Great Garlic

Today there are 8, yes eight, heads of garlic in the share. We do not expect you to eat 8 heads of garlic this week, but these will keep for months and the skins will dry if you leave them in a place with decent air circulation (like an open bowl on the counter). We don't really have a place to store them, so we're sending them all out right now. Last fall when we planted the garlic we were planning for more shares, but then we scaled back a little so there's more garlic than we intended. There were also more onions that we intended so we're giving out the last of the sweet onions this week. The peas from last week were done in by the heat so we've switched over to favas this week. We also have a bit more fennel and the first pinch of basil which will allow the plants to bush out a bit and start really producing (we hope).

This weekend I had the great fortune to spend 7 hours giving a really in depth tour of the farm and our systems to the Beginning Urban Farmer Apprenticeship program that is being run by OSU Extension and Multnomah County. It was a sizable group and everyone had great questions, some of which I'm realizing I didn't answer all that well and I should write out more complete answers when I have a chance. Farming in the way that I do at Slow Hand Farm is something I'd been wanting to do for about ten years by the time I actually started the farm. The farm is a bit of an experiment to see if some of my ideas work, and how to make them better, and I also wanted it to be a model I could share with other folks interested in small scale production. I was really glad to be able to share what I've learned so far with this group of beginning growers, and their questions about the CSA made me remember how much I owe to all of the CSA members who have been supporting the farm over the past three seasons. I love bringing the members produce, connecting folks to the farm, and hearing stories about how people are enjoying the food. What a great community that's supporting agriculture here in Portland.