Thursday, May 29, 2008
Boston Globe on CSA
Nice article in the Boston Globe today about Community Supported Agriculture, with a quote from yours truly. I'm glad to see they included information about the Picadilly Farm CSA shares in Arlington, Belmont and Bedford, as well as a quote from farmer Jenny.
Dirty Girl Farm and Healthy Soil
Or maybe I should write, "dirty vegetable farm", 'tho we girls did get pretty dirty during the harvest. The lettuce we harvested this morning for the CSA had more soil on it than usual. The much needed rain earlier this week -- about an inch on the farm -- came down hard, and it splashed a lot of soil onto the lettuce. I dunked the lettuce and gently sprayed it and dunked it again, but I think some of my shareholders took home something more precious than fresh veggies today: healthy soil.
Speaking of healthy soil, in year three of my growing food on this acre, the earthworms have returned. During my first two years, the rare earthworm sightings created excitement and always led to conversations about their absence. Some growers I spoke with suggested that the conventional fertilizer long used on this land may have created a caustic environment for the worms. Others wondered if the deposits of grass clippings from local landscapers may have contained chemicals that were not earthworm-friendly. I'm not sure if either of these hypotheses is true. But after two years of organic fertilizer and a heavy application of composted manure, there are earthworms everywhere!
Speaking of healthy soil, in year three of my growing food on this acre, the earthworms have returned. During my first two years, the rare earthworm sightings created excitement and always led to conversations about their absence. Some growers I spoke with suggested that the conventional fertilizer long used on this land may have created a caustic environment for the worms. Others wondered if the deposits of grass clippings from local landscapers may have contained chemicals that were not earthworm-friendly. I'm not sure if either of these hypotheses is true. But after two years of organic fertilizer and a heavy application of composted manure, there are earthworms everywhere!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sharing food
I've spent a bit of time this weekend cooking and eating my CSA share. I like to do this a couple of time a season -- cook and eat the same share that my shareholders got. It provides me with good information about the quantity (does a share fit in the fridge?), menu possibilities (can I create a couple of easy meals with it?) and amount of work it takes to prepare the veggies. Spinach, kale, turnip greens and bok choy have been steamed, sauteed, stir fried and/or thrown into a big batch of macaroni and cheese. Lettuce, arugula, radishes and hakurei turnips created some great salads. My husband was away (running a marathon in record time!) so I did what many shareholders do when faced with too much food: I shared veggies and a meal with my neighbors.
Max, 6, declared that the radishes weren't too spicy. He ate raw bok choy like a rabbit and seemed to like it cooked in stir fry, too. Tjaden, 9, less enamored of my vegetables that Max, inhaled his stir fry and then turned his attention to vegetable-free dessert, which somehow got smeared all over his face. Rob, father of the boys and cook of the meal, educated me about chia (salvia hispanica). He sent me home with a bag of chia seeds to eat and possibly cure everything that ails me.
Fresh vegetables taste even better when prepared and eaten in good company. Hope you are all enjoying good food and good company this weekend!
Max, 6, declared that the radishes weren't too spicy. He ate raw bok choy like a rabbit and seemed to like it cooked in stir fry, too. Tjaden, 9, less enamored of my vegetables that Max, inhaled his stir fry and then turned his attention to vegetable-free dessert, which somehow got smeared all over his face. Rob, father of the boys and cook of the meal, educated me about chia (salvia hispanica). He sent me home with a bag of chia seeds to eat and possibly cure everything that ails me.
Fresh vegetables taste even better when prepared and eaten in good company. Hope you are all enjoying good food and good company this weekend!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Share the harvest, share the risk?
Here's a new article from the Rodale Institute about CSA farms that might interest you. When things go very wrong: Community Supported Agriculture and shared risk. CSA growers don't like to think or talk about the 'share the risk' aspect of the CSA model. It's one of those topics (right up there with farm injuries and accidents that maim or kill growers) that's almost too horrible to contemplate.
I've wondered what I would do if I lost all of my crops to the wind and rain of a hurricane, or the appetite a really hungry tribe of woodchucks. I've wondered if my shareholders really understand and agree to the "share the risk" part of their CSA involvement.
On a more cheerful note, there's been no sign of woodchuck activity for five days!
I've wondered what I would do if I lost all of my crops to the wind and rain of a hurricane, or the appetite a really hungry tribe of woodchucks. I've wondered if my shareholders really understand and agree to the "share the risk" part of their CSA involvement.
On a more cheerful note, there's been no sign of woodchuck activity for five days!
