STRAWBERRIES F2/P1 The harvest is in full force right now and the berries as yummy as they are pretty.
LETTUCE F2/P1 Green romaine and butterheads for the full shares, red leaf lettuce for the partials.
TATSOI F/P Sweet and tender enough to eat raw, but also great stir-fried.
GREEN ONIONS OR GREEN GARLIC F Last of both for a while.
HAKUREI TURNIPS F/P an inch of rain in every bite!!
BROCCOLI F/P We are proud of our broccoli this week. It survived another crazy Missouri Spring and is beautiful, tender and delicious!
GAI LAN F “Chinese broccoli” is our newest favorite crop. See Tom’s blog for methods of preparation.
PARSLEY OR CILANTRO F/P
NEXT WEEK: More strawberries, lettuces, kale, chard, radishes, bok choy and herbs. Perhaps the first of the kohlrabi and sugarsnap peas.
FARM REPORT: Holy deluge, Batman! Another inch of rain fell last night, making the total in May so far over 12 inches. The weather folks say that we have a new record for number of rainy days in the month of May. We would rather if the weather stayed within the data of the last 100 years or so since we started keeping track, but every year there is some new extreme event – latest freeze, driest year, hottest year, wettest Spring, etc.
The fields are full of running water and mud. In many places we have grass paths and some mulch down, but harvesting the un-mulched broccoli (that I was so happy about a few weeks back!) was a messy job today. Tom and I are incredibly happy with how the crops are handling the water so far. Later on we aren’t so sure about the summer crops, but the broccoli, strawberries and lettuces are exceptionally nice right now. Not many growers in the area go to the trouble with these crops as they can be unpredictable and are labor-intensive. But when they are at their best, like they are now, the work is so worth it. We hope that our CSA supporters appreciate the love and attention that goes into the food that we are offering and enjoy the bounty!
STRAWBERRIES F/P A quart for everyone this first week with hopefully much more to come.
LETTUCE F2/P1 More butterheads and red leaf varieties.
FRISEE ENDIVE F/P Great just in a salad, but see Tom’s post for more info.
CHOICE OF GREENS F/P Bok choy, kale or Swiss chard.
GREEN GARLIC OR GREEN ONIONS F Soon both will begin to bulb up and give us the real deal, but for a bit longer we have the young ones.
HERBS OR ARUGULA F This may be it for the arugula offerings this Spring.
RADISHES F/P Red beauties with quite the kick. Roast or sautee them to remove the heat.
BROCCOLI F/P One of our better Spring broccoli harvest is underway. No crazy hot-pink heads this time!
NEXT WEEK: More lettuce, greens, herbs, broccoli and strawberries. Kohrabi and spring turnips.
FARM REPORT: We are happy to say that things are much improved here since our last report. The tomatoes and potatoes are green and growing back quickly. We have loads of ripening berries in the strawberry patch although in most clusters there are several dead flowers (see above). It seems like the freeze was a long time ago. This week our worries have moved on to the lack of rain. The irrigation pond is full and every row of crop is getting a line as it is planted. We have barely had any rain as the stormy weather surrounds us. The sky darkens but refuses to let loose over our heads.
The last few days have felt like a real Midwestern summer – hot and sticky with no rain to clear the air. On days like today in the farm truck’s passenger seat rides a big cooler of ice water. The workers and animals alike keep hydrated as we race around the fields. With his full winter coat still on, Rocky is sticking to the shade during the day to keep cool.
SUGARSNAP PEAS (F/P) These are edible-podded peas. Just snap the top, pull any strings that may come with it and pop it in your mouth.
KOHLRABI (F/P) Introducing the kohlrabi – We have enough for everyone to get one. More are on their way. Peel it well and eat raw or cook lightly.
LETTUCE (F2/P1) Too much lettuce in your fridge? Check Tom’s recipe for wilted lettuce salad.
STRAWBERRIES (F/P) A quart for all. What a great crop this year! We are glad so many of you came out for u-pick and ordered bulk. Who can say n”No” to a fresh, local, no-spray strawberry? Non-organic berries, as a picker on Saturday said, are “chemical sponges”.
GARLIC SCAPES (F/P) The hardneck garlic’s flower stalk. Very edible and tasty. Great with the creamy garlic dressing we make at the farm with our fresh eggs. A different version than last week’s yogurt-based recipe, Tom’s got a link this week.
BROCCOLI (P) We are happy to get the partial shares their “fair share” of broccoli. It has been a disappointing harvest and this is the last of it. Luckily the plants made one last dash and made lots of side-shoots after the main head was picked.
HERB CHOICE (F) Rosemary, taragon, garlic chives or a dried herb
SPRING ONIONS (F) A bit of a bulb on these, but still with fresh tops.
KALE OR CHARD (F) The greens love all of this moisture. Expect more in the weeks to come.
