Category Archives: swiss chard

In the Share: Week 5

csa harvest, hakurei turnip, swiss chard

HAKUREI TURNIPS F/P  If you don’t know what these are, prepared to be pleasantly suprised.  Eat them raw like an apple or slice and lightly salt for snacking.  The greens are nice too.

RED LEAF LETTUCE F/P  Depite the heat, the red leaf lettuce is going strong.

BUTTERHEAD OR ROMAINE LETTUCE F  Wednesday shares get a choice of butterheads and romaines.  By Saturday and Monday distributions, it will be all romaine.  So long, butterhead, until fall.

BROCCOLI F/P  Nice heads from the last plants to mature in the patch.  We’ll bring the broccoli back in the fall too.

SUGARSNAP PEAS F/P  Oh boy, we hope some of you are coming to help us pick in the morning.  The pea fences are loaded with fruit.  To eat: pinch the top, pull off the string and pop it in your mouth!

SNOW PEAS F  More will be coming to the partials next week.  Good for raw eating or stir frying.

HERB CHOICE F/P  Cilantro, dill or parsley

BEETS W/GREENS F  The first harvest.  The greens are in nice shape too.

BOK CHOY OR CHARD P  The last of the Asian greens are coming in from the field this week.

TAT SOI OR KALE F  The chard and kale should continue in the shares through June.

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, greens, roots, peas, turnips and cabbage.

FARM REPORT:
Wow!  What beautiful farming weather we have had this Spring!  Lots of sunshine, moderate temperatures and (dare I say it) rain just when we need it.  I feel like I am tempting fate, but those who lived through 2015 with the farm can’t help but celebrate.  For those who weren’t in the CSA last year (or for those who enjoy re-living miserable events!) go here to the blog from a year ago this week to get some perspective on the awesome-ness that is Spring 2016.

Mostly, the crops are enjoying the conditions as much as the farmers.  The greens have been especially nice.

turnip tops and chard looking radiant

The CSA harvesters have it good too.  We’ve had mostly blue sky and sunshine for the Wednesday and Saturday mornings during the farm shifts.

CSA harvesters picking chard on Saturday

One season down, another coming right behind it.  The summer crops are filling the far field and getting established in their new homes.  1200 sweet potatoes were planted yesterday.  We are starting to irrigate now with the normal (not 2015!) decrease in rain as summer approaches.  Here’s hoping for as nice of a Summer as we have had a Spring!

In the Share: Week 2

arugula, coyotes, swiss chard

SWISS CHARD F/P  The first picking of these colorful greens.

STRAWBERRIES F/P  We have picked the patch twice through and have enough for everyone to get one pint.  There are many more berries yet to ripen and we should be able to give all a quart by next week.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE F/P  The lettuces continue to be both heavy beasts, yet delicate at the same time.  Partial shares get a choice of butterhead or red leaf lettuce.

RED LEAF LETTUCE F

BOK CHOY F/P  I just finished eating Tom’s fried rice for dinner with bok choy, green onions and garlic finished with a few eggs from our hens.  That’s good eating!

GREEN GARLIC F/P  Just like onions, you can eat your garlic at the green stage.

CILANTRO AND DILL F/P  Cilantro played a role in the fried rice too.  Yummy!

GREEN ONIONS F  We continue to harvest the over-wintered patch.

ARUGULA F  First picking with hopefully more to come.

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuces, tat soi, strawberries, onions, radishes and broccoli.

FARM REPORT:

Last week I managed to greet almost every member household as you all picked up your first shares.  I enjoyed reacquainting myself with all of you and I hope that you will enjoy what the farm has to offer this season.

When I wasn’t hauling crates to and fro last week, I took part in a flurry of planting.  Thousands of heat-loving crops needed to go in and we had about 48 hours to get in done.  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, basil, squash, cucumbers and beans are all in.  They were watered in nicely thanks to the rain and are ready to take off with some summer heat that should arrive soon.

