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

Feeding and Caring for a High Tunnel
This is our second spring where we have offered an extended season. I hope that you don't mind that it continues to be a learning experience. It has been interesting growing fresh produce in a man-made, semi-controlled environment. One big thing we have learned though, is that the soil has not being fed enough yet.

The soil in the high tunnel started out not much differently than a parking area. We had to cut and fill to create a somewhat raised and level bed that drained well. The growing area was driven and walked on creating a compact surface of topsoil and subsoil.

Two plantings of cover crops, compost, organic fertilizer and minerals are not yet enough to satisfy the high tunnel's appetite. Providing enough nutrients for both fall and spring crops is a challenge that time will help solve. We will continue to build up the soil and create a healthy environment for growing food.

Asparagus Carbonara
As pasta eaters we look for more ways than tomato sauce to enjoy it. Carbonara, a traditional combo of pasta, egg, cheese and bacon, is a perfect vehicle for vegetables too. Asparagus and gai lan are two examples of this.

Ingredients
1 lb of aparagus
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt

1 lb pasta, cooked
3 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
cracked pepper

Method
Trim any tough bottoms off the asparagus. Toss whole spears in a bowl with the olive oil, vinegar and salt. Broil until tender and browned, 10-15 minutes. When cool enough, chop into one inch pieces.

Mix the eggs, cheese and cracked pepper in a bowl. Toss with pasta while hot, add asparagus. Serve with garnish of garlic chives.

Gai Lan
One apparent success for the high tunnel has been the gai lan. Also known as Chinese broccoli, the idea for the vegetable came from Jan and Gary Glauberman. We tried growing it numerous times over the past 3 or 4 years, but have never seen it thrive.

This year, however, we have some beautiful plants. We are trialing this planting, so we will make sure everyone gets some to try. We like it when the members like something we can grow well. And it is a delicious vegetable.

In the Share Extended Season - Week 1

LETTUCE (2)  We will be picking the lettuce heads in the morning, but it looks like everyone will get one butterhead and one red frilly leaf lettuce.

ASPARAGUS  The asparagus kicked back into gear after last week's frost just in time for us all to enjoy.

SPINACH  This is from the over-wintered patch and includes some massive leaves, so be prepared.

CARROTS  These are juicy carrots freshly dug. 

SWISS CHARD  The plants are very large and quite delicious. 

GREEN ONIONS  We have some over-wintered bunching onions that are nice out in the fields.

HERB CHOICE  Cilantro, dill  or garlic chives.

EGGS  (1 dozen)  Our flock is now 8 months old and cranking out the eggs. See Tom's post for a one of our favorite fast foods, frittata.

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, asparagus, green garlic, Spring turnips, bok choy, herb choice.

The first week of the 2014 Fair Share Farm CSA season is here!  For the next 31 weeks we endeavor to feed you well.  Our work takes place in the out of doors and crazy weather is known to happen in our region, but we work hard every day to minimize the risks and take care of the trust that has been given. 

Every Tuesday night, I (Rebecca ) list what is in the share for that week and give a farm report with some photos.  Tom posts at around the same time with helpful thoughts on unusual vegetables and recipes using items from the share. 

 
The week started with the harvest of the high tunnel carrots.  This is our second Spring harvesting out of the HT and we don't feel like we have it all figured out yet.  The carrots are juicy and good-tasting, but we graded out a fair amount of split ones.  Still, we have enough nice ones that we plan to put them in the extended season shares again in two weeks. 

The farm crew spent the better part of the past two days cleaning and preparing the wash and pack area for the harvest.  Washing the hundreds of crates that we use takes a huge effort.  Inside the packing room, the coolers are clean and running smoothly with the CSA crates already starting to fill them. 

 While the farmers were washing everything in sight, the crops kept working without us.  Converting solar energy into good things to eat is what they do, but it is easy to worry about their success.  After some nervous anticipation, the seed potatoes have finally popped their first shoots up above the soil.  A big hurdle passed for the potatoes and a good omen for the season ahead. 

 

Our mantra every year is this:  best year yet!  Let it be so...  

What to Do With Your Share - Extended Season Week 1

Welcome to all, old and new. The harvest season is beginning. We look forward to an exciting 31 straight weeks of providing you with sustenance courtesy of the soil at Fair Share Farm. It is a challenge that we enjoy, one filled with awesome perks and the opportunity to participate in modern organic farming.

One such perk has been a surplus of eggs for the household. They are a good source of protein and help us maintain strength throughout the day. An afternoon snack of a hard-boiled egg with Worcestershire sauce can really help.



Frittatas

With us, eggs for dinner often takes the form of a frittata. Essentially, a crust-less quiche, it is simple and versatile. This first week's share is made for this dish. Asparagus, chard, spinach, and herbs all go great with eggs.

Asparagus and Chard Frittata

1/2 lb. asparagus
4 large chard leaves
1 green onion
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 to 2 cups grated cheese
1-1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt

Clean and chop the chard, green onion and asparagus. Sauté the chard in the olive oil and butter for 5 minutes over medium heat in an oven-proof pan. Add the salt, green onions and asparagus and cook 3 more minutes.

Beat the eggs and milk. Add half the cheese to the eggs, stir, and then pour into the pan with the vegetables. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. The eggs should be cooked around the edges of the pan, and the center will still be soft.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and place in the broiler for 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Extended Season Begins Next Week

Next week begins the 2014 extended CSA season.  For the next 31 weeks we endeavor to feed the community from our fields.  Our best guess for the first share is lettuce, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, carrots, asparagus, green onions and a choice of herbs. 

