Earth Dance, Week #25

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, September 30, 2010
(includes a piece written by Genna!)

Genna with an Earth Dance chicken. : )

Before we start our work this morning, I look out over the crops and notice the gorgeous Fall colors.

It's a chilly dewey morning, in the 50s. We start by cutting cilantro into rubber banded bunches.

Skyler arrives, and we move over to another field to harvest braising mix. The sun feels so good when it starts warming us.

Genna cuts the braising mix off near the ground, to be bagged later.

Different kinds of greens make up braising mix.

Mark cleaning eqiupment between harvests.

Next harvest is cucumbers.  Not many left ... that's why some members will get cucumbers this week, and some will receive braising mix ... farmer's choice.    : )

Mark at the washing station, washing the cucumbers.

Earlier this week, the interns had harvested acorn and sweet dumpling squash. Genna collects them from the cooler, and we place one of each into the members' boxes.

Winter squash ... sweet dumpling and acorn.

Genna and I wash, spin, and bag braising mix.

Genna helps Norm guide the tank full of potatoes onto the bucket of Norm's tractor.

Norm is then able to move the potatoes from the back of the pickup to the washing station.

We then place the potatoes into small bins ...

... and Norm uses his power washer to wash the layers of dirt off of them.

While Genna and I load the potatoes into the boxes, Skyler and Mark take the tractor out to the field to harvest the sweet potatoes. The day is getting more beautiful by the minute. It's windy, but it ends up getting into the 70s ... a beautiful gift for the end of September.

The guys bring the sweet potatoes up, and we wash them and load them into the boxes. Some are shaped like what you would expect sweet potatoes to be shaped like ... and some actually look like pink carrots!

Lunchtime, and I share my lawn space with the foraging chickens ...

... and they don't really pay me much mind. : )

This is what edamame looks like ... like pea pods.

Genna and Mark, bagging the edamame.

The onions are being stored in the greenhouse, to be distributed to the members over the next several weeks.

Genna and Mark collect what is needed for the members this week.

What a joy to be finishing up in daylight again! And the weather is so nice tonight. Riley had joined us after school, which allowed us to make quick work of harvesting and packing the tomatoes.

Genna goes to get the last load of boxes.

Mark, Genna and Riley use our standard 3-person relay for packing the boxes into the cooler (I was in on it on an earlier round). It really works quite efficiently.

We finish up, and I'm driving out the driveway towards home at 6:00 on the dot!

I can't believe it ... I only have 2 more Wednesdays left on the farm. October 13 will be my last day.  Where did this summer go?

This Week's CSA Box:
Potatoes, Roma tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers/braising mix (farmer's choice), onions, edamame, beets, winter squash, radishes, pie pumpkin, cilantro.

Hope to see you all at the Fall Harvest Celebration this Saturday, October 2!

Earth Dance, Week #24

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, September 23, 2010
(includes a piece written by me!)

We start our day under sunny skies (the sun has just come up!) and temps in the 50s, and everything is dripping wet from dew. Genna and I follow Mark as he drives the John Deere over to where we will harvest lettuce. He loves to take a moment after he turns the tractor off to just breathe in the morning before we get started.

Harvesting the lettuce. The sun is just starting to reach over the farm and hit the trees in the background.

The lettuce heads grow in rows.

I think this lettuce is the 'bridal bouquet' of the farm!

Genna gives the lettuce its first rinse.

I give the lettuce its second rinse ...

... and then pose for the camera!

Skyler arrives and joins us.

Beautiful Genna with the beautiful lettuce!

Norm washes down the trailer, and we get our next set of instructions.

A tour bus arrives, and a group of young professionals from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service have come to tour the farm.

Norm leads the group on the tour, and they pass us as we harvest.  He addresses their questions about management and marketing of a CSA.

Some members will receive the head lettuce (pictured earlier), and some will receive these varied types of leaf lettuce.

Next, we harvest braising mix. Genna and I start at this end ...

... and Skyler starts at the far end.

The braising mix is rinsed and bagged.

Then, we head down to pick cucumbers.

Skyler, Genna and I wash cucumbers while Mark continues to bag the braising mix.

Earlier in the week, the interns harvested onions and stored them in the greenhouse.

We get to a break point at 11:45 and take lunch. While we eat, the chickens roam around us, scratching and making contented chicken noises. : )

These chickens were the 'baby chicks' whose weekly growth I documented this past spring in some of my very first posts on this blog.

One of them gets closer ...

... and then really gets curious about what I'm doing. : )

During our lunch break, I find Genna in one of her favorite places, in the hammock talking to her dad on her cell phone.

Thought I'd throw this picture in here, as this is the first time I've thought to take it. It's the bunkhouse, where the interns live throughout their stay here.

Okay, lunch is finished, and we're back to work. Here I am, placing cucumers into the member boxes.

Mark and Genna filling member boxes.

Earlier this morning, Norm had put the potatoes, onions, garlic and sweet dumpling squash (adorable!) into the boxes.  And now, Mark, Genna, Skyler and I continue through the afternoon, filling them with two different kinds of tomatoes, the different lettuces, braising mix, radishes and sage.

The Wow Factor of the day was that we finished at 4:00!  Just as we were loading the boxes into the cooler, Riley arrived for his after-school shift.  And, just about the same time, the sky opened up, and the rain came pouring down. Perfect timing!  There wasn't really much left to do, so Riley left just about as fast as he had shown up, and Mark really needed to get out of there, as he was going home to visit family.  (Since Mark will be gone for delivery day this week, Genna will be taking over his route and doing the Rochester deliveries tomorrow.)

Genna and I decided to don our rain gear and do one more task before we called it a day. We took the John Deere down to the field and harvested some edamame (eh-duh-MAH-may). Sorry, no picture, but they look like pea pods growing on tall stalks. We pulled the whole plants and brought them up to where Genna would be able to take the pods off the plants tomorrow, out of the rain.  (Not sure if this will be a member item ... or if Norm is growing it for his family.)

So, I was actually driving out the driveway today at 4:40 pm!  I drove through some torrential rains and saw some pretty crazy lightning on the way home, but did eventually get home safely.   : )

This Week's CSA Box:
Potatoes, Roma tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, braising mix, sweet dumpling squash, radishes, and sage.

Look at how adorable this little sweet dumpling squash is! I actually had never seen this variety of squash before.

And, this picture (next to a bottle water) is to show you how really little it is! : )