Share #2 June 23rd & 25th

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Collards, Australe Head Lettuce, Bok Choy, Maybe Radish and/or Basil

We hope the first share was well received and you are ready to be back for more!
We made a big change on the farm this year and we are excited to share! Drum roll please.... After 22 years of working with crews of volunteers we have switched to an all employee crew. This has been a big leap and we are grateful we went for it.
Over the years we have met so many incredible people because they did a "workshare" at the farm. Workshares spent 5 hours per week farming in exchange for a full share, lunch and hands on farming experience. It was a serious commitment and lasted for 6 months. Many workshares have become lifelong friends and we feel blessed. A quick look though the list of 2020 shareholders and I can find 27 people who volunteered on the farm! I am confident there are more who have changed last names or are splitting a share in someone else's name. This constant "crop" of new folks kept Jed and I learning many names each year and coming to love many of the personalities behind the names. We are sad to see this super social part of the farm slip away. We can not emphasize enough how many wonderful people we met through the volunteer program.
So why are we moving on? We decided to make this move last fall when Teton County, ID was in the midst of a boom cycle. It gets challenging to get folks to volunteer when staffing at paid jobs is short handed.  Employers need our volunteers to come to work at their paying jobs. The great volunteers tend to be the great employees, so they would get pulled away from the farm. We would have days in the fall when an entire volunteer crew would not show up. It was hard to get the harvest in. It was hard to get the farm closed up for the season. Jed and our manager were exhausted from training whoever showed up on a given day how to do a job already explained 90 times before. We were tired of figuring out the logistics with not enough hands to execute a plan.
Hiring full time employees started to look awesome. Full time employees who would know where things were in the fields, know what tools to grab to get a job done, show up when they promised us they would and so many other great things we have yet to experience. We were hoping trained employees in the field would really raise the efficiency of our day to day tasks. Of course the only thing holding us back was the payroll. Ugh. Oh darn you reality. We crunched numbers. We talked. We did more math. Finally we just went for it. Covid hit and we received a lot of applications.
Now we have a "Field Crew"! They. Are. Awesome. We have 5 full time employees who are planting, weeding, moving row cover, harvesting, taking care of animals, doing market prep and all the other jobs that come up. As much as we miss the extreme socialization with the volunteers, I like seeing the same folks each day. It feels more like family. We will be able to cultivate deeper relationships instead of just more relationships. Who knew when we made this leap, 2020 would be the year of tightening up our social circles?!
As of right now, most of the garden is weeded. This is huge for us. It already speaks volumes to the improved efficiency of a trained crew. We are so grateful to each of these folks who has walked into our lives and wants to share the farm with us. 

​Farm lunch this week: Cheese melts with lovage pesto and spinach. Bratwurst and Creamed Collards 
Recipe Idea: ​​Sweet and Sour Collards, From the Just Picked Cooking show (link at top of page) the Share #1 Bok Choy recipe, grilled! So good!

Recipes

The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and 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: Tenderloin, New York Steak, Ribeye Steak, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round Steak, Round Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Flank Roast,  Liver, Ground Beef, Patties, Stew, Stir Fry, Kabobs, Hot Dogs and Bratwurst
​Pork Available: Chorizo and Fat

WASH YOUR VEGGIES!!
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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 20% off at the Farmer's Markets!
The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7
The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1
Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1(Starts 7/11)
Farm to Fork Festival: October 3rd 11-4  Center for the Arts
Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? [email protected]

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