Man, oh man, has that sun felt good? Weather in the 50s, it surely does feel like Spring. We have been seeding in the greenhouse which really makes it feel like everything is about to get crazy but what really sealed the deal for me was when Lou got on the tractor yesterday afternoon and was able to working in one of our fields – it is that dry out there! We've been hard at work this winter making our 2017 crop plan better than ever. We want our little on-farm market and kitchen to have the best produce for our community, we want to send out the tastiest vegetables through CSA and we want to help our restaurants and grocery stores work with the highest quality produce available! We don't just consider what varieties we want to grow when we are making selections we also keep in mind their adaptability to our climate, taste, texture, seed origin and so much more. It really is quite the process – but one that we absolutely love. Some folks have their TV show they watch or their book to quiet down to at the end of a long day – mine may or may not be seed catalogs and research (self-proclaimed dork here). There is so much amazing work being done on variety trials and seed selection. If it at all peaks your interest I would highly recommend following the Culinary Breeding Network in some form!
February is an interesting time on the farm. We always plan to have a field of chicories that make it through some crazy temps and other hearty greens that are buffered by lots of root crops, leeks and potatoes to help get through March for CSA and our restaurant accounts. The reality is that this year, with all of the freezing weather and snow, on top of our massive gopher population, despite our efforts to cover and protect, we lost the majority of our chicory crop, a large amount of our root crops that we couldn't get out of the ground before the freezes and our kale just barely made it through. Though our kale is there, it is essentially just surviving and we have to leave a certain amount of leaves on the plants so that they can flower come March/April (think kale raab, brussels raab, cabbage raab...all the raabs!!) What we are coming to face is that for the next couple weeks we are pretty much left to potatoes, leeks and a turnip or two. It is never a fun to admit that you have failed at an aspect of your job, but as a farmer, you get very familiar with the act of humility. The only thing you can do is to observe what happened, learn from your mistakes and continue forward – next year we will be that much better on our farm.
One of the original concepts of CSA was that the subscriber takes part in the risk that farmers face every season, especially in winter, but really for every season in terms of crop failure, weather, pest and disease pressure and anything else that may go wrong. One of the things I so appreciate about our young farm, is that we are attempting to build up resiliency to the ebb and flow by having a market that aggregates from other farmers and producers as well as a kitchen that can preserve and save the bounty of the summer to use for the winter. The next couple of weeks are going to be tricky, but your farmers are getting creative and we think we figured something out that everyone will be happy with – more details on Friday!
February is an interesting time on the farm. We always plan to have a field of chicories that make it through some crazy temps and other hearty greens that are buffered by lots of root crops, leeks and potatoes to help get through March for CSA and our restaurant accounts. The reality is that this year, with all of the freezing weather and snow, on top of our massive gopher population, despite our efforts to cover and protect, we lost the majority of our chicory crop, a large amount of our root crops that we couldn't get out of the ground before the freezes and our kale just barely made it through. Though our kale is there, it is essentially just surviving and we have to leave a certain amount of leaves on the plants so that they can flower come March/April (think kale raab, brussels raab, cabbage raab...all the raabs!!) What we are coming to face is that for the next couple weeks we are pretty much left to potatoes, leeks and a turnip or two. It is never a fun to admit that you have failed at an aspect of your job, but as a farmer, you get very familiar with the act of humility. The only thing you can do is to observe what happened, learn from your mistakes and continue forward – next year we will be that much better on our farm.
One of the original concepts of CSA was that the subscriber takes part in the risk that farmers face every season, especially in winter, but really for every season in terms of crop failure, weather, pest and disease pressure and anything else that may go wrong. One of the things I so appreciate about our young farm, is that we are attempting to build up resiliency to the ebb and flow by having a market that aggregates from other farmers and producers as well as a kitchen that can preserve and save the bounty of the summer to use for the winter. The next couple of weeks are going to be tricky, but your farmers are getting creative and we think we figured something out that everyone will be happy with – more details on Friday!
| LARGE SHARE:  | MINI SHARE:  |
EGGS: OK – we KNOW this is a vegetable share but in dire times like these, it is hard to pass these vibrant, farm fresh beauties on to our members. If you don't eat eggs we absolutely apologize and hope you pass them on to someone you love. These girls are spoiled year on many of our vegetables as well as fantastic organic, gmo-free freed and are happy little pastured birds. Definitely great for breakfast but also fantastic on top of a pizza or as a fried egg on a burger...you get the idea! These farm eggs are high-value and we hope you enjoy them!
POTATOES: Big surprise here! Yukon Golds for that awesome breakfast or tasty soup.
GOLDEN GLOBE TURNIP: Still just bossing it up out there – it is amazing to compare a bunch of different root crops, all of which should be able to withstand pretty nasty conditions, and to see who actually made it to the finish line.
LEEK (Large Only): Gorgeous Lexton leek!
PARSNIP (Large Only): Straight from our fields, these guys hung out and are perfect looking. They are beautiful, delicious and just smell so good.
ARUGULA (Large Only): Delicious, nutty and just a tad bit spicy. What a beautiful color to see at this time of year.
I don't know about you but I see a super delicious breakfast (maybe breakfast for dinner) happening here.
POTATOES: Big surprise here! Yukon Golds for that awesome breakfast or tasty soup.
GOLDEN GLOBE TURNIP: Still just bossing it up out there – it is amazing to compare a bunch of different root crops, all of which should be able to withstand pretty nasty conditions, and to see who actually made it to the finish line.
LEEK (Large Only): Gorgeous Lexton leek!
PARSNIP (Large Only): Straight from our fields, these guys hung out and are perfect looking. They are beautiful, delicious and just smell so good.
ARUGULA (Large Only): Delicious, nutty and just a tad bit spicy. What a beautiful color to see at this time of year.
I don't know about you but I see a super delicious breakfast (maybe breakfast for dinner) happening here.
 If you are picking up at the farm today we have farm fresh anemones for sale!!!! <3  Anemones cuz they just so dang pretty |  Arugula getting its dunk before a good ol' spin  Nick making soil blocks for seeding! |
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