Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Sugar Snap Peas, Shelling Peas, Kale, Bok Choy, Summer Squash, Basil, Fresh Garlic and maybe Sunflowers

The garden exploded with produce last week. We weren't looking and the squash was ready. Also, the sunflowers surprised us by opening to the sun and smiling at us. At the farm, this is the big season. The season of fullness, heat and abundance of produce... all sprinkled with a hint of lack of time.
The harvests are big. Sorting the veggies takes longer. Loading a pallet on the truck takes muscle. We've been waiting for this season all year. It's amazing. And it TASTES SO GOOD.
This Saturday we reach Lammas. August 2nd is the day smack in the middle of Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox.  A day traditionally calling for pause. A time to give gratitude for all that has been harvested so far, while acknowledging there is not enough yet, to get through the winter. It is a time to realize the Earth gives SO MUCH, but there is still work to be done. It's a time to pause and really understand what crops are thriving and what needs help. Traditionally communities came together to evaluate how the fall harvests were looking. They also celebrated all they had, and figured out how to help each other with the work that was yet to come. Plans were made to trade for what was needed, be it labor, produce, meat, tools or herbs. A mid-summer gathering was a celebration and a chance to network.
Now, we all live lives of leisure. I'm pretty stoked on running water, my refrigerator and the computer I am typing on. But I still see humans celebrating Lammas. It's in our nature to follow the cycles of the seasons. I love seeing people connect at live music, farmer's markets or CSA pick ups. A huge hug for an old friend. Witnessing the growth of a child not seen in 6 months. People's conversations start to gently turn to what the season changes will be...school? New job? Off season travel plans? And what gear someone needs that a friend has! How's your garden? We share special things we have managed to preserve with dear friends. Recipes are exchanged. Lammas is a time of giving, of sharing abundance.
We are still called to gather with friends this time of year and share the harvest. We still commune with those we cherish and revel in a warm summer night, while catching up and talking of the future.
As we dig in to celebrate all we have harvested so far, and look towards the abundance yet to come we hope you do the same, with the people you love. Savor the flavors and feelings of this time of year. Summer is still here, we get to live in the Tetons and it's a great time of year to eat food!
​
Lunch on the Farm this week: Summer Squash stir fry with homemade Hoison Sausce; Zuchinni Cakes
Recipe Ideas: Bruschetta and salad for dinner; Summer Squash Ribbons, Tomato Basil Zucchini Boats; Sugar Snap Peas with Basil and Lemon; Panzanella Salad (Kale page); Kale Tomato Brown Rice Bowls​

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Sugar Snap Peas, Collards, Turnips, Bok Choy, Head Lettuce, Tomatoes and Parsley

What does a day on the farm look like and how do we get the most flavorful veggies picked at the peak of ripeness to you?
Each CSA harvest is divided into 2 days. Monday/Tuesday and Wednesday/Thursday. Our whole workweek is set up around getting you your veggies. We put the CSA first, markets and projects second. The crew meets at 7am. Jed lays out the morning tasks. We always harvest first thing, because the cooler temps are easier on the produce. Mondays and Wednesdays start out with Cosmic Mix first thing every time. We use sheep sheers to cut the mix, and then place it in 5 gallon buckets lined with a mesh bag. When the bag is full it is put into a yellow crate on a garden cart. We keep repeating until the whole 500' row is cut.
After the Cosmic Mix is done, we move onto head lettuce or bok choy. Each head is cut and counted as it goes into a crate, then to the garden cart.
Items like collards, kale or Swiss chard are cut leaf by leaf into a crate.
When we are done harvesting an item the full garden cart is pulled into our processing building, and handed off to our veggie caretaker. For Cosmic Mix, the mesh bags are dunked in 2 big cooling tanks. The tanks are filled with cold Teton well water. Dunking cools the mix quickly after harvest to help preserve it. Then it goes into our large salad spinner! Sounds fancy...but we actually use a top loading washing machine set to a perpetual spin cycle!
The Cosmic Mix is then poured out of the bags onto our tables, mixed by hand and put into yellow crates. Each crate is adjusted to weigh 7 pounds exactly. When we have the total weight of our harvest, we divide the weight by the number of CSA members picking up on each day. That's how we determine the share size!
The lettuce and bok choy comes in with a set number of heads in each crate, so they are just dunked and the number of crates are totaled. The collards and such are also dunked and then the crate weights are all adjusted so they weigh the same.
At this point in the morning...the crew is ready for a break! Coffee, tea and/or a snack happen quickly. And then they are back at it!
Harvesting usually happens until about noon each day depending on the size of the crew and how fast we can get it done. After lunch, we sometimes finish up pea picking or mostly move onto weeding! Wednesdays and Thursdays the field crew turn to market harvest as soon as the CSA is done.
Whatever was not harvested Monday (or Wednesday) morning is the first thing on the list for Tuesday (or Thursday) morning. We spread the harvest out over 2 days to ensure we can get it done during the best temps for the veggies.
After the harvest is complete on Tuesday and Thursdays it is time for a lot of math in the processing shed. A pallet is placed for each pick up site. Our wash station manager then begins confirming all the weights and putting the correct amount of veggies on each pallet for each pick up site.
We break for lunch at 12:15-1:15. The afternoon feels short while getting the shares ready. The goal is to be done dividing the veggies by 3 o'clock. 
When the veggies are all on the pallet destined for you, the signs need to be written. This can sometimes feel daunting...there are 10 whiteboards to write out...and mistakes have to be triple checked for!
While the boards are being written, our truck driver arrives at 3 and begins loading the truck. She leaves the farm at 3:30 sharp with all the veggies, whiteboards, scales and all the other things needed for your veggie delivery!
By 5pm your veggies are waiting for you at your pick up location. We love how close we all live to each other. Being able to get you produce picked at the peak of ripeness and delivered so quickly is a difference you can taste. Some of the items you get were in the field 6 hours prior! Most produce in the stores is harvested well before ripeness so it can handle long truck rides and time in refrigerators before being put on a shelf to purchase.
We keep a tight schedule on the farm. It feels a bit overwhelming early in the season and the crew does not know which way they are moving. But! As the season moves on, the flow becomes second nature and harvests run like a well oiled 1965 tractor.
​
Lunch on the Farm this week: Summer pasta with garlic, swiss chard, turnips summer squash, tomatoes and basil.
Recipe Ideas: Spare Ribs and Collards; Chimichurri Sauce; Tomato Salsa with Sugar Snap Peas or Creamed Collard Greens  

