Earth Dance, Week #26

Weekly Produce List
Earth Dance Newsletter, October 7, 2010
(includes a piece written by Mark)

It's 7 a.m. on a beautiful October morning! The sun is just coming up, and Hannah gives Mark a friendly greeting to start his day. : )

Our first harvest is arugula.

Arugula has become one of my favorites since working on the farm this summer.

We get the arugula harvested and into crates ...

... and Genna takes it down to the washing area.

The temps start in the 50s, but with all the sunshine, it warms up quickly into the 60s, and then into the 70s later in the afternoon!

Skyler arrives, and we get to work washing, spinning and bagging the arugula.

We pair up in teams this morning. Skyler and I harvest greens, while Genna and Mark wash and bag them.

Skyler and I head over to the herb garden to harvest mizuna.

Gorgeous rows of mizuna in the sunshine.

Next, we harvest bundles of cilantro.

Genna loves cilantro!  She used it to make fresh salsa for the Fall Harvest Celebration this past Saturday.

A view of the farm from the cilantro field.

Skyler, bringing up the harvest.

After a morning of harvesting and packing greens, we break for lunch. Hannah lounges on the front lawn while Genna and I eat at the picnic table.

The fall colors are becoming even more vibrant.

Skyler plays a video game on his phone, and Mark reads a book, while the chickens contentedly hunt for things to eat.

I just love watching the chickens at lunchtime.

Okay, back to work. Our harvesting is done, and Genna starts bringing crops (stored in the cooler) to the packing house.

Norm washes potatoes, while we pack cabbages, radishes and carrots into the member boxes.

Here's a picture of me packing carrots into the boxes.  We sampled some of the smaller ones, and they are SO sweet!

A variety of sweet and hot peppers are divided among the members' boxes this week.

Big beautiful leeks go into the boxes, too.

Riley shows up after school, and we get this morning's greens packed and close up the boxes.

Genna hauls the boxes to the cooler ...

... and we finish up by 5:00 today!

It's been such a fabulous fall day! Norm has left to help Adriana pick out a dress for Homecoming, Mark leaves to go play basketball in Rochester, and Riley takes off, too ... so, it's just Genna and me. We're just standing there talking, and this chicken walks by. Genna picks it up (the chicken doesn't look like it minds at all!), and then she asks me if I want to hold it ... and she takes my picture. How fun!

Next Wednesday is my last day as a 2010 volunteer at Earth Dance Farm, and I told Genna I'm working on bringing the perfect weather ... one more time!

This Week's CSA Box:
Potatoes, paste tomatoes, Butternut squash, garlic, onions, radishes, leeks, carrots, cabbage, arugula, cilantro, mizuna, peppers.

I made this main course salad out of 10 ingredients from this week and last week's CSA boxes (mizuna, arugula, cilantro, cabbage, radishes, sweet potato, cucumber, tomato, green bell pepper and carrots).  Delicious!   : )