Category Archives: sugar snap peas

In the Share: Week 4

csa, mulching, potatoes, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, weeding

SUGARSNAP PEAS F/P  It is hard to judge how many will be ripe when we pick them with the CSA tomorrow, but the plants are loaded with fruit.  We will try to get some to everyone on Weds.  By Saturday and next week we should have lots more.

SPECKLED ROMAINE LETTUCE F/P  A lovely tender romaine heirloom that has a tendency to burn out in the heat.  Lucky for us it has headed up nicely for this week’s shares only.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F  Smaller heads this week, the butterhead season is about done.  We have more red leaf lettuce and green romaines that will hopefully keep us in salads through June.

BROCCOLI F/P  Bunches include standard broccoli and it’s cousin, gai lan.  I hear broccoli leaves are the new kale.

SWISS CHARD F

TATSOI OR KALE P

TURNIPS AND RADISHES F/P  The first of the spring roots have taken their time, but they have turned out to be a nice intro to the root harvest.

GREEN ONIONS OR GREEN GARLIC OR GARLIC SCAPES F

HERB MIX F/P  Dill, herb fennel, parsley and cutting celery.  See Tom’s post on herb identification.

BOK CHOY F  Our white-stemmed varieties are growing handsomely.  If you haven’t yet stir-fried, I recommend the finished product.  Tom’s making one with tatsoi and green onions right now.

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, peas, turnips, greens, kohlrabi, beets and herbs.

FARM REPORT:

May is a make-or-break month.  If you get the plants in and the weather holds, it sets you up for a good summer.  If it storms and rains and stymies your planting schedule, you are in for a rough ride.  Last year’s 30+ inches of rain in the months of May and June gave us fits.

happy potato plants

This May was actually really great.  We received a nice amount of rain, but not too much.

The CSA crew on Saturday helped us with mulching our other big block of tomatoes and peppers.  It is a messy job, but it pays off in cherry tomatoes so totally worth it.

In the Share: Week 2 Extended Season

butterhead lettuce, peas, rain, sugar snap peas, workshop
BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE  the first of hopefully many more.

RED LEAF OR ROMAINE LETTUCE ditto

RADISHES AND TURNIPS  the first round of pulling these, next week they’ll be bigger.

CARROTS  From our patch that we overwintered growing in the high tunnel.

PEA SHOOTS  Its the first time we have ever grown these.  There is just a small bundle for each share.  Let us know what you think.  See Tom’s post for more info.

BOK CHOY  See Tom’s post for tips on stir-fry

ASPARAGUS OR SPINACH  Sorry to say, the asparagus patch is still not giving us much to work with.  We are hoping for an improvement soon, but in the meantime there is some luscious spinach from the fields and high tunnel.

ARUGULA, KALE OR SWISS CHARD  Eat your greens!

HERBS  Cilantro & dill

GREEN GARLIC  Like a green onion, a green garlic is the whole plant pulled when young. 

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, greens, radishes and turnips, green onions, herbs and asparagus.

FARM REPORT:
All of the Spring crops are in the ground and are off to a good start.  Tending to them is our focus this week before we things get busy with the planting of the summer crops. 

The onions we started in the greenhouse back in January have been in the ground for over a month now. 

You can see the organic matter leftover from last summer’s cover crop of sorghum sudan grass and sunhemp still visible on the surface.  Farmers like to call this residue “trash”, as in “the trash gummed up the equipment”.  I can be known to complain about it when I plant the first carrots of the season, however, the plants that feed us do very well thanks to the nutrients that our cover crops provide.  This year’s soil test shows a dramatic increase in the organic matter in our soil which is now between 4 and 5 %, up from 2-3 a few years back.  Doesn’t sound like a lot, but a doubling of organic matter is significant.  Some prairie soils are up around 7%.

The first CSA workers came out last week and joined us in our work.  The harvest goes quick with just 20-30 shares per morning, and we had lots of time for other tasks.  The sugarsnap peas got mulched and fenced in between rain showers on Saturday.

Others made row cover pins in the new workshop. 

 
Tom and I feel incredibly fortunate to have the support from our community.  Our family farm benefits from everyone’s participation in our work.  We hope that our members look forward to their farm shifts as much as we do.  Thank you!


