Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Radish, Swiss Chard, Roxy Head Lettuce, Lovage and Basil We made it through the first day of summer frost and the second day of summer frost nicely! Temperatures dipped down to 31 degrees last week, it was surprisingly thick frost, but not long enough to do any damage. Spring seemed way too easy without a frost since the end of April. We knew a June frost had to be coming. Now we just need to make it through the July and August frost and we'll be all set for the September frost! We are in a special zone on USDA maps that is labeled "Frost Year Round". High altitude gardening is no joke. Gratefully, the microclimate at the farm keeps us a bit warmer then surrounding spots in the valley. Our sensitive crops are tucked in under row cover. The tomatoes and basil are lucky enough to be in hoop houses with heaters. We search out frost tolerant varieties with short growing seasons when we purchase seeds. Most years....most things make it! We have not had to irrigate the garden this entire month. The rains have been evenly spaced and gentle enough to water things well. The rains of June have created a green vibrant garden...and the weeds love it! We are working diligently to get the garden weeded. The moist soil makes for "hero conditions" when removing our undesired visitors. The deep taproots come all the way out. It is so incredibly satisfying to pull an entire plant, taproot and all, out of the garden! The smaller weeds come out with a gentle tug and the perfectly moist soil allows us to pull them without disturbing the roots of the plants we are cultivating. Sadly our egg production has slowed way down. We had a fox picking off chickens. We don't count the girls every night so sadly it took us a bit to realize the flock was dropping in numbers. In all the years of doing this we have never had a fox smart enough to jump the electric netted fence. Usually they check it out once, get a shock and never come back. Dogs are our main predator. We have solved the problem and the fox seems to have been deterred...but our layers are not as numerous as before. The rooster is on edge and has become an attack rooster. He was always ornery...but now he is aggressive with everyone who attempts to collect eggs or visit. As planned, we have chicks on the way for a new flock, but they will not start to lay until mid-November. If eggs make it to your site to purchase, grab them while you can, but at this point most of them will be going to the farm family and employees. Please check out these available farm positions and spread the word! We are getting really close to having all our job positions full! Market Helper- Wednesdays at the People's Market. Paid position. Ride over in the truck (1:30-8:15) or meet us at the market 2:15-7:30). Help get veggies to the people! This is a fun, social, fast paced job. Email [email protected] Field Crew- 4 or 5 days a week. 7-4 each day. Be a farmer! Help with planting, weeding, harvesting and anything else that needs done. Volunteer-If you (or someone you know!) is curious about high altitude gardening becoming a garden helper may be just right. We are only asking folks to commit to 1 morning a week for one month, that's 20-25 hours for one month! It feels really good to have volunteers back on the farm, we missed them!! Lunch and veggies are provided! Follow the link below to check it out! Lunch this Week: Radish, Swiss Chard stir fry over rice with Basil and Ginger butter sauce (on the bok choy page)
Recipe Ideas: Honey Basil Dressing, Chard Patties, Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts, Parmesan and Basil or French Breakfast Radish, the traditional way. The coolers at your site are stocked with a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Ground Beef Pork Available: Grandpa's Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Pork Chops, Shoulder Roast, Tenderloin, Spare Ribs, Neck Bones (make the real deal Ramen!) and Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 10% off at the Farmer's Markets! The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 JH Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-12 (starts July 1st) The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected]