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Swiss Chard, Bok Choy, Sugar Snap Peas, Head Lettuce, Tomatoes and Dill

The sugar snaps are here. Real, sugary and sweet, fresh snappy peas! Not the kinda limp ones in the grocery store. Sugar snaps are one of the veggies that remind us how flavorful food picked at the peak of ripeness and quickly delivered to you is supposed to taste. Good luck getting your total share home. You'll probably need to eat a couple as soon as you weigh them. And …they taste really good as you are driving. If you have kids in the car with you, you might get home completely empty handed. You've been warned.
Picking peas is labor intensive, and could be a love language! Our crew of 6 spent 2 1/2 hours picking one 500' row. We have a row to pick for Tuesday and a row for Thursday. Harvesting will happen at least twice a week for the next few weeks. Our second crop of two more rows is close behind. We stagger our plantings so the pea season is extended. Once the peas come in, they take so much time to harvest...we get behind on our weeding. But the peas are calling and we must go.
Pea picking is a "minds-on" harvest job. Each pea has to be looked at and a decision made. Perfectly ripe? In the bucket. Too small and not plumped up yet? It needs more time to ripen...next pea! And the dreaded...over-swollen. Over-swollen and pale green means overripe. As tempting as it can be to toss a big plump overripe pea in the bucket, it will be stringy and have lost its sweetness. It also means it was probably missed the week before. Learning to pick peas takes some time and practice. Doing it well, means an easier harvest job the next time we go through the row. No one on our crew wants to find overripe peas that were missed the week before!
The crew emphasized how juicy and ripe the peas are right now. They were so dedicated to getting them harvested, they put lunch off for an hour to finish. If you want a group of people to get to know each other...put them in the pea patch for a couple hours. Stories and jokes are shared. Today's topic turned to marriage advice...what's the secret to success? In case you are wondering..."learn to fight productively" was the advice given. Wisdom abounds in the pea patch!
There have also been many moments of belly laughs...one year this video was created by the crew. Here's a laugh that might make you pea! Hardee-har-har.

Lunch on the Farm this week: Garlic Curl Pesto over Quinoa with turnips, bok choy and kale; Chili Mint stir fry with Bok Choy, sugar snaps and tomatoes
Recipe Ideas: Chilled Shrimp and Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Tangy Ginger Dressing; Sesame Roasted Snap Peas; Bok Choy, Swiss Chard With Noodles; ​Yogurt Dill Dressing

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Kale, Radish, Turnips, Butterhead Lettuce, Bok Choy, Maybe Spicy Mix, Arugula, Sugar Snap Peas and/or Tomatoes

​Let's talk "maybes" and why it is on your crop list. The spicy mix and arugula are on the way out for now and the tomatoes are just starting to come in. We don't know how many pounds we will actually have until we harvest. Sometimes we don't get enough to give the whole CSA enough to make it worth it. Try dividing 25 pounds of tomatoes by 100 shares...and then half shares. We would have to cut tomatoes in half so the weights would work! We may give a crop to just one pick up site, and then the next week the other sites get it. We keep very careful records to make sure it all evens out to the best of our abilities as the season progresses.
But YES! Tomatoes are starting to ripen! ...and maybe you'll get some this week! Or next! But in the next week or two our harvests should be big enough for everyone to get them each week for many weeks!