We also plan to give each extended season share a dozen eggs (if you do not eat eggs, let us know and we will substitute with something else.) It was not the plan to include eggs in the shares, but we are doing it this once because we feel that some of the share items will be smaller than we would like. Such has been this cold starting spring (see last post), and our high tunnel growing learning curve.

If you would like additional eggs they are $5.00/ dozen. Email us with an order and they will be delivered to distribution for you (while current supplies last).

The normal Spring routine of plant, mulch, cover was tested this morning with a low temp. of 24.8 deg. F. 

A heavy frost covered most of the fields.  It seems all survived intact thanks to the row cover.  The perennial crops like the strawberries can handle the frost better and looked fine once the frost melted.

The greenhouse is filling with peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. We are hoping to squeeze the last of the cool-weather crops out to the fields by the end of the week. 

Cold Spring Start

The sun is out today and it looks like we will be having above freezing nighttime temperatures for awhile. A welcome relief here as we are itching to begin transplanting in the field in earnest. The greenhouse and cold frame are full, and we need to get these plants into the ground.

cabbage, broccoli and more

While we have had some minor germination problems, we are very happy with the greenhouse plants this spring. We make our own potting soil that is 50% compost. We believe that the plants should get their food out of this mix, just as they will be fed by the soil once they are in the field. The color of the plants is a good indication of how well they are doing, and right now they look vibrant and beautiful.

growing chard

To date in the field we have planted 1,200 row feet each of peas, carrots, beets and onions, 600 row feet of spinach, and 1,600 of potatoes. All this while the soil is still a bit cooler than we want. The graph below shows that we have yet to reach the comfort zone of 50-60 deg F. What is in the ground now can handle it, but we do not want to put the cabbage and broccoli out yet as chilling the young plants can be detrimental.

 

planting potatoes

Meanwhile the chickens seem quite happy. Our 53 hens (thought we only bought 50!?) are laying over 40 eggs per day. They were recently moved out near the orchard and are enjoying the spring grass coming up, and the bugs in the wood mulch at the base of the trees. It is nice to have some E-I-E-I-O on the farm.

Sunrise

Fair Share Farm Awarded SARE Grant

After applying for a grant and waiting 4 months it is nice to open a letter that begins with the word "Congratulations!" So your CSA farmers will begin work on our project (deep breath) "Cover Crop-based Reduced Tillage for Fall Production of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli Using a Roller-Crimper and No-Till Planting Aid."

The grant will help us pay for the equipment necessary to implement this farming system, as well as provide funds for consultation by reduced tillage expert Dr. Ron Morse of Virginia Tech University. And as SARE (a USDA funded program) stands for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education it will also fund us to provide farm tours and outreach so that other farmers can benefit from our demonstration of these techniques.

As the year progresses we will keep you up to date. Our first step is to build the no-till planting aid, or NTPA. We have disassembled an old two-bottom plow and are working on re-assembling it into the NTPA with Ron's help. There are still a few missing parts which we plan to purchase soon and get Step 1 completed.

Old toolbar ready to become a NTPA

Next step is to spec out and find a new tractor and grain drill, as well as purchase the roller-crimper. Meanwhile, the cover crops are waking up from their winter sleep and by May will be ready for roll down. We are looking forward to an exciting year.

Over the Winter Hump

Nothing like starting the growing season with record low temperatures. March 3 was the coldest day recorded ever for the month of March with a high temperature at only 5 deg. F. That was a warm up from the -7 deg. F that began the day. We spent March 2 doing all we could to make sure that the tender seedlings in the greenhouse and high tunnel were well-protected. It is times like these that the passive solar design of the greenhouse really shines. There were no casualties reported.



The high tunnel survives

Onions in the greenhouse

Lettuce to plant in the high tunnel

And as the sun gets stronger and higher in the sky the plants are indeed responding. The next big benchmark will be when the soil warms to the point where we can seed outside. Last year the peas went in the ground on March 15th. This year's crop will probably go in a bit later.

Also in the field are our biennial and perennial crops. We have yet to see the over 3,000 bulbs of garlic we planted peak out of the straw mulch, but expect to see them soon. Our overwintered leeks have completely died back after many a sub-zero night. We shall see how they do. And in a month we expect to be pulling back the straw from the strawberry plants. If this is a normal year we will be picking them in less than three months.

The farm crew is beginning to take shape. Dustin Bergman will start his farm apprenticeship on March 31.  We look forward to sharing our experience with the next generation of organic farmers.  If you know of anyone wanting to learn the ropes, send them our way.  We are still looking for a second apprentice. In the meantime, we've hired neighbors and friends, Linda and Jody, to work part-time with greenhouse and high tunnel work.  We are still looking for a full-time employee but for now they are picking up the slack.

Feeding oat seedlings to the hens (& 1 rooster)

The chickens are happy and have started laying. They are laying up to two dozen eggs per day, and they should be at three dozen soon. If you want eggs we have them for sale here at the farm. They are small to medium sized at the moment and are going for $4/dozen. Once the eggs are larger a dozen will go for $5.  They eat only organic, non-GMO feed along with the vegetable scraps we give them and all the bugs they can find.

Winter is almost over.  We won't miss the frigid temperatures, but we do enjoy seeing the signs of wildlife in the snow.  Our farm is not just ours, but belongs to many creatures great and small.

Wild birds hopping in circles