Week 10: It’s all growing. In it’s own time, its still growing-
We would like to apologize for not putting out a journal post the last 3 weeks (!) We have been working straight up until you come and work all through the week and then I realize I didn’t write those thoughts down..But so is August – August is gorgeous, beautiful, bodacious and it kicks your butt. August is the month you work from sun up and way past sun down. You are slogging hay into the barn and then after that you are processing chickens and then after that moving sheep and harvesting vegetables and going to farmers market then bagging and labeling all those chickens you processed in the morning – all in a day plus daily farm chores and kids. I say this not to complain. This is August in all its crazy, sweaty glory. I think it was even more pronounced this year because if the constant run we have had since we have dried up (dare I say we could use a bit of real rain now (the storms keep missing us) but not to loud to anger mother nature. Such a balancing act. I am so ever grateful for those little snippets on the our little starcraft boat on a sunday or rare evening. the quick runs to the beach with the girls. For the village around us that has helped us at the farm or with our girls getting them from camp to a play date. To those who brought us cold drinks in the field or thought of us thank you. August and September are months that are very important to diversified small farmers. This is when our heavy crops come in, hay comes in, chickens are processed, sheep are shorn. These are the days – glorious and sweaty and crazy and hard.
The field potatoes are looking gorgeous. We planted them the second week of July – all of them – we have Kennebec, Nicola, Sangre, red norland and maybe another one. The plants are healthy and robust. The corn is looking gorgeous – (Ok maybe I should pull out a thesaurus because I am going to use the word gorgeous a lot in the next paragraph. And maybe a run on sentence or two – Hey its 3:16pm on Monday – at least I’m getting my thoughts downJ) The corn we transplanted in and it is just starting to tassle and its pretty tall – we took advantage of an old chicken winter spot 🙂 The melons are growing right next to them and their vines are ____ dazzling 🙂
The peppers and egg plants are putting on major fruits. We are waiting for the heirloom tomato house to kick it up – if facebook shows me one more this day in history – with the copious amounts of heirloom tomatoes – I might cry – BUT – I am taking a deep breathe and know the vines are LOADED and they will come. We picked 30 pints of cherry tomatoes today! BAM! And gosh they are beautiful – hopefully delia doesn’t eat them all before you get here. Don’t worry thursday folks – you will have tomatoes too 🙂 The onions are finally plumping up. The ground cherries will be late too – probably into September. Hmm…this lettuce mix is the best we have ever grown – it keeps well over aweek if not two in the fridge. We tried a new variety called salanova – and it’s a keeper 🙂 We have seeded arugula, hakeri turnips, napa cabbage, carrots, bok choy and beets for harvesting in a few short weeks.
We are hoping to start dyeing wool this week – with all the golden rod and marigolds. Our friend David from Green Mountain Spinnery was so kind and picked up all our skirted wool yesterday – over 60 lbs 🙂
We are also in the midst of starting the real process of securing a loan to build a house here on our land to replace our vintage 1981 mobile home. I have been talking to builders, diggers, friends – it will take a small village to raise this BHF farm house. We are so excited and scared all in the same breathe. We are working with the USDA FSA program – where we got our first loan to buy the land. So.much.stuff.to.know. I am grateful for friends who are builders and makers and artisans that are helping us on this journey. A special shout out to Sheila and her family who entered every chicken scratch writing of ours of every single thing we have produced on our farm from a blade of arugula to eggs to yarn to pork to chicken to milks to sheepskins to lamb to zucchini. We blew him away with that inventory list of the last 4 years – Thank you! When you self-employed you have to proof everything – everything. on top of it being August.
Getting ready for the school year and finishing the last school year assessments and portfolios. Getting quotes for house building….
Whew. Peace. ..Thanks for being here with us on this strange ride of a growing season 🙂
And with all the farming that is going around us and then hearing from the outside world – all the turmoil – I find myself returning to this poem that I found solace back in September 2001.
Wage Peace by Judyth Hill
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music; memorize the words for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief
as the out breath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious:
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.
We look forward to farming with you this season.
Peace, your farmers, Christine, Adam, Sadie, Delia and Kristen
For CSA members who ordered chicken or would like to order chicken: We will have chicken ready to be picked up on Friday and Saturday fresh – either at the farm or at the Grand Isle Farmers Market. Or you can wait for the next round next month. _ please let me know if you would like this option
What’s in the share this week:
This list is what is in a full share this week. Things may change between Monday and Thursday and Individual and Salad share will get differing amounts and may not get everything on the list. Swiss Chard or Cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce heads, lettuce mix, sweet and hot peppers, Zucchini and/or Summer Squash, cilantro, dill, cukes.
Eggs for sale We have the pretty girls’ eggs for sale – these are free-range, certified organic chicken eggs that are brown eggs– with the brightest yellow/orange yolks you ever seen. The eggs are $6.00 a dozen. $3.00 half dozen
CERTIFIED ORGANIC whole CHICKEN AVAILABLE
Recipes:
SHAVED ZUCCHINI AND HERB SALAD WITH PARMESAN
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 3 tablespoons juice (1 lemon)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound zucchini (2 medium zucchini)
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup), plus shaved to serve
1/2 cup lightly packed mint leaves, torn
1/2 cup lightly packed basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and coarsely chopped
In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and juice, oil, honey, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Holding each zucchini by the stem, use a Y-style peeler to shave the zucchini from top to bottom into ribbons; rotate the zucchini as you go, and stop shaving when you reach the seedy core. Discard the cores.
Whisk the dressing to recombine, then add the shaved zucchini, grated cheese, mint and basil and toss. Gently toss until evenly coated. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with shaved Parmesan and hazelnuts.