Tractor Dreams
We've been doing a lot of hoeing lately - fifteen hundred bed feet last Wednesday! I got the hoes sharpened on Thursday. My mechanic gets them razor sharp in exchange for lettuce! He deduced that I'm growing vegetables on the rockiest acre on the east coast.
I've no mechanized cultivating equipment, in large part because I've no place to store another tractor, but also because I can do without it for now. A flame weeder, a colinear hoe and a wheel hoe are the primary tools I use for managing weeds. I do dream about buying a little cultivating tractor. I'll admit to many hours spent fantasizing about this tractor. It's red. I picture myself sitting on it, high above the galen soga and pigweed. I drive up and down the rows of vegetables, sweeps, hillers, baskets and/or tines arranged just-so, wiping out millions of tiny weed threads with each tractor pass. I imagine the weed sprouts trembling at the sound of tractor's engine.
In addition to a good crop of rocks, here's what else is growing well:
I've no mechanized cultivating equipment, in large part because I've no place to store another tractor, but also because I can do without it for now. A flame weeder, a colinear hoe and a wheel hoe are the primary tools I use for managing weeds. I do dream about buying a little cultivating tractor. I'll admit to many hours spent fantasizing about this tractor. It's red. I picture myself sitting on it, high above the galen soga and pigweed. I drive up and down the rows of vegetables, sweeps, hillers, baskets and/or tines arranged just-so, wiping out millions of tiny weed threads with each tractor pass. I imagine the weed sprouts trembling at the sound of tractor's engine.
In addition to a good crop of rocks, here's what else is growing well:
Monday, May 12, 2008
CSA distributions begin!
The spinach is pretty much begging to be picked; the arugula, too. Bok choy, kale, and lettuce are all ready for someone's plate. I wish the beets, carrots, kohlrabi, summer turnips and scallions were ready. I thought about postponing the first distribution until some of the root crops could make an appearance.
"Hmmmm," I asked myself. "If I were a shareholder, what would I want?"
The first CSA distribution is this Thursday. It will be a small, very green share. A nice little taste of spring to start the season. I may throw in a woodchuck or two if I find any during the Thursday harvest.
"Hmmmm," I asked myself. "If I were a shareholder, what would I want?"
The first CSA distribution is this Thursday. It will be a small, very green share. A nice little taste of spring to start the season. I may throw in a woodchuck or two if I find any during the Thursday harvest.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
First Harvest
Yesterday, May 9, was our first harvest. It was a very satisfying experience. Liz and I harvested two small orders for Formaggio Kitchen and Kitchen on Common. Sending this first harvest of bok choy and kale out into the world with Julio (FK) and Joh (KC), two guys who really appreciate local produce, added to the pleasure of the harvest.
It was a slow harvest. We knew we would be. After all, it was the first harvest of the season. We've a few more small harvests planned for next week and we have lots of ideas about how to be more efficient and quick. Better planning, organization, technique and caffiene all have a place in our plan. I expect we will be up to speed by the time the CSA harvests start (it's looking like the week of May 19!). I estimate that we'll need to spend a total of 32 hours per week harvesting this spring. That should leave enough time for planting, weeding, maintaining equipment and all the other things that need doing each week, including enjoying and celebrating the harvest.
It was a slow harvest. We knew we would be. After all, it was the first harvest of the season. We've a few more small harvests planned for next week and we have lots of ideas about how to be more efficient and quick. Better planning, organization, technique and caffiene all have a place in our plan. I expect we will be up to speed by the time the CSA harvests start (it's looking like the week of May 19!). I estimate that we'll need to spend a total of 32 hours per week harvesting this spring. That should leave enough time for planting, weeding, maintaining equipment and all the other things that need doing each week, including enjoying and celebrating the harvest.
Friday, May 9, 2008
"Liz, get the gun!"
That's what I wanted to yell to farm intern, Liz Green, today when I saw the woodchuck at the far end of the field feasting on newly planted lettuce. We don't have a gun, and it'd probably be illegal to fire one in Belmont. Instead, I asked her to grab the "woodchuck supplies". Shovel and bombs in hand, we slowly approached the demon, er, woodchuck. A hungry male adolescent 'chuck with an attitude like he owned the place. He spotted us, so we started running toward him. Not because we thought we could catch him. Goodness, no. Not after a day spent doing hard farm labor! We wanted to see where he was headed. For the past week, his home has been impossible to find. We walk the perimeter of the farm several times a day searching for his lair to no avail.
Well, today we found FIVE open, active holes. FIVE. There were none this morning when we looked. Liz and I wondered if someone's been trapping woodchucks and bringing them to the farm. Probably not, since this would be illegal, as well as just plain mean (mean to me, my customers AND the woodchuck). Or maybe May 9 is Woodchuck Pilgrimage Day -- they all come the farm to have a big party.