We get asked a lot how many people work on the farm. We are now at our peak season and fully staffed. We have 14 people on payroll and 6 volunteer site hosts along with some other volunteers who work about 20 hours/month. Jed and I do our best to keep it all organized and running smoothly.
Our field crew is made up of 5 full time employees. Jacy is our crew manager. Eloiza, Gregoria, John and Sergio are there M-F, 7-4. Aspen (5th year on the farm!), Tucker and Laura each work 1-2 days a week also on the Field Crew. The Field Crew is responsible for planting, weeding, harvesting, washing veggies, prepping for markets and all the other random projects that come up on the farm. These folks work hard, everyday in all the weather. They are kind and care about the produce they grow.
Deb has carved out a very special job at the farm in the 10 years she has worked with us. Her official title is Tomato Queen. She lovingly prunes, trellises, weeds and harvests the tomatoes. Deb takes care of 3 20' X 100' greenhouses on a weekly basis. She also works at the People's Markets on Wednesdays. She knows how to cook anything and is always excited to share a recipe!
Forrest is our Wash Station Manager, a.k.a. Veggie Caretaker. Forrest receives all the veggies from the field. He then weighs, inventories and divides the produce so we get the proper amounts to each site for you to pick up. It is a job that requires a lot of math and organization in a hectic environment. 
We have 2 new positions we created this year! An evening and a morning chore person! Kirsten works mornings and Rachel works evenings, M-F. Each shift requires moving irrigation pipe, feeding pigs, chickens and cows. Collecting eggs, checking water troughs, opening/closing greenhouses and soon (when our cows calve) milking our family cow. This change in staffing has been a wonderful break for Jed. It has given him 6 extra hours in the day to oversee farm operations and work on his tasks. We are glad we made this change...and bonus: We now know Rachel and Kirsten!
Saturday and Sunday mornings we are incredibly grateful to Kelli. She does the morning chores so Jed can make it to the Saturday markets and sleep in on Sundays. Kelli has been a smiley fixture at the farm for 12 years starting out as a volunteer.
All you Jackson folks know Roberta! This is her 5th year driving the truck for us. She safely gets those veggies over the pass to Wilson and Jackson each Tuesday and Thursday. She can also be found doing evening chores for us 2X a week all winter.
Tucker and Laura each mentioned above on the Field Crew also work markets for us! Tucker, who is working his 9th season at Cosmic, also is at the Driggs Market with the amazing Emma. Laura in her 2nd year farming with us helps Jed at the Saturday Market. Rachel our evening chore person has Wednesdays off from chores so she can work at the People's Market!

Cosmic Apple is a diverse operation with lots of moving parts. We could not run this farm without our amazing employees and volunteer site hosts (please give your site host a high-five tonight!). Jed and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by the amazing folks the farm draws in. Our employees quickly become family (farmily?). I truly cherish the conversations we have and the things I learn from them. They make me laugh, show me new perspectives, are full of great ideas and hope for the future. Each of them is at the farm because they care about growing food for their community. They see the value in the work we do together. The good energy they bring to work each day is part of the reason the veggies taste so good!
If you see one of our crew members out and about, let them know a veggie you like and give them a hearty Thank You!

Lunch on the Farm this week: Burritos with Garlic Curl, Cilantro, Lime sauce. Coconut Soup with Kale and Bok Choy over Rice Noodles
Recipe Ideas: Garlicky Greens with Kale; Kale with Bacon; Bok Choy Peanut Noodle Salad;  Radish or Turnip Greens with Miso Sauce 

​We have lots of extra goodies available at your pick up. If you want something specific, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved just for you. Dinner just got easier!
The coolers at your site are stocked with a selection of Lifeline Cheese and Cosmic Apple Pork and Beef (listed below). I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit!
​Pork Available: Grandpa's Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Pork Chops, Shoulder Roast, Spare Ribs, Boneless Loin Roast, Hock, Leaf Fat Tenderloin and Back Fat
Beef Available: Tenderloin, Rib Eye, Sirloin Steak, Patties, Stew Meat, Sirloin Tip Roast, Round Roast, Flat Iron Roast, Beef Fat and Liver
Hunters and Huntresses: We have pork fat for your wild game sausage making. Let me know if you want to order any and I can send it to your pick up location.
​

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
The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7
Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-12

Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected]