CSA Newsletter Feb. 21, 2012
|
||||
|
As the greenhouse fills with starts and the first direct-seeded spring crops sprout in the fields, we’ve been thinking about how much easier it is to get organic seed than it used to be.
I recently started playing in the Watsonville Community Band and the conductor likes to warm-up for every rehearsal and concert with a piece called In the Bleak Midwinter by Gustav Holst. This mid-winter has not been very bleak so far, but at last this week we got some rain and blustery winds, so we can feel like mid-winter is upon us at least momentarily! We’re still far below average rainfall for the year, however, and this storm has not really amounted to much.
Continue reading »
Usually it’s Steve who gets to try out new tools for the farm. But not this time.We’ve been operating as a CSA farm now for a decade and a half, and a lot has changed in the world of technology since the mid 1990s. This week we are leaping into the present by launching our new on-line sign-up system.
Continue reading »
Strawberry Planting, from Steve
Continue reading »
Yesterday we planted the last of our strawberry plants for next year’s patch. Unlike last year, when there was a shortage of plants available, this year there were plenty and they are some of the nicest plants we have gotten in a long time.
Quick Farm Note, from Jeanne
Steve and the crew are planting next year’s strawberries this week. Steve may write more about that process in the next newsletter, but right now he’s at a grower’s forum on Pajaro Valley water issues put on by EcoFarm and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers.
Continue reading »
Continue reading »
This is the final week of the regular season CSA deliveries for 2011. But don’t let that stop you from getting your veggies! The Winter CSA starts in two weeks–if you are planning to sign up and haven’t yet, check the info below and sign up now.
How are we doing? from Steve and Jeanne
Continue reading »
There are just three more weeks of regular season CSA deliveries and the summer seems to have gone by in a blur. This has been a busy year for us, and one with a lot of new projects and challenges. The two biggest changes we had this year were operating as a single farm CSA after 8 years in our Two Small Farms partnership, and getting our new Lewis Road farm up and running.
Continue reading »
The carrots in your box this week are the result of an experiment. No, they are not genetically modified or altered in any way—Mokum is a sweet, tender, relatively early variety in the Nantes class. They have, however, been grown in a field that was treated with mustard seed meal (the solids that are left after mustard seeds have been pressed for oil).
Continue reading »
It’s almost here — our 3rd annual Harvest Fair and Pumpkin Patch. The weather forecast is for Sunny and 68 degrees in Watsonville, so we’ll hold them to that! This event is open to everybody so tell your friends to come out too. Entrance fee is $10/adult, $5/child, 3 and under free.
Production Update, from Steve
Continue reading »
Summer at last! After an especially cold and foggy summer, here it is the second half of September and we are enjoying by far the nicest weather of the year. The eggplant, beans, peppers, basil, and squash are all loving it. So, you’ll be seeing more kinds of beans and peppers, basil, summer squash and eggplant soon.
How Farming Is Like Raising Children, from Jeanne
Continue reading »
For the past 14 years, we have been both farming and raising children. I’ve come to the conclusion that these two endeavors have a lot in common. Here are some of my basic tenets of farm-rearing.
A Tangle of Squash, from Steve
Continue reading »
Nobody will ever accuse me of being the world’s most organized farmer. There was a time, however, when I used to make stakes to mark where each variety of winter squash began and ended in the field at planting time. I can also remember once having made a map of the squash field. This year I did neither.
Homework This Week? Eat Your Vegetables!
Continue reading »
Every year our little parent participation k-8 charter school in Watsonville agonizes over hard decisions as it faces budget cut after budget cut. How much more can we cut music, art, field trips, and physical education? How much more can we raise class size? Meanwhile conscientious teachers send home food logs, so the kids and hopefully their parents, can think about eating more healthy foods.
Long Live Tenacious Sprout
from Jeanne
Continue reading »
On Saturday, Steve and I went to San Francisco for the memorial of a dear old friend, Miguel Wooding. Miguel was one of the most selfless, smart, and energetic people I’ve ever met. He had dedicated the past 20 years of his life to helping San Francisco tenants to stay in their homes and providing homes for those who were homeless. Miguel tragically lost his life when he was hit by a jet ski while snorkeling on vacation. His death leaves a gaping hole in so many lives, and even though we hadn’t seen him in 15 years, we still feel his loss as acutely as if we had been with him just yesterday.
Production Update, from Steve
Continue reading »
Even while we are just getting started on harvesting some of our summer crops, August is a sprint for the finish line production-wise. This week the very last of our successive plantings will go into the greenhouse. And through the middle of next month, we will be making the last plantings of the crops that we seed directly into the field, like carrots, beets, scallions, parsley, cilantro and snap peas. Relative to our spring and early summer plantings, these last plantings will be larger.
How I’d Store It, from Chef Andrew Cohen
Continue reading »
When it comes to storing your produce, one thing that is really helpful to know is which parts of your refrigerator maintain what temperatures. Every refrigerator is a little different. Most units have drawers for vegetables (I know them as “crispers”. Since having kids, no drawers have been large enough to hold my weekly vegetable haul.). Outside of the drawers the internal temps will vary from place to place, with the lower parts of the refrigerator being the coldest.
Farm Notes, from Jeanne
Continue reading »
Here it is August already. Steve wants to write some articles about specific things happening on the farm right now, but we can’t pull him out of the field long enough to do it. This past week he has been out at the Lewis Road farm quite a bit, planting avocado trees, meeting with designers to set up his hoophouses on the terraces, and getting a load of mustard seed meal to help fight root knot nematodes. The mustard seed meal is proving itself to be a good fertilizer as well as fighting soil diseases and pests.
Eat Your Fennel, from Steve (and Jeanne)
Continue reading »
I can remember back to a time that I just didn’t get the appeal of fennel. This course, stringy, strongly scented vegetable didn’t seem worth the trouble to cook. But now I can honestly say that it is among my very favorite vegetables. I fully realize that there are many of our CSA members who still don’t “get” fennel, and if you are among these, you simply must try Jeanne’s recipe below for roast fennel and onions.
|
|
||
|
Flower Notes, from Jeanne and Chrissi
“Remember that children, marriages, and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get.”
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Continue reading »
For the past few years, we have been getting flowers for the CSA from Steve’s cousin, Josh, at the Thomas Farm in Corralitos.
Join Our CSA
