Earth Dance, Week #21

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, September 2, 2010
(includes a piece written by Adriana)

Good morning, Earth Dance Farm! It's 7:00 a.m., and this is one of the gorgeous vistas we are treated to as we begin our day's work.

Mark hauls the crates to the upper fields, takes a swig of coffee, and then sits a moment looking east to take in the awesome beauty and the quiet of the new morning.

Looking down the rows of chard ... this is what we harvested first today. 

Now that Matt has gone back to school, today our Wednesday group of workers has dwindled to Mark, Genna, Riley, Norm and me.  And ... this is Riley's last full-time week, as he goes back to high school next week ... as a senior!  (He will still be working part-time after school ... so, we're not losing him completely.)

Here I am with a crate full of gorgeous chard bundles, with the farm in the background.

After we finish harvesting the chard, Mark and Riley go to pick corn, and Genna and I are assigned cucumbers and squash. I take a turn on the John Deere, as we head up to the cucumber field.

We pass the apple orchard to get up to the cucumbers.  The apple trees are not producing this year ... but there is this one gorgeous apple, and it has been there for a few weeks now ... not sure why nobody has eaten it yet!

Genna with a sling full of cucumbers.

Next, Genna drives us over to the squash field, and we fill our crates. Not too hot today ... perfect weather for this kind of work! : )

On our way back down, we pass Mark and Riley, working with the corn.  The corn is not so good again this week, and Norm does address that in this week's newsletter.  This is the part of sharing the risk (as well as the reward) of the season with the farmer that comes along with being a member in a CSA.

We also pass the horses, with their fly masks on.

Genna and I pack the squash into the member boxes before we take lunch, and I just can't resist taking a photo of this 'duck-like' squash.

After lunch, Genna and I pack cucumbers into the member boxes, and then we start harvesting beans (in the herb garden).  Everyone has their own unique harvesting style.  Genna really likes sitting on an upside-down crate.

Here is a bean I found that grew in an interesting shape.

Mark and Riley finish their harvesting and join Genna and me to pick beans ... and so does Norm, as somehow we have gotten behind on our usual time schedule for packing day.

When I took this picture of the cows, it was about 5:00. We still needed to pick tomatoes (to round out what had already been harvested), bag the beans, finish packing the member boxes and haul them to the cooler for the night. By the time we had fnished for the day, it was 8:15. 

Matt ... we REALLY missed you on your first packing day gone!

Laurie called out the window to me to ask me if I wanted to stay for dinner, and I told her thanks, but that I really wanted to get home (it was dark by now). 

It had been a long day ... but you know ... there weren't too many places that I'd really rather have been.   : )

This Week's CSA Box:
Sweet corn, cabbage/basil (farmer's choice), garlic, onions, green beans, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, summer squash, Swiss chard.