What to Do With Your Share---Week 10

Right now we are in the midst of the best eggplant harvest we have seen on the farm. The fruit of this solenaceae beauty is quite captivating when you are lucky enough to be the picker. A bucket, and then a crate of all shades of purple achieves a level of visual stimulation that is not an everyday occurrence.

So we realize that it is eggplant season at Fair Share Farm like never before. We urge you to enjoy eggplant over the coming weeks. It is as perfect as we can grow it, and we do not know how fleeting it will be.

In last year's survey 60% of the membership said that the amount of eggplant they received was just right, 12 percent said they wanted more, and 28% said they wanted less. We think the survey shows that we are serving a community of vegetable eaters, though 28% have other preferences.

To help the 28% we are working on some killer apps for eggplant. This fiber rich vegetable has more recipes for it than any other. For us, some of the best start with roasting the eggplant. So here is a primer on that step, and tonight's recipe.

Roasting Eggplant
Last week's eggplant meatballs is a good example where it is good to have some roasted eggplant on hand. So is baba ghanoush, or tonight's Summer Pasta. Roasting is a great way to pre-cook eggplant so you can use it in a variety of dishes.

The instructions are simple:
Cut top from eggplant. Cut long eggplant lengthwise, round ones into 1/2 inch rounds. Brush with olive oil (seasonings optional), and roast in an oven for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees F, until eggplant is soft.

 

 

Summer Pasta
This dish is also simple.
Cook a pot of the pasta of your choice.
Roast some eggplant, let cool and chop coarsely.
Chop 1 to 2 tomatoes coarsely
Chop 3 to 4 tablespoons of basil.
Combine in a pan with some olive oil and cook until tomatoes are warm
Add pasta, toss. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with fresh or grated cheese.

What to Do With Your Share---Week 1

Welcome to the 2013 season. We are happy to have a diverse share this first week, a reward perhaps for making it through the Spring. The harvest has begun, and it is time to start cooking.

Leeks are one of our favorite vegetables, so we take advantage of times like now. We used a recipe tonight that was in our newsletter 8 years ago...angel hair pasta with leeks and pasta. Our variation included spaghetti and parsley and was so good, we had to recommend it and take a picture of it.

The aspargus you are getting is fresh and tender. Great steamed, grilled, sauted, marinated raw, it is very versatile. To clean asparagus you can wash it and snap off any tough ends, or you can peel it. There is no better demonstration of this craft than by Jaques Pepin. I encourage you to go to the KQED website and click on the video of Episode 208 at the 5:10 mark.

Whatever herb you get, chances are that it will enhance the flavor of any meal you decide to cook. With seasonal eating you get a natural pairing of flavors. Chives, mint or tarragon would have gone well in the leek dish.

Rye and vetch

In the field we are beginning the steps of feeding the Fall crops. A picture perfect stand of rye and vetch has reached it's full development, and we mowed it all down today in preparation of spading it into the ground. Yummy.

First CSA Pickup Delayed One Week

First up, the 2013 Fair Share Farm CSA season will start next week on 5/22, not this week as originally anticipated. The exceptionally cool and wet Spring this year has slowed the growing process here at the farm dramatically. And, being 30 miles north of the city, we are even slower than all of you in the heat island of KC.

chickens moved to the field and pecking in the grass

But, things are growing, despite one last gasp of cold on Mother’s Day morning, when a frost visited the farm. While the forecast for the night was 39 degrees, we knew that a clear night can bring problems, so we covered all 1,300 feet of strawberry plants to protect their tender blossoms. By morning, with the tiny daggers of frost stabbing everywhere, we were happy that we learned our lesson in 2011 when similar conditions severely damaged the crop.



multiply by 1,300 feet to see why we are hopeful for a good strawberry year

Other plants had been uncovered last week and were presumed to be able to handle mid-May weather, but have been set back a little and are showing the signs of wear from Spring 2013. In particular, the 1,400 broccoli plants we planted and mulched are “buttoning up”, forming penny sized heads 3 to 4 weeks before there anticipated maturity. Peas have also struggled through things. And today we jump to 90 degrees.

