In the Share: Week 2 Extended Season

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE  the first of hopefully many more.

RED LEAF OR ROMAINE LETTUCE ditto

RADISHES AND TURNIPS  the first round of pulling these, next week they'll be bigger.

CARROTS  From our patch that we overwintered growing in the high tunnel.

PEA SHOOTS  Its the first time we have ever grown these.  There is just a small bundle for each share.  Let us know what you think.  See Tom's post for more info.

BOK CHOY  See Tom's post for tips on stir-fry

ASPARAGUS OR SPINACH  Sorry to say, the asparagus patch is still not giving us much to work with.  We are hoping for an improvement soon, but in the meantime there is some luscious spinach from the fields and high tunnel.

ARUGULA, KALE OR SWISS CHARD  Eat your greens!

HERBS  Cilantro & dill

GREEN GARLIC  Like a green onion, a green garlic is the whole plant pulled when young. 

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, greens, radishes and turnips, green onions, herbs and asparagus.

FARM REPORT:
All of the Spring crops are in the ground and are off to a good start.  Tending to them is our focus this week before we things get busy with the planting of the summer crops. 

The onions we started in the greenhouse back in January have been in the ground for over a month now. 

You can see the organic matter leftover from last summer's cover crop of sorghum sudan grass and sunhemp still visible on the surface.  Farmers like to call this residue "trash", as in "the trash gummed up the equipment".  I can be known to complain about it when I plant the first carrots of the season, however, the plants that feed us do very well thanks to the nutrients that our cover crops provide.  This year's soil test shows a dramatic increase in the organic matter in our soil which is now between 4 and 5 %, up from 2-3 a few years back.  Doesn't sound like a lot, but a doubling of organic matter is significant.  Some prairie soils are up around 7%.

The first CSA workers came out last week and joined us in our work.  The harvest goes quick with just 20-30 shares per morning, and we had lots of time for other tasks.  The sugarsnap peas got mulched and fenced in between rain showers on Saturday.

Others made row cover pins in the new workshop. 

 

Tom and I feel incredibly fortunate to have the support from our community.  Our family farm benefits from everyone's participation in our work.  We hope that our members look forward to their farm shifts as much as we do.  Thank you!