NEXT WEEK: More peas, lettuce, strawberries and kohlrabi. Cabbage and spring turnips.
FARM REPORT: The fields were filled this past weekend thanks to an amazing strawberry harvest. The weather was perfectly pleasant and lots of you came out with family and friends in tow.
u-pickers
As the berry harvest winds down, our CSA harvest mornings will be given over to the pea patch, which is looking great. Peas have a short season here in the southern Midwest, but our healthy plants this year remind me of our beginnings back at Peacework Organic Farm in Newark, New York. Tom and I met in the spring on the farm. Western New York has beautiful farmland, well-drained soil and good people. Congrats to all the farmers there and the Genessee Valley CSA – 25 years and still going strong: www.gvocsa.org .
Week 4 already. We are nearing the blending of the spring and summer seasons. We are continuing our harvest of the spring crops and tending to the growing and flowering summer veggies. Right now is when we have a convergence of the pea, strawberry, lettuce and garlic scape harvests. It is an amazing combination to enjoy while it lasts. Summer can wait.
In the Fair Share Farm 2013 calendar the photo for June is of several recipes that may just have their ingredients in your fridge. The sugar snap pea salad, broccoli pasta salad, and Asian cole slaw are all good choices.
Another suggestion is an oft-used home-made dressing of ours, creamy garlic. So good and even tastier with a few strawberries thrown in.
To help you alleviate the lettuce bonanza you are experiencing we have a final suggestion, wilted lettuce salad. Like any green, lettuce can be cooked. It is actually one of the easier greens to cook, as it is difficult to under-cook, and it cooks quickly.
Wilted Lettuce Salad 1 large head of lettuce (we used a romaine) 3 green garlic or garlic scapes 3 hakurei turnips or 1/2 cup julienned kohlrabi 1 tbsp olive oil or butter
Dressing: 1 tbsp of honey or 2 tsp sugar 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup olive or other salad oil 1 tsp salt
Trim the top off the lettuce if needed. Trim off the bottom and fan the leaves under water to rinse out any dirt.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the chopped garlic and hakureis. Stir and saute for 3 minutes.
Coarsley chop the lettuce head (you only need 4 or 5 slices to chop it up) and add to the pan. Add the salt, stir and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Take the skillet off the heat, add the dressing and toss.
Serve with crushed nuts or dried fruit as a garnish.
Cover Cropping Feeding the soil is a full-time job, and this week more work was done in that department. The plastic of the high tunnel was removed to give the soil a breath of fresh air, and some rain on its face. We think that the sorghum sudan grass and cowpeas we seeded will germinate well, and add some much needed organic matter to the soil.
Taking off the high tunnel plastic
Meanwhile, we took a few last looks at our yellow clover patches before flail mowing them today, in advance of spading them in. A legume, yellow clover provides nitrogen to the soil, and takes in other nutrients and minerals.
STRAWBERRIES (F2/P1) Oh boy! We spent over 20 “man hours” in the berry patch just today! Luckily there were 5 of us picking. When the berries come on, it is an everyday task that has it’s rewards. If you have some extra time this week or you haven’t yet signed up for your work shifts now is a tasty time to do so.
LETTUCE (F3/P2) The lettuce patch is also pumping out the poundage. Several succession plantings are ripening at once, so everyone gets an additional head this week. There are still a few butterheads and lots of romaine this week.
BROCCOLI (F) Can’t say the same for the dismal broccoli harvest. Broccoli’s time to shine is in autumn.
HAKUREI TURNIPS (F/P) Eat ‘em like an apple!
BOK CHOY (F/P) bunches of baby bok choy this week – tender and juicy for your next stir fry.
HERB CHOICE (F/P) cilantro, oregano, dill or a dried herb
NEXT WEEK: More lettuce, strawberries, green onions, turnips and herbs. Sugarsnap peas!
FARM REPORT: In between picking strawberries and trying to get the last of the summer crops in the ground, the farm crew gave the high tunnel a makeover this week. What was left of the spring extended season crops were mowed and spaded in.
It is a bit tricky maneuvering “Grandpa” the tractor in and out of the high tunnel, but Farmer Tom has the knack and made short work of preparing a nice seedbed for the cover crops.
Next we sowed sorghum sudan grass and cowpeas with our little broadcast seeder that swings over the shoulder. A little raking and we are ready to take the roof off and for the rain to water it in. Removing the high tunnel roof is a bit un-heard of, but we feel very strongly that the soil needs the benefit of rain and pure sunshine. We plan to re-install the plastic roof before we plant for the fall extended season. In the meantime, we hope for a lush cover crop to feed the soil.
First up,the 2013 Fair Share Farm CSA season will start next week on 5/22, not this weekas 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.
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.