In the Share – Week 4

broccoli, sugar snap peas

SUGARSNAP PEAS F/P  If you are new to these, pinch off the stem and pop the pod in your mouth. 

BROCCOLI F/P  Whoa, nelly!  The Spring broccoli crop is off the charts!   Everyone gets a good amount, full shares more than partials.  If you want to freeze some for later, order off of the bulk list as it won’t be around much longer. 

STRAWBERRIES F/P  The patch is loaded with more berries than we can pick.  We will be opening the patch for U-pick for this coming weekend if not sooner.  An email will go out soon with more info.

LETTUCE F2/P  The butterheads are heading out, but the leaf lettuce and romaines are holding for awhile longer.

GARLIC SCAPES F/P They only appear once a year!  See Tom’s post for thoughts on uses. 

KOHLRABI F2/P1  I think one trick with kohlrabi, turnips and other mustardy root-type vegetables like radishes is to not let them dry out after cutting them.  They are great raw, but must be eaten immediately after being chopped before they get dehydrated and bitter.  Or store them chopped up in a bowl of water.

PARSLEY, OREGANO or GREEN ONION F/P  A sprig for the partials, larger bunches for the full shares.

HAKUREI TURNIPS F/P  Not your grandmother’s turnip, these are sweet and juicy and best eaten raw or lightly cooked.

NEXT WEEK:  More lettuce, broccoli, turnips, peas and greens.  Perhaps the first zucchini and baby beets.

FARM REPORT:

The Spring Field

The farm is bursting with crops for harvest.  The strawberries continue to ripen while we harvest hundreds of pounds of broccoli.  The lettuces response to the heat is to all be ready at once and the turnips and kohlrabi are begging to be picked. Thank you to those who have time to come out to help with the harvest tomorrow. 

today’s broccoli harvest

The fields are glowing in shades of green thanks to a little over an inch of rain last week.  It came at a good time as we were starting to be concerned with the peas, onions and other early crops that we usually don’t need to irrigate.  Instead we could turn our attention from irrigation to the crops and the weeds that are growing vigorously. 

weeding and pruning the summer crops

2012—Our Ninth CSA Season

csa, fair share farm, farm apprentice, high tunnel, kansas city, Parker Farms, sugar snap peas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes

And so we reach 2012 … and the reminiscing is about to end. It has been instructional and cathartic for Rebecca and me to review what the farm has been through over the last ten years. Every year has been a new set of challenges and unpredicable weather. As an example, the contrast between Spring 2012 and our present weather conditions is striking.

Red bud blooming March 24, 2012

2012 broke all sorts of records, including the hottest January-June on record and third driest year on record. The drought and mind-numbing heat of Summer (the average daily high in July was 98.2 deg F) made work difficult and came close to drying up our irrigation pond.

It was a very strange, if not somewhat bizarre year for the crops, with the early Spring and hot, dry Summer causing many plants to mature up to a month early. Strawberries were ripening on May 1 instead on Jule 1. Garlic was ready by June 5, a month ahead as well. And most of the potatoes quite literally cooked (and rotted) in the ground as the soil temperatures topped 90 degrees.

There were some major successes though. In the Spring the sugar snap peas were dripping off the vines with a new record of 550+ lbs. As mentioned, the tomatoes thrived…9,397 pounds of virtually blemish-free beauties thanks to the dry weather. The sweet potatoes were the most beautiful specimens we had ever grown. We also had good success with carrots, the Fall crops and many other vegetables.


Ryan picking peas (photo by Bill McKelvey)
tons of tomatoes

A good sweet potato plant
Sweet pea very full for the CSA delivery to the Bad Seed

Despite the crazy weather, the farm crew was up to the task. Dani Hurst returned for a second season as an apprentice and even squeezed a May wedding to Derek Brown into the year. Apprentice Ryan Stubby graced us with his hard work, good nature and awesome kale chips. Harvest extras allowed Ryan to hone his skills at food dehydrating, a talent he hopes to use in future ventures.



Ryan and Dani tending to the tomatoes in June

CSA member, Mark Flynn, had some free time that Summer and was a big help during the big tomato harvest and Fall planting push. The lack of rain and extreme heat created the need to put out mulch for the cabbage, broccoli and other July plantings earlier than normal. It was a big effort to complete, as the Summer harvest was also in full swing. Thanks again Mark.

