Here’s our barn all set up for CSA pick-up … last year!

Here’s what CSA pick-up looks like this year.

Quite a difference!

Instead of the vegetables out on display for our members to choose from to fill their boxes, we have the boxes prepackaged. Grab & go! Easy & safe! No unnecessary touching of the produce or contact. (we still offer “barnside delivery” for those who prefer to remain in their vehicle & have their share placed in their trunk.)

But we miss the old way!

We enjoyed having all the produce on display. We’re proud of what we grow! Plus it’s colourful & beautiful – especially as we get further into the harvest season. Members could choose their own – smaller zucchini for salads or larger ones for the BBQ  … or patty pans rather. Tomatoes – red or orange, white cucumbers or green …

However we will continue prepacking the boxes for now. It seems like the best way to do it. There will still be options & choices as in the past – Lorie will have them available on the table and add them to the box as requested. And we continue to adapt & make changes as necessary and as our members request. Your comments & suggestions are always welcome!

What’s in the box?

Beets, green onions, zucchini or broccoli, garlic scapes, salad turnips, salad greens …

• The first beets are ready. Beets are considered a rather mundane vegetable, often a love ’em or hate ’em, take them or leave them kind of vegetable. But … freshly pulled, early season baby beets are hard to beat (haha!) – they are tender, juicy and sweet. We often forgo the cooking and eat them raw, usually shredded into salads. And certainly don’t even bother to peel them! The skin is tender and full of nutrients that you don’t want to miss out on. At market we can never have enough beets – they are one of our most popular vegetable. Doesn’t that beat all!
• Our green onions are a nice size now – and so delicious in salads, or omelets, or sauces …
• We need to talk about the heat – we’ve had more than our share lately! Zucchini and other hot weather vegetables (cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant …) love it and are growing wildly now. Cool weather crops such as broccoli, lettuce, spinach, bok choy … are balking at the high temperatures and not doing as well. So while we are starting to harvest zucchini and continuing to harvest broccoli – there is not enough of either for everyone. Choices will have to be made!
• Garlic scapes we have plenty of! Please ask Lorie if you want an extra bunch for a batch of pesto.
• We are picking our final planting of salad turnips for this spring. Enjoy another bunch in your share this week.
• Most salad greens are cool weather crops. This heat of late can quickly turn the lettuce bitter, send the spinach to seed & the bok choy to flower. There will be greens in the box this week – but we can’t say which ones. We have lots of lettuce now – we’ll taste it as we pick & hope it is still sweet. New rows of spinach are ready for Tuesday, but will they still be tender on Friday? Lots of kale – but maybe not “baby kale”. It might be a bit larger. Same with the arugula. So while there will be greens, there will probably be a variation between Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday’s boxes. (And Saturday CSA boxes @ Georgetown market.)

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Around the farm this week …

Staying ahead of the weeds (sometimes)!

Beautiful skies over the farm next door.

CSA boxes in quarantine till next week.

Squash (above) and zucchini (below) enjoying the heat!

At Georgetown market on Saturday.

2 Flynns – each with his own way of hunting!