CSA Summer Newsletter: June 13th, 2022 (Week 3/23)
Hi Folks,
The contents of your veggie share.... are first based on availability, and then value. We price out the items to be sure that each week you get what you paid for or more. More or less most of the time the boxes are spot on, or over the dollar value per week of the share. There are moments particularly when it can be hard to reach these set values, and the share may be a dollar short, but then it’s made up for in all the weeks that it’s a dollar and some over. This happens with complete losses of plantings or when our seeding schedule is off, or the transplanting schedule is off because it's been to wet to work the ground. For one example we have had a complete loss on our sugar snap peas this season. So alas you will not be getting any sugar snap peas in your boxes this year. This bummer is due to a maggot that ate all the seeds that we direct seeded. We are always watching, keeping an eye on germination. "Hey, have you seen the peas?" "No, I wonder what's up?" A lot of these days to germination are tucked in the back of our head, and we are thinking… where are they, they should be here by now? “It’s been wet & cool?” They aren't coming up so we investigate, and do a little digging. Then what do we find? No seeds, none! Well this year we know that it wasn't a faulty machine as they were direct seeded by hand. Then talking with fellow farmers, "Ahhhh, corn maggot!" "Shoot! So we just lost 4 500' beds of deliciousness! "ok lets replant!" "No, it's too late". So beans go in their place. The corn maggot is gone now, and so are the dreams for any sugar snap peas in 2022! So hiccups happen, but then ingenuity also happens. We tried something we haven't tried in a while and we are trellising cucumbers in two heated high tunnels! This is working well and they are happily producing cucumbers already, so this is an awesome addition to early spring salads! So you win some and you lose some. The constant inconsistencies are what make farming not for the faint of heart. The ebb and flow of joy and sadness just becomes a part of the job. The shuffling of plans we have worked so diligently to draft in the winter are constantly being edited and adjusted to the present reality versus our dreams of the perfect boxes.
THE BOX! So it's strawberry time and when it's strawberry time, we promise to get you strawberries for as long as we have them. They are a very special crop, so many people’s favorite but also very fickle, tender and short lived. We are sorry that some of you had strawberries last week that were not up to our near perfect par. We hope this week’s harvest makes up for those very damp berries! This week’s berries got rained on last night, but then they were able to dry out and get sun kissed during their morning harvest!
Note that all of food that we grow is harvested at peak ripeness, this is where the flavor and nutrition is at it’s highest. This is also where CSA is the balm diggity! You get food harvested at peak ripeness, and it’s in your fingertips within 24 hours of being harvested. Unless you have your own garden or attend a farmers market, CSA, direct from the farmer is one of the freshest sources of food you can get.
Each item in the veggie share holds a value and we add these up each week to be sure you are getting back your financial investment in fresh food! There are different volumes per item between the share sizes. We keep track of what you get each week so we can keep the contents interesting and try to not bog you down with seasonal overload. We try our hardest to give you as diverse a variety as the season allows.
Cheers, to more diversity! New first harvests this week, Garlic Scapes and Beets!
Your Farmers,
Chris, Aeros, and The Who Crew