at our Facebook page, it appears that sweet potato fries are happening in many of our CSA member households. Hopefully we will see the recipe mentioned for sweet potato chips in a future post.

The brassicas are a nice compliment to the roots in the shares. We love to stir fry this time of year---greens, broccoli, gai lan, peppers, hot peppers, turnips, they all bring so much flavor to a meal. Take member Emily Akins advice and try some bok choy soup. Her many efforts and local food experiences landed her on the radio last week talking about how our CSA and local farming in general is one of the steps we can all take to shape a more sustainable future.

And as the frost potential heightens, we look to emptying the fields of the hot peppers. They remain on the bulk list and we suggest getting them while you can. It is so simple to broil them for 15 minutes or so (turning once) and enjoy them whole. The Hungarian hot wax and jalapenos pack some punch while the NuMex are a bit milder. Their flavor is great.

In the Share - Week 22

O'HENRY SWEET POTATOES F/P  We love these sweet buttery beauties.

BROCCOLI F  A short harvest this time around.  We will get some to the partials next week. 

LETTUCE P  So, we had a little break-in with a deer last week, hence the paltry supply of lettuce.  We have the area they didn't find well-covered now and hope to have more lettuce for you all before the end of the season. 

SMALL CABBAGE F  Read all about our stellar fall cabbage crop below.

BOK CHOY  F  I recommend stir-fry with the hakureis.

SWEET PEPPER F/P  Cooler temperatures means less ripening, so expect more green and purple ones from now on.

EGGPLANT or BEETS F/P The first of the fall beets (no tops, just roots) and nearing the end of the eggplant.

HAKUREI TURNIPS F/P  Salad turnips that we rarely cook and instead prefer straight out of the field.  Exception:  stir-fry with bok choy.

TOMATOES F/P The end of tomato season is coming soon, but here's a few more.

HERB CHOICE F Sage, cilantro, dill or hot peppers

NEXT WEEK:  Sweet potatoes, carrots (finally!), tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, garlic, broccoli, lettuce, greens and herbs.


FARM REPORT:

The small cabbages that are in the full shares this week are the best of the fall crop.  Our favorite fall vegetable, the one we hope to depend on for income in our old age, failed.  At the time that we planted them we knew we were taking a risk.  We had waited as long as we could before preparing the soil for planting.  After the seemingly never-ending rain, we didn't know if we would have another chance.  We ended up with cloddy soil, but we were able to get the plants in and thought the transplants would be able to handle it.  Two months later it is clear that no such handling took place.  A good half-acre of crop including cauliflower, broccoli, turnips and radishes- is a bust.  Luckily we planted in other areas after the soil conditions had improved so that we have enough of other crops to get us through the end of the CSA season. 

On a brighter note, we put the roof back on the high tunnel this week.  It was a team effort and a success.  See Tom's post for a view from the top. 

What to Do With Your Share---Week 22

It's been a nice start to sweet potato season. The orange Beauregard's are out of the ground and hit the shares last week. This week we hand out the cream-colored O'Henry's. They are one of the three varieties of organic sweet potato starts that Kansas State grows each year for sale. They are truly delicious baked, mashed or fried. A favorite of mine is white sweet potato soup.

I got a chance to have an elevated view of the home field this week while attaching plastic to the high tunnel peak. We are glad to be able to see a view with cover crops and chickens in it. These areas are getting prepped for the coming year and revived after a tough season.

In the Share - Week 21

KOHLRABI P

SWEET POTATOES F/P

SWEET PEPPERS F/P

TOMATOES F/P

EGGPLANT F/P

HERB CHOICE F  Sage, cilantro or dill

GREENS CHOICE F  Swiss chard, kale, gai lan, or bok choy

LETTUCE and/or FRISEE F/P  The frisee makes a nice little salad.

GARLIC F/P  Partial shares get a choice of garlic or herbs.

ROMA GREEN BEANS F  The last week of these guys.

NEXT WEEK:  Peppers, eggplant, greens, turnips, beets, green tomatoes and sweet potatoes

FARM REPORT:
Autumn is here and we welcome its arrival.  After an especially eventful growing season, your farmers are looking forward to a winter rest.  But, we are not there yet!  Much lovely fall crops must be harvested, brought in for storage or protected outdoors.  The high tunnel is ready for its hat to go back on for the wintertime.  We planted it full of greens back in early September.  It is nice to keep the plastic off of its top and ends for as long as possible to avoid overheating the plants inside, but it needs to be buttoned up before the first frost.