mass of tomatoes at the greenhouse on Sunday awaiting transplanting

But we have many more plantings to go, and yesterday set 400 tomato plants in the ground, to go along with the 700+ pepper plants and  400 eggplant and 200 summer squash that were put in the ground today. We have three main plantings each year---Spring, Summer and Fall. So even if our early shares suffer a bit, we are starting anew with the 2013 Summer crops and are hoping for less griping about the weather.

planting tomatoes on Monday

transplanting peppers on Tuesday

2011---Our Eighth Season

Impression of Rocky

By 2011 we had experienced eight years of farming in the same spot and seen how the land responds to just about every weather condition.  We continued to work on systems that could keep our farm resilient and sustainable for the future.

We were helped along by a principle promoted by Dr. W. Edwards Deming to "improve constantly and forever"... something I had learned in engineering and Rebecca knew inherently. It is an axiom that is in concert with the idea of sustainablility. We felt that we had a firm foundation to now build for the long-term future of Fair Share Farm.

The first couple months of the year were as busy as ever. We had one last area of the house to gut, insulate, re-wire, re-wall, re-window and re-door. We got it mostly done before things got too hectic and are enjoying the fruits of this labor to this day.

Only a memory now

The previous November, Lucas Knutter joined the farm team, house-sitting the apprentice house for the winter and joining us as a full-time apprentice in March. He had just finished a 27-month stint in the Peace Corp working with farmers in Senegal, and returned ready to start a farm of his own.  He went straight to work in January, joining us to repair some problem spots on the greenhouse.

 

It was a great year for the soil. Our Spring plantings went as smooth as ever after a quick cultivating pass with the G.

 

The Summer cover crop of sudan grass and cow peas grew 7 feet tall and was our best yet. Between the top growth and an extensive root system, the soil was given a feast.

Mowing down the cover crops before turning them under

Weather played its usual good guy/bad guy role, threatening tornados in the Spring, baking us silly in the Summer, and providing for a robust harvest in the Fall.  Kim Conrads joined us for the summer right after high school graduation and spent one of her first hours at the farm in our root cellar with the farm crew of CSA members, workers, farmers, a dog and two cats. Luckily no funnel stopped by.

Safe in the root cellar

August 2, a record high.

Among the standouts that year were our record snap pea (400+ lb), tomato (5,600+ lbs) and sweet potato (2,100+ lb) harvests . Other crops did excellent too, as the almost 2.7 lb head of broccoli pictured below can attest.

The tomato share during Week 11

CSA morning in the packing room

Colorful carrots

Head-sized broccoli

Fall share

July 25 was a unique day for us as we hosted Justus Drugstore and Outstanding in the Field for an al fresco dinner on the farm. It is tough to describe in one paragraph what a wonderful event it was. The food was unique and satisfying, the crowd happy and boisterous, and the presentation professional and artful. The whole story is in our July 26 blog.

The long table on a hot Missouri day

By August, Kim had headed to college and we had a new apprentice in Dani Hurst. She was ready to put the homesteading and farming skills she had learned about as a writer for Natural Home magazine into practice.  Her energy and good nature was appreciated for the next 1-1/2 years she spent with us.

Dani mulching leeks


Another group that has helped out over the years is my family. The road Rebecca and I took to where we are right now was not a normal one. While no doubt skeptical at first, their love and support for us over the years has been true and real. My brother and five sisters have all done a stint or two at the farm, visited during unique events like OITF, and otherwise used their talents to help us out. It has been a fun family affair.

My brother Bill juicing pears with our great-grandfather's press

Autumn 2011 was warm and the crops thrived into early winter.  The fields were plentiful past the end of our CSA season and for our annual night at the Bad Seed pre-Thanksgiving Market.

October

A rarity for us, the hustle and bustle of running a market table on a busy night is a lot of fun. So is catching up and bartering with all the other vendors, seeing our big city friends and enjoying the festive atmosphere.

Fall bounty

Next up...one year ago and a new high tunnel, more record harvests, the drought, OITF II, and back to the present.

2010---Our Seventh CSA Season

Hawk wing impressions, and one less rabbit on the farm.