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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Arugula, Radish, Bok Choy and Basil I always cherish the 3rd share. Our crew has settled into their roles within the farm system and we start to run a bit more on "auto-pilot". It feels less harried. Everyone understands the bigger picture of what our weeks look like, skills are being developed and we have all begun to feel the flow of the farm! Speaking of the farm flow...there will be a CSA delivery on July 4th at the regular times and places. We did ask the garden to stop producing for the holiday...it said "no". The veggies must continue! Wednesday of this week is the Summer Solstice, a favorite day of the year for me. The longest day of the year. The sun is at its furthest point South, while the moon dances at its furthest point North. I tend to think about the big ball of fire in the sky, how it sustains our life and how grateful I am for the warmth and light we receive. I am always amazed that plants turn the energy of light into food for us, and we are truly eating light when we consume food straight from the earth. Small plants, leaves and buds, growing in the soil. O fiery sun, may your rays of light and warmth bless us with abundance, and allow these plants to blossom with life. Light from the heavens which mingle with nutrients from the earth! Years ago when Jed was just getting the farm going (circa 1996!) he would encounter people who would laugh at the concept of organic vegetables. One legendary encounter had a store owner telling Jed he "would never pay a cent more for anything organic" because there is no difference. One of our favorite quotes from another early resister is "if it came from the ground THEN IT'S ORGANIC!". The truth is when we started growing there was no science to back up why the veggies we grew were better for you. We had our deep knowing that chemicals meant to kill things could not be good for us or the earth and that our produce tasted better, but those were not worthy selling points for many of our "yet to be customers". I was thrilled this spring to come across a study out of U of Washington showing veggies grown Biodynamically and/or regeneratively are more nutritious then those conventionally grown. Someone proved what Jed and I knew for years, but could not explain!!! "Focusing on farms employing regenerative practices for at least five years in eight different US states, the regeneratively-grown crops had an average of 34% more vitamin K, 15% more vitamin E, 14% more vitamin B1, 17% more vitamin B2, 11% more calcium, 16% more phosphorus, and 27% more copper than nearby conventionally grown crops. They also compared regenerative versus conventional wheat: regenerative samples had 41% more boron, 29% more magnesium, 48% more calcium, and 56% more zinc. That's a significant difference!" A mode of constant extraction is used by conventional farms. All nutrients are extracted with the vegetables that are harvested and the soil is not replenished, other then dumping on a chemical slurry of N-P-K. The soil is where all the nutrients reside, until plants are grown. Plants uptake the nutrients for their growth. Many farms have been in production for years and years growing veggies that look like they are suppose to look, but they are flavorless and grow in soils with no nutrients left to support them. No minerals, bacteria or decomposing life are added to the soil. When farms spray chemicals and monocrop they are depleting the topsoil by killing all the live microorganisms. These microorganisms digest decomposing matter recycling the nutrients. Fields are not allowed to rest, but must continue producing...and so the extractive cycle goes on and on. When soil is healthy it is actually alive. There are more living organisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil then people on earth! That is a lot of life to touch at one moment. Our soil heroes needs to be fed. We add compost so these precious critters have decomposing materials to dine on. The soil needs to rest and absorb what it has been given. We rotate the gardens and pastures with cover crops so we are not always extracting from the land, we grow cover crops just to be tilled into the soil to feed the soil. We take care of our soil and it takes care of us. I have been geeking out on some health information and a quote that struck me by Linus Pauling (a 2 time Nobel Laureate) is: "One could trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency." We need our minerals to thrive and most food available to us is not providing what we need. We as a nation are slowly becoming more and more mineral deficient because our soils are not being cared for. We overeat because our bodies are looking for the minerals that are missing in most food. I just learned, as the mineral values drop, so does the flavor! This is why your granddad talks about how food used to taste. He grew up eating food that tasted better because it was nutrient dense, because the soil was nutrient dense! And now there is a study showing vegetables grown on farms like ours, ARE more nutritious for you. As far as tasting better...you'll have to be the scientist! Link to article about study: www.world-grain.com/articles/16547-study-shows-nutritional-benefits-in-regenerative-agriculture-crops Link to study: peerj.com/articles/12848/ Please check out these available farm positions and spread the word! Market Helper- Wednesdays at the People's Market and/or Saturdays at the Jackson Farmer's Market. Paid position. Ride over in the truck or meet us at the