Fresh Earth Farms Newsletter 6-14-2010

Farm Update

Not much to report.  It has been raining almost continually since the last report.  This week’s question: “Is all this rain good or bad for the crops?”  The answer is clearly “Yes!”  Let’s look first at the good.  Plants need water.  Rain is water.  Therefore plants like rain.  If we get lightning the rain also provides nitrogen, which plants also like.  Flea beetles tend to not like rain so much; they get washed off the plants and hopefully die somewhere.  More rain = fewer flea beetles.

Now the bad.  Weeds are plants, so they like rain too.  We can’t do much to control weeds when the soil is wet.  It turns the soil into cement.  So the weeds have the perfect growing weather – rainy, rainy, rainy.  Most bugs don’t mind rain.  Most bugs hate pesticides.  Pesticides wash off and are ineffective in the rain.  Bugs like that.  So, the bugs and weeds are lovin’ it!  Too much rain causes the soil to move.  We don’t like soil moving where we don’t want it to move.  Usually the soil moves when there is too much rain during a short time.  But with all the rain we’ve had lately it doesn’t take too much rain to become “too much rain”.

I used to complain about the rain or the lack of rain but I discovered it didn’t make any difference.

Food Shelf Share
In the past we’ve donated quite a lot of food to local food shelves.  Last year we donated over 3000 pounds!  By being part of the community we feel we should do what we can to contribute to the community.  Our donations tend to be of crops that have done extremely well and would be too much for our members to consume.  Due to the nature of farming, and the growing and harvesting of crops, we tend to donate a lot just a few times a season. 

One of our members asked us to take another approach.  She made a very generous contribution to not only the farm but also to the local food shelf.  She asked if she could buy five on-farm shares for us to donate to the local food shelf.  Unlike what we’ve done in the past, she wanted us to supply produce weekly to the food shelf.  We thought it was a great idea.  It is something we considered in the past but always needed a critical mass of shares to make the effort worthwhile.

With her initial five shares we feel we now have critical mass and that we should open it up to others who might want to contribute.  We don’t expect people to purchase five shares; that is a very generous contribution.  However, if you would like to contribute a share or even a partial share toward delivery of fresh produce to the food shelf we would add it to these existing shares.  We are pricing the shares at the $150, which is approximately our breakeven point.  To purchase FoodShelfShares simply send in a check with FoodShelfShares in the memo section.  You can also send an email to let us know your intentions.  As always, if you have questions do not hesitate to contact me.  (I’m sure the first question would be “Is this tax deductible?”  I don’t know but if someone else has the answer please send it my way.)

This week’s vegetables (subject to change). 
This week we will have lettuce, scallions (early onions, a red variety this year), green garlic, garlic scapes, bok choi, snap peas, snow peas and maybe kohlrabi.  There is also a possibility of broccoli.  In any case, please send in any recipes you have for bok choi or kohlrabi and I will get them on to the web site for all to see (in fact I will put one on later today!)

Pick-ups
Reminder: Vegetable pick-ups start on Wednesday June 16th
If you pick-up on Wednesdays, plan to pick-up your produce this Wednesday June 16th (3:30-6:30). 
If you pick up on Thursday, plan to pick-up on Thursday June 17th (from 9:30 to 11:30 am). 
If you pick-up on Fridays, plan to pick-up your produce on Friday June 18th (3:30-6:30). 
If you pick-up on Mondays, plan to pick-up your produce on Monday June 21st (3:30-6:30). 
If you pick-up at a drop site please see the instructions sent to your email address.  If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us.

We will also have CheeseShare, EggShare and CoffeeShare with this week’s pick-ups. 

FruitShare
Last chance to order FruitShare and blueberries.  The blueberries have been phenomenal the last few years and this year should be no exception.  If you would like to order a box of blueberries please contact me (email works great).  Deadline is June 16th, though we may be able to add a few boxes after that date.  Here is a write-up about the blueberries and the family that grows them.

The fruit for the next delivery is cherries.  They are equally delicious!  You can order cherries now until the end of the month or so.

CheeseShare
Open House at Castle Rock Farm on Saturday, June 19th from 11:00 to 4:00. 
Castle Rock Farms, one of our CheeseShare suppliers, is having a customer appreciation open house.  Come see how they make cheese.  See the animals.  And, if you stay late (until 5:30) you can watch the evening milking and see them feed the calves.  See www.CastleRockFarms.net for more details.

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