Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Collards, Basil, Head Lettuce, Bok Choy, Tomatoes, maybe Summer Squash and/or Sugar Snap Peas

The ​summer flavors are in! Zucchinis, tomatoes and sugar snap peas. The eating is GOOD right now!! It's the stuff we dream of all winter. The Cosmic Mix is starting to come in again. We are past the crop that suffered through the June frost. The crew is working hard picking sugar snap peas. The shares are starting to gain some weight as we have moved beyond delicate spring greens.

Summer in the Tetons is such a special time. The temperatures are awesomely warm during the day and the nights are cool enough for deep sleeping. Being outside feels so good, and we are surrounded by beauty everywhere we look. The Tetons are vacationland for many and we who call this place home are so blessed. When I landed here, I never wanted to leave in the summers...except to go backpacking in the Winds, but is that really leaving? I've gotten to a place where I do want a vacation now and then.
For years taking a vacation during the summer was not possible, we didn't have enough help. The winter trips were short because of the animals. When our kids were little, they didn't care, a day at the lake was great...and being on the farm was really fun too. As they got older they began to care and we did too. We needed to carve out more time together doing fun things or relaxing. Collecting eggs together has lost it's luster. Convincing a teenager that cutting sunflowers is cool and a great way to spend time together is impossible.
We took our first ever summer vacation together in 2022. We met my parents, brother and sister-in-law at the beach for a week. It felt scary and big. The farm has so many moving parts to walk away from and most of the parts are alive and need care. I met an old farmer once at a conference and I asked her what is was like for her AND her husband to leave the farm for an extended period...all she said was "everything was alive when I left, I'll see when I get back". It is so true and terrifying. We pour our heart, soul, blood, sweat and my tears (Jed doesn't cry in moments of frustration!) into it all. Walking away for a week with so much happening is a big leap of faith.
The reasons to walk away are important too. Family time is precious. If parenthood had seasons, Jed and I have moved into the fall of being responsible for our eldest son. He is 17 and he has begun the conversations of what moving out on his own might be like. Daily time together is waning (more tears). Our parents are also getting up there in the years (again, the tears). We all need time together. We have had to learn how to go on vacation. What the farm needs when we leave. What our employees need without us there to succeed. How to step away. We are so incredibly grateful we have been able to learn this through vacation instead of a family tragedy that forced us to step away.
We have shifted our thought patterns around "farmers don't get a break" to "farmers do get breaks." Farmers can take vacations just like everyone else. Our own thoughts were one of the biggest hurdles around vacations.
So obviously...We are taking a vacation!!! The farm family is beach bound for a week with some of our extended family. We have left the farm in good hands and those hands have phones if something comes up. We could not do this without our incredible employees. I'll thank them properly in next week's newsletter!
The one thing I can't change my mindset about around leaving? The food. I am really sad to not be eating Cosmic veggies this week. That part is going to be hard, especially now with the summer bounty rolling in!

Recipe Ideas: Tomato, Garlic and Summer Squash; Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto; Balsamic Grilled Summer Squash​

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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Swiss Chard, Romaine Head Lettuce, Bok Choy, Fresh Garlic, Basil, maybe Tomatoes and/or Sugar Snap Peas

It has been a hot and dry month on the farm! This weekend I watched storms pass over Driggs and Jackson...Victor got some sprinkles, but not enough to water anything. Luckily we can keep irrigating with the amazing snow melt coming off the mountains.​​ The garden is thriving with the heat and irrigation.
Thanks to our amazing crew we are getting somewhere with the weeds. It is the make or break season for some crops "weed wise". The crops want to stretch up and out, if they are too crowded with weeds they won't make it. We are trying to get through the harvest every morning and turn to weeding in the afternoon. We have gotten through a lot of crops! The cucumbers, cabbage, garlic, summer/winter squash and potatoes are looking gorgeous right now. We are so close to being done with the carrots. We are half way through the beets. On the list to start is the second weeding of sunflowers and cabbage.
We have to move around the garden based on where the irrigation pipe is. Even with this heat it is not fun to weed under the sprinklers! The irrigation is on a set rotation that we must keep moving or the plants will suffer. So we weed where ever it will be most effective each day...not necessarily which row would be most satisfying to finish. 30 feet left from yesterday's project...oh well, it's under the irrigation now!
We try to weed a crop when the soil has the optimal moisture for pulling weeds. We have to find a balance of soil moisture, weed size and crop size. When soil is really dry, big weeds tend to break and the roots of the weed keep growing. The large root systems can also pull up the desired crop when the soil is dry. If the weeds are little, a hoe will chop the weed in a dry bed and the roots will wither because of dryness and lack of reach for water. Weeding a moist bed will get a hoe all stuck up with soil and make it unusable. Sometimes the best case scenario is hand weeding a moist bed.  We sometimes call it "glory weeding" if the conditions are just right. It's kind of equivalent to "hero pow" for all your skiers! When the weeds are big and the soil has just the right amount of moisture, the weeds come out quick and easy. When hand pulling huge weeds in a moist bed, the progress is so easy to see and getting rid of one big weed makes a big difference.
Weeding is our biggest need and use of time on the farm. Because we don't spray herbicides we have to remove the weeds somehow. Human labor is the best answer so far. We have a couple of tractor implements to help, but they can only do so much.  Maybe someday someone will invent an affordable device that weeds by itself with our destroying all the life in the soil. For us, for now, people are still where it's at!

Lunch this Week: Pasta with lots of butter, Swiss Chard, Basil and Tomatoes; Chili Mint stir fry with Cosmic Beef, Sugar Snap Peas and Bok Choy
Recipe Ideas: BLT with Romaine, Tomato and Cosmic Bacon! Bok Choy, Swiss Chard and noodles; Swiss Chard with Pine Nut, Parmesan and Basil.
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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Arugula, Garlic Curls, Kale, New Red Fire Head Lettuce, Maybe Sugar Snap Peas and/or Tomatoes

We had some challenges with the weather in June...remember the cold wet spring? It resulted in some poor germination which is the cause for this week's amount of Cosmic Mix. We have plenty more to come...but it will be a bit slim this week. Yay for head lettuce! 
We are starting to see fruits on the summer squash plants! They have been growing under row cover all season, and are being uncovered as I type! We uncover them when they start to flower. It makes it easier for the pollinators to do their magic. We also have to be able to access them two times a week and covering and uncovering is too time consuming. I love squash plants. They look tropical in our Idaho garden, with the big leaves and bright yellow flowers. It some spots the plants were so big they were pushing on the row cover.
The Cosmic Apple Community needs a big shout out!!
Last fall we put out the call for our CSA Members to donate money so we could grow shares for the Teton Valley Food Pantry (TVFP). We have been donating 4 shares a year, but with the money you all donated the Pantry is now getting 15 shares a week. Donations came in all sizes. Some gave $10, some gave $2000, some are even donating their volunteer share. Every penny (and donated labor hour) is going to food for our community. Your donations totaled over $7200. The Cosmic Community is AMAZING!!! We believe everyone has the right to healthy food. Getting oneself out of a crisis situation can be hard enough...but imagine doing it without food that truly nourishes you. The feedback from the Pantry has been heartwarming. If you happen to see a list of sponsors from the TVFP, you can see that is says "Cosmic Apple Community". This means you! It was important to us that our larger community knows this is not just from Jed and I, but from all of us. Thank you for joining us on this journey to love and help each other however we can.

Lunch this Week: Garlic Curl Pesto over Quinoa with turnips, collards and bok choy (I am using leftovers from last week! You can sub sugar snap peas, kale and tomatoes!)
Recipe Ideas: Dale's Burrito Sauce (Garlic Curl page); Kale Tomato Brown Rice Bowl; Kale with Bacon
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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Arugula, Collards, Mirlo Head Lettuce, Garlic Curls, Turnips and maybe Bok Choy

