Earth Dance, Week #20

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, August 26, 2010

This is Matt's last week at Earth Dance. He will be finishing up his internship on Friday and heading back to school in La Crosse.  (Make sure you read Matt's thoughts about his experiences.)  I have no idea how we're going to get everything done without him!

Getting started this morning, Matt and Mark bring up the melon harvest.  These will be the first to go into the members' boxes.

Oh my goodness ... when the tomatoes came in this year, they came in big! It took Genna  and Matt four hours to harvest these.

Next, come the purple cabbages, and these go right into the boxes.

After losing all his tomatoes last year to the blight, Norm is all smiles with this year's gorgeous crop!

Matt, Riley and Mark help load a stock tank filled with the potato harvest from the back of the pickup into the bucket on Norm's tractor.

Norm then transports the potatoes over to the washing station, and Genna helps the guys move it off the tractor.

It's Genna's and my job to wash every one of these lovely potatoes and place them in the members' boxes.

Mark joins us in the potato washing and strikes an entertaining 'potato-washing' pose!

Norm pointed out to me how well the grapes are coming on the vines.

When I remember back to my first day in April, one of my first jobs that day was working in the vineyard. There wasn't even a suggestion of green yet at that time ... and now look at the beautiful leaves and fruit!

Matt and Riley work on cleaning up the onions a bit before putting them into the boxes.

While Genna and I were cleaning the potatoes, the guys were up in the cornfield picking this corn.

Riley, Genna and Matt start packing the corn into the members' boxes. 

This picture shows a fabuous find by Laurie!  They are adjustable-length slings that hold an enormous amout of anything you want to pack into them.  As you can see, they came in quite handy for transporting produce from the harvest piles to the member boxes.  Thanks, Laurie!   : )

There were reports from the members that the corn was not so great last week. I can tell you for a fact that it's better this week ... as, at lunchtime, here are Matt and Riley eating it raw, and they said it was delicious! 

Matt joined me for lunch where I sit in the grass by my car, and I finally got to experience the famous bucket of baked goods that his mom always makes for him to bring to the farm each week.  He offered me some wonderful molasses cookies ... and I have to say, "Matt's Mom, you make great cookies!"  Thanks for sharing.   : )

Because I only come one day a week, I miss a lot. Here is something that I found interesting.  In the days since I was here last, the interns had harvested this garlic and hung it to dry for future delivery to the members.  It makes quite a striking picture.

Still more harvesting to do. After lunch, we all went up to harvest squash and cucumbers. What a lovely day ... sunny and low 70s.  Mark drove the pickup, and Genna, Riley, Matt and I rode in the back.

After we finished harvesting, we all came down and spent the rest of the day packing the boxes. Just after 5:00, we finished and loaded the boxes into the cooler.

Genna, happily basking in having successfully finished another packing day.  Mark makes dinner on Wednesdays, and Genna was looking at all those tomatoes, thinking she might make tomato soup Thursday, which is her night to make dinner.  She also thought she and Matt might make some bread and/or a zucchini cake to celebrate his last day.

Thanks for all the hard work and laughs this summer, Matt ... it was sure great getting to know you. Make sure you let us all know when you get that farm of yours started. Oh, and we also want to know when you find that girl who meets all the criteria on your 'list!' Happy Trails....

The Harvest
Sweet corn, cabbage, sage, onion, bell peppers or eggplant (farmer's choice), melon, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, summer squash.

One of the benefits of my volunteering each Wednesday is getting to bring home some of the overabundance, and this week, it was tomatoes.  I love to make fresh juice, and I couldn't resist juicing up a bunch of these beauties.  Here is a glass of real tomato juice, freshly juiced, straight from the tomato.  Delicious!

Signing off,
Wednesday Special

: )

Earth Dance, Week #19

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, August 19, 2010

Sadly, there will be no Wednesday update from the farm this week, as I was kept home due to illness.

However, along with all their regular deliveries, Noah and Adriana surprised me by delivering my box to me, in Rochester, Thursday afternoon!  How sweet is that?!

The Harvest:
Summer squash, cucumbers, kale, cilantro, fennel, tomatoes, onions, red cabbage, sweet corn, leaf lettuce, and beets.

I should be back to work on the farm next Wednesday, with a new blog update.  I just can't miss it, as next week is Matt's last week before he goes back to school in La Crosse. 

Wow ... hard to believe it's already back-to-school time!

Earth Dance, Week #18

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, August 12, 2010

Meet Genna! She is Earth Dance Farm's newest paid intern, starting Monday, August 9, and set to work through October. Genna is 23 and originally from Red Wing, MN. She graduated from St. Ben's in St. Cloud and has recently completed time with Americorps, working with food systems.  She has always wanted to try her hand at CSA work and is excited to now have this opportunity. 

The other news is that today is Stephanie's last day working on the farm this summer. We will definitely miss this little spark of joy. Her hard-working positive attitude was such a plus, especially on days like today with the heat index over 100 degrees!  Go get 'em on your volleyball team, Steph!

(Also, I didn't realize it at the time, but Conner's last day was last week, as he is getting ready to head back to school as well ... nice working with you, Conner!)

