Thank You for Returning Your Bags!

I was getting together bags for next week for Danny since I'm headed out of town and I need to prepare in advance. My stack of returns sitting in the office was very short so I went to see if there happened to be any on my porch. Lo an behold, some wonderful member had hung a collection of 15! bags on my porch! Jackpot.

Just a few little reminder to CSA members: try not to collect the bags in bulk before returning them. Also, I love it when they're returned dry and inside out.

If you are going to hold onto the bags, at least take them out in public so everyone can see how cool you are for being a member of the very small CSA!

Appreciating wheels

Today's share is a repeat of Mondays, just with Kweik butter lettuce instead of the Brown Golding romaine. We had to start packing the vegetables on the other side of the barn today because there's a huge trench on our usual side, the beginnings of Yianni and Jessica's new house construction. All day today a huge back hoe was running back and forth making a little parking lot and digging trenches. The old house was a real eyesore and it's great that it's gone. Mostly the construction is on the far side of the property so it really doesn't impact our farming at all.


The bike continues to be a great part of the farming day for me. I've been hauling not only the vegetables in to town, but also my tools and some transplants back and forth to the winter farm site at my house. The cart is another great pair of wheels and saves me many trips back and forth for harvest and tools and it makes it possible to move large piles of plants, compost, etc. into and out of the fields with relative ease.

Thank You for Returning Your Bags!

I was getting together bags for next week for Danny since I'm headed out of town and I need to prepare in advance. My stack of returns sitting in the office was very short so I went to see if there happened to be any on my porch. Lo an behold, some wonderful member had hung a collection of 15! bags on my porch! Jackpot.

Just a few little reminder to CSA members: try not to collect the bags in bulk before returning them. Also, I love it when they're returned dry and inside out. 

If you are going to hold onto the bags, at least take them out in public so everyone can see how cool you are for being a member of the very small CSA!

Appreciating the Wheel

Today's share is a repeat of Mondays, just with Kweik butter lettuce instead of the Brown Golding romaine. We had to start packing the vegetables on the other side of the barn today because there's a huge trench on our usual side, the beginnings of Yianni and Jessica's new house construction. All day today a huge back hoe was running back and forth making a little parking lot and digging trenches. The old house was a real eyesore and it's great that it's gone. Mostly the construction is on the far side of the property so it really doesn't impact our farming at all.

The bike continues to be a great part of the farming day for me. I've been hauling not only the vegetables in to town, but also my tools and some transplants back and forth to the winter farm site at my house. The cart is another great pair of wheels and saves me many trips back and forth for harvest and tools and it makes it possible to move large piles of plants, compost, etc. into and out of the fields with relative ease. 

Appreciating the wheel

Today's share is a repeat of Mondays, just with Kweik butter lettuce instead of the Brown Golding romaine. We had to start packing the vegetables on the other side of the barn today because there's a huge trench on our usual side, the beginnings of Yianni and Jessica's new house construction. All day today a huge back hoe was running back and forth making a little parking lot and digging trenches. The old house was a real eyesore and it's great that it's gone. Mostly the construction is on the far side of the property so it really doesn't impact our farming at all.

The bike continues to be a great part of the farming day for me. I've been hauling not only the vegetables in to town, but also my tools and some transplants back and forth to the winter farm site at my house. The cart is another great pair of wheels and saves me many trips back and forth for harvest and tools and it makes it possible to move large piles of plants, compost, etc. into and out of the fields with relative ease. 

Blast from the past

Danny Percich paid a little visit this morning. For those of you who don't know, Danny and I started this operation four years ago before he took off to Washington to start his own farm and family. Both Kji and I are taking vacation days next Monday so Danny has generously agreed to harvest and water for us.

Meanwhile, today's harvest is slightly lighter than last week's, but has many of the same items. It's the season for lettuce and summer squash. Today's lettuce head is a romaine called brown golding. The second fava pick was lighter than I hoped so there's just a small handful. Beets make it into the share today, and the tops are good for cooking as well. The new item for this season is a small bunch of cilantro, with the roots. I found out this year that the roots are good for cooking along with the tops so I'm including them.

No tomatoes or cucumbers yet, but they are looking good and I'm hoping we'll have some soon. The bed prep for fall plantings continues. I'll probably be out extra this week getting caught up and hopefully a bit ahead to make up for taking off next week.

Mowing and Planting

A productive day on the farm, but still I seem to be a bit behind on planting, and especially on keeping unused beds clear. The share is the same as Monday so take a look at that post if you're curious. After harvest and packing today I was able to get a bit of mowing around the edges and in the field done. I also managed to plant the second round of beans for late summer and seed another round of carrots, as well as some dill. This year has been a disaster for carrots. I'm not sure exactly why, but they are just not doing well and I've used up all of my seed at this point. I'll have to order a bit more for the winter seeding later this month. I think I'll be putting in a bit of extra work next week to catch back up on the plantings. By the end of this month most of the plantings will be finished with and I can start concentrating on other things, like bigger harvests.

Back on the farm

I had a great vacation last week but it's nice to be back on the farm and to see everything growing. It's a big heavy share today. Kji has some big crisp heads of lettuce that needed to get cut so the lettuce is extra large today, a bit of a bonus. The basil is growing well so there are a handful of sprigs of that. Spring planted favas are ready. If you haven't cooked these before you can roast them whole on the grill and then eat the beans out of the pods, or shell them first and boil them in salted water for about ten minutes until tender. I never bother double shelling. If you don't know what that is don't worry about it. Summer squash has just exploded. I'm hoping to keep them a little smaller in the future, but that heat and the long days mean big zucchini in the share today, perfect for grilling. Finally, the last of the garlic is coming out of the ground this week. I put in four heads of soft neck which I hope will last you for a while. It can be stored at room temperature with good air flow, on the counter for example (not in a cupboard or box).

Lots of fall plantings are scheduled for this week. I may have to work an extra day to catch back up after being away. Amazing to see how much the plants have grown in just over a week.

Late post on a beautiful summer share

Rainbow chard, sweet onion, lettuce, fennel and summer squash! Summer is heating up.

Summer at last

A beautiful day in the field today. The harvest was basically the same as Monday so check out the last post for more details.

Lots of friends came to visit and help out today which was nice. I managed to get completely caught up on plantings, putting in more lettuce and seeding beets. I also hoed the summer squash which is right on the cusp. Give it another week or two and we'll be on a regular summer squash harvest.

I'm on a long planned vacation down in California next week, visiting friends and family. Kji will be doing harvests and deliveries for me. We'll try to coordinate blog posts but they might be a little late depending on my web access.

Garlic and Greens

And beets too. A bit late on the post today. Somehow I still haven't smoothly transitioned to summer/bike delivery/blog posts directly from the farm. I'll get it down soon. In the share today is a head of Joker lettuce, which is nice and crispy, flecked with green and red. Lacinato Rainbow kale is still looking really good so there's a big bunch. There are a couple of Kestrel beets, with greens. I boiled some of those this weekend until fork tender and then dunked them in cold water to slip the skins off. I sliced them up, dressed them with a little oil and vinegar and tossed them on top of a pile of lettuce - delicious! 

There are two heads of Siberian garlic. It can be used now, or left on the counter to cure and be used any time in the next few months. The last item is one small sprig of basil. I pinch the basil plants early to encourage branching so what you're seeing is the very first pinch, a sign of more summer vegetables to come soon.

Today starts the second month of bicycle deliveries for the farm and it's going great. There was a little hiccup on Thursday when the battery discharged for some reason instead of charging and I was left to my own leg power to ride the shares in, but it wasn't too bad. One of the unexpected benefits of riding the shares in is that I've run into three share holders on three separate occasions - two of whom I'd only had email contact with in the past and recognized me because of the bike and boxes. This would never have happened in the car. Just one more reason the bike is great!