In 2010 the focus was better ergonomics.  The farm had grown for the past six years and we were realizing that we needed to find more efficient ways of farming so that our bodies would hold out for many years to come. Organic vegetable farming entails a lot of stoop labor.  Farming smarter involves improving the ergonomics of the work. Sometimes that means that you let a machine help you do the job, as in the case of tractor-mounted transplanters and cultivators.

With that goal in mind, I made the 300-mile round-trip to Morgan County Seeds near Barnett, Missouri and ferried back a transplanter on John's 16-foot trailer. No task causes me more anxiety than over-the-road hauling. I've hauled 50 greenhouse barrels strapped 3 high, our Allis Chalmers G, 100 square bales of straw, and entire kit for the high tunnel.  Each trip has given me more respect for the power and control necessary for such activities.

 the new Water Wheel transplanter

Farm apprentices Emily Lecuyer and Matt Maes joined us in late March. Emily had returned from a Peace Corp stint in the Phillipines and was ready to learn about CSA and biological farming. Matt was to get married that July, buy land nearby, and start a farm and a family - what a busy year! Emily and Matt pitched in during what would turn out to be a cold Spring and hot Summer.

Emily and Matt in the Spring greenhouse

We had our new Water Wheel transplanter, but no tractor to pull it. The Graff family tractor (aka Grandpa) was having some problems after 45 years of farming. Valve cracks, a rotted out radiator, and numerous other issues meant an overhaul was in order. Luckily FSF beekeeper, CSA member and all-around helpful soul, Keith Stubblefield, volunteered to share his mechanical knowledge and saved the day. He walked us through all of the repairs and gave the muscle of the farm a new life.



Keith adjusting the engine

Once Grandpa was back in service, we found that we could plant rows and rows of broccoli, cabbage, squash and sweet potatoes with the transplanter and made good use of it. Some plantings still required the tedious tasks of mulching and row covering, but such efforts have a payoff in improving the chance of a good harvest.

A quick planting of broccoli and cabbage

Mulched and covered to survive the cold Spring

Transplanting sweet potato slips

2010 was the year of a terrible outbreak of tomato blight on the east coast. It wasn't much better here, as our early planting was stunted by the cold, wet Spring. The later plantings of tomatoes that missed the bad conditions grew much better and saved the tomato crop from being a total bust.

Tomato plants with wet feet on a cold day

2010 success stories included 1,000+ quarts of strawberries (the record so far), 1,000+ lbs of beans, excellent onions, and our best winter squash harvest yet.  Efforts for the squash crop included cutting vine borer worms out of the stems of the plants. It saved a lot of plants and helped increase the harvest.

Garlic harvest

Lots of cukes

CSA bean picking morning

Winter squash in the barn

Our Allis Chalmers G had been with us for several years now and were were starting to realize it's full potential.  Along with seeding and cultivating, we increasingly used it to "gutter", using discs to make a raised bed. Guttering the beds has become one of the most important tasks we perform to improve drainage.

Emily cultivating and guttering

2010 was also the year of the Federal Stimulus.  Through University Extension, we learned that funds were available for remote solar irrigation systems on farms. In the end, we received 75% cost-share on purchasing over 2,000 feet of below ground irrigation pipe and four more solar panels. Trenching, laying and covering the pipe and appertunances took some doing, but was well worth the effort. Having a permanent supply line from the pond to our fields saves us countless hours previously spent rolling out and rolling up hose each year---yeah!  The additional solar panels improved our ability to reach the highest points in our fields with life-giving water.

New panels on left

On November 6th, 2010 Rebecca and I made it official and got married.  It was a great day!  With some help from the Graff family, we traveled to Hawaii in December and soaked up the sun and gorged ourselves on tropical fruit.

Star fruit tree on Kauai

Next up---putting it all together, Outstanding in the Field, barn facelift, and a long, hot Summer.

2008---Our Fifth Season

In 2008 we met our 5-year goal of being a 100% CSA farm. No more standing around at market hoping the customers would come to buy, instead we were able to stay focused on farming, knowing that all of our produce was already sold.

