In the Share: Week 4
STRAWBERRIES (F/P) Two quarts for the full shares; A quart and ½ for the partials.
PEAS (F/P) The first of the sugarsnap and snow peas. All have edible pods so just strip off the top, pop the whole pod in your mouth and enjoy.
LETTUCE (F/P) Two for the full shares, one for the partials.
GARLIC SCAPES (F/P) Just this week, the tender young flower stalks off the hardneck garlic. Use as you would green garlic. Makes a fabulous pesto. See the video below for the sounds of the scape pulling.
ASPARAGUS (P) The last of the season.
ARUGULA (F) A spicy treat to add to your salads.
RADISHES OR HAKUREI TURNIPS (F)
HERB CHOICE (F/P) Mint or dill or a dried herb. Partial shares have the choice of arugula instead of an herb.

Also this week: Parker Farms delivery

Next week: More strawberries, peas, lettuces and turnips. Swiss chard.

Weather: Another week, another gentle rain. We really have been lucky the past few weeks. Just enough rain and sunshine to nurture the plants and allow us to get our work done.

The Fields: Every morning finds us crawling through the strawberry patch. The birds sing, the breeze blows gently and luscious berries beckon. Not a bad way to start the day. Thanks to the fabulous farm crew we have been able to pick the patch in 2-3 hours. The average is currently 70 quarts of berries per day. Not too shabby. All those berries do not pick themselves and we’ve been very lucky to have had an extra worker the past two weeks. Charlotte Weichert is a family friend visiting from Hamburg, Germany. Charlotte is taking a break between medical school and beginning her residency to travel our great United States. She has been with us for the past two weeks and will be continuing her travels this weekend when she heads for points west. You can see Charlotte in the center of the photo above along with the Saturday morning pickers.

Links: This week we are happy to introduce farm apprentice, Kara Jennings. We knew we had found a kindred spirit in Kara when we learned that she is a Spanish speaker and anthropology major just like farmer rebecca (me). Kara has been working alongside Tom and I since the end of March, commuting each day from her home in Gladstone. The closest photo we could get of the camera-shy Kara is her hand-modeling in the garlic scape video. C’mon, Kara, don’t be so shy! Alright, here she is in her own words:

Hello. I am excited about working with Tom, Rebecca & Lori this season. I have already learned so much in such a short time and look forward to learning more about vegetable farming. My husband and I hope to start our farm in the next two years. We plan on growing fruits & veggies as well as raising some alpacas for fiber (I have a very bad addiction to good yarn!). Wednesdays and Saturdays have become my favorite days here at the farm. I have enjoyed meeting the members who have been up to work and can’t wait to meet the rest of you. Kara