With the rains arrival, there was other work to be done.  The last two days have been wash-outs but we just put on the rain gear and keep going.  Here’s the crew harvesting the arugula this morning.

On the way to the arugula this morning, we saw these tracks which we think are coyote.  The coyote have lived on the Graff farm for years, but they used to stay further away when we had our dear dog, Rocky.  Now without a dog, we are hoping the coyote are able to move through our fields during their nighttime hunts and help us keep at bay the many critters that want to eat ripe fruits and fresh greens.  Good luck, coyotes!

In the Share: Week 2x

lettuce, mulching, swiss chard, walking onions

WALKING ONIONS  an early perennial, eat as you would any green onion.

BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE

RED LEAF LETTUCE

ASPARAGUS

RADISHES & TURNIPS

BOK CHOY & TAT SOI

FALL CARROTS  Last of the storage carrots.  Sometime in June we should have the first of the fresh crop.

RED RUSSIAN KALE  From out in the field.  We’ll save the rest for the start of the 24-week season in 2 weeks, but the biggest leaves are perfect for picking now.

HERB MIX Cilantro, dill, chive flowers

NEXT WEEK:  lettuce, asparagus, green onions, green garlic, arugula, bok choy, herbs and radishes.

FARM REPORT
With all of the spring crops in, the rains have been appreciated.  You can almost watch the lettuce grow.

Rainy days find us in the greenhouse potting up the summer crops.  The eggplant is ready even if the weather is not quite yet. We will wait as long as we can to make sure that we are past any freezes.

The CSA workers have been a great help in getting in the harvest and tending to the fields.  We like to hay mulch vegetables like the Swiss chard that will stay on in the fields into the summer.

In the Share Extended Season – Week 1

carrots, greenhouse, high tunnel, potatoes, swiss chard

LETTUCE (2)  We will be picking the lettuce heads in the morning, but it looks like everyone will get one butterhead and one red frilly leaf lettuce.

ASPARAGUS  The asparagus kicked back into gear after last week’s frost just in time for us all to enjoy.

SPINACH  This is from the over-wintered patch and includes some massive leaves, so be prepared.

CARROTS  These are juicy carrots freshly dug. 

SWISS CHARD  The plants are very large and quite delicious. 

GREEN ONIONS  We have some over-wintered bunching onions that are nice out in the fields.

HERB CHOICE  Cilantro, dill  or garlic chives.

EGGS  (1 dozen)  Our flock is now 8 months old and cranking out the eggs. See Tom’s post for a one of our favorite fast foods, frittata.

NEXT WEEK:  Lettuce, asparagus, green garlic, Spring turnips, bok choy, herb choice.

The first week of the 2014 Fair Share Farm CSA season is here!  For the next 31 weeks we endeavor to feed you well.  Our work takes place in the out of doors and crazy weather is known to happen in our region, but we work hard every day to minimize the risks and take care of the trust that has been given. 

Every Tuesday night, I (Rebecca ) list what is in the share for that week and give a farm report with some photos.  Tom posts at around the same time with helpful thoughts on unusual vegetables and recipes using items from the share. 

 
The week started with the harvest of the high tunnel carrots.  This is our second Spring harvesting out of the HT and we don’t feel like we have it all figured out yet.  The carrots are juicy and good-tasting, but we graded out a fair amount of split ones.  Still, we have enough nice ones that we plan to put them in the extended season shares again in two weeks. 

The farm crew spent the better part of the past two days cleaning and preparing the wash and pack area for the harvest.  Washing the hundreds of crates that we use takes a huge effort.  Inside the packing room, the coolers are clean and running smoothly with the CSA crates already starting to fill them. 

 While the farmers were washing everything in sight, the crops kept working without us.  Converting solar energy into good things to eat is what they do, but it is easy to worry about their success.  After some nervous anticipation, the seed potatoes have finally popped their first shoots up above the soil.  A big hurdle passed for the potatoes and a good omen for the season ahead. 

 
Our mantra every year is this:  best year yet!  Let it be so…