Morning light in winter

As we plotted our future we realized that one thing we were not doing was getting the most out of the land we were cultivating. It seemed friends with home gardens were growing more in small areas than we were in long beds of crops. We decided to expand our operation by contracting - growing less plants and paying more attention to them.

We had been asked that January to coordinate a CSA Workshop at the Great Plains Vegetable Growers Conference in St. Joe. We immediately contacted Liz Henderson from Peacework Organic Farm to join us on the panel. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to show her our progress since those days in 2001 at her farm.

Rebecca and Elizabeth Henderson in January

We also took time to visit friend Liz Elmore who was working at The Land Institute in Salina, KS. This group of folks, headed by Wes Jackson, are working in a field they call natural systems farming. In what they state is at least a 100-year project, they are breeding perennial grains that can be grown in a prairie-like system. We suggest you visit their website to learn more, and to support their efforts.

Board at The Land Institute explaining some of their work

February was busy as we converted the Allis Chalmers G tractor from gas to electric. With volunteer apprentice Lorne Carroll's help and John Graff's welding ability we performed the operation lickety split. We had just started our blog and documented the progress there.



Lorne assembling new motor parts, old G gas engine at top of photo

Then there was Rocky. We knew that we needed help keeping the critters out of our fields and off of our crops, but were not sure what type of dog would do the trick. Livestock guarding breeds seemed to be the best choice - big and intimidating to a critter, but calm and sweet with people.  So when Tom Parker told us a local farmer had Great Pyrennes/Anatolian Shepherd cross puppies for sale we jumped at the opportunity. We brought Rocky home on February 5th. He was tough to resist.

 

Rocky and his brother Bandit

 

2007 volunteer apprentice Jen Baughman joined us for the year. Her sweet spirit and positivity kept us smiling during a difficult year.

 

Jen and Rebecca potting up fall crops

The fields in 2008 were drenched on numerous occasions. The potatoes were a total loss, as the trenches we cut to plant them in filled like irrigation ditches in April. The tomatoes did OK, but were diseased and dying by Labor Day. In September another gullywasher set back the Fall plantings.

 

Attempting to bail out the potato beds in mid-April

Effect of 3 inch rain in September

Typical 2008 harvest morning with CSA troopers

On the bright side, the strawberries loved the rain, as did the beans, greens, carrots, garlic, lettuce, sweet potatoes and cover crops. We harvested 587 quarts of strawberries that year. The Honeoye variety was a good choice...easy to pick, juicy, flavorful, not too sweet, and red all the way through. 

Our first harvest off the new patch

Fresh Tropea onions

Just dug carrots

Weeding crew at the strawberries

A colorful share

Kid Rocky

Though we did not necessarily need it, our solar powered irrigation system was installed in May. Missouri contractor Henry Rentz set things up and we took it from there. It came in handy in August, the only month without a downpour.

Our new solar panels and irrigation pump

The wetness of the year gave pause, as we realized that our farming methods were vulnerable to excess rain. Problems could occur with only 2 to 3 inches of precipitation, something we knew to expect in the future. So we worked on several strategies to address excess moisture.

Step 1: Take low spots in the fields out of production. Being so dry when we started farming in 2003, we did not know just how wet some areas could get.

Step 2: Mulch as much as we can. A canopy of hay or straw over the surface of our silt/clay soils does wonders to keep the plants and soil life from suffocating after a downpour. Hay also provides food for worms and eventually the crops. As we like to say, we have grass-fed vegetables.

 

Jen mulching with hay over a buckwheat cover crop

Step 3: Use the electric G to gutter our beds, keeping the crops raised and reducing the chance of flooding out the plant.

 

Step 4: Continue with our cover cropping and biological farming methods. It is a proven fact that organically-farmed soils handle water better in wet conditions, and provide drought tolerance during dry times.

Rocky enjoying a nice stand of buckwheat

And so we entered another winter on the farm. Back to the remodel. This time it was the kitchen and dining room. We do alot of cooking and canning, so a functioning kitchen was a huge improvement to the homestead.

Stripped down and ready to go

So what did 2009 hold in store...best season yet, bees, sheep and double the apprentices.