Anyway, when I left at 6:30 this evening there were no active woodchuck holes. To date, around $1,200 in lettuce and peas has been lost to woodchucks. Not a catastrophe, since I always plant more than is needed, but very annoying. I'll keep you posted.
Well, today we found FIVE open, active holes. FIVE. There were none this morning when we looked. Liz and I wondered if someone's been trapping woodchucks and bringing them to the farm. Probably not, since this would be illegal, as well as just plain mean (mean to me, my customers AND the woodchuck). Or maybe May 9 is Woodchuck Pilgrimage Day -- they all come the farm to have a big party.
Anyway, when I left at 6:30 this evening there were no active woodchuck holes. To date, around $1,200 in lettuce and peas has been lost to woodchucks. Not a catastrophe, since I always plant more than is needed, but very annoying. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Woodchuck with an expensive appetite
I couldn't for the life of me find any active woodchuck burrows this past weekend, so I covered most of the lettuce with row cover, hoping the woodchucks wouldn't think to look underneath. It worked! The lettuce was saved!
Of course the woodchuck was still hungry. He found the peas Sunday night. Just one row of them. This woodchuck has very expensive taste in vegetables: Lettuce, $2/head; pea tendrils, $16/pound. His grocery bill is sky-rocketing.
Liz and I spent the morning scouting for woodchuck burrows. Found two new burrows in the woods south of our acre. We used smoke bombs on them and checked them a couple of times during the day to make sure they hadn't been reopened. We also found the mother-of-all-woodchuck-burrows at the front of the Sergi farm. Holy Cow! Looked like an army of woodchucks probably lived there. The burrow was well covered by vines and shrub roots, so loppers, a saw and a lot of muscle were necessary before we could get at it. We couldn't find the 'back door' that all woodchuck burrows are purported to have, so likely we'll see more evidence of our woodchuck tomorrow.
Good thing we planted so many vegetables.
Of course the woodchuck was still hungry. He found the peas Sunday night. Just one row of them. This woodchuck has very expensive taste in vegetables: Lettuce, $2/head; pea tendrils, $16/pound. His grocery bill is sky-rocketing.
Liz and I spent the morning scouting for woodchuck burrows. Found two new burrows in the woods south of our acre. We used smoke bombs on them and checked them a couple of times during the day to make sure they hadn't been reopened. We also found the mother-of-all-woodchuck-burrows at the front of the Sergi farm. Holy Cow! Looked like an army of woodchucks probably lived there. The burrow was well covered by vines and shrub roots, so loppers, a saw and a lot of muscle were necessary before we could get at it. We couldn't find the 'back door' that all woodchuck burrows are purported to have, so likely we'll see more evidence of our woodchuck tomorrow.
Good thing we planted so many vegetables.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Rainy day reading
New Farm: In the most recent NF newsletter, Editor Greg Bowman is on the lookout for signs that our food system is changing. "Watch for the signs showing the end of the illusion that we can profit in any true sense by using more energy to produce food than we get from eating it. Cleverness has not served us well in the absence of a profound humility as to the limits of how much we can take from the natural world."
There's a link in this New Farm to John Ikerd's article, the Dawning of a New Agriculture. Thoughtful reflections on sustainable agriculture.
My morning reading list also included a rant (I'm partial to farmers who rant) on the blog loonatics.
Too bad woodchucks don't spend rainy days snugged away in their burrows reading about sustainable agriculture. When I visited the farm this morning I saw that they had been busy. Busy eating a bed of romaine lettuce. Sigh.
There's a link in this New Farm to John Ikerd's article, the Dawning of a New Agriculture. Thoughtful reflections on sustainable agriculture.
My morning reading list also included a rant (I'm partial to farmers who rant) on the blog loonatics.
Too bad woodchucks don't spend rainy days snugged away in their burrows reading about sustainable agriculture. When I visited the farm this morning I saw that they had been busy. Busy eating a bed of romaine lettuce. Sigh.
Friday, May 2, 2008
May Farm Update
Much of our one acre is now planted: alliums of every type, an array of leafy greens, plus beans, beets, carrots, hakurei turnips, kohlrabi, peas, radishes. Some of these veggies are under agricultural row cover to speed their growth and/or to protect them from pests. The hoop house is filled with tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings and the next lettuce, herb and beet plantings. As you know it's been a bit dry. Last week I noticed that some of the outer leaves on the lettuce were getting dry and crinkly, and crops in the drier part of the field had just stopped growing.....kind of silent protest against a mini-drought in April. Thank goodness for the rain!