Adriana and Norm washing arugula.

Adriana and Matt bagging arugula.

Norm told me today that the 'baby chicks' have started laying eggs, and they have actually been using the older chickens' egg boxes ... so he built this new set of boxes for the new chickens to use to lay their eggs. He is sealing it to prevent disease.

Bev washing arugula.

Genna already seems quite comfortable driving the John Deere (Stephanie in the background).

Mark and Riley deliver a load of sweet corn from the field.  Not even lunch time, and the temps are already in the 80s.

Adriana loads summer squash into member boxes.

Steph helps load summer squash into the boxes.

I got to work with Genna this morning, harvesting chives and rubber banding them into bundles.

At lunch time, I walked around the farm and just took in the incredible beauty.

Temps are heading into the 90s with intermittent cloud cover (which is always a welcome relief).

After I finished my lunch, I was playing with Hanna, when Adriana snapped this picture of us.

We continue our chive project after lunch.  Genna grabs a grouping of chives, so that I can cut them. Sometimes, they're tricky to find, because they look so much like the grass that grows around them.

Adriana and Steph found this cute little toad, but he was so quick, that this was the best picture I could get of him, before we finally let him go somewhere safe where he wouldn't get stepped on while we worked.

The gorgeous purple cabbage harvest!

Bev taking the chive bundles to the cooler, for packing into the boxes later in the day.

Everyone else had been working out in the hot fields, and now Genna and I got our turn.  Norm asked us to pick cucumbers, and it was HOT!  Genna did better than I did, as I needed to take a few more water and shade breaks (there was just enough shade thrown by the apple trees to sit in.)  Riley came up and joined us, and we finally finished and got to come down to help pack member boxes. 

It was a long hot day, and we didn't finish until 6:30.  The boxes were amazing and weighed in at about 23 pounds, the heaviest boxes so far this summer!

Good-bye Steph ... we'll miss you! : )

The Harvest:
Summer squash, cucumbers, zucchini, radishes, sweet corn, beets, chives, turnips, arugula, bok choy (farmer's choice), basil, cabbage.

Earth Dance, Week #17

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, August 5, 2010

Here is just another reason why Earth Dance Farm is such a special place. This is the bumper sticker that Norm (our farmer) has on the back of his truck.

This morning, Matt, Riley and I started by harvesting Romaine lettuce, and in this photo, Stephanie and Adriana are washing and packing it into the member boxes. We joked about it being beautiful enough to be a bridal bouquet.

Next, we harvested cauliflower. Some members will be getting Romaine, and some will be getting caulifower in their boxes, as these veggies are Farmer's Choice this week.

Since Bushra's internship ended Friday and Mark is on vacation this week (and Genna has not yet started), I got to drive the John Deere today! Matt helped remind me how to drive it, as I hadn't driven it since April, and after his reminders, it came back to me. Thanks Matt. : )

As I was reaching down to cut a cauliflower this morning, I almost put my hand right into this spider's web.  After I got over that little scare, I thought, "What a beautiful creature."

Riley hauling crates of cauliflower.

Next to be harvested was Bok choy ... gorgeous.

Matt hauling crates of Bok choy.

The day was humid and getting warmer by the minute. Matt, Riley and I rode in Riley's pickup to the upper fields to harvest summer squash and cucumbers.

Riley standing among the summer squash rows.

Adriana packing summer squash into member boxes.

Adriana showing off some funny-shaped squash.

Bok choy washed and waiting to be packed into the member boxes.

Even with all the farm work, there is still regular yard work that needs to be done, like mowing the lawn. Noah usually does the mowing, and here he is listening to his music while he mows.

Noah doing more yard work.

Adriana and Stephanie eating lunch at the new picnic table Norm got this past weekend.

Hannah, you are so beautiful!

Conner washing summer squash.

Somehow, we were ahead of schedule today. So, while Conner, Adriana and Stephanie packed member boxes, Riley, Matt and I went to hoe the weeds around the carrots.  I had to take a few shade and water breaks, as we had lost the wonderful cloud cover we had had this morning ... but, thankfully, we did have a nice little breeze.

While we were hoeing, Norm cultivated the fields near us.

Taking a break from hoeing, with Matt doing a great imitation of a scarecrow. : )

There were clouds of butterflies everywhere today. These little yellow ones seemed to be congregating around the dampness on the ground here.

Stephanie and Adriana used this cute little cart to transport member boxes to the cooler today, in addition to the guys hauling them on the big cart. We were surprised to find out when we finished that it was only 4:00. Riley, Matt and I then spent another half hour pulling weeds ... this time around the onions ... and then Norm said we could leave early.

I would have never guessed that we'd be done early on a day when we were a bit short-handed. It was really nice to get into that air conditioning in the car and be on the way home for the day.  On the drive home, Steph told me that next week will be her last week on the farm this summer, as she will be starting up volleyball practices before going back to school.

I just can't believe how fast the summer is flying by.

The Harvest:
Romaine lettuce (farmer's choice), radishes, cabbage, Bok choy, carrots, summer squash, cucumbers, potatoes, zucchini, thyme, basil.