Grand Street CSA

A nice, long answer from Heather::

Hi CSA Members!

It seems that there are some grumbles and frustrations going around about some of these delicious tempting first fruits only going full share members so I wanted to send out some communication to help the whole community understand what’s going on with this.

As a technical ‘half share’ member myself I can say that my eyes too have been longingly following the red globes gracing the baskets of full share members as they collect their vegetables here at the farm. That wonderful season of color and diversity and juicy fruit is almost upon us and we are all wishing we had more and more!

Right now, we are just starting to see fruit ripen on our zucchini plants in the field and on our tomatoes in the greenhouse. There are two reasons why there is not very much right now.

The first reason is that when the plants first start to develop, there is never much fruit. The first fruiting is oh-so-exciting, but is usually just 1-2 at at time from each plant. Once they get their juices flowing and the sun starts heating up, things start to progress much more rapidly and we hope to see much more ripening together at the same time. They’re just practicing right now, gearing up for the height of the season.

Secondly, we plant these things in succession. So only half of our zucchinis are actually producing ripe fruit now. The other half are flowering and tiny fruits are just starting to fill in. Also, some varieties come in faster than others. So of the half that are actually producing ripe fruit, two of those varieties (out of six) are still not quite there yet. Soon they will catch up, and by the time they do, the other half of plants will be fruiting as well. This is when we start to have enough for everyone to have some (and hopefully plenty!).

Similarly, we are just getting tomatoes now from the greenhouse. We have about 200 plants in there now that are producing fruit, while we have over 500 tomato plants in the field. These too are beginning to flower, and shape fruit, but it hasn’t quite ripened yet. Once we are able to harvest from these plants (over 12 varieties all together!) the harvest will be much more substantial.

When we just have a very little amount, like the last two weeks, there is sometimes not even enough to give one tomato or zucchini to each half share, especially since there are so many more half shares than full. We have also heard from you in the past that 1 tomato or 1 zucchini is not too helpful in making a meal. So we’re trying to give what we do have to the CSA somehow, and right now that means just sending to full shares. We always try to make up for that extra vegetable by sending an even amount of something else (note that this week for example everyone got the same amount of lettuce…. last week, peas).

I know it hurts! I am jealous of those full shares too! But please be patient, as we are working with the inflexible mysteries of nature and they are just gearing up to give us all some love.

Thanks,
Heather

Lettuce (or possibly salad greens)
Swiss Chard
Cabbage
Peas
Fresh Garlic
Herbs (dill or basil)
and probably some extras for full shares from our fruiting crops that are just starting to produce: zucchinis or tomatoes.
Don’t worry, there will be much fruit to come for all shares soon, farm blessings willing!

Heather notes on Facebook that the tomatoes are from the greenhouse, just a small prelude to what should be coming later this month from the field. She also writes about the nutrient density course that she and Julia have been following this summer and what that means for our kale, and about the importance of a living soil cover, like rye and clover, in keeping the crops healthy.

Farmer Heather writes on Woodbridge Farm’s Facebook page:

Our fields are now full of bright flowers: the snowy white dusting of pea flowers, tiny yellow stars on dark green tomato vines, and brilliant splaying orange on the zucchini and summer squash. The sunset-orange-colored zucchini blossoms are bigger than my hand!

And flowers… mean fruit! We have an abundant crop of peas flowing in, tomatoes and peppers just beginning to form, and zucchinis stretching out from the base of those fantastic blossoms.

Today’s shares should include:

lettuce
salad greens
peas
kale
swiss chard
basil
scallions

and possibly:
garlic scapes
salad turnips

There’s also a scary story about a pesky groundhog.

See you later!

Here’s what Woodbridge Farm’s Facebook page tells us today:

Shares this week will include:
lettuce
salad greens
garlic scapes
napa cabbage
sugar snap peas
and herbs (dill and oregano most likely)

There was a request to share more about what varieties we grow of different crops, what you’re looking at in your shares. Since there is sometimes a mix, we’ll just share some information here you can maybe match to what you’re seeing at home!

The peas are sugar snap peas, they can be eaten raw or cooked in a stir fry, they are sweet and juicy.

Salad greens are a mix of a dozen or so lettuce and mustard green varieties, including things like romaine, red leaf lettuce, kale, tatsoi, mizuna, and many others.

We grow German White and German Red garlic, so that’s where our scapes are coming from.

We’ll have napa cabbage this week from two different varieties (though they are quite similar): Rubicon and Bilko, the Bilko is a slightly darker green, while the Rubicon is supposed to have a slightly sharper tang. Napa cabbage is what is traditionally used to make kimchi, and will store just above freezing with high humidity for a month or two.

Find out more about lettuce varieties on Facebook.

Everyone came together this weekend to put all of our tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, summer squash, cucumbers, winter squash, and basil into the ground! We had several volunteers, and everyone had an important piece of the puzzle! Making deep holes over and over again crouched down with a trowel or planting cosmos and zinnias to mark the borders of each different variety of crops. Someone was pounding 8 foot stakes into the ground to support the trellising (not an easy task for some shorties like us! but we’re ambitious about how big those crops will be this year!) and others following a dirt-smudged map to sort our 19 different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant into their places. We trellised tomatoes, laid big black blankets of tarping down for winter squash, watered watered watered, breathed in the sweet summer smell of basil in our hands, and tenderly untangled eager cucumbers from each other as we put them in the ground. We are ready for summer!!

Read more on Woodbridge Farm’s Facebook Notes.