market. Help get veggies to the people! This is a fun, social, fast paced job. Email [email protected] Field Crew- 4 or 5 days a week. 7-4 each day. Be a farmer! Help with planting, weeding, harvesting and anything else that needs done. Volunteer-If you (or someone you know!) is curious about high altitude gardening becoming a garden helper may be just right. We are only asking folks to commit to 1 morning a week for one month, that's 20-25 hours for one month! It feels really good to have volunteers back on the farm, we missed them!! Lunch and veggies are provided! Follow the link below to check it out! Lunch this Week: Bed of arugula, ground beef sautéed radish and bok choy with soy sauce. Pasta with Grandpa's Sausage, Arugula and Basil
Recipe Ideas: Basil Marinade for you favorite grilling meats. Blistered Radishes, Bok Choy with gingery butter sauce. The coolers at your site are stocked with a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Ground Beef Pork Available: Grandpa's Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Pork Chops, Shoulder Roast, Tenderloin, Spare Ribs, Neck Bones (make the real deal Ramen!) and Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 10% off at the Farmer's Markets! The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 JH Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-12 (starts July 1st) The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected] Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spinach, Baby Kale, Pea Shoots and Oregano Greens cutting marathon is a go this week at the farm. Our greens are grown in 500 foot long beds with 4 rows per bed. When it is time to harvest we use sheep shears, which are like big scissors and cut the row. As we harvest we gather handfuls of greens and attempt to pull out any weeds we see. We are incredibly grateful for thoroughly weeded beds and do the best we can when the weeds get ahead of us. The greens are placed into a bucket that has been lined with a large mesh bag. A full bucket weighs about 9 pounds. When the bucket bag combo is full the bag is pulled from the bucket and placed into a crate in the garden cart. We always harvest the tender greens first thing in the morning before it gets too hot and hope to have them done by coffee break around 9:30. This week we have so many to cut, we are hoping to be done by lunch. Yay for cooler weather! When we are done harvesting the cart is pulled back to the wash station. Our head veggie caretaker (a.k.a. The Wash Station Manager) processes the greens. She pulls them off the cart and puts the full bag into a cold water tub. The tub cools the greens and replaces any moisture lost during harvest. The bags are swished around and moved to a second tub. This process breaks up any big soil clumps that snuck in, but mostly cools and helps to preserve your greens. (Remember to wash your veggies! We don't do that for you!) The bags are then gently lifted out of the water, drained and placed into a washing machine. We have an old washer that will live the rest of its life on spin cycle. It's our giant salad spinner. This removes the excess water. The greens are placed on a wire table and mixed by hand. This is how we know the Cosmic Mix and Spicy Mix are evenly amalgamated. When the blending is complete the greens go into a crate and are filled up until they weigh exactly 7.15 pounds each. The full crates are then divided onto pallets destined for 1 of three pick up locations and ready for you to weigh your share! Early in the season is the only time we can cut so many delicate greens. They take a copious amount of time and when the rest of the garden is producing our time is spread to thin. This week we are harvesting Cosmic Mix, Spinach, Pea Shoots and Baby Kale in this manner. Oregano is mostly the same process, we just use smaller clippers for the stronger stems. As you enjoy these early season delights know they were hand harvested, cooled and packed just for you! Please check out these available farm positions and spread the word! Market Helper- Wednesdays at the People's Market and/or Saturdays at the Jackson Farmer's Market. Paid position. Ride over in the truck or meet us at the market. Help get veggies to the people! This is a fun, social, fast paced job. Email [email protected] Field Crew- 4 or 5 days a week. 7-4 each day. Be a farmer! Help with planting, weeding, harvesting and anything else that needs done. Volunteer-If you (or someone you know!) is curious about high altitude gardening becoming a garden helper may be just right. We are only asking folks to commit to 1 morning a week for one month, that's 20-25 hours for one month! It feels really good to have volunteers back on the farm, we missed them!! Lunch and veggies are provided! Follow the link below to check it out! Lunch this Week: Burritos with sautéed spinach and baby kale. Sautéed greens with rice and peanut sauce (Recipe on the Bok Choy page).