Out in the fields have a nice blanket of various cover crops that Tom sowed in late July.  Sorghum Sudan grass, cowpeas, mung beans and oats cover the Spring fields.  These plants growing now are next year's fertility.

 

Speaking of out in the fields, "Outstanding in the Field" is returning to our farm on October 14th.  Chef Ted Habiger from Room 39 in KCMO will be feeding us multiple courses of local delights from our farm and others in the region.  Event details and tickets are here.

What to Do With Your Share---Week 21

What an enjoyable time the weather has been the last few weeks. We have been fortunate that the last 70 days have been so much better than the previous. At one point we did not know if we would even have any peppers or eggplant, but things turned around. It was great to see such resiliency in the plants and are further refining the varieties we grow based on what did well.

Another sign that it became a warm summer are sweet potatoes. We have harvested about half of them, and they will be in the shares starting this week. My go-to recipe for these nutritious tubers is as spiced wedges. Sweet potatoes are quite savory if you let them be.

Sage is in prime condition right now, and it is perfectly matched to the sweet potatoes. It is another example of the savory nature they have. Our post from September 2011 talks about this and many other facts about sweet potatoes.

In the Share - Week 20

GAI LAN AND BOK CHOY F/P  Bunches for stir-fry

TOMATOES F/P  The last good week of tomatoes is upon us.

ROMA BEANS F/P  Tom has a recipe for green beans and tomatoes in his post.

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  More sweet bells and horn-shaped sweeties.

EGGPLANT F

KOHLRABI F  The first of the fall crop.  Peel well and enjoy raw or lightly cooked.

CILANTRO, DILL OR ARUGULA F/P

NEXT WEEK:  Peppers, greens, eggplant, sweet potatoes, lettuce and kohlrabi. 

FARM REPORT:
First, an update from week 16 regarding our flock of 60 chicks.  They are over a month old now and have moved to a coop in the fields.  They are very energetic and healthy little girls.  They stay in a protected run when they are outside to keep them safe from hawks, etc.  Every few days we pull the coop down the bed so that they get fresh grass.  The love to eat anything green that we can throw at them.  Today they got some bok choy leaves that didn't make the cut for the CSA. 

Meanwhile the 2-yr. old flock got a new patch of weeds to work on today.  They are happily stripping off the seeds of the annual grasses that are such a nuisance for us. 

What to Do With Your Share---Week 20

There have been some glorious days over the past week. The weather has included lots of sunshine and fair conditions. Riding the weather through the year has its good days, and they are a real treat to experience.

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful dish I found on my FB feed from Seeds from Italy. It led to a recipe for Italian Flat Beans and Fresh Tomatoes. Beans, tomatoes, garlic, oil and salt are all that you need. We put them over rice we had melted some Goatsbeard cheese into. As good as it sounds.

Most of the braising greens bunches this week have some gai lan in the mix. Remember from our post of May 26 this year that you can chop the whole thing...leaves, buds and stems. We hope to learn more every year about how to grow and harvest this great vegetable. It has a lot of potential.

In the Share - Week 19

 TOMATOES F/P  We have picked the majority of the patch and many of the late summer hybrids are ripening nicely. 

LETTUCE F/P  Dainty, speckled heads.

ROMA BEANS F/P

FINGERLING POTATOES F/P  See Tom's post for these gourmet treats.

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  Tom talks potatoes and peppers this week.

GARLIC F/P  Essential for the above combo and also a star ingredient in the tomato and lettuce salad we had for dinner. 

EGGPLANT, SALSA PACK OR OKRA F

HERB CHOICE F  Cilantro, dill or arugula

STIR FRY GREENS F  A mix of bok choy, tat soi and gai lan.

NEXT WEEK:  tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra, salsa packs, greens and kohlrabi.

FARM REPORT:
Tom and I had a fun time at the potluck at the farm on Sunday.  The hayride was a hit,  the food was delicious, the kids played and the adults got in some good conversation over microbrews.

We were touched by the CSA's gift of a commemorative stone in memory of our dear dog, Rocky.  At the time, I was so intent on not crying that I didn't pay attention to the card attached.  Inside there was $135 to be donated to the Veggie Voucher Fund in Rocky's honor.  I can think of no better way to remember his good nature than to help our members in affording their CSA share.

A big thank you to all the folks who donated your resources and creative energy towards making the potluck a real community event.

 

With the party over, we were back to work on Monday with the planting of the high tunnel first on the list.  Lettuces, radishes, gai lan, chard, endive, arugula, bok choy, herbs and tat soi were added to the spinach and hakurei turnips that we planted earlier.  By the end of the day we were watering them all in with the drip irrigation.