Week #2 of CSA Pick UP

Mother Nature has a way of always keeping us humble and staying focused! Monday night we were hit HARD by the freak hail storm which passed through our neighborhood. Our crops took a hard hit but we are hoping they will recover. It’s still early enough in the season, that they have lots of fight left in them to rally! Here’s hoping….!

So, in light of hail damage, you may be seeing some slightly damaged veggies the next few weeks as crops recover. For instance this week, the beet greens and other greens weren’t terrible but definitely had a few hits of hail. The onion tops also show some signs of hail damage. So, please bear with us as we muddle through the recovery process. That is what a CSA program is about…you buy in for the good AND the bad! Community SUPPORTED Agriculture (CSA)! We really appreciate your support! Many of you reached out last night with words of encouragement, telling us not to worry about CSA bags this week and other supportive texts! We SO appreciate it all! We have the best community and the best customers! Thank you!!

Despite it all, we got up early all this week and greeted 21 farm camp campers and 5 young interns! Seeing all their young, smiling and eager faces made us realize THEY are what is important! Sharing our love of farming (in good times and bad times!) with them and hopefully inspiring the next generation of farmers is truly why we do what we do! Crops can be regrown but the moment of time we have to teach these kids is limited so we pulled up our boot straps and got to work this morning!

Here’s what is in your bag today:

~Radishes: we love snacking on them, slicing them thin and adding to our salads or sandwiches!

~Potatoes: Thursday CSA folks are getting our first “new potatoes” of the season! One of our new interns, Eli worked on digging them up and washing them for you. We only field wash them so please be sure to wash them more thoroughly! We love chuncking them up and roasting them with olive oil and seasoning in a 400 degree oven for 40-45 minutes (until fork tender). We also love sprinkling some fresh grated parmesan cheese over the top after they have baked and broiling them for a few minutes to get the cheese bubbly!

~Salad Turnips: This is a new and surprising crop for us this year! We actually planted it as a cover crop which it did amazing. We had zero weeds wherever we grew the turnips and daikon radish mix. But the other day, we pulled on up and thought, “Let’s try it!” So, we washed it and tasted it…YUM! It was even better with a little sprinkle of sea salt on it! Toss them into your salads or stir-frys! I want to try sauteing them in some butter! Yummy!

~Salad Greens: Today’s mix is baby beet greens and romaine mix. Again, the greens took a hit slightly from the hail. And also, the heavy rains caused the mud to really get the greens dirty. We did a field wash of them but please be sure to wash them well before consuming.

~Baby Walla Walla Onions: These are the first of the season! Enjoy them! And be sure to also use the green part! That’s my favorite! Again…the hail did a little damage to the leaves so that’s why they look a little beat up!

~Organic Tea: We love these teas! They are produced by a gal who grows all her things organically and lives off-the-grid so everything is done by hand and “the old-fashioned” way! You can really taste the difference in these teas! We sell them like crazy in the farm store which is always a good indicator of a great product!

We hope you have a terrific week and weekend! Happy 4th of July to all!

Thank you all again for your support! We truly couldn’t do this without you all!

Hail off of our back deck!

FArmer Jon in our Lower Garden last night looking at the damage. Note his feet are completely underwater!