The years were flying by 2009. Entering our sixth season of the CSA, we were starting to feel comfortable with growing vegetables for over 100 families. Our original business plan was based on supporting the farm with a CSA membership of 100 shares, but we realized that a more realistic goal was a bit more than that in order to be economically sustainable. To continue to grow we would need not only more members, but also more full-time farm workers.
January at the pond
We were able to grow enough crops in 2009 to sell 115 CSA shares. The Fair Share Farm CSA Core Group continued their stellar work of running the organization as it grew: the Spring sign-up meeting, coordinating the farm work schedule, surveying the membership and expanding distribution.
Gary Glauberman and Kelly Parker helping with contracts at the Spring Sign-up
By the start of the season we hired two full-time apprentices. Lori Watley was a friend of the farm who had helped us often during 2005. Kara Jennings was so enthusiastic to apprentice with us that she drove in from Gladstone every day to learn the trade. Kara and Lori made the season what we called our best year yet.
Kara and Lori at the wash sink
Jeff and his son helping in the Spring 2008
A regular volunteer in 2008 and 2009, Jeff Hunter also was a big help in those years. He and his wife Stacey started a large garden at their local church, helped create a learning garden for kids, and now farm their own land.
In 2009 we made a big shift in our greenhouse production. We had been experimenting over the previous couple seasons with the use of soil blocks for starting our transplants. We had found they created plants that were more robust, greener, held longer in the greenhouse, and experienced less transplant shock than plugs.
Soil blocks in the greenhouse
A flat of nice cabbage plants
When the harvest came in we couldn’t complain. Shares were full, filled by the harvest of 835 quarts of strawberries, 1,000+ lbs of beans, melons for all, great brassicas, and a stellar fall carrot and beet crop.
All this with the same annual rainfall (44+ inches) as the previous year. While the rain fell in less of a downpour pattern than 2008, our adjustments to how we prepared the ground also helped keep the crops out of the muck.
This was also to be the year that our cover cropping program came to life. We had initated an annual system whereby we plant oats and vetch in April, turn the crop under in June/July, and plant the bed in fall vegetables in August. We had a very good cover crop that year and the carrots and beets in those beds grew like none we had seen previously.
Strawberry harvest at its best
The Rouyer Family picking peas
Bean picking crew returning with their harvest
Sweet peppers
Watermelons for all
That year, we experimented with raising livestock. We borrowed six of Parker Farms’ sheep to reduce our mowing needs, apply some fertility to areas of ground yet to be broken, and learn about caring for livestock. It was fun and a success.
Katahdin sheep borrowed from Parker Farms
Bees proved to be a harder project. We had everything in place; an experienced beekeeper in member Keith Stubblefield, new hive boxes put together with the members’ help, organic fields, and thousands of bees bought in their packages. But alas, for the next 3 seasons we could not develop a strong hive, and very little honey was drawn while most of the hives disappeared. The experts call the phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder, a generic term that describes a problem with no known cause.
Ann Flynn, Fran Gillespe, Keith and Nancy Stubblefield building the hive boxes
Bees but little honey
Rocky continued to grow and make friends, among them Nora Gibbons. Her parents, Heather and Scott, have been CSA members since our second season in 2005. As Heather was pregnant then, Nora has the distinction of being the oldest person to have been in the CSA her whole life!
Nora and Rocky
That Winter we drove down to Texas as part of an annual trip for Rebecca and her snow-bird, Grandmother Kathleen. It was a chance for me to meet her many cousins, uncles, nieces and nephews in the Lone Star State. When back at the farm we planned and studied. One such science project included looking at our compost through our microscope and realizing I could film it. Those critters are called springtails.
Rocky in December
Next up…2010 and lots of heat, learning to gutter, best winter squash, solar stimulus and a wedding day.
In 2007 we reached our 5-year goal of 100 members. It was an accomplishment we were proud of, and it established a good economic base for the future. The next step…was figuring out the next step.
A rare chance to skate on the old pond in February
Exterior work on the farmhouse before the season starts
Pre-season Core Goup meeting at Kelly and Rick’s
We decided to approach the season as if we were starting fresh. We pretended that all the work in the previous years had been done by a different couple we called Rachel (a common misnomer for Rebecca) and Joseph (my middle name). For all the good things we saw on the farm we thanked them, and for all the things that broke or had to be redone we sighed and assigned them the blame.
St. Patricks Day was spent working on the barn, fixing the east loafing shed roof and walls with the help of fellow farmer Tom Parker and members Jim Markley and Victoria Wert. Working on a barn with the farm community is always fun.
Jim Markley, Tom Parker and Rebecca
Weather again played a unique role in the season, as it was the year of the “Easter freeze.” After the third warmest March on record with literally everything blooming, the buds of Spring were killed off by two overnights of record low temperatures in the upper teens.