Ryan, Mark, Dani and Rebecca planting cabbages in July

In June we traveled to Richmond, MO for the KC CSA Coalition tour of Parker Farms. As vegetable farmers and meat eaters we appreciate the effort that goes into raising free-range, pasture-fed livestock. Since we started collaborating with the Parker’s in 2006, they have fed us most all of the meat we have eaten in the last 7 years. Tom, Paula and their four daughters hosted a delicious pot-luck and stroll of the farm. They are doing it right.


Pasture-fed and free-range beef ala Parker Farms

The other big task in 2012 was the construction of our new high tunnel. Grading of the site began in January. Two volunteer work days and many other hours of piecing it together were successful in getting things in order by mid-September. The high tunnel crops flourished that fall and allowed us to extend the season for 4 weeks.

Volunteers helping put up the main structure March 10th
Finished high tunnel on November 11th

Our last days of the season were out of the norm that year too. On October 20 the Outstanding in the Field crew and Justus Drugstore again set up at the farm for another fantastic dinner. It was a tough day though, as it was announced by OITF founder Jim Denavan that we were hosting the coldest event they ever held. Crazy for that to happen after the Summer heat wave.

We entered the Winter of 2012 already planning for an expansion of the CSA to 150 members in 2013. But first we are able to take a train ride to the Southwest and relax in New Mexico hot springs for a week. Such a break is always good.

The oft-photographed St. Francis Chuch near Taos, New Mexico

If you have been following this recollection all the way through we thank you, and hope you enjoyed it. We would appreciate your comments and look forward to hearing from our blog readers.

Next up…the 2013 season.

2004—Our First CSA Season

csa, fair share farm, sugar snap peas, ten year anniversary

Since Fair Share Farm was first conceived it was always going to be a CSA farm. The concept of Community Supported Agriculture, and our experiences as both CSA members and apprentices had sealed the deal a long time previous. So 2004 was to be the year we would take on the responsibility of growing food for a community of local folks.

Step one was to generate membership. Through marketing the previous year at farmers markets, an article in the Kearney Courier, the KC Food Circle Expo, and word of mouth we were able to build a membership of 25 (our goal was 30). We held our first Core Group meeting at Fred and Carol Barth’s house along with member Kirk Day.

At the KC Food Circle Expo

Along with the vegetable growing, the infrastructure work continued. Our current packing room took shape as the barn received a makeover. The less than vertical north foundation wall was expertly replaced by a Menonite crew from Jamesport. John deftly felled the tree growing up the south side of the barn, and Rebecca and I re-built the lower barn so that it could house our cooler and wash area.

John dropping a tree

New wash area and packing room

The season started later than it does now, with the first share being handed out on Wednesday May 25, 2004. You can read all about it in our first Fair Share Farm CSA Newsletter. If you were around then you were lucky enough to get 2 pounds of sugar snap peas in your first share.

The first CSA farm work day

Our first distribution at the Crossroads Farmers Market

That bounty lightened up a bit as the season went on, however, as we learned just how wet and boggy some areas of our fields could get. The biggest loss of the season were the tomatoes and potatoes. Waterlogged from the start, and then eaten by the deer, the crop was meager. It is a tribute to those members who stuck with us after such disappointment, showing what supporting local agriculture means.

Soggy beds
Rain brings rainbows
Carrots have always seemed to thrive here
Late September share

We still had lots of ground to break in those days, and were still learning the craft of biological farming. We had yet to plant in the field up by the house. John had advised against it, as it was full of morning glory and cockelbur weeds. But we seeded brome grass and clover, and the wet summer helped this base vegetation flourish. We then started cutting beds and cover cropping with buckwheat.

The beds without the cover crop were lush too, with cockelbur weeds. We eventually got rid of them, without the use of herbicides, by balancing the mineral content of the soil and sticking with our cover cropping game plan. Today there is nary a cockel or a bur in that field.

Buckwheat flowering in distance and cockelbur crop in foreground

The winter was spent focusing on the house and more planning. These photos remind us that apparently we started our bathroom remodeling (yeeck!). It was finished by the following Spring.


Nothing but a memory now (yeah!)
With members Jessica and James—rounding up 2005 members in the Crossroads

So we worked and plotted our jump to 50 CSA members and enjoyed another winter on the farm. Next up—deer fences and full-time apprentices.