Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, September 16, 2010
(includes a piece written by Mark)
This is what it looked like this morning when we started working. This storm was steadily moving towards us as we worked. The forecast was for rain most of the day and for the temps not to get much above 60. I was thankful to have my rain suit and muck boots.
Genna, Mark and I heading up to harvest chard.
Chard.
Norm drove his pickup up to collect Genna, and she accompanied him to pick up the delivery van, which was in the shop for repair. Skyler arrived, and he, Mark and I continued to harvest the chard in the wind and rain as the storm hit. Geese were flying over quite regularly today, adding to the feeling that fall is almost upon us.
Genna got back from her errand, and we headed down to the lower chard field to complete the harvest we needed for the member boxes.
Mark, Genna and Skyler, taking a break in the interns' kitchen to get some warm tea and dry off a bit.
The packing area is just off the interns' kitchen, and we start to assemble the boxes.
Mark carries the boxes in from the delivery van.
Here I am (Bev) assembling boxes.
Next is potatoes. Norm has a new potato-cleaning method this week for speeding up the packing process.
Skyler places the washed potatoes on the drying rack.
Genna, Mark and I carry small buckets of the potatoes to the packing room to place them in the member boxes, while Norm washes the outside packing area.
Some slicing tomatoes have already been harvested, but we go out to the field to harvest the balance of what we need.
Lunchtime, and I get a mini lesson in compost. Norm explains to me that he has 2 compost piles going at all times. The one in the background is the mature pile and is ready to be used. The one in the foreground is still developing and is the pile to which old produce, etc, is added daily.
The compost is ready to be spread over the fields this coming spring as natural fertilizer. It has taken 2 years for this pile to mature by turning it several times over that period of time to aerate the pile and encourage the decomposition process.
This is the developing pile, to which old produce, etc, is added daily.
On my walk down from the compost piles, I snap a few photos of the farm. This is the gravel drive that connects the lower part of the farm with the upper fields.
And, I pass the vineyard.
After lunch, we continue packing the boxes. Here, Genna rubs dirt off the Roma tomatoes and places them into her sling. The sling is so handy for carrying the tomatoes to pack them into the boxes.
Genna placing Roma tomatoes into the boxes.
Skyler placing acorn squash into the member boxes.
The onion harvest.
Genna and I need to make a quick trip up to the Roma tomato patch to gather a few more to finish up the number we need for the members.
We get quite the surprise today, as the weather continues to get nicer and nicer. The sun has come out, and the temps break 70, and we change into shorts. : )
Genna and I begin to harvest baby red kale. There are several varieties of kale, and this is just the most adorable of all of them ... and great in salads!
As we work, one of the farm cats trots right past us, carrying a mouse, having done his work, too!
Today is Riley's 18th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Riley!!
Mark and Riley help Genna and I finish harvesting the kale.
Baby red kale.
The last harvest of the day is cucumbers. The four of us and Norm then spend the next 2 hours bagging green beans and kale and filling the member boxes with today's harvest as well as what is in the crates stored in the cooler from harvesting done earlier in the week. We get done by 7:00 today ... much better than the 8:00 times we saw the last two Wednesdays.
Hey Matt and Bushra ... we're getting a little faster since your departures ... but, if you thought you might like to come back, I wouldn't mind. : )
This Week's CSA Box:
Potatoes, Roma tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, Swiss chard, beets, onions, Mizuna lettuce, baby red kale, acorn squash, cucumbers, green beans.
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