We fulfilled our contractual obligation to the CSA, doing everything in our power to protect the many beds of plants we had out in the fields by covering them with up to 3 layers of row cover. All the while we were battling high winds and the urge to take a shortcut or two. Our efforts paid off, as by June much of the broccoli we had protected headed up beautifully.
Row cover mid-April
Spring broccoli
The combination of high winds and temperatures in the teens made keeping the row cover on a never-ending chore for us and Libby Negus, who started her apprenticeship with us that week. Working hard at the farm, moonlighting at Green Acres Market, and going to school to become a Montessori teacher kept her busy that year.
Picking peas with Libby (photo by Lorne Carroll)
April was also when we planted the strawberry patch. Members had voiced their opinion in our yearly survey that they wanted us to add berries to the shares. We felt that strawberries were the best choice, as they are sturdier than bramble fruit and, based on earlier trials, seemed to grow well here.
Strawberry patch humble beginnings 4/19/07
In general, 2007 was a good year for the crops. The tomato harvest topped 5,000 lbs and we picked over 5,000 individual summer squash. We planted some of the potatoes where we had run the chickens the year before and had our best yields to date. Beans, carrots, and the Fall brassicas were standouts.
Happy lettuce harvest led by 2013 apprentice-to-be Lorne Carroll and long-time member Betty Marcus
Picking summer squash
Members with the harvest
Thanks to the scarcity of wild fruit after the Easter freeze, the raccoons and opossums feasted on our successes in the field. We used a live trap to catch more than 30 racoons that summer, sometimes catching two at a time. They seem cute, but I will tell you that picking up a metal cage with a snarling wild animal in it at sunrise wakes you up for the day, and gets you thinking of alternative methods of predator control.
One of many
In June my Mother passed away. She was a grand lady, the source of my German blood, and a role model like no other. I’m glad Rebecca had a chance to make her aquaintance.
Mom would have been thrilled that August, as we were honored as the Clay County Farm Family of the Year. We have the local University of Missouri Extension Council to thank for nominating us for the award, and recogznizing a sustainable farming operation for the honor. They won us a free trip to the State Fair to pick up the award, where the orators noted that “farmers are the backbone of democracy.” That’s us! Love that quote.
We had a great Fall harvest with little to no frost until late in November.
Fall cauliflower
The year ended with more home remodeling before heading to Italy in December. We visited Rome, then took the train to the southern tip of the continent, Calabria, the ancestral home of the Ruggieri’s.
Working on the back porch
In Calabria…the land of Persephone
Next up…electrifying the G, strawberry bonanza, Rocky, solar irrigation, adding mulch, and toooooo wettttt!
LETTUCE (F) The lettuce patch is getting smaller by the day. What remains are the crisphead varieties that can handle the summer heat more than most.
BEETS (F/P) The first pulling of the beets will commence tomorrow morning. They are still young and tender and the greens are great! Sautee the roots and greens together in a pan and you’ve got a glorious dish! Can you tell that beets are my favorite vegetable?
CABBAGE (F/P) We grow small varieties that mature quickly for the spring. Just the right amount for a big bowl of cole slaw.
SUMMER SQUASH (F/P) The squash harvest is beginning to get weighty. Look to Tom’s post for some easy recipes to enjoy the bounty.
BROCCOLI OR PEAS (F) The last picking of both of these spring vegetables. We’ll have broccoli again in the fall when it really thrives in the cool weather. The peas are a spring-only crop so enjoy this offering.
PLUM PURPLE RADISHES (F) The last planting of radishes is here for this week only. Partial shares get a choice of radishes or herbs.
YELLOW ONIONS (F/P) We are really psyched about our big yellow onions. We planted them last summer, mulched them over the winter and here they are – a good 2 months before we would have anything of this size and maturity. Keep these on your counter, it is too moist for them in the fridge.
HERB CHOICE (F/P) Parsley, mint, summer savory or basil
ALSO THIS WEEK: Parker Farms CSA shares
NEXT WEEK: More summer squash. Walla Walla onions and carrots. Swiss chard and kale.
FARM REPORT
Every plant and beast on the farm sighed with relief as the rain fell Sunday night. The slow steady rain seeped in the ground, filled in the cracks and washed us clean. About an inch fell and we needed every drop. We continue to irrigate and mulch and the crops seems to be thriving so far. The moist soil allowed us to begin renovating the strawberry patch. With all the berries picked, there’s nothing left to do but mow it all down.
farm apprentice, Ryan, mowing the strawberry patch
Mowing the plants removes any diseased leaves and opens up the crowns to the sanitizing rays of sunshine. We’ll give them a good helping of organic fertilizer, till the paths and then let the plants grow back. By fall the patch will be full of healthy leaves and tidy rows ready to produce next year’s crop.
With the upcoming arrival of summer (June 20), harvest begins to play a bigger role in our daily routine. We are currently picking the summer squash twice per week. The plants are healthy and the harvest weighty. Soon we will add tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers on to the routine.
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