Earth Dance, Week #23

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.

Earth Dance, Week #22

Weekly Produce List

Earth Dance Newsletter, September 9, 2010

A little farm humor.   : )

When I arrive this morning at 7:00, Genna and Mark are already busy setting up boxes.  Fall is in the air, as the temperature this morning is in the 40s.

Each Thursday, when the full CSA boxes are delivered to the members, their empty boxes from the week prior are collected and stored in the delivery van until the next packing day.

Skyler, a friend of Noah's, started this week and will possibly be able to help through the end of the season.

This is Alissa, a friend of Mark's, who stopped by today to lend a hand for a few hours.

While Mark and Skyler go up to harvest squash, hot peppers and cucumbers, Genna and I head to the lower garden to harvest bell peppers.  They range from green ...

... to red ...

... and all shades in between, due to different stages of ripening.

Next, Genna and I harvest and bundle chives for the members who will get this as a farmer's choice. I believe basil (or another herb) will go into the remainder of the member boxes this week.

Genna showed me this new chive garden she planted.

The gorgous chive bundles ... I can't wait to chop some of these into baked potatoes this weekend!

Skyler and Mark return from the field and wash their pepper harvest.

Norm and the interns had harvested these potatoes earlier in the week, and here, Mark, Skyler, Genna and I brush the majority of the dirt off them.

We break for a short lunch, and then we all go to work in the bean field.  Far from the 40s we had this morning, this afternoon is perfect, at right around 70 and sunny.    : )

The cows come up over the hill and keep us company while we pick beans.

Adding what we harvest today to what has already been harvested earlier in the week, we have a total of 5 crates of green beans to split among the members.

It's great to see Riley arrive after school.  He and Mark get right to work cleaning up the leeks.

This is what the leeks look like right after they are havested.

And, this is what they look like after Mark and Riley are finished with them.

While the guys prepare the leeks, Genna and I bag green beans.

Genna takes us out for one last harvest before we finish packing the member boxes ...

... tomatoes! ... in all degrees of ripening ... green, yellow, orange, red ...

... and we do our best to choose the nicest ones for the members!

Mark finds this little guy hopping around the tomato patch. We snap this photo and then let him go.

All finished packing the boxes, and now we haul them to the cooler.

Getting dark ... but, we get everything loaded into the cooler for the night, and we finish up at 7:50 ... not bad, almost 1/2 hour better than last Wednesday! : )

This Week's CSA Box:
Potatoes, Roma tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, kale, peppers (bell and/or hot), onions, garlic, leeks, chives (herbs - farmer's choice), summer squash, raspberries (rolling), melon (rolling), green beans.

These were a couple of yummy things we made from a combination of items from this, and last, week's boxes. My husband chopped and sauted potatoes, onions and green beans. And, I made a 'V8' juice from cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, kale, garlic (carrots, lemon and ginger)!