Critter Update
Our farm intern, Liz Green, has been introduced to woodchucking hunting and she's really taken to it. For the most part, it seems the woodchuck population has been contained, although yesterday we did discover a dozen heads of lettuce that some critter (rabbit? woodchuck?) had devoured. These mostly-eaten lettuces were in the middle of the field. Very odd. The critters usually stick to the field edges where they can quickly run for cover when a hawk or human approaches.
Summer CSA News
It looks like distribution of CSA shares will begin the third or fourth week of May. (I'll contact shareholders by email as soon as I know the date of the first distribution.) I don't think I'll ever be able to predict exactly what will be in the CSA share -- rabbits, woodchucks, weather have make accurate predictions difficult. That said, it looks like the first share will include spinach, arugula, lettuce, kale, bok choy and radishes. Beets, carrots, kohlrabi, scallions, pearl onions, hakurei turnips, parsley, dill, and cilantro should follow in early June.
Where to find Belmont-grown produce
There's about six weeks early in the spring when there's room in the field for a lot more green stuff than my CSA can manage (around 10,000 more heads of lettuce than my 50 shareholders can eat!). I'm taking advantage of this by growing leafy greens all kinds -- lettuce, napa, bok choy, kale -- for Whole Foods in Fresh Pond, Medford and Woburn, and Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. Looks like we'll start harvesting for these wholesale accounts in a couple of weeks. It will be a lot of work, but will bring in significant revenue for this one acre farm business. If you missed out on a Belmont CSA share this year, consider buying our produce at one of this stores.
And if you prefer that your Belmont-grown vegetables be cooked and served to you, visit Kitchen on Common in Cushing Square, Belmont. In the next few weeks our veggies will again be on the menu. Check out the Kitchen on Common Spring Harvest Dinner on May 18. This will be a fun and tasty way to explore new ways to prepare the veggies you will find in your spring CSA share or at the first Farmers' Markets of the season. Chef Joh Kokubo, Kitchen on Common, will prepare dinner using local, in-season vegetables and herbs. Joh will join us, share his recipes and answer questions about cooking with spring vegetables. The Spring Harvest Dinner will be at Kitchen on Common, 442 Common St., Belmont , MA on May 18, 5:30-7:00 PM. The costis $30/adult, $20/child ages 6-15. Please call Kitchen on Common to make your reservations, (617) 484-4EAT.
Critter Update
Our farm intern, Liz Green, has been introduced to woodchucking hunting and she's really taken to it. For the most part, it seems the woodchuck population has been contained, although yesterday we did discover a dozen heads of lettuce that some critter (rabbit? woodchuck?) had devoured. These mostly-eaten lettuces were in the middle of the field. Very odd. The critters usually stick to the field edges where they can quickly run for cover when a hawk or human approaches.
Summer CSA News
It looks like distribution of CSA shares will begin the third or fourth week of May. (I'll contact shareholders by email as soon as I know the date of the first distribution.) I don't think I'll ever be able to predict exactly what will be in the CSA share -- rabbits, woodchucks, weather have make accurate predictions difficult. That said, it looks like the first share will include spinach, arugula, lettuce, kale, bok choy and radishes. Beets, carrots, kohlrabi, scallions, pearl onions, hakurei turnips, parsley, dill, and cilantro should follow in early June.
Where to find Belmont-grown produce
There's about six weeks early in the spring when there's room in the field for a lot more green stuff than my CSA can manage (around 10,000 more heads of lettuce than my 50 shareholders can eat!). I'm taking advantage of this by growing leafy greens all kinds -- lettuce, napa, bok choy, kale -- for Whole Foods in Fresh Pond, Medford and Woburn, and Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. Looks like we'll start harvesting for these wholesale accounts in a couple of weeks. It will be a lot of work, but will bring in significant revenue for this one acre farm business. If you missed out on a Belmont CSA share this year, consider buying our produce at one of this stores.
And if you prefer that your Belmont-grown vegetables be cooked and served to you, visit Kitchen on Common in Cushing Square, Belmont. In the next few weeks our veggies will again be on the menu. Check out the Kitchen on Common Spring Harvest Dinner on May 18. This will be a fun and tasty way to explore new ways to prepare the veggies you will find in your spring CSA share or at the first Farmers' Markets of the season. Chef Joh Kokubo, Kitchen on Common, will prepare dinner using local, in-season vegetables and herbs. Joh will join us, share his recipes and answer questions about cooking with spring vegetables. The Spring Harvest Dinner will be at Kitchen on Common, 442 Common St., Belmont , MA on May 18, 5:30-7:00 PM. The costis $30/adult, $20/child ages 6-15. Please call Kitchen on Common to make your reservations, (617) 484-4EAT.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)