Recipe Ideas: Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Kale and Oregano Pesto or Lemon Garlic Oregano Dressing The coolers at your site are stocked with a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Ground Beef Pork Available: Grandpa's Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Pork Chops, Shoulder Roast, Bacon, Tenderloin, Spare Ribs, Neck Bones (make the real deal Ramen!) and Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 10% off at the Farmer's Markets! The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 JH Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-12 (starts July 1st) The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected] Crop List: Arugula, Spicy Mix, Lovage and Chives Welcome to Cosmic Apple's 2023 CSA Program. We are so grateful to spend this season growing for you. May this food bring you joy and nourish you. If you would have told me 5 weeks ago we would be starting shares this week I would have laughed out loud. 6 weeks ago we still had snow. 5 weeks ago was the very first day we were able to get in the garden to plant. I wasn't entirely sure the weather was actually changing. I have been astounded by how quickly spring happened this year. As soon as the snow started melting it disappeared unbelievably quick! As soon as the snow melted, the temperatures remained above freezing and the garden just kept growing. We are starting 2 weeks earlier then last year. We had a dilemma on our hands Saturday morning when Jed did a garden walk. Jed really likes starting the shares with 5-6 items on the white boards. Starting in abundance feels good. As he checked on the plants, he realized if we didn't start this week the arugula, chives and spicy mix would have been overripe and bolted by June 13th and 15th. After looking at our options we decided starting with 4 items was better then holding off and loosing two to three crops. The arugula is so perfect right now. We hope you enjoy it. Most years the chives are also to far gone to include in the shares. Right now, they are also in their prime. The flowers are edible and add a lovely color to dishes. Consider this share an appetizer for the rest of the season! Lovage! This hearty herb will keep growing all summer for us, and it is one of the earliest perennials up every spring. It has a bold peppery-celery flavor. It dries well. My favorite way to keep it is by making a big batch of pesto and freezing what is left. Mix the pesto with goat cheese and serve on celery or crackers for a yummy appetizer. If nothing else remember...we lovage you!!! Food puns are required when cooking. Things are going good on the farm. We have many things transplanted and planted. The greenhouses are packed...the tomatoes are about waist tall and setting with fruits. My favorite color, spring green, is everywhere and vibrant. The air smells like serviceberry and lilacs. We have a great crew working with us...but we need more help. Please check out these positions and spread the word! Market Helper- Wednesdays at the People's Market and/or Saturdays at the Jackson Farmer's Market. Paid position. Ride over in the truck or meet us at the market. Help get veggies to the people! This is a fun, social, fast paced job. Email [email protected] Site Host- We need a site host at the farm on Tuesdays. 4:40-7:15. Hang out with the coolest customers around and get a half share. Email [email protected] Field Crew- 4 or 5 days a week. 7-4 each day. Be a farmer! Help with planting, weeding, harvesting and anything else that needs done. Volunteer-If you (or someone you know!) is curious about high altitude gardening becoming a garden helper may be just right. We are only asking folks to commit to 1 morning a week for one month, that's 20-25 hours a month! It feels really good to have volunteers back on the farm, we missed them!! Lunch and veggies are provided! Follow the link below to check it out! Lunch this Week: Grilled Cheese with Lovage Pesto
Recipe Ideas: Creamy Lovage dressing, Garlic and Chive Bread, Italian Arugula Salad (all these recipes are found via the link above) The coolers at your site are stocked with a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit! Beef Available: Ground Beef Pork Available: Grandpa's Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Pork Chops, Shoulder Roast, Bacon, Tenderloin, Spare Ribs, Neck Bones (make the real deal Ramen!) and Fat WASH YOUR VEGGIES!! Bring Bags to pick-ups! If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend! Missed shares are forfeited for the week. Members get 10% off at the Farmer's Markets! The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 JH Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-12 (starts July 1st) The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected] |
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