This week brings the garlic curls to your share. I love garlic curls. What other produce can you wrap around your wrist as a fashion statement? They taste amazing and last forever. Seriously, I have never had them go bad before using...I'm talking MONTHS in a bag in the fridge. Use them just like garlic. Mince them and add them to your cooking oil or salad dressings. Cut them long like a green bean and add amazing texture and flavor to dishes. I equate one garlic curl to one clove of garlic when using recipes. If you want to google them...use the term "garlic scape". Jed and I started calling them garlic curls before the internet was an option for learning about things. Yes, we are that old. We spent years convincing customers to eat them and by the time we learned they were called "scapes" we had trained too many people to call them "curls" to go back on our word. So there. We are old, stubborn and still love garlic curls!
I can feel a palpable shift in the season. We are at the point where the garden seems to take a big pause. The moment of actually switching to summer in the Tetons. We are almost out of all the tender spring greens. They don't love the heat and have bolted or stopped growing. The bigger chunky, crunchy, more famous veggies are about to appear. Things like peas, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes. The unirrigated grass has turned brown. The biting flies are having their last hurrah! It is suddenly warm enough to want to swim in frigid mountain water. Summer is here!
We are getting ready for a hot week on the farm. When I left on Monday afternoon the greenhouse thermometer said 104 degrees...while it was completely vented. This is great news for the tomatoes! The plants are loaded with green fruit and the heat will prompt the switch to gorgeous reds and oranges. I don't think we will have enough to spread around to the CSA this week, but VERY soon!

Lunch this Week: Roasted Garlic Curl Hummus with build your own sandwiches.
Recipe Ideas: Grilled Garlic Curls; Quick and Easy Collards
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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Arugula, Swiss Chard, Bok Choy, Turnips and Marjoram

This is the week we find our groove on the farm. By the 3rd share our amazing employees are understanding our harvest schedule and the big picture of getting the veggies to the people! Jed and I have managed to survive all the logistics (and errors!) of getting the first couple shares out. Right now the big cherry on top is the pass reopening!
We thought when it originally slid, it would be at least a year of driving around. We are incredibly grateful to all involved in making the pass accessible. I am a big fan of Mother Nature and her ability to remind us that she is constantly in charge. I need to be reminded that I am just a silly human running around with my to do list and my best laid plans need to adjust to go with the flow (or landslide). I am grateful my kids are older and they can just make themselves a quesa-dilla when needed (thank you Napoleon Dynamite). I know it was not as simple for families with young' ins! 3 big cheers for all the energies directed to making Teton Pass drivable again!

We hope you have enjoyed the first couple of shares and you are finding your own groove for picking up your share and getting it to your table to enjoy. Our goal as a farm is to "Grow the Best food for the People of the Tetons". We hope you are noticing the difference in flavor and freshness after a winter of less then fresh veggies. We consistently hear from our customers how much better our produce tastes then any other option. One of my favorite things about farming is understanding the connection between nutrients and flavor. There is so much talk about how depleted the world's soils are from years of abuse. Soils are missing the nutrients needed to grow nutrient dense food from years of harvesting, chemicals and not being replenished. Did you know that the nutrients in the veggies are where the flavor comes from? It's true when Grandpa tells us how things don't taste like they did when he was a kid! He was eating food from nutrient rich soil. We work really hard to make sure our soils are well taken care of. Which translates to nutrient rich soil, which grows nutrient rich plants. Sooooo....your Cosmic Apple CSA food DOES tastes better because it is full of the nutrients industrial grown food is missing. The winning point here is that it tastes better AND it's better for you, because our soils have more nutrients!
I have noticed I have more energy and just feel better overall now that fresh produce is here again. We hope you are feeling the same. We truly care about your health and we seek to grow nutrient dense food to benefit you AND your taste buds.
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The garden is doing great. The garlic is beginning to grow the infamous "garlic curls" or "scapes". The tomatoes are starting to show some color. The peas are flowering. The summer squash is diligently stretching upward and outward. The sunflowers are not quite "knee high by the 4th of July", but they will soon be the tallest thing in the garden!

THANK YOU  for picking your share up on the 4th of July. We know it is not ideal. We are working hard to keep harvesting since the garden won't take a break.
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Lunch this Week: Quinoa with Mint Vinaigrette, Turnips and Bok Choy; Sautéed Swiss Chard in a grilled cheese sandwich.
Recipe Ideas: Lemon-Garlic-Oregano Dressing; Quick Bok Choy; Salmon with Turnips & Swiss Chard; Chard Patties
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Click the button below to access our collection of Cosmic Apple CSA inspired recipes!